Getting this off my chest...

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  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Statistics.

    And health care/insurance propaganda.
  • gotolam
    gotolam Posts: 262 Member
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    Smokers aren't automatically considered unhealthy because they'll probably get cancer down the road.

    What planet do you live on?

    I mean, maybe no one says out loud, "You WILL get cancer," but I can't think of too many people in the West who would openly say smoking isn't unhealthy.

    This!

    I'm a smoker and I don't think smoking is healthy. I certainly don't get offended when an article says smokers will die younger than non-smokers. Holy crap why in the hell is this even a conversation????
  • tbrown1974
    tbrown1974 Posts: 30 Member
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    At my current weight, I'm considered obese. I look at myself and see fat, not necessarily obese but it is what it is. :) Every year, i have a physical exam including blood work. The only issue I normally have and that I have had since I was 15 is that I'm usually borderline anemic. No other issues. I am considered overweight but healthy in my current condition. That does not make me content, just lucky I guess. I don't use that as an argument or an excuse not to lose weight because I think at any time, my weight will be a factor or is currently a hidden factor. Luckily I found MFP and slowly but surely losing weight and I feel good about this journey. :)
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    If you are obese, you are unhealthy. Just being obese, with no other issues, is still unhealthy mentally and physically in the present in my opinion.
  • emkrichardson
    emkrichardson Posts: 18 Member
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    I appreciate the different perspectives. My issue is not with the idea that being obese puts you at greater risk for health problems. I get that. My issue is with the judgement that comes with it. The research is sound, but people take the research, stating what could happen, and take it into terms of the absolute. I'm not arguing with the data, but how other people treat the data and lord it over others.

    It's kind of like the difference between Christians and the people who walk around shoving their beliefs down everyone's throat. Very different branches of the same tree.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    my mom is healthy. she's obese but has all the right number for HR, cholesterol, BP other labs etc.. She does have MS, so she can't walk far due to that. Her and I are under no illusion that she is "healthy" . We just accept her for who she is and deal with issues as they arise. I am here because Id o not want to be in her shoes when I am in my 60s. It is proven that obesity increases chances for a mirad of health concerns. I'd rather not risk it.
  • tbrown1974
    tbrown1974 Posts: 30 Member
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    I would argue that I'm not mentally unhealthy. I know where I am and where I need to go and am getting there. If that makes me mentally unhealthy, I will take it. I guess i was just pointing out the fact that when I said I'm healthy, I'm just saying i have no known issues. But I know that change any minute which is why I'm here and am losing weight. That's it. My main point is just because I don't have any current or known issues, doesn't mean I use that as an excuse to lose weight. It will always be a factor until I'm to healthier weight.
  • JustinAnimal
    JustinAnimal Posts: 1,335 Member
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    People typically get angry and judgmental at obese people and smokers because, somewhere down the road, taxpayers end up supporting the medical bills they can't afford.

    At least, this is the belief I've held as truth most of my life. The people who don't take care of themselves and do things to hurt themselves, obese people and smokers (and maybe bungee jumpers who practice in Mexico) are a drain on the economy.

    I will be the first to admit that I'm barely involved in politics so, if this has changed, or was never true, please correct me so I don't keep talking crazy talk.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    OP, I am glad that you got this off your chest.

    But we agree that obesity is a risk factor for several diseases...so I am not sure what we are arguing here.

    There are exceptions to the rule, but a person at a healthy weight is far more likely to live longer, with better quality of life, than an obese person.
  • tbrown1974
    tbrown1974 Posts: 30 Member
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    I think we can all agree to this, wheird.

    OP, I am glad that you got this off your chest.

    But we agree that obesity is a risk factor for several diseases...so I am not sure what we are arguing here.

    There are exceptions to the rule, but a person at a healthy weight is far more likely to live longer, with better quality of life, than an obese person.
  • DucklingtoSwan
    DucklingtoSwan Posts: 169 Member
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    OP, I think I understand what you are getting at, though everyone's mileage can and will vary. I saw a couple of TLC programs about some morbidly obese people trying to make changes in their lives... one week there was a woman about 400 pounds who was bedridden, hadn't walked in years and was on every medication known to science for diabetes, blood pressure, etc. the next week there was a man closer to 700 who was walking (not saying he was feeling great doing it, but he was walking) and on very few meds and was only just now in the "at risk for" diabetes category, not the full-on disease yet. It blew my mind. I am in the 240's and was diagnosed this past December (at around 270.) But it just goes to show how each person's health situation is definitely unique.
    What?

    2ljgn6x.gif


    ^ Swoon. Probably will be stealing. Allons-y!
  • redtreediary
    redtreediary Posts: 69 Member
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    Meh. I get it.

    I think, ultimately, it comes down to denying that we are *all* going to die. Period. The human psyche will do a lot, a whooooole lot, to not have to think about it.
  • Zaftique
    Zaftique Posts: 599 Member
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    Meh. I get it.

    I think, ultimately, it comes down to denying that we are *all* going to die. Period. The human psyche will do a lot, a whooooole lot, to not have to think about it.

    "It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls."
    Epicurus
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Obesity is a health risk. Smoking is a health risk. Both put an unnecessary burden on our health care system and both are due to life choices of the person in question. I am sorry if you don't like that fact but that doesn't change the reality of it.
  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,344 Member
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    I'm not saying being Obese isn't a risk. I myself am obese and trying to lose weight. I'm under no delusions that there are zero health risks associated. I'm just seeing too much stuff lately that basically says "YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT OR YOU'LL DIE!"

    I'm not getting my point across well, and that's my own fault. My issue is the sort of all-or-nothing language tied to the issue.

    Just walk right out of this post and keep going, I am telling you you are going to continue to catch a lot of flack, I get what you are trying to say, but people are going to take what you have said and pick it apart and be really really technical maybe even quote something or paste in a study or two, it's the internet you will get all kinds of replys but probably mostly people wanting to prove they are right by taking something you just meant as a small frustration to total fact. sorry but you picked a topic that is not going to go well.
  • collingmommy
    collingmommy Posts: 456 Member
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    I knew a man that didn't smoke, ate very clean food, ran 4/5 miles a day and dropped dead of a heart attack. On too of that, I knew a guy that was 30, weighed over 350lbs, and died of a heart attack. My boyfriend grandmother smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, ate complete garbage and lived till she was in her 90s. Ppl die. It's nature. We could be so careful doing anything. Eat good, don't drink, don't smoke, and be in our 20s then BAM! hit by a bus!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I knew a man that didn't smoke, ate very clean food, ran 4/5 miles a day and dropped dead of a heart attack. On too of that, I knew a guy that was 30, weighed over 350lbs, and died of a heart attack. My boyfriend grandmother smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, ate complete garbage and lived till she was in her 90s. Ppl die. It's nature. We could be so careful doing anything. Eat good, don't drink, don't smoke, and be in our 20s then BAM! hit by a bus!

    Its a matter of what is in your control versus what is outside of your control. If you are a healthy weight statistically speaking you will live longer than if you were an unhealthy weight. Your weight is under your control, being randomly killed is not.

    An unfit version of yourself will die before a fit version of yourself baring tragic death. I can understand people not liking being confronted by that but I think on some level we all recognize that this is true.
  • dangerousdumpling
    dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
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    I appreciate the different perspectives. My issue is not with the idea that being obese puts you at greater risk for health problems. I get that. My issue is with the judgement that comes with it. The research is sound, but people take the research, stating what could happen, and take it into terms of the absolute. I'm not arguing with the data, but how other people treat the data and lord it over others.

    It's kind of like the difference between Christians and the people who walk around shoving their beliefs down everyone's throat. Very different branches of the same tree.

    Have you ever heard "There is no reality, only perception"? One person may see it as shoving beliefs down everyone's throat while others may view it as offering information believed to be helpful. Admittedly, sometimes it's hard for the message to be well received if the delivery is unpleasant. You're choosing to focus on perceived judgment instead of a helpful warning. Personally, I feel that quite a bit of positive thinking and positive attitude along with determination is required for successful weight loss. It will benefit you to get off this distracting negative train of thought and get on with focusing on your weight loss plan.
  • dangerousdumpling
    dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
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    I'm not saying being Obese isn't a risk. I myself am obese and trying to lose weight. I'm under no delusions that there are zero health risks associated. I'm just seeing too much stuff lately that basically says "YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT OR YOU'LL DIE!"

    I'm not getting my point across well, and that's my own fault. My issue is the sort of all-or-nothing language tied to the issue.

    Just walk right out of this post and keep going, I am telling you you are going to continue to catch a lot of flack, I get what you are trying to say, but people are going to take what you have said and pick it apart and be really really technical maybe even quote something or paste in a study or two, it's the internet you will get all kinds of replys but probably mostly people wanting to prove they are right by taking something you just meant as a small frustration to total fact. sorry but you picked a topic that is not going to go well.

    Ya know, you're right. I could have just said let it go.........let it go. :laugh:
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    OP, first of all I am glad you got to vent and I'm glad you found your way to MFP. I hope it will help you reach your goals.

    I understand what you are saying. I don't think you are one of those "obese but healthy" people who think that if they blood work comes back ok that they are perfectly healthy or that there are no risks associated with being overweight. I do think people tend to attribute a host of characteristics and medical issues to overweight people simply by virtue of them being overweight, even if the person has a clean bill of health (other than a recommendation to lose weight). Often I think that has more to do with the individual saying it trying to reconcile their own mortality, like they are automatically dodging some bullet by not being overweight. It's like the people who say if you eat fast food, you're going to get cancer. We all know that isn't true, but the person saying it needs to convince themselves that their decisions are what is going to make the difference in their health.

    That's not to say we don't have any control over our own health, obviously we do and we should care about our health, but we also have to acknowledge that even doing everything "right" we might end up with heart disease, cancer, etc. And we all know being overweight isn't good for you, but it also doesn't automatically mean you're pacing around with a host of medical issues outside of death's door.

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