NationStates Jolt Archive

Now, supposedly being overweight or obese is supposed to be very bad for you. In fact, the CDC has been whining about this fact for around the last 10 years, possibly longer. However when one breaks down the numbers, this turns out to be a bunch of bullshit propaganda.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/060805E.html

"We don't want people to artificially hide controversies. We want to get them out in the open."

-- CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, June 2, 2005



It's funny how quickly CDC Director Julie Gerberding has stopped sounding like a scientist and started talking like a character out of 1984.



Just over a month after the Centers for Disease Control researchers published a new study with a dramatically lower estimate of the number of Americans who die each year from obesity -- a study that found that being overweight did not lead to premature death -- the true believers in the doctrine that fat kills, led by Gerberding, are on the counterattack. Even as Gerberding was holding her most recent news conference, scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health, The American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society were busy telling the media that the CDC's figures were flawed. As ABC News reported on June 2, "Health experts increasingly are faulting a recent study by scientists at the federal Centers for Disease control and Prevention…Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society now uniformly reject those conclusions [that only 25,814 people die from obesity each year and the overweight have a lower risk of dying than those of normal weight]."



And it wasn't just the Harvard, Heart and Cancer people who appear to be rejecting the CDC's new figures. In the strangest twist yet in the saga of the missing fat corpses, Dr. Gerberding appeared to discount the work of her own scientific team led by Dr. Katherine Flegal, primary researcher of the new obesity mortality study, who was noticeably absent from Gerberding's latest news conference. Despite Gerberding's claim that she wanted to get the controversy over the CDC's obesity numbers "out in the open", it was clear that she was much more interested in making sure that everyone at the CDC and the media was back on message -- obesity kills and only massive government action can save us -- than in having a scientific debate about what the evidence shows.



Heart Disease, Cancer and Diabetes Questions



For instance, rather than admitting that the scientific evidence failed to support her previous claims about obesity being perhaps the leading cause of death in the US, Gerberding instead emphasized the ways in which obesity hastened death. Obesity, according to Gerberding, raises the risk of heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and arthritis, as well as increasing blood pressure and cholesterol, which also increases the risk of heart disease. And Gerberding's message about the life-threatening risks of obesity is echoed on the CDC's website where the new study is discussed. Under the question "What does this study mean to you?" the CDC provides what purports to be a summary of the relevant facts about obesity in the US. Fact one states that "Obesity remains an important cause of death in the United States…."



But this claim, like so much that the CDC and its director say about obesity these days needs to be taken with considerable skepticism. For example, if you go to another CDC website, the National Center for Health Statistics and look at the current Vital Statistics Reports -- Vol 53, No. 17 March 7, 2005 , which gives the most recent data on causes of death in the United States you will not find any entry for obesity as a cause of death. It isn't just that obesity isn't one of the 10 leading causes of death, it is rather that obesity simply isn't a cause of death reported by the Center. In other words, the Center doesn't track or report "obesity" deaths. Nor does the International Classification of Diseases have a category of disease called obesity. So just how does the Centers for Disease Control know that "obesity remains an important cause of death in the US" when its own National Center for Health Statistics doesn't have a cause of death category called obesity?



Heart Disease



The answer must be found in what Gerberding said at her new conference, being overweight and obese kills people through heart disease, cancer and diabetes. But is this really true? Take high blood pressure for instance. The second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II), used by the CDC in its obesity mortality survey, which followed 20,000 people from 1976-1980, found that there was a stronger association between extra lean tissue and high blood pressure than between extra fat tissue and high blood pressure. Several studies have also found that the reason for higher BMI's in people with hypertension is their continual yo-yo dieting, not their extra pounds. Or take the famous Framingham Heart Study which found that after thirty years, the men who had gained weight and had higher blood pressure had mortality rates from heart disease that were 50% less that those who had lost weight.



The evidence about obesity and heart disease is equally interesting in failing to support Dr. Gerberding's claim about a link between obesity and mortality. The largest angiographic examination of its kind, Applegate et al 1991, examined the angiograms of over 4500 middle aged and elderly men and women to determine the link between cardiovascular disease and obesity. What the study found was that weight was actually protective from heart disease in that for every 11 pound increase in body weight there was a 10-40% lower risk for atherosclerosis. Ultrasound analysis of obesity and heart disease has found similar results. For instance, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2002, found that progression to heart disease was not linked to BMI.



None of this should be surprising to Gerberding since her CDC colleague, Dr. Edward Gregg recently published a study " Secular Trends in Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors According to Body Mass Index in US Adults" which looked at the connection between obesity and risks for cardiovascular disease. Unlike his boss, however, who seems quite clear that obesity causes disease and premature death, Dr. Gregg is much more reticent, preferring to base his claims on the scientific evidence as opposed to faith. What Gregg found was that the risk factors for heart disease had "declined considerably over the past 40 years in all BMI groups", despite the fact that the prevalence of obesity has increased. In fact, the greatest declines in risks for heart disease were found in the overweight and obese. But perhaps Dr. Gerberding is so busy with the media that she hasn't had time to read Dr. Gregg's study.



Cancer



But what about cancer? After all, the American Cancer Society's Dr. Michael Thun is one of those questioning the CDC's revised figures. Perhaps those who are overweight or obese really do run a greater risk of dying from cancer. If we look to Dr. Thun's own study, "Overweight, Obesity and Mortality from Cancer "published in 2003, which created shock headlines across the country, it appears that obesity is a significant risk for cancer. But then looks can be deceiving in the obesity epidemic game. For instance, in overweight men, being overweight was actually protective against cancer death, rather like the CDC's own finding which Dr. Thun wishes to discredit. Indeed, across all populations, men and women, relative risks (RRs) were less than 2, suggesting lack of a meaningful association. Even more surprising was the fact that morbidly obese women -- that is women with BMI's in excess of 40 -- had less chance of dying from cancer than "normal" weight men, a very curious finding given the supposedly killer status of obesity.



Again, these results about cancer and obesity should not be surprising. Glenn Gaesser of the University of Virginia has suggested that over the last three decades that there have been 35-40 studies that have found a lower risk of cancer for those with higher BMI's. For instance, a large study by the National Cancer Institute of people with lung cancer found that women who had never smoked and had normal BMI's had a 140 per cent higher risk for getting lung cancer than overweight women. Again, a study in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (1990) concluded that "Neither coronary heart disease nor cancer, the two leading causes of death, was significantly associated with BMI." The Seven Countries Study which has followed the lives and deaths of 13,000 men over the last 40 years found that the risk of death from cancer decreased with increasing weight. And in a major review of the available evidence, researchers Ernsberger and Haskew concluded that in virtually every study total cancer death rates declined with rising BMI's



Diabetes



This leaves us with diabetes as Dr. Gerberding's final example of how obesity leads to premature death. Yet even here the evidence does not support the CDC director. Despite claims by many about a diabetes epidemic, the evidence suggests that the over the 1990's -- when obesity rates have supposedly skyrocketed by over 60% -- Type 2 diabetes incidence increased from 8.2 to 8.6%. As the Gregg study pointed out, total diabetes increased by only 1-2 percentage points from 1976-2000. Among Type 2 diabetics, those who are overweight have lower mortality rates than those with normal BMI's.



As for the role of obesity in diabetes, there is a significant amount of evidence that people who diet are more likely to get the disease than those who don't and that changes in physical activity and diet greatly reduce the risks of the disease independently of weight.



None of this, of course, found its way into Dr. Gerberding's news conference, despite the fact that it is a major part of the scientific literature about obesity, disease and mortality. Instead, Gerberding and the folks at the Heart Association and Cancer Society appear to want Americans to believe that the only evidence suggesting that there isn't a connection between being fat and dying early is the CDC's new study. Controversy and an open discussion of the evidence is the last thing they really want because the evidence is just too inconvenient for the doctrine that fat kills.



But the evidence and the controversy are not going away. There are dozens of studies, from around the world over the last four decades that show that being overweight and obese are not associated with disease or early death. If Dr. Gerberding is really committed to an evidence-based discussion of obesity in America, as opposed to a faith-based crusade, she might want to call a news conference to talk about them.



John Luik is writing a book about health policy. He lives in Canada.

Edit - Apparently Dr. Julie Geberding wants it to be a nation of people with inoffensive amounts of body mass.

Being obese does indeed increase the risks of certain health problems. The problem imho, is that the term "obese" has been shifted lower now doesn't reflect reality anymore.

I am 5'10" "medium frame" and according to http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/met.htm (Met Life) Im supposed to weigh no more than 163 lbs. At 180 lbs. I had a doctor threaten force feeding if I kept losing weight (he was kidding about the force feeding).

Now, supposedly being overweight or obese is supposed to be very bad for you. In fact, the CDC has been whining about this fact for around the last 10 years, possibly longer. However when one breaks down the numbers, this turns out to be a bunch of bullshit propaganda.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/060805E.html



Edit - Apparently Dr. Julie Geberding wants it to be a nation of people with inoffensive amounts of body mass.

right, and what possible reason would they have for perpetuating this "myth"?

right, and what possible reason would they have for perpetuating this "myth"?
They get quite a bit of federal money to continue studies linking "obesity" with health risks.

Actually, what that study a couple of months back said was that being overweight is not as dangerous as it once was, since current drugs and medical interventions offset the threats. But being obese is still a risk factor, one of many. They're still recommending proper nutrition, physical activity and a stable weight (no yo-yo diets). I can't see anything wrong with that.

Good grief. I read reports that say smoking isn't bad for you!
Being morbidly obese is bad for you. Fact.
Geeze, all anyone struggling with motivation to lose wight needs....an excuse!

But I agree the height to weight thing is way out of whack. It does not take into account your physical conditioning...and I think that's all that was recently being said. A liitle bit of weight is not the end of the world., but c'mon, being fat is seriuolsy not good for you.

Good grief. I read reports that say smoking isn't bad for you!
Being morbidly obese is bad for you. Fact.
Geeze, all anyone struggling with motivation to lose wight needs....an excuse!

But I agree the height to weight thing is way out of whack. It does not take into account your physical conditioning...and I think that's all that was recently being said. A liitle bit of weight is not the end of the world., but c'mon, being fat is seriuolsy not good for you.

I've got an idea to help people loose weight and it's to do with something we like to do quite often, fly.

As i see it you have a baggage allowence and thus the airlines much have an average weight calculated for each person...bagage plus person. I would combine those two things so if you and your bagage were too much you don't fly.

Now of course, the double wammy of this is that if you are fat your clothes are bigger and thus weigh more...you have to loose a lot of weight to be able to fly.

ave me getting crushed on long hall flights, the palnes burn less fuel and it saves the enviroment and the fat people loose weight, everyone is a winner.

Fat people are unhealthy.

It's common sense. High blood pressure, shortness of breath, etc, etc, it will all damage you, it will all contribute to a greatly reduced life expectancy.

Simple solution, cut the PC acceptance crap, put on a pair of boots and start running.

Fat people are unhealthy.

It's common sense. High blood pressure, shortness of breath, etc, etc, it will all damage you, it will all contribute to a greatly reduced life expectancy.

Simple solution, cut the PC acceptance crap, put on a pair of boots and start running.

I'd have to say that not all fat people are necessarily unhealthy.

But we'd have to redefine what we mean by fat.

"Traditionally" built men and women are not necessarily obese...though they may be extremely large.

Being unhealthy is unhealthy:). No exercise, poor diet, bad habits like smoking or drinking to excess...you can be a skinny little string bean and be more unhealthy than a really large person.

The issue with rising numbers of obese people is not necessarily their weight alone, but their inactive lifestyles and poor nutrition choices. Genetics determine that certain people in that category will become obese, while others will not. Neither person is healthy, but the skinny one SEEMS healthy.

We should be targeting not on looks alone if we want to deal with this issue, but rather, realise that unhealthy people need a lifestyle change, regardless of how healthy they SEEM to be.

I am 5'10" "medium frame" and according to http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/met.htm (Met Life) Im supposed to weigh no more than 163 lbs. At 180 lbs. I had a doctor threaten force feeding if I kept losing weight (he was kidding about the force feeding).I'm 5' 10" medium frame and I weigh 140 lbs.

Being morbidly obese is bad for you. Fact.
Obese and morbidly obese are two different things. If you are so fat you have trouble getting around obviously it's a problem.

Genes don't excuse it. What, half of America has faulty genes, and the rest of the world is acquring them? LOL. Nor are there acceptable degrees of flabbiness. I really don't give a damn on the political correctness of this one, fat = teh l0se, it's that simple.

This is just sad that people would get fooled by such propaganda, and I'm talking about the propaganda the thread starter so lazily cut&pasted.

Adjust your tin-foil hat.

If you can stand up and hold a pencil under your gut you're too fat.

I'll tell you guys what the scientists are trying to hide. There's zero data on the health of free-range fat people, smokers, or excessive drinkers. But there's plenty of evidence to suggest that when you study them, they die. It is in fact science which is killing these people stone dead.

right, and what possible reason would they have for perpetuating this "myth"?

The same reasons as always. They get huge budget increases for research, notice and praise from within their field, Unbelievable consulting fees from Insurance Companies that use the slanted data and research to increase profits by refusing claims and leveraging employers to discriminate in hiring as they do with smokers. Executive positions on corporate boards... the list goes on endlessly. It is a scam.

It is foolish to deny that being overweight is bad for you. It defies common sense to think otherwise. Come on, all you proponents of this study know that you are just trying to justify the way you look. The fact is that laziness creates fatness and laziness is unappealing. Deal with it. Get out and exercise so you will be accepted, don’t make up crap to do it. No matter what some “scientific” study says I will continue to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and exercise ever other day. I like being healthy, but that’s just me.

I know. Obesity is unhealthy. That isn't propaganda. It's hard fact backed by years of science. The answer is not fat science, but excersize and eating right. I don't know where people get this "fat is healthy" nonsense.

Besides, it's fun to be skinny :p

I know. Obesity is unhealthy. That isn't propaganda. It's hard fact backed by years of science. The answer is not fat science, but excersize and eating right. I don't know where people get this "fat is healthy" nonsense.
i think they get it from the studies cited above.

while it is obviously very bad for you to be morbidly obese it is not so clear that it is in any way scientifically proven that to be somewhat overweight is also bad for you. there is in fact a scientifically supported suggestion that it is actually better for you to be somewhat "overweight" (which if course means that our definintion of overweight is wrong)

in modestly overweight people other factors have to be more important. things like diet, exercise, family history are much more of a factor than weighing 20 lbs more than the metlife table would suggest for you.

its somewhat similar to drinking alcohol. the chronic alcoholic who drinks to drunkenness every day of his life for 40 years will find himself in a very bad physical state. however the man who drinks 1 or 2 drinks per day for 40 years is statistically more likely to be healthy than the utter non drinker.

you cant use the 450lb man as an example of why its bad to be 15 lbs "overweight". they are 2 very different states.

It is foolish to deny that being overweight is bad for you. It defies common sense to think otherwise.
Shapist. Oh, and I'd love to hear why it's common sense, other than for the way one looks.

I agree completely with this article. I mean, why shouldn't I be able to eat all the fatty foods I want, not excercise, and still live to be 101 years of age?

I mean come on. It's not like obese people have:

- Shortness of breath,
- Clogged arteries or
- Dangerously high amounts of body fat (nothing wrong with being composed of 40% fat!)

Really guys, if you fail to see the fact that being obese allows you to live longer (it's all those extra fat reserves, you know!) than I'm afraid you're all just a bunch of anorexic hippies!

Shapist.

The results are in! I'm done taking you seriously at all!

I agree completely with this article. I mean, why shouldn't I be able to eat all the fatty foods I want, not excercise, and still live to be 101 years of age?

I mean come on. It's not like obese people have:

- Shortness of breath,
- Clogged arteries or
- Dangerously high amounts of body fat (nothing wrong with being composed of 40% fat!)

Really guys, if you fail to see the fact that being obese allows you to live longer (it's all those extra fat reserves, you know!) than I'm afraid you're all just a bunch of anorexic hippies!
you need to seperate weight from diet. you need to seperate weight from exercise, you need to seperate weight from cholesterol level.

one can be overweight without having any of those things.

you should know that obese and morbidly obese are not the same thing. to be fat does not mean you must weight over 300 lbs. it doesnt mean you live a sedentary life. it doesnt mean you eat junk all day long. all it HAS to mean is that you weigh more than what the doc says you should weigh. it might be 5 lbs, it might be 500. dont make assumptions.

Shapist. Oh, and I'd love to hear why it's common sense, other than for the way one looks.

Ya, I'd have to agree that this is a joke, parody, troll, whatever. Either that, or the author of this thread has never met a fat person...

So let me spell this out. Retard slow style:

Being fat, is, by definition, carrying extra weight. Ever try carrying around extra weight? Try doing it 24/7. Logically unhealthy

It's hard to run, walk, climb stairs, get to place, do common day activities. Ask anyone who's fat. Evidentally unhealthy

Higher blood pressure. Clogged arteries. Fat people with heart attacks. Harder to breathe. More likely for asthma attacks. Worse shape. Scientifically unhealthy

Even fat people who jog a lot. They're still at a greater risk for heart attacks (my friend's father is a leading cardiologist), they just aren't disadvantaged in day to day life. Besides them, the facts are damn clear.

And yes. It's ugly to be overweight. It shows disdain for others and yourself. Naturally, on an evolutionary scale, overweight is bad. Bad. Simple. Common sense.
Save us the trouble of getting Myrth to beat you with liposuction waste and give it a rest.

It's not so much being overweight that's bad for you, it's the inactivity.

If you're overweight but maintain an active lifestyle, you're probably better off than an inactive skinny person.

It's not so much being overweight that's bad for you, it's the inactivity.

If you're overweight but maintain an active lifestyle, you're probably better off than an inactive skinny person.

Agreed. I know people who are fatter than I that run out of breath long after I have when playing basketball or racquetball

Shapist. Oh, and I'd love to hear why it's common sense, other than for the way one looks.

Shapist, well that's a new one. Can't say I've ever heard that before. If you are suggesting that I somehow discriminate against the overweight than you are wrong. Many of my best friends are overweight. I simply don't understand how you can possibly think being overweight is healthy.

And yes. It's ugly to be overweight. It shows disdain for others and yourself.

Exactly, If you are to lazy to make yourself appear decent than obviously you could care less about other people. I actually think being fat is one of the more selfish things one can do without directly hurting someone else. The overweight suck up recourses much quicker than skinnier people and, of course, they make the rest of us look at them. :D

you need to seperate weight from diet. you need to seperate weight from exercise, you need to seperate weight from cholesterol level.

one can be overweight without having any of those things.

you should know that obese and morbidly obese are not the same thing. to be fat does not mean you must weight over 300 lbs. it doesnt mean you live a sedentary life. it doesnt mean you eat junk all day long. all it HAS to mean is that you weigh more than what the doc says you should weigh. it might be 5 lbs, it might be 500. dont make assumptions.

I'm talking about obesity here, the stage of your body after you've passed the threshold of being overweight (overweight and obese are often used incorrectly as interchangeable words); a disease which is caused by a variety of factors, most notably:

1. Sedentary lifestyle and,
2. Poor diet (rich in fatty foods)

The article is claiming that being obese is healthy for you, citing plenty of health benefits. Overweight, perhaps. Obesity, which requires a bit of effort on the fatty's part, no.

As for weighing more than the doc says you should weigh; generally, the BMI of a person correlates with their body fat percentages, though not always. An obese person will, pretty generally, have a high body fat percentage. Something which isn't brought about by excercising, eating right, and living a healthy life.

Apparently, I try to keep my weight under 125 at all times because I'm a victim of "propaganda" :rolleyes:

Some people can have a slightly above average mass for individuals of their height as a result of additional muscle mass. Perhaps because they live on high-carbohydrate diets and run/climb with heavy packs a lot. I knew a few in my hiking and mountaineering club, who simply had more bulk than others while accomplishing the same tasks.

Crucially however, such individuals are OMFG healthy because they do exercise!

Fat people, heh, shapist indeed. It is not a simple question of weight, and how far from the centre one lies on the distribution. If someone is fat, ie it's excess fat from a poor diet and inadequate exercise, then they are unhealthy by definition. And I might add, in the absence of an extraordinary medical condition, by choice.

Of COURSE a balanced diet will help.
Of COURSE regular exercise will help. I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise.

I think perhaps some people may also not understand that muscle weighs more than fatty tissue -- and that you can have two people of, say, five foot seven inches of height who weigh the same 150 pounds. One is clearly leaner, and the other clearly 'softer'. The one who works out more is, according to the insurance charts, just as 'overweight' as the one who does not, yet the more muscular is undoubtedly in better health.

I do take issue with the childish attitude I am seeing in calling people 'fatty' and making blanket statements that all people who are overweight are lazy. There have been recent studies which suggest that the standard tests for thyroid problems may not be sensitive enough, and that some people have therefore not been getting proper medical treatment. A perfect example of this is a friend of mine, who struggled with just such a condition for ten years, seeing doctor after doctor until one endocrinologist decided to give her the newer, more sensitive blood test.

Result? She's happier, and healthier, than she's been for years -- and it was NOT for lack of trying.

I've seen a report recently (although I can't quote it here, couldn't find it online in a hurry) about a study that has been carried out in Australia.

Most Health Reports - not just American ones - state that slim people have a better health and less risk of several diseases than overweight people. However, none of them have yet made any statement about the health of people who used to be obese and then lost a lot of weight.

The study pointed out, first of all, that people who had been obese for a longer period of time and then decided to lose weight have to stay on a constant diet of less than 1500 kalories a day if they want to keep their weight.
Our body see diets as starvation, it will react accordingly and start to gather weight again to be prepared for the next period of starvation. This is the reason for the yo-yo effect and why you can end up weighing a lot more after a series of diets than what you had started out with.

Furthermore, losing weight doesn't reduce blood pressure. the risks for heart attack actually rise in people who lost a lot of weight. The risk of cancer remained the same as it had been when they were overweight.

Overall, the study showed that obese people didn't get much healthier by losing weight. If the problem of obesity has to be approached, it has to be done in a way to stop people from getting obese in the first place.

Mabie all of the health problems supposedly caused by being "overweight" are actually caused by the stress these people suffer because of all the shame and humiliation all of you elitest anti-fat people heap on them.

Ever think about that you bastards :mad:

And to all of the anti-fat people who actually have the nerve to cut to the true motives of their elitest dogma (that they think all fat people are ugly) why don't you use your brains and think about this for a moment, attractiveness is such a relative thing in society especially in modern times when opinions over what is beautiful and what is not seemingly change overnight that you have no right to judge what is "ugly" and what is "beautiful" outright, millions, perhaps billions, of people all over the world find fat people to be attractive, but you are so ignorant up in your "thin is in" ivory towers that you don't seem to notice that.

Mabie all of the health problems supposedly caused by being "overweight" are actually caused by the stress these people suffer because of all the shame and humiliation all of you elitest anti-fat people heap on them.

Ever think about that you bastards :mad:

And to all of the anti-fat people who actually have the nerve to cut to the true motives of their elitest dogma (that they think all fat people are ugly) why don't you use your brains and think about this for a moment, attractiveness is such a relative thing in society especially in modern times when opinions over what is beautiful and what is not seemingly change overnight that you have no right to judge what is "ugly" and what is "beautiful" outright, millions, perhaps billions, of people all over the world find fat people to be attractive, but you are so ignorant up in your "thin is in" ivory towers that you don't seem to notice that.


Nice rant :D

Yes. All Americans should switch to a fast-food only diet to proof to the world that beeing fat is no danger to your health.

Yes. All Americans should switch to a fast-food only diet to proof to the world that beeing fat is no danger to your health.

If you want to be a smartarse don't do it here.

If you want to be a smartarse don't do it here.
What? I'm sticking up for fat people.

... but you are so ignorant up in your "thin is in" ivory towers that you don't seem to notice that.
Maybe you could climb on an ivory tower if you weren't so damn fat! Have you considered that?

People shouldn't mock other people or judge them for their appearance, but that doesn't mean people can make excuses to maintain an unhealthy lifestyle. You can't also dictate what other people should consider attractive and what ugly, since that's purely a personal matter.

Mabie all of the health problems supposedly caused by being "overweight" are actually caused by the stress these people suffer because of all the shame and humiliation all of you elitest anti-fat people heap on them.

Ever think about that you bastards :mad:


Holy smokes. That's the funniest thing I've ever heard...one could suggest that people who eat 3 pizzas and go to sleep for 14 hours are in fact heaping the humiliation on themselves. Blame everyone else eh? What is the world coming to?

Elitest anti-fat people. Now that's just good comedy.

Holy smokes. That's the funniest thing I've ever heard...one could suggest that people who eat 3 pizzas and go to sleep for 14 hours are in fact heaping the humiliation on themselves. Blame everyone else eh? What is the world coming to?

Elitest anti-fat people. Now that's just good comedy.

Yor ignorance is mind-blowing :rolleyes:

Maybe you could climb on an ivory tower if you weren't so damn fat! Have you considered that?

People shouldn't mock other people or judge them for their appearance, but that doesn't mean people can make excuses to maintain an unhealthy lifestyle. You can't also dictate what other people should consider attractive and what ugly, since that's purely a personal matter.

Yours too

Perhaps you should consider that your insistance that the lifestyles of all fat people are "irresponsible and lazy" are not only derrogitory and slanderous but also encroach on impedding these peoples sacred right to freedom of choice.

Perhaps you should consider that your insistance that the lifestyles of all fat people are "irresponsible and lazy" are not only derrogitory and slanderous but also encroach on impedding these peoples sacred right to freedom of choice.

Right. So people have the right to choose to eat 3 pizzas, and people have the right to choose label them fat. I understand that sometimes it's an actual disorder, or sometimes parents (more so now then ever) take the easy way out and feed their kids junk (something I consider a form of abuse). But more often than not it's from people over eating and under excersising...then making obvious excuses and pointing the finger at everyone else (as you do with suprising ease). Listen, you don't get fat from keeping active (getting out of bed does not count) and eating right. Grow up, except your faults and do something about it.

Mabie all of the health problems supposedly caused by being "overweight" are actually caused by the stress these people suffer because of all the shame and humiliation all of you elitest anti-fat people heap on them.

Ever think about that you bastards :mad:
:D

You have to laugh. :p

A lot of the distress heaped upon people by an uncaring society is easily alleviated by putting on a pair of shoes and walking out of the front door. That is a productive reaction. Those who gorge themselves on pizza in consolation are the agents of their own destruction, and win no sympathy from me.

Of COURSE a balanced diet will help.
Of COURSE regular exercise will help. I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise.

I think perhaps some people may also not understand that muscle weighs more than fatty tissue -- and that you can have two people of, say, five foot seven inches of height who weigh the same 150 pounds. One is clearly leaner, and the other clearly 'softer'. The one who works out more is, according to the insurance charts, just as 'overweight' as the one who does not, yet the more muscular is undoubtedly in better health.

I do take issue with the childish attitude I am seeing in calling people 'fatty' and making blanket statements that all people who are overweight are lazy. There have been recent studies which suggest that the standard tests for thyroid problems may not be sensitive enough, and that some people have therefore not been getting proper medical treatment. A perfect example of this is a friend of mine, who struggled with just such a condition for ten years, seeing doctor after doctor until one endocrinologist decided to give her the newer, more sensitive blood test.

Result? She's happier, and healthier, than she's been for years -- and it was NOT for lack of trying.

And I take issue with the fact that we can't seem to get the words obese and overweight right. They are NOT the same. They do NOT mean the same thing.

People with little body fat percentage and are extremely lean are at most going to be in the overweight category, simply because... well, muscle weighs more than fat.

Obese people (where I'll doubt you'll find a healthy person, unless they're extreme bodybuilders), on the other hand, did not get to where they are through JUST genetics. They had a choice to keep eating. They had a choice to not excercise. They had a choice to sit on their asses all day.

It's their choices that made them fat and the fact that "studies" are trying to proclaim that being obese is healthy is ludicrous.

:D

You have to laugh. :p

A lot of the distress heaped upon people by an uncaring society is easily alleviated by putting on a pair of shoes and walking out of the front door. That is a productive reaction. Those who gorge themselves on pizza in consolation are the agents of their own destruction, and win no sympathy from me.

Oh yes, to win your respect, we must conform :mad:

And why does it bother you at all, can't you just leave these people alone and let them live their lives the way they want to. Just because someone is fat does not mean they are not enjoying life.