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Having been overweight I am here to tell you that once you get past a certain point of obesity, it becomes very discouraging to think about all the work and self-control it will take to overcome what your choices have produced - this can lead to depression and anxiety - but it is all self-inflicted - it is not a disease. Sometimes we need to reach the end of our rope before we are motivated to change.
I was about 40 lbs. past the top of my normal weight range. I lost about 80 lbs. without outside help and have kept it off for over 2 years. I do not consider that my past weight issues were a disease nor was I a victim.....I created the problem all on my own and I fixed it all on my own. If the will to change is there, it can be done.
+1. I have a tendency to become overweight due to medication that I take which has the known side effect of weight gain (by increasing appetite). However, since I have to take it (or a similar med), I monitor my weight carefully through diet and exercise. I am a small woman, so every extra pound shows, and I became 30 lbs. overweight with another medication in the same pharmaceutical class. I went on a rigorous diet and exercise plan, switched medications, and got back down to my normal weight within 2 months. Since then, I weigh myself a few times a week. If I gain more than three pounds, I up the veggies, meat, and exercise, and decrease the carbs and laziness. Obesity is preventable and treatable. It's just difficult and definitely no fun to do it.
Scooby - you are dealing with a lot - I admire your efforts to counteract the effects of your meds....but most people who are obese are overweight because they overindulge not because of any medical problems.
I agree with you that preventing obesity can be difficult sometimes but as you have proven, it can be overcome with the right attitude and a willingness to make correct choices. I should have put a qualifier in my previous statement...hope I didn't offend you or anyone else struggling with weight issues because of meds.
I have a medical condition that makes me gain weight, so I go to the gym, run, and watch what I eat. Whether your fat or not depends on your mentality (lazy, unmotivated, apathetic) more than it should ever be blamed on a disease or mental disorder. I don't want to be fat, so I pass up sweets while I watch my friends indulge. I run even though it's hot outside. I stop when I'm somewhat full instead of eating everything I'm being offered. I think many Americans love blaming their problems on a product or object, when they should be looking at themselves (Example: see NY Mayor who tried to ban large sodas, WHAT?).
Went to lunch at a great Thai restaurant with a friend of mine -she is very heavy. HUGE portion of Pad Thai. I was trying to figure out the calorie count for it and finally found a 'restaurant' version which accounted for the bigger portion. She thought that was a very small portion - when, in reality, it should have made two full meals.
Her ability to gage portions is just . . not working.
I kept my mouth shut because . . who wants to eat lunch with a know-it-all.
Interesting conversation. Personally, I believe that over-eating is an ADDICTION, rather than the result of laziness and lack of willpower. Certain foods seem to be more likely suspects to keep the addiction going. Carbs, especially sugary sweets, have that effect on me. If I eat a piece of cake for lunch, then there will be a binge eating bonanza for the rest of the day. It's like when an alcoholic has one drink, and then can't stop.
Interesting conversation. Personally, I believe that over-eating is an ADDICTION, rather than the result of laziness and lack of willpower. Certain foods seem to be more likely suspects to keep the addiction going. Carbs, especially sugary sweets, have that effect on me. If I eat a piece of cake for lunch, then there will be a binge eating bonanza for the rest of the day. It's like when an alcoholic has one drink, and then can't stop.
Oh yeah. I can easily go down that path as well. Like, well I already blew it so I might as well go all the way!
One of those definitions of disease was simply a malfunctioning part or system.
The satiety and impulse control functions of most obese people are malfunctioning.
They probably got that way due to poor decisions made by the people involved, but that also applies to a whole lot of type 2 diabetics. No one is claiming their diabetes isn't a disease. By the time you are well over 200lbs, you probably need help to reverse the damage done. Again with the diabetes analogy: those on the less severe end of the disease could make drastic diet and exercise changes rather than take meds. But we don't rail at them like we do someone who is carrying 100 extra pounds but doesn't happen to have one of the approved disease tags.
Don't get me wrong - people CAN avoid becoming obese (so long as you aren't one of those poor kids whose mother puts Coke in the baby bottle, and teaches you to eat massive portions before the age of reason.) I'm not making excuses as much as I've come to realize that something systemic caused everyone to get fat in the last few decades, and we have to focus on reversing that. The fact that stronger willpower would help really doesn't matter when people used to stay thin with average willpower, and now they can't.
Interesting conversation. Personally, I believe that over-eating is an ADDICTION, rather than the result of laziness and lack of willpower. Certain foods seem to be more likely suspects to keep the addiction going. Carbs, especially sugary sweets, have that effect on me. If I eat a piece of cake for lunch, then there will be a binge eating bonanza for the rest of the day. It's like when an alcoholic has one drink, and then can't stop.
I know a lot of people don't like the food = addiction thing and how can everything be an additiction?
IDK honestly. I know I can gamble a little and others can't.
When I quit smoking I did it with food. Now 14 years later I feel like I'm still addicted. Whether its to the food or the smoking I'm still not doing I don't know. But I know that my preoccupation with food (salty fatty carbs) is destroying my health and feels like an addiction for sure.
Its a mental and physical disease caused by poor/lazy habits. It remains a chronic disease due to failure to change the poor/lazy habits.
True, today obesity is spreading more because of laziness and unhealthy eating. Nowadays, everyone is so busy with their regular work and due to that they can’t even think about their health and can eat fast foods for relieving their quick hunger. It directly impact to their health because they won’t prefer exercise or some diet plans.
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It remains a chronic disease due to failure to change the poor/lazy habits. 
