Is obesity a CHOICE?

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marathon64
marathon64 Posts: 378 Member
in Motivation and Support
I would never say based on looking at someone that they chose to be obese. This anchor for a local TV station received a private email from a viewer who confronted her that she was a bad role model because of her weight. You can hear her on air response here. This is a difficult and challenging topic as our society tries to solve the obesity epidemic. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUOpqd0rQSo&sns=fb
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Replies

  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    Although no-one would choose to be obese, you choose what you put in your mouth, which in my opinion is the same thing.

    That is not criticising anyone that is overweight; hell, I have the same problem or I wouldn't be here. But ultimately, anyone that loses weight makes the choice to start a healthy lifestyle.
  • fraser112
    fraser112 Posts: 405
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    I love this so much,
    just replace obese with smoker and you see how bad this really is. She avoids the point thats shes a bad roll model and claims giving someone health advice is bad.

    ITS NOT MY FAULT I EAT TO MUCH YOU BULLY.
  • Off10h8ed
    Off10h8ed Posts: 282 Member
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    I think in rare cases it is not.

    For the most part, yes. I am obese. I allowed myself to go when I was pregnant with my first child. I chose not to work on losing weight between babies number one and two. Again, between babies number two and three. I chose not to watch what I was eating over the years. I chose to eat junk food and chose not to monitor what I was eating, how much and why.

    Now, I am choosing to eat healthier, watch calories, fat and carbs and I am losing weight. Imagine that, I make conscious choices for better health and I am getting healthier. I don't think anyone INTENTIONALLY gets heavy but when we neglect ourselves and our diets, we are making a choice to become overweight.

    Just my honest opinion...
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    Now, I am choosing to eat healthier, watch calories, fat and carbs and I am losing weight. Imagine that, I make conscious choices for better health and I am getting healthier. I don't think anyone INTENTIONALLY gets heavy but when we neglect ourselves and our diets, we are making a choice to become overweight.

    Well said. :flowerforyou:
  • chinatbag
    chinatbag Posts: 249 Member
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    I think it is and it isn't. There are plenty of disorders, psychological or endocrine, that can contribute to obesity. While the psychological ones may seem like choices, they're obviously viewed negatively and attached with many negative stigmas, when in reality, eating is a coping mechanism for some people.

    So is it a choice? It kind of is if you take away the endocrine disorders and psychological coping. Then again, think about how easy it is for us to gain access to certain foods or to eat the foods we "like to eat". Eating feels good, but we have to teach ourselves how to eat and when to stop our cravings. It's very much a choice to adopt a healthy life style as it is to stay with an unhealthy one.
  • ashnm88
    ashnm88 Posts: 748
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    Put junk in your body, what's the result? Not nice. Make healthy choices and you will be rewarded with a healthy body.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I think in most cases it is not, I think alot of obesity starts with being fed generously at home out of comfort and kindness, little education on nutrician and how to cook properly and ease and cheapness of high fat high sugar processed foods. I also don't think eradicating all obese people off our tv screens will help one jot, however erradicating fast food commercials aimed at children might.
  • Usbornegal
    Usbornegal Posts: 601 Member
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    My son showed me this clip and I thought it was fabulous. When you see someone, you do not know where they are on their journey, what struggles they face, and what they are doing about it. The fact that obesity is such a target for bullying is real, and for some reason people think it is OK to be mean to someone just because of their weight. This anchor addressed the society attitude head on and she was clear, concise and very brave to do it.

    Every one should be a healthy weight. No one should smoke. Motorcyclists should always wear helmets. Kids shouldn't run around barefoot in rocky ground. People should get colonoscopies regularly. There are all kinds of 'shoulds' about how we should be safer, healthier, smarter. But bottom line, making that choice or avoiding it, does not affect a persons worth or right to be treated with respect.
  • kepete
    kepete Posts: 268 Member
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    Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.
  • KateParker01
    KateParker01 Posts: 33 Member
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    The point is that which our mothers used to teach us back in the ice age - if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Why does that man care so much he took the time to write and send an email? It's none of his damn business, and she was absolutely right to call him out on it. It *is* bullying behaviour and it shouldn't have any place in decent society.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    I'm not arguing if it's right or wrong, it could've gone either way, but I think the person that wrote the email was genuinely trying to help and encourage her to become healthy.

    The fact is, those of you that think it is a choice, once again it can go either way.
    It is very rare for people to decide to become overweight.
    It is a very rare case where people that are overweight haven't made an attempt to become more healthy.

    I've certainly never heard of an overweight person that hasn't tried to lose weight. I know plenty that pretend they don't want to in order to save face.
  • brevislux
    brevislux Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Honestly, I admire her. The fact she might make bad lifestyle choices (or has a disease, because honestly - we just don't know) doesn't mean anyone has the right to bring her down. Even if he is right, he is still a bully. And while it is important everyone makes good life choices, it is important people respect others no matter what they do.

    To the topic - not many people tell themselves, "I would like to get to the 'obese' range within 12 months!". I believe some people make the choice not to really care about their health.
  • tnmyers23
    tnmyers23 Posts: 108 Member
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    Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.


    This^^^^
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.
    As I believe otherwise, I see your post as criticising, judging and thus bullying me!

    ;)
  • RVfrog
    RVfrog Posts: 213 Member
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    Just maybe his email will get her attention enough and help her think about her weight a little more. Also, they said he offered to help her lose weight. But he did not apologize. When you are on TV ....you are out there for people to pick on you. It's bad enough in your personal life to be picked on. I think she should of also reported that he offered to help her.......so if that is the case.....she did not report the whole story. I've been picked on talked about with my weight. None of it helped me lose it. I had to come to the decision all by myself. It's a personal choice for everyone. That is my 2 cents worth.
  • marycmeadows
    marycmeadows Posts: 1,691 Member
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    speaking of which - this girl is going to be on the today show this morning I believe.... I'll have to see what I think after I talk to her... I think that obesity is a choice, maybe not always a conscious choice - BUT I don't think someone should be judged because of their weight. that being said, I also now think that anyone that truly loves themselves will love themselves enough to take control and make healthy choices and CHOOSE to live a healthy lifestyle.
  • mcpjan
    mcpjan Posts: 76 Member
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    No one has the right to bully anyone whether it is about their weight, hair color or the way the talk. Bullying is not to be allowed. I agree she had every right to call him out.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    I think ignorance plays a larger role than making proper choices. Someone can truly be unaware of the damage he or she is doing to himself or herself. Mental and emotional balance plays a role as well.

    I became statistically obese (based on BMI and BF%) after I received a leg injury. I was accustomed to eating very large quantities because I was extremely active prior to the injury. However, though I knew about eating healthy, I didn't know a darn thing about proper proportions based on energy level. That, and the trauma of receiving such an injury made it so I didn't think twice about how much I ate. Not to mention the emotional eating from the bits of depression I went through.

    I didn't realize what I was doing to myself until I had put on 40+ lbs. After that, it was incredibly difficult to actually do anything about it until I hopped back on here (for a reason completely separate from weight loss). Now everything is just falling into place.
  • cgarand
    cgarand Posts: 541 Member
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    I saw her response to the email too. I say good for her! The person who wrote her is way out of line. She is a news anchor, not a personal trainer. So, how is she a bad role model because of her weight? Some people act like if you are overweight you live on junk food and don't move from the couch, that just isn't true for a lot of people. Some people just have to work harder to be fit than others, it's a fact. The man who wrote her didn't write out of concern for her health, he wrote because he feels that women who report the news should fit his ideal of what 'beautiful' is. It has nothing to do with her ability to do her job. If that were an overweight male anchor that guy would have NEVER written the email.

    A few things happened recently that made me wonder if people actually hate fat people, and why. This is another example.
  • MegaByte81
    MegaByte81 Posts: 11 Member
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    I don't think the weight is the choice. The choice lies in lifestyle. I myself never made it into the obese range but was well on my way when I decided to take control of my health. I don't feel that anyone especially on this site should take offense to this as we are all working on ourselves to become more healthy.

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