Is obesity a CHOICE?
marathon64
Posts: 378 Member
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
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUOpqd0rQSo&sns=fb 0
Replies
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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...0 -
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:0 -
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.0 -
Put junk in your body, what's the result? Not nice. Make healthy choices and you will be rewarded with a healthy body.0
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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.0
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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.0 -
Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.0
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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.0
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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.0 -
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.0 -
Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.
This^^^^0 -
As I believe otherwise, I see your post as criticising, judging and thus bullying me!Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.
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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.0
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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.0
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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.0
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0
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For me, it was both. As a child, I had no clue about what was healthy to eat and what wasn't so I just ate whatever my parents gave me. I was told to always finish my food and when you feed a child the same portions as adults, they're going to get overweight. I also remember going to the grocery store with my dad once and making a comment on the serving size of something on the label and he told me "Oh, whatever that number is, you double it and that's really what one serving should be for a person". With parents uneducated about things like that, the child will be too!
But with that said, I did eventually grow up and start being able to make my own food choices and I STILL ate like that so that's when it was my fault/choice. I take full responsibility for everything put into my mouth after I left home but now I'm starting to change. Sometimes people just don't realize what they're doing because they're ignorant to something as vital to our bodies as food but there comes a time when you look at yourself in the mirror and you just have to know that you're clearly doing something that isn't right.0 -
The problem with this email was he/she talked about the IMAGE she was presenting. Yes, it does talk about her health but at the same time talks about how she is a bad role model for being fat. How do we know her as a mother? Wife? Member of the community? Being fat doesn't make you a bad person. That is how this email came off.
How many of us have overweight/obese friends? Would you honestly talk to them exactly the same way to those friends? I would guess not. I am also obese but I am working on it. What I put in my mouth and how I exercise are my choices everyday. I am not a victim of being fat. I got this way because of what I did. But I don't need a reminder of it. Just walk up to your friends struggling with their weight and say the same things and see how well you are received.
One of my biggest fears as a father is how my daughters (5 & 4) with deal with the body image issues that are presented in media and in the community. It is a lot my responsibility to teach them how to understand and deal with it. But the attitude presented in this email by this jerk is a type of bullying that I fear. People in the media deal with this type of thing everyday. I am guessing this person would never come forward because they thought this email would be kept private.0 -
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
Listening to it again, she compares herself to children struggling with the colour of their skin, disability or sexual preference.
WTF?!
THAT kind of puts a new spin on it.0 -
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.
This! ^^^0 -
I do not think its ok for anyone to bully another. I liked that she addressed the nature of the email. I do not agree with the ending part of the video though when she compares obesity with someone's color of their skin, or sexual preference; two really big causes of bullying. These things people cannot change about themselves. We can change being obese.
I do not care to know why she hasn't changed her weight and I do not think she's a bad role model because she's fat. I do think that people need to be a bit more sensitive to how they deal with others on the whole because we do not know the circumstances that others are going through.0 -
Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.
This^^^^
I thought freedom of speech was you know
the freedom to speak. If you think what she is doing is wrong you have a duty to speak up about it.
I go back to my point if she was smoking on air this would not even be an issue. She would loose her job.0 -
We all make choices. Our bodies respond differently to all sorts of genetic, cultural and age related factors.
When it comes to things like addiction, regardless of our physical and emotional response, an addict, for example, can put down drugs or alcohol. The short answer is they make a choice to quit and tough it out, and work to maintain it. The same is true with obesity. If we eat a healthy level of calories and quality foods while adding a little bit of exercise, we should be able to maintain a healthy weight. We may also need to have some counseling to find our emotional triggers - it's part of getting healthy.
I heard this woman's response - and she is right, our self worth is should not be tied to what others say. I agree 100%. Now she needs to get her butt to the gym and change her diet to achieve a weight that is healthy. It may be tough, the odds may be stacked against her, but she is in control of her time and food supply.0 -
My friend has put on loads of weight due to the medication she needed to beat cancer - it is not always a choice. She hates her weight at the moment but the Dr's have said it will take over a year for her body to get back to normal and for her to be able to start losing the weight. People have been very cruel to her - strangers commenting on her food choices at the supermarket etc.
It's disgusting that people feel it's ok to bully people for being fat - it isn't always a choice. Please remember that.
PS she has beaten the cancer :bigsmile:0 -
Bad grammar is a choice.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.0 -
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.
^^ well put0
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