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While I'm not obese, I am overweight. I'm going to stick my nose in here and offer an unsolicited opinion.
The problem is, unlike smoking, alcohol, and other addictions, we all still need to eat to survive. If you smoke, drink, or do drugs, you can simply stop indulging in those behaviors and replace them with something else. Eating is a different story. Yes, you can replace the bad foods with good ones. It's difficult, though, to peel a carrot and eat it when your entire being is craving ice cream! It's tough to force yourself to eat a salad with almost no dressing when you want to go to McDonald's and get French fries.
I face these kinds of decisions daily. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. At 5 feet tall and 133 lbs, I haven't given up yet. I'm trying to force myself to at least go for a walk every day to offset some of the useless calories. At one point a few years ago I was exercising regularly, and eating better, and I dropped to 120 lbs. I felt a lot better, and was very proud of myself. So what happened? I got lazy, quite honestly. My eating habits didn't totally backslide, or I'd probably weigh 145+ now, but getting myself to move more is a challenge. I'm beginning to see that this is now "lifetime maintenance", not just something I can start to do that will eventually have a stopping point. I know I should have the "only for today" attitude, but it's scary to realize that I have to somehow stay motivated for the rest of my life.
I'm wondering, and maybe some obese people could clue me in, at what point does a person give up? I see people all the time in restaurants like Souplantation who have obviously done just that; they're almost too large to fit into a booth, and yet their plates are overflowing. It's sad, and disheartening. If I were that big, I probably would give up, too. On the way to that weight, though, isn't there something that should "click" in, some kind of mental alert? I'm not getting on anyone's case. I'm sincerely curious, and also concerned. Anyone can end up like that for a myriad of reasons, but of course, I'm asking about people who overate their way to this point.
As for whether or not it's a mental illness, no, I don't think so. A mental illness is something you have no control over, and it's usually caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain. I don't believe that people have no control of how they eat and exercise. They may choose to not exert any control, but that's different. Again, I'm obviously not referring to people who are obese due to medications, thyroid disorders, etc.
You have a tragedy - you lose your whole family in a tragic accident. No good-byes, no warning, just suddenly you are a family of one. Not everyone can stand up to such personal devastation. And maybe it wasn't the whole family - maybe it was just one beloved soul - your spouse, your child, your mom or your brother. Suddenly, without warning and nobody to blame. So many people and so many different ways to react to the same thing. some would stop eating, stop wanting to live, stop going to work, stop smiling, stop living.
Some would seek medical help to deal with the grief. In all likelihood, a family doctor will prescribe an anti-depressant. A great many anti-depressants have a nasty side effect of an increased appetite.
Add a physical limitation to the pot - emphysema, herniated discs in your back, a broken leg or sprained ankle and a doctor that says to stay off your feet, do not exert yourself, do not strain your lungs... and all while taking this medicine that causes increased appetite...
Eating becomes your only comfort. That is where it starts.
Then people you know start making snide remarks. Then those remarks come from strangers. Still, the only comfort you get comes from food.
You can stop taking the medication, but by then, your back problem is worse and the pain greater and the only comfort you enjoy is food.
Now, this isn't the case with everyone, just what happened in MY case.
Yes, I am aware that my weight is creating more problems than it is solving. Please stop snickering and whispering and smirking at someone else. I may be fat, but that does not make me blind, deaf or stupid.
I am sure there are as many reasons why it happens to people as there are people. Nonetheless, thank you for asking.
Alice T, thank you for your response. I'm so sorry for your loss. I have a friend who lost three family members (mother, brother, father - in that order) in the space of a year and a half. His wife didn't know how to handle it, so they divorced. He eventually turned to cocaine to blunt his grief, which caused many more problems than it solved, so at least you didn't go that route!
There are many medications that "feature" the side effect of weight gain, yes. Unfortunately, the medical community has gotten too used to pushing drugs on people. I went to the doctor a long time ago, because I had insomnia. I was hoping for a sleeping pill. Instead, he began asking me questions like:
How much exercise did I get?
How much soda and caffeine was I drinking in the evenings?
Did I ever keep track of how many times a week I suffered from insomnia, and what I ate or drank that day?
And so on. He told me to cut out the sugar and caffeine, and go for long walks in the evenings. What a GREAT doctor; he was treating the entire person, not just the symptoms - and he wouldn't take the easy way out ("Here's your prescription; bye.").
I wish I could point a finger and say, "Well, if you knew the medications increased weight gain, why didn't you just eat more healthy foods, like spinach?" Life isn't like that. If you're already dealing with grief and health issues, you're probably on auto pilot at the grocery store. What goes into the basket are things like chips, donuts, etc. When you're emotionally devastated, it's almost impossible to think of changing your entire way of eating. Just getting up every day is a challenge.
Besides, our bodies are wired to respond to certain tastes - salt and sugar are two big ones. David Kessler (the same person who took on big tobacco companies and won) found this:
"Highly palatable" foods -- those containing fat, sugar and salt -- stimulate the brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center... In time, the brain gets wired so that dopamine pathways light up at the mere suggestion of the food, such as driving past a fast-food restaurant, and the urge to eat the food grows insistent. Once the food is eaten, the brain releases opioids, which bring emotional relief. Together, dopamine and opioids create a pathway that can activate every time a person is reminded about the particular food. This happens regardless of whether the person is hungry.
Nonetheless, some people are able to resist the call of bad food and turn their lives around (other people who posted on this thread!). I have great admiration for anyone who can do that! I'm not sure if I could, given the same set of circumstances.
You know, I have a daughter who is now 19 and a bit chunky. She has been that way since she was a little girl. She is still sexy and beautiful. It just happens to be her size. If she is happy and healthy it isn't the business or concern of anyone else.
I don't understand why people who are born thinner with a different metabolism continue to chastise people who weigh more. Not everyone is an exercise enthusiast or needs to be. I think lots of people out there need to enjoy their own little world without feeling it is their job to force everyone else out there into it.
Sure, everyone needs some mobility in their life.....but they don't have to go overboard if they are happy with where they are at. It isn't a disease or unnatural for one person to be plumper than another person. Throwing guilt at every larger sized person isn't helping anything. It is a mean arrogance from people who think a boney butt is attractive.
I agree with everything you said, and for me it isn't larger people that are annoying, but rather lazy people. I have friends who drive a mile to get their hair cut, who turn me down every Sunday when I invite them for a bike ride. I have overweight colleagues who eat fast food for lunch 3-4 days per week instead of packing something healthy (a sandwich and fruit maybe? it also wouldn't kill you to order a salad). THOSE things annoy me. People who don't do these very easy things to start to live healthier and yet still complain about their weight.
Thread was started because many obese people I have come across in my life (and those who post here who wont come out and admit that they are obese, but everyone knows it because they get so bent out of shape when anyone says anything (be it positive or negative) about obese people) and more often than not (a majority of the time) these people are unable to choose between - A) Eating healthy foods that will help get them on track to being healthy; or B) Continuing to eat whatever greasy, fatty, sugary, starchy, high calorie food they have been eating forever.
Okay, let's play by your rules: I'm fat...hope that makes you feel better.
I cannot get a grasp of what you do, but I have picked up several references that you somehow "work" with overweight clients? My God, I hope NOT. Your lack of knowledge and compassion is very disturbing.
Somehow you really seem to believe that this is a simple topic. Your stream of consciousness says, "I have no problems putting down donuts, therefore no one else should either...I exercise everyday, why can't everyone else?" Are you really that simplistic? Really?
Do you think that people who go through life being ostracized and criticized by the likes of you consider this rejection a matter of choice? You seem to believe that just because you think something, it is now scientific evidence. Maybe you have a problem with arrogance or narcissism, you might want to look into that. Maybe it's a mental disorder.
My experience with overweight people, as well as other addicts, is that many of us are victims of trauma/abuse somewhere down the line. Wrongly, I will admit, we use food--or drugs, or alcohol, or bulimia, or exercise even--to insulate ourselves from our deep-seated fears. THIS, my friend, is the unspoken truth on this thread, not something as simple as admitting we are overweight or obese.
You might want to consider this for a few moments before you just react out of anger. So much of what you have contributed here is simply rude and hurtful to the people who suffer in silence.
I have not read the entire thread but I too have a lot of thoughts on this subject. In fact I plan on doing a school assignment on Type 2 Diabetes. But I think everyone has some sort of "unhealthy" aspect of their life. Everyone. For some this is smoking, others it may be anger, internet addiction, or eating too many carbs.
Also I think there is a bit of chicken and egg aspect - which comes first insulin resistance or being overweight? (This is what I'm looking at for the paper on Type 2) And the truth is I think it's automatically assumed that you are obese then get the problem - I've seen research both ways and suspect it will eventually be found that IR comes first. That's my two cents...
I know nobody asked me for my input first and It just is not anyone's business why someone else has a weight problem, addiction, disabling illness, either mental or physical.
Actually it is. We all share the same health care system, one that's overburdened with treating people who have obesity-related illnesses. Our health care premiums go up every year, in part to because the cost of treating these illnesses goes up and because more and more people develop them. That means folks like myself who eat healthy, stay in shape, and rarely need to see a doctor are paying for the people who are obese. If that weren't bad enough, this is impacting the economy as well. Next to salary, the biggest expense for businesses is employee health insurance. Why do you think employers are sending jobs overseas? It's because the cost of hiring a single worker here in America is going up. With all the talk going in Washington about health care reform, the one thing that rarely gets mentioned (probably because it's not PC) is that people need to take more responsibility for their health. I'm not saying everyone who's obese is guilty of bad behavior. But too many are and we're all paying for it.
Next to salary, the biggest expense for businesses is employee health insurance. Why do you think employers are sending jobs overseas? It's because the cost of hiring a single worker here in America is going up.
Probably more appropriate for the "politcs" forum, but the other thing not mentioned is that many of those countries also have either nationalized or highly regulated health care and/or health insurance. In other words, employers do not carry that burden. In the USA the middle man (private insurance companies) jack up the cost.
Quote:
With all the talk going in Washington about health care reform, the one thing that rarely gets mentioned (probably because it's not PC) is that people need to take more responsibility for their health.
I do agree with this. Stress and the related side-effects (including over-eating and inactivity) need to be addressed. We also need to address our car-depandent culture and lack of leisure time.
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If I were that big, I probably would give up, too. On the way to that weight, though, isn't there something that should "click" in, some kind of mental alert? I'm not getting on anyone's case. I'm sincerely curious, and also concerned. Anyone can end up like that for a myriad of reasons, but of course, I'm asking about people who overate their way to this point. 
Finally, someone asking rather than dictating!
what?
