Or, perhaps companies could invest in better healthcare options for their employees. Fully covering things like weight reduction programs, exercise programs, weight reduction surgery when medically neccesary and certain weight loss medications when medically neccesary. Absolutely weight loss is about personal responsibility but there are a large percentage of persons out there that have done exactly what they are supposed to do and still are obese. Obesity has many psychological issues that go along with it but again, most healthcare plans severely limit the coverage available to employees for mental health. I think if the employers put forth programs that empower their employees to eat healthy and exercise more regularly they would see much better results.
I agree with Jupiter, But what about restaurants serving normal sized portions again? I mean everywhere you go the food that they give you is enough to feed 3. I am not saying that it is the only reason, but it could help. I have had a weight problem since my late twenties and I have only myself to blame for not controlling my eating, but now that I know, I have done something about it nas I am now a perfect weight for my height and I am HEALTHY, But it comes with alot of hardwork and disipline and I stopped eating out. Everywhere you go it is super sized portions.. If we cut down portiosn to normal size, I bet we could feed most of the starving…..And again, Health plans should cover some of these costs (if the particiapnt is actually doing something with it)in the long run they will save themselves a lot of money!
What about personal responsibility? Obesity is not work-related and should not be a compensible WC claim. The condition spawns other medical problems that are equally un-related to the workplace and should not be compensible either. People have a responsibility to live as healthy as possible. If they choose not to, or if their condition is hopeless, that isn’t WC. Let them apply for disability. A little self-control wouldn’t hurt either. I see many behmoths in my building everyday. They get free transportation from the city, use elevators, sit on their fat _ss allday, and belly up to the meal trough and eat whatever they please. It’s hard to have any sympathy for people who are too lazy to help themselves.
I’ll tell you what… People and thinktanks and “Do-Gooders” have way too much time on their hands.
Please for a change worry about yourselves and not what everyone else is doing.
It’s not bad enough that the statistics they quote for the comparison are to people that are “morbidly obese”. Not just overweight, but “morbidly obese”!!!
Nice study. Again throwing medicine’s ever changing standards into a comparison with the absolute most overwieght group of people. Perhaps the charts that prescribe height and weight standards aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
I’m going to get myself a Supersize value meal now, with a supersize Diet Coke.
ITA- the standards do seem to change whenever someone gets a whim.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that food addiction is every bit as real as alcoholism or drug addiction. Treatment only goes so far. A vast majority of what is now called morbidly obese have serious mental health issues. Calling them lazy, fat or any of the other names that people here love doesn’t help. Makes it worse 100% of the time.
Do you guys hang out at the halfway house to call recovering alcoholics drunks? Maybe at a methadone clinic to harass the drug users while they’re trying to get straight. Not much difference.
The most morbidly obese people I know – 3 of them- I met them at all completely different places and times in my life. All three of them had horrible childhoods – lots of pain, lots of the same issues that drug addicts or alcoholics have. Their ‘drug of choice’ is food. Just because it’s a big mac and not cocaine doesn’t mean it’s any easier to quit.
You think people weight 400 lbs because it’s fun?
I understand your position quite well but I just can’t wonder when people will take responsibility for their own health instead of always looking for someone else to do it for them, someone else to pay for it for them, as if they are “entitled” to a healthier lifestyle but that is should be given to them, not earned…why must we always have a carrot when maybe a swift kick in the butt is needed? Isn’t being healthy reward enough?
Or..Jupiter, we could lock them up and feed them bugs and water for 60 days then give them a good flogging for to compesnate for the rent. See if they are fat after that
Excuses. That’s all they are. “I’m fat cause daddy beat me.” “I drink cause my mom was an alcoholic.” “I use drugs ’cause my sister was an addict.”
Choices, and poor ones at that. I don’t make tons of money. Does that mean I should go out and rob a bank? I’m entitled to that, aren’t I? Because I am not making 6 figures, right?
Stop making excuses. Stop blaming everyone for your problems. Stop whining.
It’s nice to read comments from someone (dawn) who has empathy for others. I have been of average weight all my life, and I have seen others exercise far more discipline over when and how they eat, only to fight a (usually) losing battle against weight.
It’s hard to watch people struggle with weight, drugs, or alcohol only to have people who have never been there try to kick them while they’re down.
I fight with my weight everyday of my life. I’ve found that at the same height/weight, I’ve gone from overweight, to morbidly obese, to obese, to overweight, to about 10 lbs over weight back to obese, etc. Depending on the ‘chart of choice’ that year. Could I stand to lose a few lbs? Yes. Would I like to? Yes. I tried exercising for 2 hours a day and only taking in 500 calories a day. Nothing. It sucks. I couldn’t imagine having to lose 100lbs.
Weight loss is a multibillion dollar industry because people want to lose weight.
I know someone who has been to Mayo, John’s Hopkins, etc – his metabolism barely registers. 25 doctors standing around scratching their heads trying to figure out why. No answers. Only more questions. He’s almost committed suicide several times over cruel comments by people who have no idea what he’s been through. At 375 he draws a lot of attention. Not one of these specialists have any idea what to tell him. He’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.
I don’t know anyone that is morbidly obese that doesn’t have something wrong – be it physical or emotional. But people would rather kick them then treat them with a shred of humanity. Most, if not 90% of all drug addicts have some sort of mental illness that led to the drugs. ADHD, Bipolar, Manic Depression, etc. But insurance only pays for 30 days inpatient a year, then only I believe 20 outpatient sessions. Not nearly enough.
It’s sad. I’m not saying that there aren’t some that have simply made bad choices, but making general statements just makes people look heartless and cruel.
I had no idea that there would be such vehemence from so many people on this issue. Anna, Fankie, Reagan, I’m sorry for you that you have so much dislike of people different from you or people that don’t meet your clearly unrealistic and stringent expectations. I can only guess that is not just overweight people you do not care for but pretty much anyone who doesn’t look like you, act like you or speak like you. I have learned that people without empathy and the willingness to see people for who they are, what they can do and not what they look like rarely succeed in life. Stat Guy, I agree people have to take responsibility for themselves, but just as Dawn noted, many people suffer from a true food addition and a swift kick in the butt is not going to help but rather usually demoralizes a person further which feeds their depression which exacerbates the food addition which exacerbates the depression, low self worth and self loathing and the vicious cycle starts over. Stat Guy I merely mention the insurance coverage as an option for people. Gastric Bypass and the Lap band are well documented weight loss options but cost $20-30K. The amount in the long run a WC carrier may pay for an injured employee that is obese is probably far more than that, yet I doubt you will find many companies that cover any or even a percentage of this cost.
Sheesh, guys. The article is about statistics. I can only assume most of you are in the insurance business considering this is INSURANCE JOURNAL. As you surely know, our industry operates largely off statistics. I don’t see this as an article attacking people who are over weight or morbidly obese, it is simply stating what the numbers show. Although I can agree that numbers can be interpreted differently, I believe there is surely some merit to the statistics.
I hear what you are saying. I agree with
most of it. But you must also understand
that sometimes work related injuries result in a person’s inability to exercise. I was perfectly healthy. I ran
at least a mile a day and was an ideal
weight and size. While driving my car
on my debit, another car ran a red light
and hit me in the driver’s side. It totaled my car and left me unable to turn
my head. I have had surgery, physical therapy, acupuncture, and many other medical procedures but the pain has not
stopped. I was told that I have fibromyalgia, and more discs are bulging
and/or damaged. I am not able to even walk for long now because I have developed heel spurs. I have not started eating more, but I keep gaining weight. I am unable to do most conventional exercises. Six years of this has led me to become obese. My doctor prescribed aqua therapy. My insurance does not cover this and I can’t afford to join a gym, nor do I have access to a pool. I am still working when people I know that have my same complaints are now drawing disability. I can’t take just any weight loss drugs because of the medications that I take-which does not include powerful narcotics for pain. I refuse to take strong pain meds, and just
get by the best that I can. What is the answer for people like me?
The article talks about the rapid increase in obesity over the past 17 years. What has changed so drastically over this time period? For one, kids sit around playing video games, watching tv, surfing the internet and other activities that don’t require much physical exertion. Parents fill themselves up with junk food and fast food instead of taking the time to prepare a good meal. Someone has mentioned that we need better healthcare benefits to combat this growing problem. Don’t you just love that attitude. Eat till your obese and then rely on the doctor to staple you stomach or whatever they do.
You are the exception to the rule and I am very sorry to hear of your awful predicament. I am overweight and have no excuse, other than I work too much. Any excuse will do. The long and short of it is that we are a society of fat people who need to exercise more and eat less.
There are cases where medical and mental issues prevent or inhibit weight loss. Those, in the aggregate, are in the minority. The bottom line is this: You are what you eat. Consider Japan, Korea and other SEA nations. Fish and veggies. Consider our billboards and TV advertisements. Food and more food. The kind of food high in fat, sugar and sodium. End of story. Eat less and eat right America or die.
Jupiter, the last area of acceptable and even encouraged predudice in this country is fat people. I used to be morbidly obese. I had no idea how people looked away from me or avoided me entirely until I lost the weight. I realize that for all those years I wasn’t considered entirely human by the skinny people. Fat, lazy, stupid, unable to make good choices. All acceptable things to call fat people, sometimes deserved, mostly not. You who think that it’s easy to lose weight and (here’s the hard part)keep it off, are just wrong. I saw a sign recently about treating people for depression that said “If they had cancer, would you tell them to just get over it?” Sounds about right here. It’s not as simple as some of the simple posters on this site would make it.
Here’s the thing about being fat… people can look at you and know you’re fat.
BUT… they can’t tell by looking /why/ you’re fat or what your health is like generally.
Oh how they love to assume though. They assume and make horrible comments or discriminate based on their assumptions.
Dawn nailed it when she said a lot of people would rather kick someone they presume to be down than to treat them respectfully or with kindness.
Too bad you can’t tell by looking at someone whether they’re cruel, violent, bigoted or dishonest. It would be a whole different world then wouldn’t it?
I have read through the snips and slams and it is the same old thing, the haves and the have nots. Obesity, now is called a disease.
Disease my ***, most of the problems with obesity, is not eating right. Close the damn fridge door and get off of that *** and walk around the block. Cut the Twinkies out of your kids diet and go to the kitchen and fix a decent meal, not “Mickey D’s”.
Yes, there are some peole with problems, but not this damn many. I am fat because Daddy did not love me, I am fat because …., because… because… Blame it on someone else. You are fat because you have no control and you enjoy the pity party that is around you and your fat friends. Have a pity party and order pizza and soft drinks. Sit on the sofa and consume chips, dip and soft drinks galore in front of the TV with your fat kids. Pity, Pity, Pity. I was overweight, no fat by almost 100 pounds. What did I do, I stopped pitying myself, stopped “Mickey D’s and Hardees” and told all of the others that were trying to say, Wo is me! BS, It took 9 months, I am now 25 pounds overweight and I have set a goal, by my birthday in December, I will be back at 165 pounds, supposedly my ideal weight, that I weighed as a senior in high school.
So, the biggest blame, is you have no self-conrol, close that mouth, get off that fat *** and move. If not, do not complain when your insurance company refuses to pay for a belly staple, or your employer refuses to pay you WC when your fat *** breaks your desk chair and you hit the floor.
Now, I guess I will catch it from all of the bleeding hearts. So be it. let it fly!
Good for you- you did what you needed to do and you lost the weight. Keeping it off will be your next challenge, and I’m not being sarcastic when I wish you good luck.
But this is my question for you- at your heaviest did someone pointing at you and yelling ‘hey fat-***’ make you feel like going to the gym or eating another cookie?
You are right. Everyone has problems. I’m sure there are habits you have that go back to something that happened to you as a child. You shake your hands three times after you wash them, you brush your teeth exactly 45 times, etc. Some rituals or habits that you may not even be aware of that you’ve carried with you through the years. Not easy habits to break, whether they are good for you or bad for you. For some people eating is no different.
Mommy gives a cookie to stop crying. That instills food as comfort to alleviate an emotion. Later, that same child turns to food as an adult. They either turn obese, bulimic or anorexic. It’s really that simple some times. Breaking that habit is next to impossible.
I used to get a small toy twice a week after an allergy shot. Nothing big- just something in the $.50 range in the store next to the doctor’s office. To this day when something bad happens, it’s everything I can do to stop myself from running to the store and buying myself something. Comfort. The only difference is the price of the toys. LOL
An addictive personality is also a common trait in drug addicts, alcoholics, and food addicts. I took up smoking to stop eating when I was 18. Now I’m so afriad I’ll go back to eating I’m afraid to quit smoking. Go figure. I know I have an addictive personality- never even tried cocaine or anything like that- knew I wouldn’t be able to stop if I did.
People don’t always fit into the ‘norm’. Latchkey kids get what’s cheap and can be made in the micorwave. Nothing good in that.
Food has also gotten higher in saturated fat. Salt has been increased in food. Until the recession started the size of a normal dinner in a restaurant was huge. Diet sodas have never had more sodium in them then they do now. Worse for you then the sugar. More preservatives, more additives, you name it there’s more of it. I’ve long suspected that has a lot to do with the exponential increase in food allergies. And I’m sure it has something to do with the increase in obesity as well.
This comes back to the old addage that the pain must outweigh the pleasure before change can be made successefully. For example until you get more pain from being overweight (health condition, low selfesteem, etc) you aren’t going to overcome the pleasure (though brief) gained from the sugar rush or carbo calming. Sometimes someone calling us a name may be enough to get us motivated to take positive action on correcting the bad behaviors, regardless of how deep rooted they may be.
Gee Paul, thanks for proving that not only fat people are stupid and lazy. You are too stupid and lazy to give any actual thought to the situation. Believe me, I’m the last person you want to call a bleeding heart, but we all need to look at people as people, not classes of people. How many fat people do you actually look at and see a human? From your comments I would say none.
If obesity were a world-wide epidemic, where the human race was on the brink of extinction, then I might have some sympathy. But it isn’t. There are many developed countries that don’t have this obesity problem. It is an American thing. We are lazy, always looking for the easy way out and not willing to take responsibility for our actions. If I wanted to, I could very easily eat pizza, hot dogs, chicken wings, subs… every night of the week. But I know I would put on unwanted weight very quickly. I could sit on my a$$ every night, watching TV and not exercise one bit. But I know I would put on unwanted weight very quickly.
It is a choice. Yes, there are people who for legitimate medical reason, have a difficult time losing weight. But they are in the minority. The rest??? I guess they choose not to eat properly or exercise.
I don’t hate drunks, junkies or fat people. But I do have no respect for people who are in an unfortunate situation, constantly complain about it yet do nothing to change that situation.
Hey, more power to ya if you want to be obese and are comfortable with it!
Yes Fankie, I agree. You should be allowed to be ignorant and predudiced too. It’s your right as an American. I hope nobody looks on you as less than human because of your lack of intelligent thought.
Unfortunately, most people don’t see overweight people as human.
But it does seem to be only white people. Has anyone ever wondered why the Cover Girl model for white girls/women is Heidi Klum and the Cover Girl model for black girls/women is Queen Latifa? (just for the record, I like Queen Latifa)
Everyone gets discriminated against at some point in their life. Do you CHOOSE to let it upset you, or do you brush it off? If I took offense at every Polish joke I heard, I wouldn’t have very many friends. And if you say you never tell any racial, ethnic, sexist, religious jokes… you are a better person than most.
Gee Joey, try being one of those people who are less than human sometime. It’s not much fun. I have said for years, the least respected people in this country would have to be overweight black women. Certainly a source of amusement for all of you outstanding posters out there.
No offense taken from you- I’ve had discussions with you long enough to know that you don’t usually intentionally offend people.
I also know a few that have had it- unfortunately, insurance companies aren’t always ready to pay for this one. Medically necessary or not. BCBS approved it for a friend of mine in July, but the plan renewed in Sept, and since there are 15 less employees this year, they had to change the plan- not covered now. $26K on her credit cards and now she’s in debt consolidation. But whatever it ends up doing to her credit was worth it. She’ll always have issues- they literally pump her with thousands of mgs of prednizone for Lupus, but right now she feels better then she’s felt in years.
Cheyenne Phillips, Ann Wilson, a few stars had the gastric bypass (the most invasive, dangerous, and permanent) and still, over a period of a few years, gained the weight back. I would be willing to bet that theirs could be classified an addiction?
But it’s hard to see people that I really adore being tormented by the public in general. I was on a LOT of steroids as a child for Asthma- long before they realized what steroids did to the human body. My nickname in Elementary school was ‘fatso’. Couldn’t shake it even as I grew taller and lost a lot of that extra weight. People in general are cruel.
I think what Dawn was trying to say is….a person always has to eat. No matter who you are, what you do, you have to eat food in order to survive. And for some people, they use food as a drug. Instead of drinking or using drugs, they use food. The irony is, we call alcoholism a disease, but you have a choice to never drink again. But thanks to our wonderful medical industry, they labeled it as a disease. Yet obesity is something we just laugh at and say you have a choice. Me personally, I have two fat parents who come from two fat families….but it’s my CHOICE to be fat. :)
Pretty much. It’s very hard to understand unless you’ve been there or loved someone that was.
Your choice or not, it doesn’t give people (like Joey) the right to call names or slander. Clothes are harder to find, jobs are harder to get, people are rude and nasty.
Good for you if you’ve chosen to jump off the diet merry-go-round.
Your name says it all. I did not slam one person, I slammed an entire group. If you read my comment through before you spouted off, you would have seen that I mentioned the medical necessary, but 99% is not medical necessary problems, it is that fat *** sitting on the couch feeding their face because their “touchy feely feelings” we hurt. BS, get over it, grow up.
Mine was caused by a medical problem (cancer) and then I used the pity for the weight gain and the cause of the weight gain. After putting the pity party away, getting off of my ***, the weight started coming off, my disposition changed, and I started all over with a new life.
So I have been there and done that. Medical problem my ***. The problem is that the oversize portions served now is just too much. No one needs no more that 1,400 calories a day. That Big Mac that you stuffed in your face for lunch with the oversize order blew your calories for two days. Now tell me I am wrong.
There is no problem with splurging every once in a while, but that is every once in a while to enjoy a Whopper, but not three times a day, everyday.
So, lard asses, you get no sympathy from me. I have worked nine months to get where I am and I now enjoy the new me, the new clothes and the attitude of people around me. By the way 23 more to go!
In other words, ridiculing the group rather than the individial is ok. That really is the definition of a bigot. I’m sorry for your lack of character. I’m done commenting on this one.
The facts are, and I only deal in facts, that more than most of our COUNTRY is overweight or obese. WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. I lived in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Phillipines. Those people are what they eat. We in this country eat what’s not good for us. They eat what is. End of story.
Those of you who are defending the overweight population, can you please give me your answer to this question? What percentage of those who are obese do you feel, are obese for legitimate medical reasons? Anyone care to throw out a number????
I like how you say, “to all you lard a$$es…” when you are a fatty fatty two by four yourself. I just hope you have a pretty face so when you get to your “goal weight” it wasn’t all for nothing.
But remember KLS, Joey has such a low opinion of himself he transfers his shallow classification of himself as fat, stupid and ugly to all fat people. Fat people just aren’t pretty, which is what is important to people such as himself. I have always been a good person, not pretty, but good. People like Joey couldn’t look past the fat to see a person. They only see fat. Their loss. I would like to say nobody likes to be fat, but that would be classing fat people as a group rather than looking at them as people.
Let me extend my apologies to dawn and Jupiter because I did not mean to offend; I was making rhetorical observations. I know about 10-12 people who have undergone the lapband procedure and while it is expensive and extreme, all of them have been successful in getting their weight down, after years of trying everything else. But I must have not really noticed how their attitude and demeanor have changed, how their self-esteem has gone through the roof. I was not aware how hard they struggled with this because they never mentioned it. b these folks were good candidates for the procedure; what I am concerned about is those who just made careless choices growing up and still refuse to act any differently but complain and whine. It takes initiative to change so only those who do not see themselves as victims do any better. I did not mean to paint everyone with the same broad brush.
No, Paul, my outside looks are not my only concern as your’s appear to be. You are a bigot. You act as if all fat people are as shallow as you rather than each one being an individual. What else is a bigot?
My outside appearance did concern me as well as wht is was doing to my health. I remember what it was like before. Not having to huff after climbing stairs, having to take two seats on a plane, the rude comments, not beingable to buy clothes that fit ans seeingmy medical test border on high sugar and high fats in my system.
As for being a bigot, you are wrong there. I found out that all it takes is a little willpower to do it, so no, unless you have a medical problem it is then it is a disease, but being fat because you cannot keep your lard *** out of the fridge and gourge yourself everytime you eat is not a disease. It means that you have no care for yourself or other around you. I think being called a glutton more fits the picture because that is what you are. I have no pity for someone that will not take the initiative to get the weight off and expects everybody to give them a pity party and let them have concessions because they ar fat. Sorry, if that is being a bigot………….
Fat people who complain about being fat, who do not have a medical reason for being fat, but are too lazy to do anything about it, are the people I have issues with. Same goes for drunks who complain but don’t anything. Same goes for drug users. Must not bother you enough if you aren’t doing anything about it, so WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU B’N ABOUT!!!!
And this applies to all my friends in my office who at lunch time, eat their Lean Cuisine meals but complain about not losing any weight. Oops, did you forget to mention the lack of exercise and all those stupid 100 calorie packs you cram down your throats??? Quit your B’n, exercise and make it a priority, as opposed to the novelty as how most people look at weight loss.
And if you are happy being fat? Great! I have no issue with the non-complainers.
There are no easy solutions, but an obvious one is education. Most people don’t exit school with a real understanding of diet, nutrition and healthy lifestyle. People need to search it out or have access to some other resource to learn healthy habits. As I often say in presentations, there is a disincentive in our society to be healthy. It is easier to drive somewhere than to walk or ride a bike. It’s easier and cheaper to get the “value meal” at a fast food restaurant then to find something healthy. Many employers are using incentives to reward people for staying healthy or getting healthier, much like Italy is doing as mentioned in the article. The plus side to this is that healthier people are more productive and spend less on health care. It is a WIN for everyone. One of the best ways to offer this education and incentive is through http://www.healthcheck360.com. HealthCheck360 is a way for people to learn about their own health and potential future risk and provides and objective measure so that employers can reward health and improvement.
Joey, exactly the point I made. They B&M, woe is me, but won’t get off of the couch and do anything about it.
Then they B&M because other people will not get out of their way while they are waddling down the store corridors. Just becaue they are fat, does that give them the right of way? I do not think so.
Then they B&M because they just cannot do that because they are too fat. Well, that should give them some incintive to do something about it.
Have you ever watched them eat at an all you can eat restuarant. Not one, but two and somethimes three plates piled so high that the food is falling off of the plate. Then they say I was just hungry. BS! That is lack of self control.
I know mine was caused by medical. Metabolism hit the bottom, but I did not let that stop me. No meds, just exercise and getting away from Macs and Whoppers and killing the three and four 20 oz sugar saturated drinks I was consuming each day. So, yes it can be done. My doctor was surprised that I was able to do it without meds.
At the rate I am now going, I should make it by Halloween.
And this is a typical copout. Gene disorders can be controlled by medications along with staying out of Burger King. Also there is a difference in a full figured woman and a large slob and most people can see the difference. A slob has more fat hanging under their arms than most people have on their bodies.
I went through the insults myself and those insults is what gave me the desire to change. So, if I can do it, you can. There is no excuses accepted.
Paul, I think you have a GREAT message to share. I have a friend who has lost 100 lbs within the last 3 years. She motivates me everyday to be a healthier person. If you could stop being so rude for one second and just be positive, I think people could benefit from your experience. Please stop being so rude. It doesn’t do anything for the message you are trying to send.
Nebraskan,
It’s called tough love. Give people an inch, they take a mile. Leave any opening for an excuse and they will take it and run. No matter what the situation!
In a previous life I was a personal trainer. I heard every excuse in the book. Sometimes the only way to reach people was to bluntly shove it in their face. You are clinically obese! You are shortening your lifespan! If you would like to reverse this situation, this is what you have to do!
It isn’t easy, but that’s why they call it Tough Love.
This isn’t about tough love, it’s about being rude. You managed to express the same thing that I believe Paul is trying to say, but were much more “professional” (for lack of a better word) about it.
There’s a huge difference between being tough on someone and just being plain rude.
Obese people are not looking for special favors. Why should any comment be made? I don’t care if you’re rude or just ‘trying to help’ It’s no one’s business.
Just because someone weighs 100 or 400 doesn’t give ANYONE the right to say anything. Why is it that if you say the wrong compliment to a well endowed woman you can be hauled up on sexual harassment charges but you can say anything to any overweight person and society accepts it? Some reporter told Kirstie Alley to turn her fat *** around so he could get a pic- he SHOULD have been punched. And if she’d given his name I would have been sure to NEVER buy any magazine that published any of his material again.
My weight is my business. Just as anyone you see on the street. You have no idea what their life is like, you have no idea if they have health issues, or just emotional ones. Doesn’t matter. It’s no one’s business.
And, yes, I have gotten into verbal and almost physical altercations regarding comments made to my friends because of their weight. Wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
Fat people can lose weight. Rude people? There’s no hope.
Hey: I got news for all of you: if you don’t want “your business” [i.e. health, life style, privacy, etc.] being everyone else’s, then you better prepare yourselves for government-run healthcare; because it’s gonna be up to a bureaucrat to decide what’s good for you…….
Ok, Nebraskan. I see your point and will admit that there can be some grey area between tough love and being rude. But if I had a nasty habit (in this case, of ignoring my health) and it took somebody to be rude and call me fata$$ to change my lifestyle, I would consider it a small price to pay. Name calling now, but adding years to my life later. Well worth the cost!
If someone was excruciatingly thin, to the point that they were boney, sickly, and malnourished, I think many people would feel like they needed to say something. If you didn’t say anything and they ended up very sick or even dead, would you feel bad that you didn’t say anything?
So if someone is overweight to the point that they are making themselves sick and possibly leading up to their death, we should keep our mouths shut because its their own business?
I agree that we shouldn’t be mean or hateful about it, but if you say others should mind their own business when it comes to weight then aren’t you maybe, sometimes, just a little bit asking them not to care about you?
There is a huge difference between a family member or close friend who KNOWS the story behind weight ( maybe it’s medical, maybe it’s depression,) trying to help that person and somebody on the street yelling “hey fatass!”
Calling out an overweight person that you don’t know is not the way to go – ever.
If I thought for one second my husband would leave me because of my weight, I’d kick him out right now. You either love someone or you don’t.
You have the figure you had at 20, (good for you for that, by the way) does your husband? Most men that are the most likely to leave their wives over weight have to BUY the next girlfriend because they’re no prize themselves.
And, again, it only seems to be the white ones that care. I adore Queen Latifa- she’s great. But there is no doubt that if she were white she would never stand any chance of being a ‘cover girl’ model.
Have to be unrealistically (usually anorexic or using cocaine) skinny to be considered beautiful for white women ads.
Who was being rude? I made an read the comments and made an observation and stated it. The people saying it was rude must have looked in the mirror this morning and said to themselves “You know, he is right, I am a lard ***. I am not going to take it. I am going to blast him for saying it.”
Also, if my comments work to make someone take responisbility for theirselves,great, if it didn’t, then when you do not get to enjoy your grandkids, because all of that fat suffocated your lard ***, it is not because it was not brought up.
A slur is a slur is a slur and you’d think in 2009, we could have moved beyond using them.
Do you have daughters, Paul? A wife? How would you feel if someone called your mother a lard @$$?
What if your mom had pale, freckled skin and red curly hair and people called her the numerous mean things associated with that?
Would it be alright if they did that, as long as it urged her to change her hair and get a tan or cover it with make up?
You can call me a “lard @$$” if you want. I’ve been called worse. But don’t let me catch YOU “B!tching and Moaning” over your bloody nose after you call me that. K? Since, y’know, it’s the “b!tching and moaning” that can’t be tolerated, as you said.
Dawn,
I keep hearing this “my business” comment from you and others in all these posts. It’s simply not true. The reason we spend so much on healthcare in this country is 50% related to behavior/choices. We are all subsidizing your poor choices with higher health insurance costs, higher prices on almost everything we buy because of an unhealthy population causing higher benefit and workers comp costs that have to be passed on to the consumers.
Higher healthcare costs have a lot more to do with illegals (at least in Fla, Ca, and other border states) and uninsured then any fat people. And now that well care visits and pre-emptive tests come under the $5K ded, more people won’t go to the doctor until they are very sick. I know I can’t. So it will go up more.
There are just as many anorexics/bulemics in this country as there are obese. But they’re easier on the eyes. People are much more inclined to yell ‘hey fatass’ then they are to yell ‘hey, bones’. Seems to me that obese people are already paying more for life insurance, and if they are trying to get independant health insurance they pay more as well.
Enough already. Mental, genes, harmones, family problems, depression. Those folks are in the micro-minority when it comes to weight problems. Obese people eat too much of the wrong thing in this country. If one eats 4 pounds of greens every day for a month…no weight gain. If one eats 4 pounds of ground beef a day for a month not only will there be weight gain..there will be clogged everything.
Eat what’s good for your body and get over it. All too simple actually. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.
Sorry Dawn, but you just don’t have your facts straight. Roughly 40% of the population in overweight or obese. A study by Kaiser in 2003 (so the costs have only gone up) shows that the costs for that group was $3,000 to $5,000 more per year. That’s $360,000,000,000 (yes that’s billion) per year on the low end. Is coverage for illegals a problem? Yes. Does it even come close to the costs of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. cause by poor food/exercise choices? No. Not by a long shot.
Give a hateful comment, get an unpleasant response.
I imagine if you go around calling people names and slurs in person (and admit it, have you really?) then you’ve probably received more than a few well-deserved smacks upside the head.
Don’t you worry what my lard@$$ costs you, Paul. I’m comfortably employed and I married well. Which just goes to show, AGAIN, that you can’t tell by l_o_o_k_i_n_g at someone what their story is or what their weight is “costing you”.
Thank goodness for people like Dawn who have the big brass balls it takes to show a shred of compassion and humanity in today’s I-Me-Mine world.
Yes, overweight folks may be costing us all more. And so do smokers and so does allot of other categories we can put people into. Some of these categories are hereditary issues. Yes weight can be hereditary too.
My concern is where does this stop? First they went after the drug abuser. Then the smoker. Now Obesity. What is next? Anyone with a genetic marker for Heart Problems? Or maybe we will find that blue eyes and blond hair are indicators that one is more likely to have skin Cancer. So let’s just push them to the side too.
At some point everyone that looks different from the policy makers or has a different life style is not included. So be careful, what every makes you unique may be what they go after next.
Think ahead. Do not be fooled.
by doing 200 pushups and 300 situps every night. No more obesity, and no more back problems. Come on. Be a man. Don’t be a punk. Be a man.
Or, perhaps companies could invest in better healthcare options for their employees. Fully covering things like weight reduction programs, exercise programs, weight reduction surgery when medically neccesary and certain weight loss medications when medically neccesary. Absolutely weight loss is about personal responsibility but there are a large percentage of persons out there that have done exactly what they are supposed to do and still are obese. Obesity has many psychological issues that go along with it but again, most healthcare plans severely limit the coverage available to employees for mental health. I think if the employers put forth programs that empower their employees to eat healthy and exercise more regularly they would see much better results.
I agree with Jupiter, But what about restaurants serving normal sized portions again? I mean everywhere you go the food that they give you is enough to feed 3. I am not saying that it is the only reason, but it could help. I have had a weight problem since my late twenties and I have only myself to blame for not controlling my eating, but now that I know, I have done something about it nas I am now a perfect weight for my height and I am HEALTHY, But it comes with alot of hardwork and disipline and I stopped eating out. Everywhere you go it is super sized portions.. If we cut down portiosn to normal size, I bet we could feed most of the starving…..And again, Health plans should cover some of these costs (if the particiapnt is actually doing something with it)in the long run they will save themselves a lot of money!
What about personal responsibility? Obesity is not work-related and should not be a compensible WC claim. The condition spawns other medical problems that are equally un-related to the workplace and should not be compensible either. People have a responsibility to live as healthy as possible. If they choose not to, or if their condition is hopeless, that isn’t WC. Let them apply for disability. A little self-control wouldn’t hurt either. I see many behmoths in my building everyday. They get free transportation from the city, use elevators, sit on their fat _ss allday, and belly up to the meal trough and eat whatever they please. It’s hard to have any sympathy for people who are too lazy to help themselves.
I’ll tell you what… People and thinktanks and “Do-Gooders” have way too much time on their hands.
Please for a change worry about yourselves and not what everyone else is doing.
It’s not bad enough that the statistics they quote for the comparison are to people that are “morbidly obese”. Not just overweight, but “morbidly obese”!!!
Nice study. Again throwing medicine’s ever changing standards into a comparison with the absolute most overwieght group of people. Perhaps the charts that prescribe height and weight standards aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
I’m going to get myself a Supersize value meal now, with a supersize Diet Coke.
Not that it’s anyone’s business…
ITA- the standards do seem to change whenever someone gets a whim.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that food addiction is every bit as real as alcoholism or drug addiction. Treatment only goes so far. A vast majority of what is now called morbidly obese have serious mental health issues. Calling them lazy, fat or any of the other names that people here love doesn’t help. Makes it worse 100% of the time.
Do you guys hang out at the halfway house to call recovering alcoholics drunks? Maybe at a methadone clinic to harass the drug users while they’re trying to get straight. Not much difference.
The most morbidly obese people I know – 3 of them- I met them at all completely different places and times in my life. All three of them had horrible childhoods – lots of pain, lots of the same issues that drug addicts or alcoholics have. Their ‘drug of choice’ is food. Just because it’s a big mac and not cocaine doesn’t mean it’s any easier to quit.
You think people weight 400 lbs because it’s fun?
I understand your position quite well but I just can’t wonder when people will take responsibility for their own health instead of always looking for someone else to do it for them, someone else to pay for it for them, as if they are “entitled” to a healthier lifestyle but that is should be given to them, not earned…why must we always have a carrot when maybe a swift kick in the butt is needed? Isn’t being healthy reward enough?
Or..Jupiter, we could lock them up and feed them bugs and water for 60 days then give them a good flogging for to compesnate for the rent. See if they are fat after that
Excuses. That’s all they are. “I’m fat cause daddy beat me.” “I drink cause my mom was an alcoholic.” “I use drugs ’cause my sister was an addict.”
Choices, and poor ones at that. I don’t make tons of money. Does that mean I should go out and rob a bank? I’m entitled to that, aren’t I? Because I am not making 6 figures, right?
Stop making excuses. Stop blaming everyone for your problems. Stop whining.
Start making good choices.
It’s nice to read comments from someone (dawn) who has empathy for others. I have been of average weight all my life, and I have seen others exercise far more discipline over when and how they eat, only to fight a (usually) losing battle against weight.
It’s hard to watch people struggle with weight, drugs, or alcohol only to have people who have never been there try to kick them while they’re down.
I fight with my weight everyday of my life. I’ve found that at the same height/weight, I’ve gone from overweight, to morbidly obese, to obese, to overweight, to about 10 lbs over weight back to obese, etc. Depending on the ‘chart of choice’ that year. Could I stand to lose a few lbs? Yes. Would I like to? Yes. I tried exercising for 2 hours a day and only taking in 500 calories a day. Nothing. It sucks. I couldn’t imagine having to lose 100lbs.
Weight loss is a multibillion dollar industry because people want to lose weight.
I know someone who has been to Mayo, John’s Hopkins, etc – his metabolism barely registers. 25 doctors standing around scratching their heads trying to figure out why. No answers. Only more questions. He’s almost committed suicide several times over cruel comments by people who have no idea what he’s been through. At 375 he draws a lot of attention. Not one of these specialists have any idea what to tell him. He’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.
I don’t know anyone that is morbidly obese that doesn’t have something wrong – be it physical or emotional. But people would rather kick them then treat them with a shred of humanity. Most, if not 90% of all drug addicts have some sort of mental illness that led to the drugs. ADHD, Bipolar, Manic Depression, etc. But insurance only pays for 30 days inpatient a year, then only I believe 20 outpatient sessions. Not nearly enough.
It’s sad. I’m not saying that there aren’t some that have simply made bad choices, but making general statements just makes people look heartless and cruel.
I had no idea that there would be such vehemence from so many people on this issue. Anna, Fankie, Reagan, I’m sorry for you that you have so much dislike of people different from you or people that don’t meet your clearly unrealistic and stringent expectations. I can only guess that is not just overweight people you do not care for but pretty much anyone who doesn’t look like you, act like you or speak like you. I have learned that people without empathy and the willingness to see people for who they are, what they can do and not what they look like rarely succeed in life. Stat Guy, I agree people have to take responsibility for themselves, but just as Dawn noted, many people suffer from a true food addition and a swift kick in the butt is not going to help but rather usually demoralizes a person further which feeds their depression which exacerbates the food addition which exacerbates the depression, low self worth and self loathing and the vicious cycle starts over. Stat Guy I merely mention the insurance coverage as an option for people. Gastric Bypass and the Lap band are well documented weight loss options but cost $20-30K. The amount in the long run a WC carrier may pay for an injured employee that is obese is probably far more than that, yet I doubt you will find many companies that cover any or even a percentage of this cost.
Sheesh, guys. The article is about statistics. I can only assume most of you are in the insurance business considering this is INSURANCE JOURNAL. As you surely know, our industry operates largely off statistics. I don’t see this as an article attacking people who are over weight or morbidly obese, it is simply stating what the numbers show. Although I can agree that numbers can be interpreted differently, I believe there is surely some merit to the statistics.
I hear what you are saying. I agree with
most of it. But you must also understand
that sometimes work related injuries result in a person’s inability to exercise. I was perfectly healthy. I ran
at least a mile a day and was an ideal
weight and size. While driving my car
on my debit, another car ran a red light
and hit me in the driver’s side. It totaled my car and left me unable to turn
my head. I have had surgery, physical therapy, acupuncture, and many other medical procedures but the pain has not
stopped. I was told that I have fibromyalgia, and more discs are bulging
and/or damaged. I am not able to even walk for long now because I have developed heel spurs. I have not started eating more, but I keep gaining weight. I am unable to do most conventional exercises. Six years of this has led me to become obese. My doctor prescribed aqua therapy. My insurance does not cover this and I can’t afford to join a gym, nor do I have access to a pool. I am still working when people I know that have my same complaints are now drawing disability. I can’t take just any weight loss drugs because of the medications that I take-which does not include powerful narcotics for pain. I refuse to take strong pain meds, and just
get by the best that I can. What is the answer for people like me?
The article talks about the rapid increase in obesity over the past 17 years. What has changed so drastically over this time period? For one, kids sit around playing video games, watching tv, surfing the internet and other activities that don’t require much physical exertion. Parents fill themselves up with junk food and fast food instead of taking the time to prepare a good meal. Someone has mentioned that we need better healthcare benefits to combat this growing problem. Don’t you just love that attitude. Eat till your obese and then rely on the doctor to staple you stomach or whatever they do.
Suze,
You are the exception to the rule and I am very sorry to hear of your awful predicament. I am overweight and have no excuse, other than I work too much. Any excuse will do. The long and short of it is that we are a society of fat people who need to exercise more and eat less.
There are cases where medical and mental issues prevent or inhibit weight loss. Those, in the aggregate, are in the minority. The bottom line is this: You are what you eat. Consider Japan, Korea and other SEA nations. Fish and veggies. Consider our billboards and TV advertisements. Food and more food. The kind of food high in fat, sugar and sodium. End of story. Eat less and eat right America or die.
Jupiter, the last area of acceptable and even encouraged predudice in this country is fat people. I used to be morbidly obese. I had no idea how people looked away from me or avoided me entirely until I lost the weight. I realize that for all those years I wasn’t considered entirely human by the skinny people. Fat, lazy, stupid, unable to make good choices. All acceptable things to call fat people, sometimes deserved, mostly not. You who think that it’s easy to lose weight and (here’s the hard part)keep it off, are just wrong. I saw a sign recently about treating people for depression that said “If they had cancer, would you tell them to just get over it?” Sounds about right here. It’s not as simple as some of the simple posters on this site would make it.
Doughnut!!!
Here’s the thing about being fat… people can look at you and know you’re fat.
BUT… they can’t tell by looking /why/ you’re fat or what your health is like generally.
Oh how they love to assume though. They assume and make horrible comments or discriminate based on their assumptions.
Dawn nailed it when she said a lot of people would rather kick someone they presume to be down than to treat them respectfully or with kindness.
Too bad you can’t tell by looking at someone whether they’re cruel, violent, bigoted or dishonest. It would be a whole different world then wouldn’t it?
I have read through the snips and slams and it is the same old thing, the haves and the have nots. Obesity, now is called a disease.
Disease my ***, most of the problems with obesity, is not eating right. Close the damn fridge door and get off of that *** and walk around the block. Cut the Twinkies out of your kids diet and go to the kitchen and fix a decent meal, not “Mickey D’s”.
Yes, there are some peole with problems, but not this damn many. I am fat because Daddy did not love me, I am fat because …., because… because… Blame it on someone else. You are fat because you have no control and you enjoy the pity party that is around you and your fat friends. Have a pity party and order pizza and soft drinks. Sit on the sofa and consume chips, dip and soft drinks galore in front of the TV with your fat kids. Pity, Pity, Pity. I was overweight, no fat by almost 100 pounds. What did I do, I stopped pitying myself, stopped “Mickey D’s and Hardees” and told all of the others that were trying to say, Wo is me! BS, It took 9 months, I am now 25 pounds overweight and I have set a goal, by my birthday in December, I will be back at 165 pounds, supposedly my ideal weight, that I weighed as a senior in high school.
So, the biggest blame, is you have no self-conrol, close that mouth, get off that fat *** and move. If not, do not complain when your insurance company refuses to pay for a belly staple, or your employer refuses to pay you WC when your fat *** breaks your desk chair and you hit the floor.
Now, I guess I will catch it from all of the bleeding hearts. So be it. let it fly!
Amen brother. I am overweight and it is my fault. Did I mention most of my family is also overweight, so it probably is more genetic than my fault????
Kidding.
Good for you- you did what you needed to do and you lost the weight. Keeping it off will be your next challenge, and I’m not being sarcastic when I wish you good luck.
But this is my question for you- at your heaviest did someone pointing at you and yelling ‘hey fat-***’ make you feel like going to the gym or eating another cookie?
You are right. Everyone has problems. I’m sure there are habits you have that go back to something that happened to you as a child. You shake your hands three times after you wash them, you brush your teeth exactly 45 times, etc. Some rituals or habits that you may not even be aware of that you’ve carried with you through the years. Not easy habits to break, whether they are good for you or bad for you. For some people eating is no different.
Mommy gives a cookie to stop crying. That instills food as comfort to alleviate an emotion. Later, that same child turns to food as an adult. They either turn obese, bulimic or anorexic. It’s really that simple some times. Breaking that habit is next to impossible.
I used to get a small toy twice a week after an allergy shot. Nothing big- just something in the $.50 range in the store next to the doctor’s office. To this day when something bad happens, it’s everything I can do to stop myself from running to the store and buying myself something. Comfort. The only difference is the price of the toys. LOL
An addictive personality is also a common trait in drug addicts, alcoholics, and food addicts. I took up smoking to stop eating when I was 18. Now I’m so afriad I’ll go back to eating I’m afraid to quit smoking. Go figure. I know I have an addictive personality- never even tried cocaine or anything like that- knew I wouldn’t be able to stop if I did.
People don’t always fit into the ‘norm’. Latchkey kids get what’s cheap and can be made in the micorwave. Nothing good in that.
Food has also gotten higher in saturated fat. Salt has been increased in food. Until the recession started the size of a normal dinner in a restaurant was huge. Diet sodas have never had more sodium in them then they do now. Worse for you then the sugar. More preservatives, more additives, you name it there’s more of it. I’ve long suspected that has a lot to do with the exponential increase in food allergies. And I’m sure it has something to do with the increase in obesity as well.
Just my opinion. Best of luck to you.
This comes back to the old addage that the pain must outweigh the pleasure before change can be made successefully. For example until you get more pain from being overweight (health condition, low selfesteem, etc) you aren’t going to overcome the pleasure (though brief) gained from the sugar rush or carbo calming. Sometimes someone calling us a name may be enough to get us motivated to take positive action on correcting the bad behaviors, regardless of how deep rooted they may be.
Gee Paul, thanks for proving that not only fat people are stupid and lazy. You are too stupid and lazy to give any actual thought to the situation. Believe me, I’m the last person you want to call a bleeding heart, but we all need to look at people as people, not classes of people. How many fat people do you actually look at and see a human? From your comments I would say none.
If obesity were a world-wide epidemic, where the human race was on the brink of extinction, then I might have some sympathy. But it isn’t. There are many developed countries that don’t have this obesity problem. It is an American thing. We are lazy, always looking for the easy way out and not willing to take responsibility for our actions. If I wanted to, I could very easily eat pizza, hot dogs, chicken wings, subs… every night of the week. But I know I would put on unwanted weight very quickly. I could sit on my a$$ every night, watching TV and not exercise one bit. But I know I would put on unwanted weight very quickly.
It is a choice. Yes, there are people who for legitimate medical reason, have a difficult time losing weight. But they are in the minority. The rest??? I guess they choose not to eat properly or exercise.
I don’t hate drunks, junkies or fat people. But I do have no respect for people who are in an unfortunate situation, constantly complain about it yet do nothing to change that situation.
Hey, more power to ya if you want to be obese and are comfortable with it!
I look at fat people and see a human. A whole lotta human!! Kinda hard to miss them, in fact.
Yes Fankie, I agree. You should be allowed to be ignorant and predudiced too. It’s your right as an American. I hope nobody looks on you as less than human because of your lack of intelligent thought.
No Joey, you don’t. If you actually gave it a moments real thought, you don’t see them as human.
Yes! Yes!!! You figured me out. I am prejudiced against… well, you name ’em, I hate ’em!!!!
Wait a minute… It’s not my fault. I don’t know whose fault it is, but it surely ain’t my fault.
Ahhhh! Ignorance is bliss… Now where’s them Twinkies!
Unfortunately, most people don’t see overweight people as human.
But it does seem to be only white people. Has anyone ever wondered why the Cover Girl model for white girls/women is Heidi Klum and the Cover Girl model for black girls/women is Queen Latifa? (just for the record, I like Queen Latifa)
Black, white. Gay, straight. Fat, thin. Male, female. Polish, Italian.
Everyone gets discriminated against at some point in their life. Do you CHOOSE to let it upset you, or do you brush it off? If I took offense at every Polish joke I heard, I wouldn’t have very many friends. And if you say you never tell any racial, ethnic, sexist, religious jokes… you are a better person than most.
Gee Joey, try being one of those people who are less than human sometime. It’s not much fun. I have said for years, the least respected people in this country would have to be overweight black women. Certainly a source of amusement for all of you outstanding posters out there.
No offense taken from you- I’ve had discussions with you long enough to know that you don’t usually intentionally offend people.
I also know a few that have had it- unfortunately, insurance companies aren’t always ready to pay for this one. Medically necessary or not. BCBS approved it for a friend of mine in July, but the plan renewed in Sept, and since there are 15 less employees this year, they had to change the plan- not covered now. $26K on her credit cards and now she’s in debt consolidation. But whatever it ends up doing to her credit was worth it. She’ll always have issues- they literally pump her with thousands of mgs of prednizone for Lupus, but right now she feels better then she’s felt in years.
Cheyenne Phillips, Ann Wilson, a few stars had the gastric bypass (the most invasive, dangerous, and permanent) and still, over a period of a few years, gained the weight back. I would be willing to bet that theirs could be classified an addiction?
But it’s hard to see people that I really adore being tormented by the public in general. I was on a LOT of steroids as a child for Asthma- long before they realized what steroids did to the human body. My nickname in Elementary school was ‘fatso’. Couldn’t shake it even as I grew taller and lost a lot of that extra weight. People in general are cruel.
Have a good one!
I think what Dawn was trying to say is….a person always has to eat. No matter who you are, what you do, you have to eat food in order to survive. And for some people, they use food as a drug. Instead of drinking or using drugs, they use food. The irony is, we call alcoholism a disease, but you have a choice to never drink again. But thanks to our wonderful medical industry, they labeled it as a disease. Yet obesity is something we just laugh at and say you have a choice. Me personally, I have two fat parents who come from two fat families….but it’s my CHOICE to be fat. :)
Pretty much. It’s very hard to understand unless you’ve been there or loved someone that was.
Your choice or not, it doesn’t give people (like Joey) the right to call names or slander. Clothes are harder to find, jobs are harder to get, people are rude and nasty.
Good for you if you’ve chosen to jump off the diet merry-go-round.
Your name says it all. I did not slam one person, I slammed an entire group. If you read my comment through before you spouted off, you would have seen that I mentioned the medical necessary, but 99% is not medical necessary problems, it is that fat *** sitting on the couch feeding their face because their “touchy feely feelings” we hurt. BS, get over it, grow up.
Mine was caused by a medical problem (cancer) and then I used the pity for the weight gain and the cause of the weight gain. After putting the pity party away, getting off of my ***, the weight started coming off, my disposition changed, and I started all over with a new life.
So I have been there and done that. Medical problem my ***. The problem is that the oversize portions served now is just too much. No one needs no more that 1,400 calories a day. That Big Mac that you stuffed in your face for lunch with the oversize order blew your calories for two days. Now tell me I am wrong.
There is no problem with splurging every once in a while, but that is every once in a while to enjoy a Whopper, but not three times a day, everyday.
So, lard asses, you get no sympathy from me. I have worked nine months to get where I am and I now enjoy the new me, the new clothes and the attitude of people around me. By the way 23 more to go!
In other words, ridiculing the group rather than the individial is ok. That really is the definition of a bigot. I’m sorry for your lack of character. I’m done commenting on this one.
Wish I knew for which companies some of you worked so my fat @$$ could take my business elsewhere.
Any of you big bad talkers care to admit it?
The facts are, and I only deal in facts, that more than most of our COUNTRY is overweight or obese. WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. I lived in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Phillipines. Those people are what they eat. We in this country eat what’s not good for us. They eat what is. End of story.
Those of you who are defending the overweight population, can you please give me your answer to this question? What percentage of those who are obese do you feel, are obese for legitimate medical reasons? Anyone care to throw out a number????
man…in that case, I’m in trouble. I just stuffed myself at an Indian buffet!
I like how you say, “to all you lard a$$es…” when you are a fatty fatty two by four yourself. I just hope you have a pretty face so when you get to your “goal weight” it wasn’t all for nothing.
Hey Ralph..if you get fat it won’t be because of the 4 lbs of curry and rice, it will because of the ice cream you had on teh way home. :-}
Dick Cheney is fat. There are pictures of him putting butter on apples.
What does the “reason” for being fat have to do with it? Because people should somehow judge us less if we are medically excused?
My big body is my business and mine alone. I know why I’m fat and I know what I’m doing about it.
I also know I’m still the same person no matter what I weigh and it just blows my mind that some people will treat me differently after I lose weight.
Kind of annoys me. Why wait until I look different to respect me? I will still be the exact same person I am now.
But remember KLS, Joey has such a low opinion of himself he transfers his shallow classification of himself as fat, stupid and ugly to all fat people. Fat people just aren’t pretty, which is what is important to people such as himself. I have always been a good person, not pretty, but good. People like Joey couldn’t look past the fat to see a person. They only see fat. Their loss. I would like to say nobody likes to be fat, but that would be classing fat people as a group rather than looking at them as people.
Let me extend my apologies to dawn and Jupiter because I did not mean to offend; I was making rhetorical observations. I know about 10-12 people who have undergone the lapband procedure and while it is expensive and extreme, all of them have been successful in getting their weight down, after years of trying everything else. But I must have not really noticed how their attitude and demeanor have changed, how their self-esteem has gone through the roof. I was not aware how hard they struggled with this because they never mentioned it. b these folks were good candidates for the procedure; what I am concerned about is those who just made careless choices growing up and still refuse to act any differently but complain and whine. It takes initiative to change so only those who do not see themselves as victims do any better. I did not mean to paint everyone with the same broad brush.
No, Paul, my outside looks are not my only concern as your’s appear to be. You are a bigot. You act as if all fat people are as shallow as you rather than each one being an individual. What else is a bigot?
My outside appearance did concern me as well as wht is was doing to my health. I remember what it was like before. Not having to huff after climbing stairs, having to take two seats on a plane, the rude comments, not beingable to buy clothes that fit ans seeingmy medical test border on high sugar and high fats in my system.
As for being a bigot, you are wrong there. I found out that all it takes is a little willpower to do it, so no, unless you have a medical problem it is then it is a disease, but being fat because you cannot keep your lard *** out of the fridge and gourge yourself everytime you eat is not a disease. It means that you have no care for yourself or other around you. I think being called a glutton more fits the picture because that is what you are. I have no pity for someone that will not take the initiative to get the weight off and expects everybody to give them a pity party and let them have concessions because they ar fat. Sorry, if that is being a bigot………….
I give up Paul. Keep thinking they are lazy and stupid. Your loss.
Fat people who complain about being fat, who do not have a medical reason for being fat, but are too lazy to do anything about it, are the people I have issues with. Same goes for drunks who complain but don’t anything. Same goes for drug users. Must not bother you enough if you aren’t doing anything about it, so WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU B’N ABOUT!!!!
And this applies to all my friends in my office who at lunch time, eat their Lean Cuisine meals but complain about not losing any weight. Oops, did you forget to mention the lack of exercise and all those stupid 100 calorie packs you cram down your throats??? Quit your B’n, exercise and make it a priority, as opposed to the novelty as how most people look at weight loss.
And if you are happy being fat? Great! I have no issue with the non-complainers.
Nebraskian, no I am not a fatty fatty two by four. My high weight according to the doc charts is 185 and my low weight is 165. I am now at 182.
Regardless, it was not all for nothing. Feeling better both inside and out side is what I am after and it has worked.
To Nobody, As for being a bigot, I have been called a lot worse. I am not a bigot, I alled it as I see it. Seems like someone has really thin skin.
There are no easy solutions, but an obvious one is education. Most people don’t exit school with a real understanding of diet, nutrition and healthy lifestyle. People need to search it out or have access to some other resource to learn healthy habits. As I often say in presentations, there is a disincentive in our society to be healthy. It is easier to drive somewhere than to walk or ride a bike. It’s easier and cheaper to get the “value meal” at a fast food restaurant then to find something healthy. Many employers are using incentives to reward people for staying healthy or getting healthier, much like Italy is doing as mentioned in the article. The plus side to this is that healthier people are more productive and spend less on health care. It is a WIN for everyone. One of the best ways to offer this education and incentive is through http://www.healthcheck360.com. HealthCheck360 is a way for people to learn about their own health and potential future risk and provides and objective measure so that employers can reward health and improvement.
It’s not my fault I’m large. It’s genes, and Burger King ads. Leave us large people alone, I’m so tired of being insulted :(
Joey, exactly the point I made. They B&M, woe is me, but won’t get off of the couch and do anything about it.
Then they B&M because other people will not get out of their way while they are waddling down the store corridors. Just becaue they are fat, does that give them the right of way? I do not think so.
Then they B&M because they just cannot do that because they are too fat. Well, that should give them some incintive to do something about it.
Have you ever watched them eat at an all you can eat restuarant. Not one, but two and somethimes three plates piled so high that the food is falling off of the plate. Then they say I was just hungry. BS! That is lack of self control.
I know mine was caused by medical. Metabolism hit the bottom, but I did not let that stop me. No meds, just exercise and getting away from Macs and Whoppers and killing the three and four 20 oz sugar saturated drinks I was consuming each day. So, yes it can be done. My doctor was surprised that I was able to do it without meds.
At the rate I am now going, I should make it by Halloween.
And this is a typical copout. Gene disorders can be controlled by medications along with staying out of Burger King. Also there is a difference in a full figured woman and a large slob and most people can see the difference. A slob has more fat hanging under their arms than most people have on their bodies.
I went through the insults myself and those insults is what gave me the desire to change. So, if I can do it, you can. There is no excuses accepted.
Paul, I think you have a GREAT message to share. I have a friend who has lost 100 lbs within the last 3 years. She motivates me everyday to be a healthier person. If you could stop being so rude for one second and just be positive, I think people could benefit from your experience. Please stop being so rude. It doesn’t do anything for the message you are trying to send.
Nebraskan,
It’s called tough love. Give people an inch, they take a mile. Leave any opening for an excuse and they will take it and run. No matter what the situation!
In a previous life I was a personal trainer. I heard every excuse in the book. Sometimes the only way to reach people was to bluntly shove it in their face. You are clinically obese! You are shortening your lifespan! If you would like to reverse this situation, this is what you have to do!
It isn’t easy, but that’s why they call it Tough Love.
This isn’t about tough love, it’s about being rude. You managed to express the same thing that I believe Paul is trying to say, but were much more “professional” (for lack of a better word) about it.
There’s a huge difference between being tough on someone and just being plain rude.
My body shape is one person’s business. MINE.
Obese people are not looking for special favors. Why should any comment be made? I don’t care if you’re rude or just ‘trying to help’ It’s no one’s business.
Just because someone weighs 100 or 400 doesn’t give ANYONE the right to say anything. Why is it that if you say the wrong compliment to a well endowed woman you can be hauled up on sexual harassment charges but you can say anything to any overweight person and society accepts it? Some reporter told Kirstie Alley to turn her fat *** around so he could get a pic- he SHOULD have been punched. And if she’d given his name I would have been sure to NEVER buy any magazine that published any of his material again.
My weight is my business. Just as anyone you see on the street. You have no idea what their life is like, you have no idea if they have health issues, or just emotional ones. Doesn’t matter. It’s no one’s business.
And, yes, I have gotten into verbal and almost physical altercations regarding comments made to my friends because of their weight. Wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
Fat people can lose weight. Rude people? There’s no hope.
Hey: I got news for all of you: if you don’t want “your business” [i.e. health, life style, privacy, etc.] being everyone else’s, then you better prepare yourselves for government-run healthcare; because it’s gonna be up to a bureaucrat to decide what’s good for you…….
Ok, Nebraskan. I see your point and will admit that there can be some grey area between tough love and being rude. But if I had a nasty habit (in this case, of ignoring my health) and it took somebody to be rude and call me fata$$ to change my lifestyle, I would consider it a small price to pay. Name calling now, but adding years to my life later. Well worth the cost!
I can’t help but throw this in…
If someone was excruciatingly thin, to the point that they were boney, sickly, and malnourished, I think many people would feel like they needed to say something. If you didn’t say anything and they ended up very sick or even dead, would you feel bad that you didn’t say anything?
So if someone is overweight to the point that they are making themselves sick and possibly leading up to their death, we should keep our mouths shut because its their own business?
I agree that we shouldn’t be mean or hateful about it, but if you say others should mind their own business when it comes to weight then aren’t you maybe, sometimes, just a little bit asking them not to care about you?
Praise Allah I have the svelte figure I had as a 20 year old. Why do American women let themselves go, it is not pleasing to their husband
There is a huge difference between a family member or close friend who KNOWS the story behind weight ( maybe it’s medical, maybe it’s depression,) trying to help that person and somebody on the street yelling “hey fatass!”
Calling out an overweight person that you don’t know is not the way to go – ever.
If I thought for one second my husband would leave me because of my weight, I’d kick him out right now. You either love someone or you don’t.
You have the figure you had at 20, (good for you for that, by the way) does your husband? Most men that are the most likely to leave their wives over weight have to BUY the next girlfriend because they’re no prize themselves.
And, again, it only seems to be the white ones that care. I adore Queen Latifa- she’s great. But there is no doubt that if she were white she would never stand any chance of being a ‘cover girl’ model.
Have to be unrealistically (usually anorexic or using cocaine) skinny to be considered beautiful for white women ads.
Who was being rude? I made an read the comments and made an observation and stated it. The people saying it was rude must have looked in the mirror this morning and said to themselves “You know, he is right, I am a lard ***. I am not going to take it. I am going to blast him for saying it.”
Also, if my comments work to make someone take responisbility for theirselves,great, if it didn’t, then when you do not get to enjoy your grandkids, because all of that fat suffocated your lard ***, it is not because it was not brought up.
A slur is a slur is a slur and you’d think in 2009, we could have moved beyond using them.
Do you have daughters, Paul? A wife? How would you feel if someone called your mother a lard @$$?
What if your mom had pale, freckled skin and red curly hair and people called her the numerous mean things associated with that?
Would it be alright if they did that, as long as it urged her to change her hair and get a tan or cover it with make up?
You can call me a “lard @$$” if you want. I’ve been called worse. But don’t let me catch YOU “B!tching and Moaning” over your bloody nose after you call me that. K? Since, y’know, it’s the “b!tching and moaning” that can’t be tolerated, as you said.
~winks~
Dawn,
I keep hearing this “my business” comment from you and others in all these posts. It’s simply not true. The reason we spend so much on healthcare in this country is 50% related to behavior/choices. We are all subsidizing your poor choices with higher health insurance costs, higher prices on almost everything we buy because of an unhealthy population causing higher benefit and workers comp costs that have to be passed on to the consumers.
Higher healthcare costs have a lot more to do with illegals (at least in Fla, Ca, and other border states) and uninsured then any fat people. And now that well care visits and pre-emptive tests come under the $5K ded, more people won’t go to the doctor until they are very sick. I know I can’t. So it will go up more.
There are just as many anorexics/bulemics in this country as there are obese. But they’re easier on the eyes. People are much more inclined to yell ‘hey fatass’ then they are to yell ‘hey, bones’. Seems to me that obese people are already paying more for life insurance, and if they are trying to get independant health insurance they pay more as well.
Enough already. Mental, genes, harmones, family problems, depression. Those folks are in the micro-minority when it comes to weight problems. Obese people eat too much of the wrong thing in this country. If one eats 4 pounds of greens every day for a month…no weight gain. If one eats 4 pounds of ground beef a day for a month not only will there be weight gain..there will be clogged everything.
Eat what’s good for your body and get over it. All too simple actually. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.
Like I said it earlier, I call them the way I see them. If your lardass is going to cost me money, then I have a right to complain.
If your lardass is going to cramp me in an airline seat, I still have that right.
If you force me to move over as you waddle down the aisle like a drunk, the right is still there.
Also, you would never get the chance to punch me in the nose.
Sorry Dawn, but you just don’t have your facts straight. Roughly 40% of the population in overweight or obese. A study by Kaiser in 2003 (so the costs have only gone up) shows that the costs for that group was $3,000 to $5,000 more per year. That’s $360,000,000,000 (yes that’s billion) per year on the low end. Is coverage for illegals a problem? Yes. Does it even come close to the costs of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. cause by poor food/exercise choices? No. Not by a long shot.
I’m just saying you get what you give.
Give a hateful comment, get an unpleasant response.
I imagine if you go around calling people names and slurs in person (and admit it, have you really?) then you’ve probably received more than a few well-deserved smacks upside the head.
Don’t you worry what my lard@$$ costs you, Paul. I’m comfortably employed and I married well. Which just goes to show, AGAIN, that you can’t tell by l_o_o_k_i_n_g at someone what their story is or what their weight is “costing you”.
Thank goodness for people like Dawn who have the big brass balls it takes to show a shred of compassion and humanity in today’s I-Me-Mine world.
Yes, overweight folks may be costing us all more. And so do smokers and so does allot of other categories we can put people into. Some of these categories are hereditary issues. Yes weight can be hereditary too.
My concern is where does this stop? First they went after the drug abuser. Then the smoker. Now Obesity. What is next? Anyone with a genetic marker for Heart Problems? Or maybe we will find that blue eyes and blond hair are indicators that one is more likely to have skin Cancer. So let’s just push them to the side too.
At some point everyone that looks different from the policy makers or has a different life style is not included. So be careful, what every makes you unique may be what they go after next.
Think ahead. Do not be fooled.