Yup. Many gay men also have a tendency towards ageism — you’d better not look a day over twenty-five, thirty at the outside, or you can forget about getting a long-term partner. Unless, that is, you’re richer than God. Lesbians simply don’t do that sort of thing, not even if they’re the lipstick types.

As for fat: My spouse was morbidly obese (nearly 400 pounds!), and he did have to lose weight so he wouldn’t die (BP over 180, water retention, cellulitis, etc.). He lost nearly 150 pounds (yes, one normal woman or two supermodels) through a combination of diet and exercise: His BP’s now normal without meds, and his energy level’s increased. He can crank off twenty miles on his bike at fifteen miles an hour and call that a light workout; he’s been known to do 85 miles in a day before his hands will say “no mas!”

But he’s still bashing himself for being out of shape. Why? Because he can’t stay below 240 pounds on a 6’1″ frame. He wants to be 180 pounds like he was all through high school and college, when he rode his bike every day even in the winter. (He gained all his post-college weight when he stopped riding bike because of hand problems just before the first generation of shocked mountain bikes hit; if he’d had a bike with front shocks twenty years ago, he’d have probably been fine.)

So yes, being fat can lead to health problems. But yes, you can be also be fat and be perfectly healthy otherwise. My spouse shows the evidence for both. 6’1″ and 370 pounds? Not good. 6’1″ and 240? Still technically overweight by 60-odd pounds, but guess what? He’s otherwise perfectly healthy.

And why am I telling you all this? As troll prophylactic against the legions who will show up and say “But don’t you know that fat causes blah blah blah?!” Yes, we all know that anything taken to extremes is a problems, including dieting. But the parameters for “normal” are a LOT wider than guys like Dan Savage will admit.

Anyway, the perma-diet. What a dysfunctional way to relate to food. Sure, eat food that is good for you. Food that is good for you tastes good, usually. And not all of us need the same foods – that’s why we have cravings. Misunderstood cravings can be detrimental to health, but getting at the root of a craving can tell you about what your body needs. It’s not that weight is a simple matter, but eating should be. Eating should be a joy.

This is a self-hating man that views his own (female) readers with contempt -playing the chastising patriarch with them.
Thinks that his worthiness to be loved is earned daily through his regime of diet/ exercise, I can’t take him seriousIy, he is pathetic.

Let’s face it people, we are a FAT nation, your glands be damned!

To the point, the “glands” part. Especially considering my doctor’s appointment Friday. I somehow lost 10 lbs in three weeks in spite of my best efforts. This is beyond frustrating.

Dan’s comments were horrible, assholish and ignorant, but for some reason it was the stupidity displayed by some of the people commenting that got me even more pissed off.

Not fuckin’ worth it.

With biscuits.

It’s a biscuit hole.