That’s what you think. My bicycle is made entirely of hemp, and I extract my own silicon using energy from homemade cells made from naturally occurring photoelectric materials. Told you I was hardcore.
Sorry for doubting you, cuauhtemoc, please except this small token of utmost kudos [small token of utmost kudos].[/small token of utmost kudos]
[TGU] cuauhtemoc is hardcore
[TGU] do it!
No comparison can be made between the two, although I agree that something should be done, generally, about obesity, though it’s hard to judge on that issue where it’s help, and where it’s interference.
Smokers’ rights: “Personal health choices?” Bullshit! Second-hand smoke affects other people. When you smoke in a restaurant with non-smokers present, you are affecting their health as well. No, making health choices for others is not a right.
I had a fat lady fall on me at a roller skating rink when I was 14.
Damn that hurt.
Now I am fat. but at least I don’t smoke.
What I want to know, and so far it hasn’t even been addressed here, is if it is true, and how your Government thinks it can do anything about obesity. Quite aside from the point of if they should or actually will, is how they think they are able to.
Well, here’s what governments are doing/trying to do:
Lastly, the US Preventative Services Task Force has recommended obesity screenings for all adults, meaning that when you go to your doctor, he should tell you whether or not you’re fat. Apparently there is not only an “epidemic” of fatness in the U.S., but someone believes that fat people are gaily unaware of their fatness and need to be told. Of course, what happens thereafter remains to be seen, as the USPSTF has recognized there there is no evidence that counseling or behavioral interventions have any efficacy in making fat people thin, especially over the long term.
Our tax dollars hard at work, folks.
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West Virginia is appealing to pathetic stereotypes and the universal fear of the unattractive to try to encourage exercise
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You’ll be glad to hear it’s not working 
Yes, fat people are completely unaware that they’re fat. I fail to notice that I’m fat as I get dressed, as I wash my body (amazing, fat people SHOWER on a regular basis!), as I go about my daily business. And, believe me, I’ve never had a doctor fail to tell me that I’m fat yet.
What is this…fatness…you speak of? Is it like…food?
I think the doctors should also include a personal insult, like mine did. Something along the lines of 'well, if you don’t lose weight you’ll never find a man." It’ll be like a plucky little motivatonal speech to get your fatass out to the track.
And of course, they should also charge extra for this service.
I don’t know about this “fat people know they are fat” – it is not an uncommon experience to meet a person of different proportions who measured their obesity relative to others, when in fact, it is an absolute condition.
No?
I mean, how else can we explain how widespread obesity is? The remedy for the vast majority is obvious and accessible (eat less, do more), and the benefits undeniable – if it’s not a question of recognition, then what stops them acting on it?
Is it a belief that they are not that fat – they’re not as big as Mrs Smith and that woman on TV? Or that the impact on their health (which possibly has slowly and imperceptibly regressed) is not that significant?
I believe, such rationalization plays its part, and, if you are obese, your doctor should tell you so – maybe more kindly than “Get your lard-arse down the gym, fatso, or you’ll stay on the the straining shelf for ever,” but still, it should be said.
Smokers know how dangerous smoking is. They don’t live under a rock, in a cave, on Mars, with headphones blasting loud rap, staring blankly at the stars. And yet, despite the fact that they know the health risks, know they should quit…they don’t. Most of the resposnes seem to be I know, but I don’t care. That’s the response I’ve seen on this board and other places.
Funny how that works. To quote Homer Simpson “Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.”
It may seem counter-intuitive, but there it is. And despite what you see on the news or TV or read about, for some people, it’s really not that big of a deal. “Oh I’m fat! Oh my god! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Believe it or not, they go on with normal, healthy lives, raise their families, go to work, have careers…almost, just like…dare I say it?..skinny people.
Pretty goddamned crazy, isn’t it? You’d probably be amazed at how many people have the audacity to put their physical apperance or possible health issues on the back burner and focus on what really matters to them in their lives.
You’d also be amazed at how few health problems many fat people actually have. You might also be surprised that despite banner headlines trumpeting its horrors, being fat doesn’t cause disease anymore than being poor or being female or being (insert minority group here) does. It raises risks, it has higher correlations to disease-causing conditions, but it’s very possible to be fat and have a level of fitness that’s perfectly compatible with living an everyday life only inconvenienced by the fact that there are people who feel that it’s wholly acceptable to treat fat people like crap.
pepperlandgirl, TeaElle,
It seems that your two posts perfectly encapsulate the sort of denial and relativism that I referenced in my post.
“Smokers know how dangerous smoking is”
Do you see the way this tries to lessen an absolute issue by making it a relative one?
“I know, but I don’t care”
What the fuck is that if it isn’t classic denial?
“You’d also be amazed at how few health problems many fat people actually have”
What was it I said again, oh yes, (some obese people believe) that the impact on their health is not that significant.
Well, a quick google led me to this
That no small health problem now is it? That isn’t talking about increased wear on joints, loss of mobility, difficulty going upstairs/running for a bus/fitting in an airline seat, etc., that’s talking about seven extra years dead!
So c’mon, admit it, there’s too much of a tendency for obese people to make light of the health issues of their choice by either outright denial or appeals to relativism.
You would also be surprised if you sat in on a gynecologic oncology conference and heard the MDs discussing the overwhelming association of endometrial carcinoma and being markedly overweight.
This of course has nothing to do with the dumbness of the OP or any wish to stigmatize obesity.
Fat adults, big deal - it’s their right to eat what they want and be what size they want, assuming they’re paying for their own healthcare/insurance, fine. The government should back off.
But fat kids? The poor little butterball I saw in a pub the other day, around six/seven years old, absolutely OBESE with a mother to match, both stuffing chips (french fries) - the government should intervene there to give that child the chance of a healthy future. Or any future.
Okay, next time I meet a new person, I’ll have to say, “I know, I know, I’m fat.” So they know I know.
You think fat people never go to the gym? Idiot.
shrug (throughout the post I will be say you, however, I don’t mean you personally, I mean the general you)
Or you know, you could mind your own business and focus on your own faults (unless you’re perfert…) and not worry about everybody else’s. I’m sure you have nothing but concern for your fellow man, you are the embodiement of everything a humanitarian should be, and you’re more altruistic than any person has the right to be…
And yet, it’s still none of your business how other people choose to live their lives. Marvel at the concept. You don’t know what peope think, you don’t know if people go to the gym, you don’t know what people eat, you don’t know what goes on in their lives, you don’t know the type of decisions they make. And even if you had perfect knowledge of every single fat person on this earth it still wouldn’t be any of your goddamned business.
I think education will help a lot. I think most people eat until one of these things happens:
1. They are satisfied
2. Their stomach feels full
3. They know that they've eaten enough
Usually probably #1 is the most common. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty bad estimation of when you’ve eaten enough food.
I think most people would have no idea that a Big Mac (600 kcal), large fries (540 kcal) and large coke (310 kcal) add up to about 1500 kcal which is 3/4ths of the recommended daily amount of 2000. A more proper size meal would be the kids meal hamburger, small fries, small coke) at about 600 kcal. I think being overweight creeps up on a lot of people because they don’t realize how many calories are in the food they’re eating and how that relates to their weight. They eat these bigger portions and then one day they’re 20 pounds overweight and wondering how it got there.
I hope you don’t hack up a lung in the process…
And relating to what I was saying, I saw a show once where they followed people around who were overweight and the doctors didn’t know why. When questioned about their eating habits, their diets seemed to be normal. But when the cameras followed them around, it turns out their idea of a “portion” was completely out-of-whack.
One guy said he ate a portion of pasta. It turns out it was a package of spaghetti with a jar of sauce.
One woman said she had a portion of chicken and a portion of rice. Turns out it was some Chinese chicken dish with a plate of fried rice.
Another woman said she had a muffin. It turned out to be one of those huge Starbuck’s muffins (which is more like cake than a muffin anyway).
So although they knew they were overweight, they really did not know why. They thought they were eating appropriate amounts of food when in reality their portions were 3-4 times larger than they should have been. Education would go a long way in cases like that.
One thing that I would like to see would be some sort of symbol next to the foods to tell you how it compares to a standard portion size. So, for example, next to a Big Mac you’d see ‘2X’ which means it’s two times the standard portion size for a hamburger. I feel that way people would be more aware of why they were overweight and could hopefully get more healthy (or perhaps not get overweight in the first place).