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I don't think it's unreasonable to put on 10 or 20 pounds as you get older. Your lives change and metabolism changes...
We equate being overweight to lack of self-control and self-discipline (and yes, there are exceptions, but most of the time, it is). I personally am appalled by how it affects the health, the healthcare, and the outcomes of the overweight sick. It's the same feeling I get when we waste money trying to fix all the things a druggie or an alcoholic does to ruin his body.
I recently saw a cable tv program on obese people in the US.
There are millions (I don't remember the exact #) of obese people in this country; of those millions five million are morbidly obese, i.e. 500+ pounds. If that's not an epidemic, I don't know what is.
In the tv program there was a segment on a man who weighed over 1,000#, and had not stood on his own feet or been outside of his house in over three years. He was a former athlete, but began eating fast-food for his meals. It only took him about seven years to gain this weight, coupled with lack of exercise.
He was admitted to an in-patient hospital program and lost hundreds of pounds over several months. That's extraordinary self-control, isn't it? Eventually, he was taken outside in a wheelchair, and the look on his face was heart-wrenching. Just to be outside, he was almost in tears!
The problem: the show cut back to his family as he was preparing to leave hospital and go home. They were all sitting on the couch, stuffing McDonald's into their faces! Including giving a baby french fries. Clearly this was a typical meal, as none of his children were what one might call thin. They said they 'don't think' about getting as large as their dad. Poor guy, he doesn't stand a chance.
While I agree with stan4, if one is not in a supportive atmosphere and already has trouble with eating and self-control, it must be extremely hard to lose weight. Drugs and alcohol are far more addictive and inherently dangerous than food. Using money to help someone who is sincerely trying to clean up their act is never wasted, imo.
Fast-food, overprocessed food (pretty much everything that's available in most grocery stores) - aka "convenience" foods - are responsible for this epidemic. The whole idea of easy cooking is has made us a fat nation.
Ultimately, we are responsible for our own actions. But it seems to me that in our current culture, putting on weight is a given. I feel compassion for very heavy people who cannot lose weight, but that goes out the window pretty fast when I see them eating desert and fried foods at meals. Grease is not our friend.
Sorry for such a long post and I hope I have not offended anyone here. If one is happy at the weight they are, they good on ya'. And for those who are trying to lose weight and be more healthy, I wish you the very best of luck!
LOL size 12 is perfect! Thats the average American woman size and also the size men find desirable. Obesity doesnt start till like size 16!
What American men? Size 12?
More like a 2 through 6
If you are overweight, you will just never understand. I've been slim, skinny, but am not like 50 lbs over what I'd like to be. Not only is it unhealthy, it is gross....the gut creeps up on ya fast as a guy. I understand though, it is disgusting to look as some fat girl who is shoveling down an ice cream cone and doesn't care about her looks. Says that she doesn't care what people think of her sure.....but it says she also doesn't care about her health and has no self control.
If you are overweight, you will just never understand. I've been slim, skinny, but am not like 50 lbs over what I'd like to be. ..... it is disgusting to look as some fat girl who is shoveling down an ice cream cone and doesn't care about her looks. Says that she doesn't care what people think of her sure.....but it says she also doesn't care about her health and has no self control.
I'm sure there are MANY overweight people (like myself) who WOULD understand....some overweight people were actually thin once ....a more accurate assessment would be some thin people (ahem) who have always been thin, like perhaps you, "will just never understand".
Some fat girl shoveling down ice cream might not care what people think; may not care about her health or have no self control............or she may be gripped by some serious emotional issues and/or food addiction. Food addiction in a lot of ways is worse than drug or alcohol addictions. The food addict cannot stop food altogether the way an alcoholic must stop booze. It's much harder to break the cycle of comfort & numbness that food provides, because even if you stop eating the crap & start eating healthy, a food addict's brain will still try to relieve an emotional pain with the new food. Which obviously won't work.
To lump all fat people as disgusting & lazy is as ignorant as saying all thin people are vain & shallow.
...gripped by some serious emotional issues and/or food addiction. Food addiction in a lot of ways is worse than drug or alcohol addictions. It's much harder to break the cycle of comfort & numbness that food provides...
I thought the basis of gross over-eating was serious emotional issues.
I did not know that food addiction is more difficult to break than an addiction to heroin or alcohol. That doesn't ring true, but I don't know for sure.
I thought the basis of gross over-eating was serious emotional issues.
I did not know that food addiction is more difficult to break than an addiction to heroin or alcohol. That doesn't ring true, but I don't know for sure.
Your 1st sentence - my point exactly.
As far as difficulty in breaking food addiction as compared to drugs or alcohol; that's why I said "in a lot of ways". Granted, breaking a food addiction won't put you thru the detox nightmare of quitting heroin, for example; but I was speaking more from the psychological difficulty. You quit heroin ( or meth, or u pick....) - after withdrawel & hopefully therapy, one can begin to move on & replace that activity with any number of positive behaviours. If your a food addict, you still have to eat, period. I took enough psycho-babble courses in college to last a lifetime - that s**t never changes. Ask any fattie who's honest & they'll tell you that every bite of anything is a constant trigger to slide backwards.
My point to all that was simply my belief that not all fat people have a total disregard for their situation as stated by several posters. YES - there are the lazy oafs who don't give a rat's ass, but there are also those who wish dearly they had what it takes to conquer over eating. I am sure everyone must know at least one heavy person who is not content to stay that way.
The "food addiction" label is another nonsense fabrication of the late 20th century to cover up the real issue, which is actually quite simple. Cheap processed "foods" sold for cheap prices coupled with lack of activity - and there you have it. Fat people hardly existed just 100 years ago, because people worked hard to survive and they made their food from scratch. There was no such thing as high fructose corn syrup, or numerous other cheap fillers and artifical ingredients, and no McDonald's to walk into and within five minutes start stuffing your maw with greasy, malnutritioned products. The result of the 20th century's industrialization and modernization is hardly a shock, hence my lack of sympathy and concern for the vast majority of overweight people. Yes, there are some people with genuine medical conditions which trigger weight gain, however these cases are, in reality, quite rare. Obesity is nothing more than a side effect of affluence. Not too many fatsos waddling around in Africa and other developing countries. Ever see a fat Amish person? I haven't. They live right here amongst us, yet live completely different lifestyles - and I admire them for that.
Solution: make your own food from scratch. This doesn't mean buying a box of Hamburger Helper and saying you made dinner from scratch. It's crap. If your destination is within a mile or so, why not walk or ride your bike? It takes about 15 minutes to walk one mile. I do it every day. Exercising costs absolutely nothing - I go to a gym only because I have a free membership through my employer. If I didn't have it, I'd just go for a bike ride or take a brisk walk in the park every day.
I'm surrounded by obese sloths and they don't get compassion from me.
LOL size 12 is perfect! Thats the average American woman size and also the size men find desirable. Obesity doesnt start till like size 16!
Size 12 is normal?! Good god... no way. Size 8 is as big as I'd date, size 2 to 6 would be ideal. My mom was always a size 4 or 6, and my sister is a size 0.
I totally agree with this. I think some skinny people are either disgusted with overweight people or just think they are better than them. I have come across some mean, stuck-up skinny people, but then again I can say the same thing for some overweight people.
But I think on the whole, overweight people are nice, smart, and down to earth.
I agree also. A lot of skinny people just think anyone who is overweight is a slob. Skinny people can be slobs just as much as an overweight person is. It just depends on how you take care of yourself. There was post on CD not too long ago about fat pepole and do they repulse you. Some of the answers were not so nice. It pissed me off. It isn't fair and people just judge you without even getting to know you!
I recently saw a cable tv program on obese people in the US.
There are millions (I don't remember the exact #) of obese people in this country; of those millions five million are morbidly obese, i.e. 500+ pounds. If that's not an epidemic, I don't know what is.
In the tv program there was a segment on a man who weighed over 1,000#, and had not stood on his own feet or been outside of his house in over three years. He was a former athlete, but began eating fast-food for his meals. It only took him about seven years to gain this weight, coupled with lack of exercise.
He was admitted to an in-patient hospital program and lost hundreds of pounds over several months. That's extraordinary self-control, isn't it? Eventually, he was taken outside in a wheelchair, and the look on his face was heart-wrenching. Just to be outside, he was almost in tears!
The problem: the show cut back to his family as he was preparing to leave hospital and go home. They were all sitting on the couch, stuffing McDonald's into their faces! Including giving a baby french fries. Clearly this was a typical meal, as none of his children were what one might call thin. They said they 'don't think' about getting as large as their dad. Poor guy, he doesn't stand a chance.
While I agree with stan4, if one is not in a supportive atmosphere and already has trouble with eating and self-control, it must be extremely hard to lose weight. Drugs and alcohol are far more addictive and inherently dangerous than food. Using money to help someone who is sincerely trying to clean up their act is never wasted, imo.
Fast-food, overprocessed food (pretty much everything that's available in most grocery stores) - aka "convenience" foods - are responsible for this epidemic. The whole idea of easy cooking is has made us a fat nation.
Ultimately, we are responsible for our own actions. But it seems to me that in our current culture, putting on weight is a given. I feel compassion for very heavy people who cannot lose weight, but that goes out the window pretty fast when I see them eating desert and fried foods at meals. Grease is not our friend.
Sorry for such a long post and I hope I have not offended anyone here. If one is happy at the weight they are, they good on ya'. And for those who are trying to lose weight and be more healthy, I wish you the very best of luck!
I don't think you have offended anyone. I have seen the same shows. It is sad and I feek or these people as well. I do believe there is a chmical in their brain that makes them eat this way like a drug. these people basically live to eat instead of eat to live. One I just recently saw this lady was between 800 and 900 pounds went to a hospital in Texas where they will operate on the morbidly obese and she got a gastric bypass. She was fine for two weeks norma levels,regular heartbeat and everything. The third week she all of a sudden had a heart attack in the middle of the night. There was nothing they coud do to save her because she was so big. I literally cried when that happened. She had two beautiful kids and it was just horrible!
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And for those who are trying to lose weight and be more healthy, I wish you the very best of luck!
..but it says she also doesn't care about her health and has no self control.
