Obesity is unhealthy, why is it being embraced?

Listen, i really don't care if people literally eat themselves to death. Just don't make it my problem. People really have a duty not only to themselves and their families, but also to society as a whole to get their gluttony under control. They are a financial burden to society and a drain on medical resources. For example, just look at the issues resulting from COVID which skews to much more serious/critical illness in people who are overweight and obese. Instead, we're all paying for their wonton gluttony and lack of self control.

Wuss alert wrote:

Listen, i really don't care if people literally eat themselves to death. Just don't make it my problem. People really have a duty not only to themselves and their families, but also to society as a whole to get their gluttony under control. They are a financial burden to society and a drain on medical resources. For example, just look at the issues resulting from COVID which skews to much more serious/critical illness in people who are overweight and obese. Instead, we're all paying for their wonton gluttony and lack of self control.

Almost all mental health problems are social problems.

Your perspective, above, illustrates that perfectly.

COVID similarly skews towards the elderly. Do you also feel we're all paying for these people's wanton lifespan and lack of dying off earlier?

Are you aware that you don’t have to participate in this thread?

wtfunny wrote:

Wuss alert wrote:

Listen, i really don't care if people literally eat themselves to death. Just don't make it my problem. People really have a duty not only to themselves and their families, but also to society as a whole to get their gluttony under control. They are a financial burden to society and a drain on medical resources. For example, just look at the issues resulting from COVID which skews to much more serious/critical illness in people who are overweight and obese. Instead, we're all paying for their wonton gluttony and lack of self control.

Almost all mental health problems are social problems.

Your perspective, above, illustrates that perfectly.

COVID similarly skews towards the elderly. Do you also feel we're all paying for these people's wanton lifespan and lack of dying off earlier?

The elderly should take control of their modifiable risk factors including obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes. Yes, anyone with a lifestyle disease is a burden to themselves and society.

People respond to trauma in a myriad if unhealthy ways. It isn't ok to respond to trauma with drugs, alcohol, or violence and it shouldn't be ok to respond to trauma by eating yourself to death. I grew up with an addict parent and could have responded negatively but instead used it as motivation to be successful and not continue the cycle unlike my brothers.

You can't control what happens to you but you CAN control how you react to it

The Democrats are not behind this. The behinds of Republicans are at the forefront. Look at the states by obesity levels. Trump states dominate the scales. But the whole U.S. is way behind what it was in the 1970s. Almost every state has 25%-40% obesity rates. At 5'11", to be obese is to weigh at least 215 lbs, so this is a tough standard to meet.

100% true.

I have lived in deep red states for past 20 years.

Full of Trump sized lard bodies.

They eat and eat and never exercise.

hejus8whdidj wrote:

People respond to trauma in a myriad if unhealthy ways. It isn't ok to respond to trauma with drugs, alcohol, or violence and it shouldn't be ok to respond to trauma by eating yourself to death. I grew up with an addict parent and could have responded negatively but instead used it as motivation to be successful and not continue the cycle unlike my brothers.

You can't control what happens to you but you CAN control how you react to it

Trauma isn’t what happens “to” you. It’s what happens INSIDE you as a response to what’s going on around you.

And a) I’m sorry you had that environment around you as a child and b) glad that you’re doing well now. I hope that continues for you.

But not everyone is able to do what you did. The world would be wonderful if that were the case. But it’s not.

Most people are C students. We can work harder or try to do better but we’re simply not all wired to be A+ students. The average is who we are. And to sign on to a runner’s board and read page after page of people telling fat people how sh!tty they are is cringeworthy.

Lastly I don’t think anyone is suggesting it’s “OK” to respond to trauma with destructive behaviors. But it’s also not my place to tell those people how they should or should not respond. I wouldn’t use the word “ok” there at all.

Most people are doing the best they can with what life has handed them. And most overweight people really, truly struggle with that. Belittling or marginalizing people for stuff they already feel bad, if not horrible, about simply doesn’t navigate a path forward … at least not for most people.

Sure.

Trump and his sycophants are picture of health.

Diabetes runs rampant in his crowd of fatties.

I support your stance. It is indeed very difficult and a rather unhappy experience for anyone to go below their steady set weight point, a setting that appears innate, individual, and unchangeable.

From a public health standpoint, we are probably better off not shaming heavier people. People’s weights on average would probably be the same but we would have fewer mental health problems caused or exacerbated by weight or fear of it.

While I do think that each of us is born with an innately configured set weight point that is largely unchangeable, I also think there has to be some aspect of behavioral conditioning that plays a role in determining people’s weights as adults.

People in Europe have as little food insecurity on average as the US, yet they are not on average as heavy. There are of course overweight or obese people in Europe, but the weights at any given high percentile are lower there. Why?

Maybe they walk more? Bike more? Eat less processed food? Cook at home more? Use less high fructose corn syrup? Don’t drink as much sugar water?

randomhobbyjogger wrote:

100% true.

I have lived in deep red states for past 20 years.

Full of Trump sized lard bodies.

They eat and eat and never exercise.

Well, Delaware seems to be fairly high on the obesity chart.

Let's Go Brandon!

Weight is complicated in the US. My sister has weighted more since taking anti-depressants, plus working insane hours with two little kids — no time to exercise at all.

We both aren’t thin people, but I do run 35-40 mi a week and lift weights to look (and feel) normal. I should be thinner but my doctor just told me I have a mild thyroid issue but not bad enough for meds.

When I’m in Europe I can eat or drink whatever and somehow I always lose weight. There is all sorts of garbage in US food that I think is tough to avoid unless one is super diligent.

make it bahrain wrote:

When I’m in Europe I can eat or drink whatever and somehow I always lose weight. There is all sorts of garbage in US food that I think is tough to avoid unless one is super diligent.

I suspect high fructose corn syrup is a key ingredient of that garbage.

The fattest people in America are black women...if you have good medical insurance try public shaming one of them...

Hard times combined with hard values (e.g., discipline, work ethic, restraint, etc.) leads to success.

Success leads to complacency and softness and ultimately failure, which leads to hard times.

Our country was and is "too successful", paradoxically. Life has become too soft, protected from consequences.

It's just human nature since the beginning of time. It is what it is.

make it bahrain wrote:

Weight is complicated in the US. My sister has weighted more since taking anti-depressants, plus working insane hours with two little kids — no time to exercise at all.

We both aren’t thin people, but I do run 35-40 mi a week and lift weights to look (and feel) normal. I should be thinner but my doctor just told me I have a mild thyroid issue but not bad enough for meds.

When I’m in Europe I can eat or drink whatever and somehow I always lose weight. There is all sorts of garbage in US food that I think is tough to avoid unless one is super diligent.

You are lying to yourself. You are avoiding responsibility. You are fat because you willingly eat too much of what you already know is bad for you. You have unlimited choices of healthy food at the local grocery store. Kale costs 99 cents, homie. Broccoli is also dirt cheap. Chicken breasts, beef......doesn't cost much more than McDonalds if you cook your own meals. You willingly make bad choices but want to blame someone else or something else.