Is obesity a CHOICE?

I actually watched the video via CNN. Small town news making the big time.

Yes, being obese is a choice. But getting healthier and dropping body-fat should be a choice too. You make a personal choice of what to eat. It should be a personal choice to if you change that.

I admire this woman for at least addressing the issue. We're ALWAYS going to have fat people/thin people/healthy people/unhealthy people in this world. Let's quit alienating one another just because we live our lives differently.

Oh goodness..apologies for the length - there were many great comments made already!

Now, there has been such a push to be 'accepting' of any and every lifestyle that there is very little motivation to better ourselves. Parents are told they are destroying their child's self esteem if they say anything about their weight or food choices. Companies are afraid to not hire someone, or to not to promote someone into a more visible position due to their weight, because they are afraid they will be sued. Kids at 10 years old are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It is not uncommon for a 16 yr old girl to not only weigh 250 pounds, but to be nominated for Homecoming Queen. We are 'nicing' ourselves into a nationwide health crisis. We have become a nation of excess and it is killing us. We have lost the ability to tell ourselves 'NO', and insist that no one else can say it either.

This is so true.

Well then, that must mean that chain smokers who light one up no sooner than putting the previous cigarette out have chosen to possibly get cancer and that alcoholics choose to drink too much, etc. etc. on and on we could go with this particular premise.

Inaction IS a choice - glad you understand!

Seriously.. Who is the dolt that thought up the idea of it being a disease? It's not a disease, nobody ever got obese from unprotected sex. Heroin junkies aren't worried about becoming obese from sharing needles. Your mother never said put your coat on if your going to play out in the rain or you'll get obese..

I think I love you

Obesity is NOT a disease. Fat people are not 'victims'. Obesity is completely preventable AND curable and though no one decides "I'm going to be obese" the choice NOT TO ACT is just as much a choice to remain obese as having made the choice in the first place. Some people have medical issues which make it hard to control weight..it's still a choice NOT to try. There are enough people around here with every weight gain related medical issue who ARE losing weight because they have made that choice..As much as it sucks the choice to continue to take a medication which causes weight gain is also a choice - the alternative being death is obviously not a *popular* choice but it IS a choice. Likely this fact will not make me popular with many people but I gave up caring a very long time ago - that was also a choice :P

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.

It's totally NOT OK for anyone to bully another person for any reason but I agree here in that certain things like skin color, sexual preference & disabilities are definitely NOT choices and should not be lumped into the same category.

I just watched this video thanks to a friend on facebook and it actually kind of sickened me that telling the truth is considered bullying. She admitted that she was obese, but instead went on a diatribe defending her appearance rather than trying to explain that there are changes she could make (barring some medical condition) to become healthier. She embodied the filth of 'fat acceptance' in my view.

Sure, I don't know her. I don't know her circumstances, but I do know that she could have taken a stronger stand for saying that despite being obese, there is a path to a healthier life through proper nutrition and exercise.

In most case obesity is the result of a lack of awareness of how to properly fuel your body. Our society has become one that eats too much for the amount of activity that they engage in. Being one of the people that has made this struggle, I know how hard it is to make the change, but it can be made.

The e-mail was sent to the anchorette and didn't carry what I saw as a vicious attack, but rather a calmly reasoned explanation of the reason that he felt that the woman was a bad role model. The matter was then made public when her husband posted the e-mail on facebook and then she perpetuated the publicity on television. The e-mail could have been seen as a concerned stranger who hoped that she would chose to change her life for the better; but instead she said, in essence, "How dare you try to define me by my weight?"

MFP being what it is, most of us have at some point realized that we didn't like the way we looked. We know that the content of our character is not defined by a number on the scale; however, I'd wager that most of us realized that the number on the scale was in some way correlated to the way we looked at and felt about ourselves. Because of the negative nature of this correlation, we decided that something had to change. We want to make that number go down, we want to fit into smaller clothes, we want to be able to participate in and enjoy our favorite physical activities, but our weight is somehow a hindrance to the pursuit of that enjoyment. Thus we learn and are learning how to better manage the food we eat and become more active. In some cases, we need professional assistance from a medical or nutritional expert to help us get there. We realize that obesity is, indeed, a choice and chose to reject the behaviors and habits that got us where we are/were.

The fact that the guy said "especially little girls" kinda pissed me off. Don't little boys have the same issues as little girls? or is it just that girls are less forgiven when they have a poofy belly?

He sees through the eyes of someone who has been subjected to the media's version of beauty. Since Twiggy came on the scene in the late 60s/early 70s, skin and bones have been the order of the day. Now, after seeing movie stars with protruding bones AND, thankfully, J-Lo and Kim Kardashian coming on the scene with ample figures have helped a bit in the fact that people are coming out of their anorexic comas and are beginning to realize that the curves Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe had were pretty hot.

I liked the statement one person said "no one knows what part of your journey you are on"... that's where the guy needs to jump off the cliff and keep his arrogant opinions to himself. I am almost 40 pounds lighter than I was five months ago. I have more pounds to go, but I still get made fun of when I go out to shop or what have you... and not by kids... by full grown adults (at least physically full grown adults... I am not so sure where they are mentally).

I think she should have ignored the guy completely; written him off as some ignorant, arrogant, LONELY guy who has a bad conception of what real women actually look like (not everyone was meant to be fat free like Gweneth Paltrow). Ignoring him would not have given him a platform. She now has given him a platform.

She used her issue to associate with School Bullying. If you ever have been bullied in school, you know that someone's ignorant comment and actual bullying are in two separate categories. I was bullied in high school... and it has had a profound influence on how I think of myself as an adult. I fully believe I've missed opportunities because I've always thought of myself as beneath anyone who was fit. My faults were amplified throughout the halls of my high school. Even in my senior year of high school when I shed all my weight and was fit and trim, they still associated me with the 90 pound heavier girl I was from my sophomore and junior years. When I would walk down the hall, guys would yell BOOM with every step I took. They would yell out "watch out, here comes the beached whale!". I would take different routes in the halls and be late for class just to avoid the ridicule I got on an hourly basis in between classes. Even IN class I would be picked on. Just going to my desk I would get "MOOs" until class started. I rarely escaped the ridicule. So, yeah, I would re-define her level of bullying. I just wish that people would have taken notice of bullying in the 90s when I was in school... I wonder why it has taken so long for it to come to light?

She used her issue to associate with School Bullying. If you ever have been bullied in school, you know that someone's ignorant comment and actual bullying are in two separate categories. I was bullied in high school... and it has had a profound influence on how I think of myself as an adult. I fully believe I've missed opportunities because I've always thought of myself as beneath anyone who was fit. My faults were amplified throughout the halls of my high school. Even in my senior year of high school when I shed all my weight and was fit and trim, they still associated me with the 90 pound heavier girl I was from my sophomore and junior years. When I would walk down the hall, guys would yell BOOM with every step I took. They would yell out "watch out, here comes the beached whale!". I would take different routes in the halls and be late for class just to avoid the ridicule I got on an hourly basis in between classes. Even IN class I would be picked on. Just going to my desk I would get "MOOs" until class started. I rarely escaped the ridicule. So, yeah, I would re-define her level of bullying. I just wish that people would have taken notice of bullying in the 90s when I was in school... I wonder why it has taken so long for it to come to light?

Definitely true.

It is absolutely a choice. If you can choose to workout, be thin or restrict calories, you can also choose not to care or take action to better yourself. Obesity is also rampant due to ignorance.

Hiker359:
[...]
I just watched this video thanks to a friend on facebook and it actually kind of sickened me that telling the truth is considered bullying. She admitted that she was obese, but instead went on a diatribe defending her appearance rather than trying to explain that there are changes she could make (barring some medical condition) to become healthier. She embodied the filth of 'fat acceptance' in my view.

Sure, I don't know her. I don't know her circumstances, but I do know that she could have taken a stronger stand for saying that despite being obese, there is a path to a healthier life through proper nutrition and exercise.

In most case obesity is the result of a lack of awareness of how to properly fuel your body. Our society has become one that eats too much for the amount of activity that they engage in. Being one of the people that has made this struggle, I know how hard it is to make the change, but it can be made.

The e-mail was sent to the anchorette and didn't carry what I saw as a vicious attack, but rather a calmly reasoned explanation of the reason that he felt that the woman was a bad role model. The matter was then made public when her husband posted the e-mail on facebook and then she perpetuated the publicity on television. The e-mail could have been seen as a concerned stranger who hoped that she would chose to change her life for the better; but instead she said, in essence, "How dare you try to define me by my weight?"

[...]

I really tried to get angry about this but I just feel so.. sorry. So sad. Your response makes it clear that you define yourself and others by their appearance - in fact, not only by their appearance, but by their weight. Which is so small-minded I just.. like I said, sorry and sad.

"How dare you try to define me by my weight" - yes, exactly. How dare people. My mother walked all over my neighbourhood as a child, delivering her Avon books and orders. She ate the least out of all four of us growing up and was always eating salads, etc. but was still overweight. She did weight watchers, she worked out to videos, she did everything she could to lose weight. She never got below a 14. She had a stroke a few years ago and dropped 40 pounds as a result of her time in the hospital. People were immediately rushing to tell her how good she looked, how well she was. she was not well. She'd lost massive amounts of muscle mass and could barely walk on her own anymore. But she was thinner. So she was "better".

And "concerned strangers", IMO, rarely exist. Concern trolls, hiding their self-disgust under a cloak of "concern" for others who remind them of themselves, on the other hand, are all over the place.

And your use of "anchorette"? Please.

:explode: She'd lost massive amounts of muscle mass and could barely walk on her own anymore. But she was thinner. So she was "better".

And "concerned strangers", IMO, rarely exist. Concern trolls, hiding their self-disgust under a cloak of "concern" for others who remind them of themselves, on the other hand, are all over the place.

And your use of "anchorette"? Please. :explode:



Amen SISTER! Same with my mum...Everyone was SO impressed when she got down to a size 12...it was cancer...thin does not = healthy; there is NO excuse for that e-mail...there is no excuse for telling someone they need to lose weight...if I want your opinion, I will ask for it...if I don't, and you offer it, it better be worth it. If I want health advice, I normally ask my doctor, not some putz.

Hiker359:
[...]
I just watched this video thanks to a friend on facebook and it actually kind of sickened me that telling the truth is considered bullying. She admitted that she was obese, but instead went on a diatribe defending her appearance rather than trying to explain that there are changes she could make (barring some medical condition) to become healthier. She embodied the filth of 'fat acceptance' in my view.

Sure, I don't know her. I don't know her circumstances, but I do know that she could have taken a stronger stand for saying that despite being obese, there is a path to a healthier life through proper nutrition and exercise.

In most case obesity is the result of a lack of awareness of how to properly fuel your body. Our society has become one that eats too much for the amount of activity that they engage in. Being one of the people that has made this struggle, I know how hard it is to make the change, but it can be made.

The e-mail was sent to the anchorette and didn't carry what I saw as a vicious attack, but rather a calmly reasoned explanation of the reason that he felt that the woman was a bad role model. The matter was then made public when her husband posted the e-mail on facebook and then she perpetuated the publicity on television. The e-mail could have been seen as a concerned stranger who hoped that she would chose to change her life for the better; but instead she said, in essence, "How dare you try to define me by my weight?"

[...]

I really tried to get angry about this but I just feel so.. sorry. So sad. Your response makes it clear that you define yourself and others by their appearance - in fact, not only by their appearance, but by their weight. Which is so small-minded I just.. like I said, sorry and sad.

"How dare you try to define me by my weight" - yes, exactly. How dare people. My mother walked all over my neighbourhood as a child, delivering her Avon books and orders. She ate the least out of all four of us growing up and was always eating salads, etc. but was still overweight. She did weight watchers, she worked out to videos, she did everything she could to lose weight. She never got below a 14. She had a stroke a few years ago and dropped 40 pounds as a result of her time in the hospital. People were immediately rushing to tell her how good she looked, how well she was. she was not well. She'd lost massive amounts of muscle mass and could barely walk on her own anymore. But she was thinner. So she was "better".

And "concerned strangers", IMO, rarely exist. Concern trolls, hiding their self-disgust under a cloak of "concern" for others who remind them of themselves, on the other hand, are all over the place.

And your use of "anchorette"? Please.

Agreed. When I was anorexic many commented on how amazing I looked. No one ever commented on my massive hair loss, weakness, or pallor.

i just saw that on the news! yeah i do think it is a choice. you can choose to eat a lot and be lazy or eat healthy and move more.

I've been morbidly obese ever since I was a little kid (I'm only 22 now). I take all of the responsibility for it, and it's a pretty heavy burden to carry from my viewpoint. Everyone's situation is different, and I do understand how some people could think their obesity is not their fault. Ultimately, this is so personal that I'd say it's hard to pick apart. Everyone comes from a different place, a different perspective.

:explode: She'd lost massive amounts of muscle mass and could barely walk on her own anymore. But she was thinner. So she was "better".

And "concerned strangers", IMO, rarely exist. Concern trolls, hiding their self-disgust under a cloak of "concern" for others who remind them of themselves, on the other hand, are all over the place.

And your use of "anchorette"? Please. :explode:



Amen SISTER! Same with my mum...Everyone was SO impressed when she got down to a size 12...it was cancer...thin does not = healthy; there is NO excuse for that e-mail...there is no excuse for telling someone they need to lose weight...if I want your opinion, I will ask for it...if I don't, and you offer it, it better be worth it. If I want health advice, I normally ask my doctor, not some putz.

Ugh, I *know* right? There is no good outcome of that kind of action. If shaming people made them change their ways, every kid in middle school would be a supermodel.

And totally LOL'ed over "some putz"

I find it difficult loosing weight because I didn't make the choice to be obese, I was seriously overweight as a child because of my family who just fed me constantly and I didn't understand the consequences. As a result of all that I didn't develop physically as strong as I should have, I have joint problems from not being active and poorer diet. I didn't even own a pair of trainers before I was 12. I was in a dietitians office by the time I was 7 and my mum stopped taking me because the women upset me... which in hindsight was such a bad choice. As soon as I could get control of my own diet I didn't know what was what so I ate what I had always eaten, and I lived at home until I was 18 so ate what my parents ate. I did go vegetarian when I was 16 and I dropped a bit of weight but it didn't stop me turning to the sugary foods. I also joined a gym when I was 16 but it intimidated me and I was doing it alone so I didn't go often. However, when I moved to university I realised that I could learn everything I needed, I bought in my own food and joined the gym. The process has definately been more about my mental reaction to foods rather than just physically what I put into my body. Consciously also I'm scared of what I will look like thinner because I've never been it.
So, I truly believe in my case that obesity wasn't a choice, and it was thrust upon me, however now I'm the one picking up the pieces of that start in life and hopefully it will make me a better person in the long run.

While the man sounded arrogant in the email, he still has a point. She is a person seen by public, hence she should portray a healthy image. I bet everyone would be all over her if she was anorexic, so why is obesity not acceptable to frown upon?

I find that unless caused by illness like Hypothyroidism or Cushing's and alike, the obesity is a choice. Person is making that choice by not choosing to live a healthy lifestyle. I don't think that these days someone in a civilized society can really say that they don't have the knowledge of how to eat properly or how to live a healthy life. It's a matter of laziness. I know if I would sit on my *kitten* and eat chips and burgers and sweets day in and out, I would be obese in a year, but I'm making a choice not to do that.

She does not give any medical reason why is she not looking healthy and just goes to compare her being unhealthy, to children struggling with color, sexual preference or disability??? Really? None of those are choices. Eating more calories than your body needs is. Simple as that.

The newscaster is too sensitive?

How would you feel if someone approached you and told you that you were ugly?