I am prejudiced .....

[QueenLevitra]

LT and DollParts from DownUnder make a short, fat couple.

 

[blunt_trauma]

Obesity is considered a disease, so yes it does have cure rate.

But the deck is stacked against people trying to maintain weight loss. Empty fat cells actually secrete an appetite stimulant. Do some reading into bariatrics, which I have done; this situation is nowhere near as clear cut as people would like to believe. People like to believe it is all about failure of the part of the overweight person when it is far more complicated than that. What would you say to my brother in law who cannot walk after a severe motorcycle accident and needs to lose weight. He is already on appetite suppressants and barely eats but is not losing weight?

yes, i'm well aware of this.
but not eating, even though you feel starving hungry, is still still an act of will.
and again with the not reading what was actually said. i have put 'most' style qualifiers in my statements. someone who has a disability which prevents exercise would, to most people at least, seem a pretty damn obvious exception to the 'most'.

look, i'm going to put you on ignore now.
and not because of your weight.
but because you don't seem to ever really think,
because you invent my opinions to suit your whine,
because your lame PMs to get me on side over lance pissed me off,
because you're tedious in the extreme,
and because i do just dislike you.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

yes, i'm well aware of this.
but not eating, even though you feel starving hungry, is still still an act of will.
and again with the not reading what was actually said. i have put 'most' style qualifiers in my statements. someone who has a disability which prevents exercise would, to most people at least, seem a pretty damn obvious exception to the 'most'.

look, i'm going to put you on ignore now.
and not because of your weight.
but because you don't seem to ever really think,

Pot. Kettle. Black!

And now to de-lame this thread because it is really and truly pathetic.

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[LJ_Reloaded]

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[LJ_Reloaded]

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[LJ_Reloaded]

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[LJ_Reloaded]

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[LJ_Reloaded]

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[eyer]

Literal and visual...

...SPAM.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

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[IrezumiKiss]

Hatred? That's a bit strong.

Let me make things clear to you because YOU'RE the hater here, not me. I am talking about obese people who cost you and me money by their careless and reckless health habits. I am NOT feeling empowered, mad or getting pleasure out of admitting my prejudice. This started out as a parody thread and obviouly sparked discussion from other members.

You have your opinion and I have mine. Goodnight.

A parody of which thread? Most people on here who know you already know quite well how you feel about people who are overweight. Obviously it's not a joke to you. Where's the parody?

Here's the rub. This thread isn't changing the problem you wish to address, it's just venting. Now, it's your right to vent and you don't have to care about the other members on here that don't have spectacular beach volleyball bodies who might feel slighted by the fat-bashing when all they wanna do is come here to relax and have some good ol' adult fun on a community board with other like-minded horny toads, but let's call it for what it really is instead of what it ain't.

It would read better for the issue you feel strongly about if you were talking about something new and constructive you're actively doing to combat health-damaging obesity amongst people — like sponsoring a 5K park run or vocally supporting our First Lady's healthy eating movement amongst children or drive-by firebombing a local McDonald's at night so a Whole Foods outlet can sprout up in its place — than hear an eventually-to-be-forgotten-and-replaced thread's venting all because a fat person wheezed next to you while in line at the post office the other day.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

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[LJ_Reloaded]

A parody of which thread? Most people on here who know you already know quite well how you feel about people who are overweight. Obviously it's not a joke to you. Where's the parody?

Here's the rub. This thread isn't changing the problem you wish to address, it's just venting. Now, it's your right to vent and you don't have to care about the other members on here that don't have spectacular beach volleyball bodies who might feel slighted by the fat-bashing when all they wanna do is come here to relax and have some good ol' adult fun on a community board with other like-minded horny toads, but let's call it for what it really is instead of what it ain't.

It would read better for the issue you feel strongly about if you were talking about something new and constructive you're actively doing to combat health-damaging obesity amongst people — like sponsoring a 5K park run or vocally supporting our First Lady's healthy eating movement amongst children or drive-by firebombing a local McDonald's at night so a Whole Foods outlet can sprout up in its place — than hear an eventually-to-be-forgotten-and-replaced thread's venting all because a fat person wheezed next to you while in line at the post office the other day.

She's all talk and no action.

 

[vrosej10]

yes, i'm well aware of this.
but not eating, even though you feel starving hungry, is still still an act of will.
and again with the not reading what was actually said. i have put 'most' style qualifiers in my statements. someone who has a disability which prevents exercise would, to most people at least, seem a pretty damn obvious exception to the 'most'.

look, i'm going to put you on ignore now.
and not because of your weight.
but because you don't seem to ever really think,
because you invent my opinions to suit your whine,
because your lame PMs to get me on side over lance pissed me off,
because you're tedious in the extreme,
and because i do just dislike you.

No really loss. You are vapid and two faced.

 

[vrosej10]

A parody of which thread? Most people on here who know you already know quite well how you feel about people who are overweight. Obviously it's not a joke to you. Where's the parody?

Here's the rub. This thread isn't changing the problem you wish to address, it's just venting. Now, it's your right to vent and you don't have to care about the other members on here that don't have spectacular beach volleyball bodies who might feel slighted by the fat-bashing when all they wanna do is come here to relax and have some good ol' adult fun on a community board with other like-minded horny toads, but let's call it for what it really is instead of what it ain't.

It would read better for the issue you feel strongly about if you were talking about something new and constructive you're actively doing to combat health-damaging obesity amongst people — like sponsoring a 5K park run or vocally supporting our First Lady's healthy eating movement amongst children or drive-by firebombing a local McDonald's at night so a Whole Foods outlet can sprout up in its place — than hear an eventually-to-be-forgotten-and-replaced thread's venting all because a fat person wheezed next to you while in line at the post office the other day.

Thanks for that. I don't think there's a fat person alive who hasn't heard this shit all before.

 

[QueenLevitra]

No really loss. You are vapid and two faced.

Quoted for posterity.

 

[English Lady]

You know, it's tough to break a habit of a lifetime.

The facts are what the facts are and I will be very surprised if every obese person out there didn't know them. Burn up more calories than you take in and bingo, you've got weight loss.

It's so simple isn't it? Just eat a little less and move a litte more. So obese folks who don't do that must just be lazy or stupid or even both.

That doesn't take into account the hard, mental battle a person who has become dependant on food over the years will have trying to cut down on something they get comfort/love/peace/excitement from.

And it takes time. when you've got alot of weight to drop, it doesn't happen quickly and when you're working so hard to get your weight down and you're struggling every day with choices and resisting temptation left, right and centre and then you still get called fat or you go to the docs for a health checkup and they say 'you need to watch what you eat, you're obese' not taking in account the pounds you've recently lost...well stuff like that hurts.
And you think 'why bother?'.

And then it's easy to snatch up the closest comfort food and shove it in your gob and just revel in the comfort for a while. Until the guilt kicks in, and the anger at yourself for not being able to resist and the depression because you just gave up your new, healthy eating regime 'just like that' and the disgust at yourself for eating something you didn't need/knew was wrong/ful of calories etc etc. and it's so easy just to spiral back into the comfort of food because at least when someone calls you fat you can go eat something tasy and forget about it for a while. You know they're right and you don't feel like shaking them and saying 'but I lost 2 lbs this week and a bite of chocolate hasn't passed my lips in a fortnight'.

I'm not saying it's something that cannot be overcome, it surely is. But you have to eat food to live, you can't just give it up cold turkey. and there are alot of strong feelings tied in to food and it is hard to give them up. That's the really, really tough bit.

So, if you can, give us fatties a little slack. Be a little supportive and a little less accusatory.

Wieght Loss may be easy on paper but a lifetime's habit is hard, really, really hard to break.

 

[vrosej10]

You know, it's tough to break a habit of a lifetime.

The facts are what the facts are and I will be very surprised if every obese person out there didn't know them. Burn up more calories than you take in and bingo, you've got weight loss.

It's so simple isn't it? Just eat a little less and move a litte more. So obese folks who don't do that must just be lazy or stupid or even both.

That doesn't take into account the hard, mental battle a person who has become dependant on food over the years will have trying to cut down on something they get comfort/love/peace/excitement from.

And it takes time. when you've got alot of weight to drop, it doesn't happen quickly and when you're working so hard to get your weight down and you're struggling every day with choices and resisting temptation left, right and centre and then you still get called fat or you go to the docs for a health checkup and they say 'you need to watch what you eat, you're obese' not taking in account the pounds you've recently lost...well stuff like that hurts.
And you think 'why bother?'.

And then it's easy to snatch up the closest comfort food and shove it in your gob and just revel in the comfort for a while. Until the guilt kicks in, and the anger at yourself for not being able to resist and the depression because you just gave up your new, healthy eating regime 'just like that' and the disgust at yourself for eating something you didn't need/knew was wrong/ful of calories etc etc. and it's so easy just to spiral back into the comfort of food because at least when someone calls you fat you can go eat something tasy and forget about it for a while. You know they're right and you don't feel like shaking them and saying 'but I lost 2 lbs this week and a bite of chocolate hasn't passed my lips in a fortnight'.

I'm not saying it's something that cannot be overcome, it surely is. But you have to eat food to live, you can't just give it up cold turkey. and there are alot of strong feelings tied in to food and it is hard to give them up. That's the really, really tough bit.

So, if you can, give us fatties a little slack. Be a little supportive and a little less accusatory.

Wieght Loss may be easy on paper but a lifetime's habit is hard, really, really hard to break.

And this battle is relentless and it never ends or gets any easier. I was told by a baritric surgeon that to even be moderately overweight i would have to be prepared to accept being constantly starving hungry for the rest of my life. unlike cigarettes or booze, you can't just separate yourself from food. You still have to eat.

People get pissed off with my reaction to this subject but I view it as a not only a personal insult but an insult to all those people I know and love who are overweight and who wouldn't react to something like that?

 

[Sonny Limatina]

And this battle is relentless and it never ends or gets any easier. I was told by a baritric surgeon that to even be moderately overweight i would have to be prepared to accept being constantly starving hungry for the rest of my life. unlike cigarettes or booze, you can't just separate yourself from food. You still have to eat.

People get pissed off with my reaction to this subject but I view it as a not only a personal insult but an insult to all those people I know and love who are overweight and who wouldn't react to something like that?

You were told by the person who stood to profit from your operation that without it, you'd never be thin?

 

[vrosej10]

You were told by the person who stood to profit from your operation that without it, you'd never be thin?

That is even if I had the surgery unless I was prepared to be continually hungry. And he was absolutely correct. The weight loss surgery reduces you capacity to eat and you get full quickly but it doesn't reduce the need to eat. You still get hungry with a full stomach especially if you eat very fibrous food.

 

[EllieTalbot]

Ugh! Why, oh why do there always have to be regurgitated anti/pro-fat threads when I visit the GB?

And Tess? Is this the Tristesse I used to know and love? Holly D., is that you? Or are you pod-people versions?

Perhaps my memory is pulling a Reagan, but I don't recall you two having so much vitriol towards anyone, let alone whole groups within society.

*sigh*

You know what really sucks about commenting on "fat" threads? It's that everyone assumes you're fat if you stick up for fat people, and so they don't take you seriously- which in itself is a circular, sucky commentary on society's treatment of the obese. It's all but a requisite that you be "skinny" if you expect to be given credence.

I'm not skinny, never have been, and I hope I never will be. I mean, who really wants to be skinny? Think about that word. To me it conjures up the image of someone so dreadfully malnourished that their skin looks like it's clinging to their skeleton. *shudder* That's just as hideous as someone who's morbidly obese.

But I'm not fat either -although, since my very physical job is seasonal, there are a few months of the year when I definitely flirt with it. It doesn't help that my hobbies are sedentary, either (reading, writing, movies). And I hate exercise for exercise's sake. Fortunately, I'm a reasonable eater and I dig slow food, so I stay fit most of the year.

I dislike both extremes of this argument. On one side there are a bunch of snarksters who, for whatever reason, have decided they're comfortable selecting a group of society to be treated as lesser than themselves. On the other side are a bunch of mopes leading a crusade to make the unhealthy attractive.

To the latter: I'm sorry folks, but rolls of fat and ridges of puckered cellulite are flat-out unhealthy and unattractive. Labeling yourself a "BBW" and getting garment manufacturers to adjust sizing numbers to flatter you isn't going to change that. Ultimately, you're doing yourself a disservice by creating this illusory world to convince yourself that being obese is a good thing. And it's a mistake to dismiss people who declare they're not attracted to obese people as shallow. Granted, some people are saying that for shallow reasons, as demonstrated in this thread. However, what you look like on the outside sometimes is an indicator of certain things about you as a person. When you're looking at a morbidly obese person, it's a safe bet that you're looking at someone who's got some depressive problems, who doesn't take care of themselves and neglects their health, who has poor impulse control and is literally wearing their emotional baggage. These are not attractive things- but that doesn't excuse ill-treatment in any form.

Obesity is genuine problem in this country. I'm concerned by how many 300 lb.+ people I see rolling around in electric wheelchairs. It used to be that most people in wheelchairs would've loved nothing more than to get up and walk away from them; now most of their occupants are there by choice.


That said, the folks who are tossing around the phrase "lifestyle change" are doing so thoughtlessly. You say it like the decision to change is just a matter of snapping your fingers, and everything in one's life and psyche tidily rearranges into practicality and health and, gee, what's so tough about that? Have any of you ever completely changed your entire lifestyle? I haven't, but I can imagine what it encompasses, and I hope I never have to do it. To change everything about the way you live every second of the day, and even change the way you think... it's so drastic that you'd practically become a different person. What makes you think you should treat such suggestions so cavalierly?

I would take people who have a bee in their bonnet about the obese more seriously if they used words like fit or trim to describe the ideal, but they don't. It's always "skinny" and "thin,' which are all about appearances, not having a healthy body.

Another thing that bugs me is the sheer lack of empathy in such attitudes. You act as if obese people are offending you on purpose. Can't you see them? This sweaty, large person next to you is probably pleasant (as many larger people tend to be), painfully self-conscious, and anxious not to offend. He or she obviously goes to extremes not to dump on other people. They've internalized their problems so severely that they're destroying their own bodies. And all you see is someone who ought to hand you money as penance?

Shame. On. You.

And the argument about how the obese cost us all money is hypocritical unless you're going to demand compensation for all costly idiotic behavior. Millions are spent every year rescuing:

- inexperienced idiots who scramble up Rainier and McKinley and get themselves stuck or injured
- idiots who stay put after the hundredth warning about the incoming hurricane
- idiots who go "extreme" skiing in remote valleys and get buried under avalanches they triggered (surprise! not.)
- idiot hikers who get lost for really absurd reasons
- idiot boaters who have no clue how to operate their capsizing boat

...and all number of dim-witted messes that cost big bucks to get people out of.

People make stupid decisions all the time. And, yes- caving in to laziness and/or depression and stuffing your face is a frequently-made poor choice. But it's no more or less stupid than many others.

You know, sometimes I just don't get people. And when it comes to subjects like this, sometimes I don't want to.

Disappointed in the Deli,
Ellie

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Obesity is considered a disease, so yes it does have cure rate.

But the deck is stacked against people trying to maintain weight loss. Empty fat cells actually secrete an appetite stimulant. Do some reading into bariatrics, which I have done; this situation is nowhere near as clear cut as people would like to believe. People like to believe it is all about failure of the part of the overweight person when it is far more complicated than that. What would you say to my brother in law who cannot walk after a severe motorcycle accident and needs to lose weight. He is already on appetite suppressants and barely eats but is not losing weight?

GIMME A BREAK. Obesity isnt a disease. Leprosy is a disease.

No one is obliged to like fat but its not something you can wish away or command to go or lose with toil and depravation (in most cases). There are too many genetic and environmental variables affecting weight.

 

[NewEnglandGirl]

Oh my goodness... I am afraid to even step in here, there's so much wrong information, anger, and baiting going on in here. But it does make me wonder.... how many of the posters in this thread have been overweight? How many have personally felt or broken an addiction to sugars and carbs? It can be done, but it is like nicotine - it takes time, and diligence. I know because I've done both, not just because I've read it somewhere. Which I have, in plenty of professional rags.

There are three major issues that are not being discussed here. I just touched on the first one - sugars and carbs are highly addictive. It is really hard to break the desire to eat them, but it can be done. Certainly, in my case, I found that once I was sure I'd broken it, I could go back to eating some sugars and carbs. But I had to be careful how much I indulged in, and how often, for months. This works like a charm, but it requires knowing my body, being able to read it. If I start to feel "needy", I back off to few or no sugars and carbs again for a while.

The second issue is what is in our food. While we have been looking the other way, the contents of the boxes, cans, and jars we bring home has changed drastically. Much more chemicals, soy, salt, etc. Artificial sweeteners. Artificial colorants. Nanotechnology - yes, for real - research it. Most of what you buy, if not in its purest form, is highly adulterated and really not food any more. Western society is so busy, so rushed, that many folk don't have the time or the desire to cook. So as a society, we have become hooked on fast food (lots of studies on restaurant servings having at least doubled in size) and instant foods. We no longer really control what we eat, even though we want to believe we do. The only way around this is to "shop the perimeter" - fresh produce, lean meats, lighter dairy - and do our own cooking. But then you come back to the no time/no knowledge/no interest problem.

This also brings me to the third issue - food deserts, which Michelle Obama has been addressing. Again, lots of studies to show that poor people are more obese. It's easy to see why, even if there is a grocery store nearby - pasta is a buck a box, because the wheat was subsidized. How much is a fresh apple or orange, preferably one that hasn't been sprayed with tons of pesticide? A head of lettuce? Under a buck for a bottle of pop full of HFCS or $3-4 for a container of orange juice. But in many inner cities, there are no decent grocery stores so the residents can even make a choice. If you don't have a car and the only stores you can walk or take a bus to are convenience stores, bogodas, etc, how much choice do you have?

And, oh, I thought of a fourth one. I can't speak to other countries here, but I sure can speak about American schools. What our nation feeds our children is deplorable, and especially in poor neighborhoods, those kids depend on the school for two meals a day. Do I personally think that should be happening? Of course not, but my opinion doesn't count. School lunches are set at 22 cents a meal. How nutritious can that be? If you look - really look - at what our kids are being fed, you will be horrified. With few exceptions, schools are serving mostly mass produced, frozen foods, made up primarily of surplus purchased from agribusiness by the USDA and then sent to the schools. This year, Congress took the brave step of changing the nutrition standards for public schools. One problem - the ninnies didn't bother to fund it, typical of Congress.

And we haven't even touched on how little most people understand even basic nutrition, or on peer pressure put on kids.

This is a subject I am very passionate about, and have been researching for years.

Ellie? My internet went down while i was working on this post - you weren't there when I started. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember you from when I was here before - I should - you are a remarkable woman, and your posts have been impressing me vastly. A belated hello to you.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Around here the niggaz burn their grocery stores. Then the liberal newspaper sneaks in, buys the ruins, and sells its ghetto real estate to the city for a profit.

 

[vrosej10]

Ellie and N.E.Girl, I am sick to death of these threads too. I just want to come here and chat not have to feel like I have to justify my existence. You both have good points. Everyone has bad life habits. People smoke, drink, don't eat enough fibre (that'll give you bowel cancer), don't get enough sleep (increased risk of heart disease). These threads reduce a large group of people to one type. I have a dozen of so overweight friends. I am the only one who has health problems as a result of their weight. Each of these women has a different life history and relationship to their body size.