I just don't care about the 'obesity epidemic'

well in the UK here we all pay a fortune to the NHS - and the overweight people are the ones with health issues clogging up the system. So yes - it affects us.
it also affects us if we are parents and we want our children to grow healthy and strong and don't want them to think its ok to be obese and inactive - we want good examples and education around our kids.
we live in a society. Its ridiculous to say what we all do doesn't have flow on effects to each other.

No wo/man is an island, as they say!

No skinny people with health issues? The UK must be a magical place. Just the fatties "clogging" the healthcare system with their fat. So I can't be fat because your kid might think it's ok to be fat? Seriously? In other words fat people are bad because their ruining your idea of what society should be?

It's not about individuals. When 30+% of the entire population is overweight or obese then yes it affects kids' (and adults') perception of what is normal. You can see it on this forum when people who are still overweight are told by their families that they're getting too thin (while they're stil overweight). It skews perceptions.

more then 65% of the adult population in the UK is overweight or obese

why u hatin on potatoes?

well in the UK here we all pay a fortune to the NHS - and the overweight people are the ones with health issues clogging up the system. So yes - it affects us.
it also affects us if we are parents and we want our children to grow healthy and strong and don't want them to think its ok to be obese and inactive - we want good examples and education around our kids.
we live in a society. Its ridiculous to say what we all do doesn't have flow on effects to each other.

No wo/man is an island, as they say!

No skinny people with health issues? The UK must be a magical place. Just the fatties "clogging" the healthcare system with their fat. So I can't be fat because your kid might think it's ok to be fat? Seriously? In other words fat people are bad because their ruining your idea of what society should be?

It's not about individuals. When 30+% of the entire population is overweight or obese then yes it affects kids' (and adults') perception of what is normal. You can see it on this forum when people who are still overweight are told by their families that they're getting too thin (while they're stil overweight). It skews perceptions.

From my perception there is nothing wrong with being fat. Fat is a decriptor like being tall or short. Blaming fat people for little juniors perceptions is insane. We're bombarded every day in the media with fat hysteria I don't see how any kid in the world could see fat as anything but a vile disease ravaging the world.

Nothing wrong with being obese? Ok then. I guess you also grew up around a lot of overweight/obese people. To be clear, I'm not prejudiced against fat people. But it's not good to be fat and you won't convince me of that. Maybe I think that way because I grew up around fit athletic people.

I think it's just as ignorant to assume all fat people are unhealthy as it is to assume all skinny people are healthy.

Don't be an idiot; no one is saying that.

There are statistics...since you're all fond of throwing them around like man hole covers, that show that fat people who eat healthy and exercise are healthier than skinny people who are sedentary and eat junk food.

I adore how in the first sentence you get on people's *kitten* in the thread for generalizing then DO EXACTLY THAT in the next sentence

Being fat increases your risk of certain diseases, but it doesn't mean you automatically get them. That's what risk means. Like not all smokers get lung cancer...it's just they are more likely too etc.

That doesn't make smoking any less stupid.

The rising rates of obseity make me feel like we are turning into the people in Wall-E. They just lie around in hover lounges for life.

Beyond that, people's personal choices and their relationship with food and their body is just that. Theirs.

When it effects me, and it has effected me, I will and have say something. Otherwise. Meh.

Some of the people in this documentary, say that they have no health complaints, I'm sorry, but If you depend on others to do everything for you, you can't move more than a few steps and are bed bound, I don't care what your cholesterol level is, those right there are major health complaints.

Well obviously that's a problem. Are you suggesting that someone who is 50 pounds overweight is the same kind of ticking time bomb that a homebound morbidly obese patient is?

can't exactly see a 50lb overweight person needed assistance to use the bathroom or wash themselves... what was your point again?

I am under the NHS and I feel pretty similar to others that raise concerns about the system being taxed. And I feel this way in general about people that don't take care of their health (high risk behavior, excessive drinking/drugs/smoking etc), not just weight. Some health problems can't be helped, but some can.

A lot of health problems and problematic habits I blame on STRESS in our lives (both emotional and professional) more than laziness, weak character or lack of so-called willpower.

Treating someone as less than human because of their weight isn't going to help them. But to state that weight really doesn't matter at all is a pretty dishonest approach.

You've been a member since 2011, so I presume you are not targeting your rant, if you will, to those who frequent MFP. Here I certainly have not seen any judgment toward people who have extra weight. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

What is your point?

I'm having a bit of trouble understanding your point. Has someone been giving you a hard time? You've been on here long enough to know that weight loss is a personal choice. If you don't care, why are you on here. You can lose weight without support. Keep your diary private and don't read other peoples comments and rants.

I don't care if a person wants to be skinny or obese. They can do what they want and i will still love them for them... but i do care if a parent is making their kid obese and telling the world it's okay. It's not. And i think it's a form of abuse.

We need to stop saying obese and morbidly obese are curvy or sassy. They're not. Curvy is curvy, healthy women are curvy. We shouldn't be bring up the next generation to think it's fine to be extremely unhealthy and eat junk. And yes, i know some overweight people can be healthy.. But a person who's 500lbs is not going to run a 5k marathon, nor would i see them as physical role model, Just as i wouldn't expect a severely anorexic person to be either. =/

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/21/local/la-me-fatman-20110321 Here is a link to a 400lb man running a marathon. The point is that it can be done.

From my perception there is nothing wrong with being fat. Fat is a decriptor like being tall or short. Blaming fat people for little juniors perceptions is insane. We're bombarded every day in the media with fat hysteria I don't see how any kid in the world could see fat as anything but a vile disease ravaging the world.

...then why are you here?

ETA: I read that you're here to eat healthy and work out. Are you going to be disappointed when/if that leads to you not being fat anymore?

I won't die of any genetically inherited disease. I could get run over by a car or something but diabetes is not in my future.

I won't die of any genetically inherited disease. I could get run over by a car or something but diabetes is not in my future.

I may be missing the context here, but you can still contract genetic, inhereted and acquired diseases if you are not obese. Obesity increases the risk of developing some health problems but being of a normal weight doesn't guarantee you will only die if you forget to look both ways while crossing the street.

Something to think about if you "don't care about the obesity epidemic" and are in the US: with the Affordable Care Act, we are all going to be paying a part of everyone's choice of bad habits, be it smoking, drinking heavily, doing drugs or eating too much, its not truly a "this doesnt affect you (except for sitting next to you on the airlines)" issue anymore...

Conversely, I used to think how great it was that by exercising regularly I am also reducing the cost of my healthcare by reducing the probability of many sedentary/obesity linked diseases and could even afford to have catastrophic coverage only. But the cost is not reduced perceptibly anymore since risk is all distributed, it appears you don't get health discounts, you cant just buy catastrophic coverage...so my personal health choices don't lower my cost, unless a few million people do it with me...maybe then you care a bit more about the "obesity epidemic"? So this bit of selfish "motivation" to not overeat/smoke/drink/do drugs that some may have is now gone. Luckily cost of my healthcare was only one motivation out of many that I personally had and maybe most people don't think like me. But will this encourage some to encourage others and to now care about the "obesity epidemic"?

This is all complicated by: although type II diabetes is many times essentially caused by the obesity, it isn't always, and some people are genetically disadvantaged with a lot more fat cells to start with and a lower metabolism. People BS about high/low metabolism like its not real on this site, but it is in fact very real, and energy burnt in basic metabolism by some is set lower in some, higher in others, and fat cells are actually strongly genetically and not environmentally determined, and metabolism does lower with age, as does muscle building speed. This means it is VERY hard for some people and easy for others to maintain a "healthy" weight (not trying to hand out excuses, but something for bigger people to take pride in while losing), and how are you going to differentiate those people from "I eat what I want, when I want, as much as I want and I don't care how much I weigh" people? So yes its a difficult issue and both sides have merit, but "I don't care" isn't a good approach.

BTW, even when I'm in great shape (yeah I've got weight to lose too right now) I have a problem with fitting in economy airline seats on the UPPER part of my body, I always try to sit in the aisle because of it, there is just no way those seats are wide enough for a broader guys shoulders, even without being truly obese and overflowing the seat. So its not just an obese problem, and unless you buy a seat by the pound or inch, its not really fair to begrudge people for physical characteristics, especially since they can't change them at that point if ever, and they don't want to sit that close to you just as much as you don't want to sit next to them and they didn't have a "wide seat" option to buy without paying an arm and a leg for first class. One flight I sat next to another big guy, he was bigger top and bottom...we took turns leaning forward so we'd have room.

From my perception there is nothing wrong with being fat. Fat is a decriptor like being tall or short. Blaming fat people for little juniors perceptions is insane. We're bombarded every day in the media with fat hysteria I don't see how any kid in the world could see fat as anything but a vile disease ravaging the world.

...then why are you here?

ETA: I read that you're here to eat healthy and work out. Are you going to be disappointed when/if that leads to you not being fat anymore?

You miss my point entirely. Weight loss is simply a result of eating healthy and exercise, but it's not my main goal. When people focus solely on the number on the scale they get discouraged when they don't get results and in depression go back to old habits. etc.

I don't care if a person wants to be skinny or obese. They can do what they want and i will still love them for them... but i do care if a parent is making their kid obese and telling the world it's okay. It's not. And i think it's a form of abuse.

We need to stop saying obese and morbidly obese are curvy or sassy. They're not. Curvy is curvy, healthy women are curvy. We shouldn't be bring up the next generation to think it's fine to be extremely unhealthy and eat junk. And yes, i know some overweight people can be healthy.. But a person who's 500lbs is not going to run a 5k marathon, nor would i see them as physical role model, Just as i wouldn't expect a severely anorexic person to be either. =/

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/21/local/la-me-fatman-20110321 Here is a link to a 400lb man running a marathon. The point is that it can be done.

That's a long stretch... Extremely long... So long that he is the only person to have done it. He even set a world record.

Just because 1, 400lbs man did a marathon doesn't mean they all can successfully and without health issues. He was an athlete. A professional sumo wrestler and it look him 9 hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds to complete it. took him almost 12 hours last time... And as i said before.. He is the heaviest man to have done this.. The only one hence the world record. I'm also sure he's not trying to promote being obese.

If they're actually running it. I'd hate to think of the damage done to the knees. People who are overweight do damage to their knees.. A LOT of damage. And taking him almost 10 hours to do it i'm sure he was walking it slowly with many many breaks.

The world should not encourage morbidly obesity on the future generation.. Give me a positive on why morbidly obesity is good? I've been studying nutritional and bio medical science and so far i haven't seen one good reason or case study to be morbidly obese. Oh wait except this 1 women who contracted flesh eating disease and being morbidly obese meant they could remove more flesh. Still not exactly a pro. But i really would love any pros as then i can use that for study.

I'm not going to attack an obese person for being obese, i've been there and i understand how hard it is... Plus i think that's just plan rude and no one knows their circumstances or if they're trying to be healthy... I will however point out the flaw of people calling morbidly obese curvy. In no way is it curvy. When you see people like June Shannon saying they're sassy or curvy... i wonder what happen to logic and common morality.

And lastly for those few posters.. There's no derogatory meaning when calling someone who is, over weight, obese or morbidly obese, just that...so why take offence? Why sugar coat the truth. It's the medical term. Get over it. Get it out on the open. Saying all fat people are unhealthy however is incorrect and extremely ignorant, I know overweight people who are extremely healthy and work out 5 days a week. It's how their body is built and they have accepted that. If you're trying to lose weight or just get healthy then wear it like a badge. I did. There's no shame in trying to be healthy.

Her claims was that no 500lb people are going to run a marathon. My point was that it's possible not that all fat people are running marathons. If people worried more about eating healthy and exercise and less about how they look and how much they weigh they would be a lot more prone to continue those healthy habits. We live in a society where people are patted on the back for any weight loss no matter what damage they did to their health to get there. I think the constant hysteria about fat people and the *****ing about fat people in their space etc...isn't helping.

I have never been on a plane and if I did I'd buy another seat. Do I get a pat on the back for being a responsible fatty? This entire idea of separating the good from the bad fatties is insane. The point is you don't know how someone lives their life just by looking at them. So maybe not a good idea to judge..

I am just interested in why it's so important for me to feel demoralized? Why is it necessary for me to hate myself in order for you to feel I am being a good socially minded individual?

This thread's been reported as offensive!