Is obesity a CHOICE?
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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 -
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.
True but i wont die in my 50 and miss 20 years of my kids life.0 -
That is your problem, not anyone else's.
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.
True but i wont die in my 50 and miss 20 years of my kids life.0 -
It's my choice to NOT be obese anymore. I did something about it. I didn't hide behind bullies or names. It's her choice NOT to workout, her choice not to eat healthy, her choice to call someone a bully for explaining to her that she is a bad role model because of her weight & the fact that younger girls will think that's cool to be obese.
Yep obesity is a choice, a bad one. Anyone can make the change.... we have all made that decision here..... what's stopping others?0 -
I dont think it really compares well.
That is your problem, not anyone else's.
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.
True but i wont die in my 50 and miss 20 years of my kids life.
Sure if people see my bad typing they might copy it. At worst they might pick it up and become poor at typing.
When you make not looking after your body the norm it could affect your kids entire lives.0 -
Seriously???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 -
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.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean you have a 'duty' to go around telling people how to live their lives or to criticize them. You are welcome to do so if you cannot control yourself, but then you must deal with the consequences of being an insensitive a-hole. Her bosses obviously knew she wasn't a size 2 when they hired her, her job isn't to model bikini's, it is to report the news.0 -
It's my choice to NOT be obese anymore. I did something about it. I didn't hide behind bullies or names. It's her choice NOT to workout, her choice not to eat healthy, her choice to call someone a bully for explaining to her that she is a bad role model because of her weight & the fact that younger girls will think that's cool to be obese.
Yep obesity is a choice, a bad one. Anyone can make the change.... we have all made that decision here..... what's stopping others?
Do you honestly think there are little girls at home saying, 'I want to be a news anchor when I grow up-I better start overeating because the anchor on channel 8 is overweight. And, I want to be 'cool and obese'. ' Really? SMH0 -
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:
My sister has the same problem.... she is on 32 tablets a day some of them Steroids because she had a kidney transplant 25 years ago. She then developed Diabetes and Osteoporosis.. She used to be a size UK 8 she is now a UK 28. She hates her weight and lives on approx 1200 calories a day as directed by her dietitian, but her weight still goes up by about 1lb a year now which is a great improvement on what is was when she first started her medications. She attends hospital on a regular basis and they state it is simple.... she takes the meds and the weight problem and lives or stops the meds her weight will go down and she will be dead within 6 months....NO Brainer. !!!! It annoys the hell out of me to here people slagging off over weight people. Yes some of them choose to be that way others don't and unfortunately there is no way of telling them apart from the outside. I once heard a chap on the radio saying obese people no mater why they are like that should not be allowed to travel on any form of public transport, be that buses or airplanes.... if it had been left to him anyone over weight would have been shut away in a room out of the public eye. >>.RANT Over>>> !!! Grrrrrrr0 -
You are missing the point. It is nobody's business but hers. Do you tell people how to live their lives all the time? I don't get the compulsion of so many people to try to control how others do their thing.
I dont think it really compares well.
That is your problem, not anyone else's.
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.
True but i wont die in my 50 and miss 20 years of my kids life.
Sure if people see my bad typing they might copy it. At worst they might pick it up and become poor at typing.
When you make not looking after your body the norm it could affect your kids entire lives.
Live your life and worry about you, and let her pick her own life priorities. If she finds it important, perhaps she will do something about it. Meanwhile it is incredibly rude of anyone to comment to her about her body because she doesn't suit other people's norms.0 -
Freedom of speech or not, no one has the right to criticize, judge or bully another person.
This^^^^
exactly!0
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