NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/01/obit.bradford.ap/index.html

AUBURNDALE, Florida (AP) -- Rosalie Bradford, who held records for being the world's heaviest woman and for losing the most weight, has died. She was 63.

Bradford weighed 1,050 pounds in January 1987, according to the 1994 Guinness Book of Records. She lost 736 pounds to weigh 314 pounds in September 1992, according to the record book.

She died Wednesday at a hospital in Lakeland, about 10 miles from her Auburndale home in central Florida.

Publicist Stephen Nortier said Bradford weighed around 400 pounds just before dying. He said the cause of death won't be known until a medical examiner's report, but Bradford had spent the last year bedridden with complications from having her lymph nodes severed years ago.

At her largest, Bradford was 8 feet wide and took 90 minutes to bathe.

She credited Richard Simmons, the flamboyant fitness guru, with helping her lose weight. The two began corresponding after a friend of Bradford's wrote Simmons when she tried to commit suicide.

Bradford blamed her lifelong battle with obesity on abandonment, which bred a food addiction. Her Web site claims her peak weight was more than 1,200 pounds.

"I was just like an addict -- lie, cheat, steal, whatever to get my drug of choice. And my drug of choice was food," Bradford said in a 1999 interview with The Ledger of Lakeland.
Well, it's no surprise she was an American, given our tendency to be fat, lazy people these days. I'm caught between saying it's a pity she's gone to being amazed at her loss of well over 700 pouinds to not caring because I didn't know her.

We should probably concern ourselves, however, with how she managed to become so large in the first place. It's human instinct to stuff our face: a holdover survival trait which made sense when food was scarce but in Western society today it does not. Indeed, it instead creates obese monstrosities. Of course, we can't--and shouldn't--try to rid ourselves of this instinct, but the question is: how can we get around it?

American culture is one of convenience and compulsion.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/01/obit.bradford.ap/index.html


Well, it's no surprise she was an American, given our tendency to be fat, lazy people these days. I'm caught between saying it's a pity she's gone to being amazed at her loss of well over 700 pouinds to not caring because I didn't know her.

We should probably concern ourselves, however, with how she managed to become so large in the first place. It's human instinct to stuff our face: a holdover survival trait which made sense when food was scarce but in Western society today it does not. Indeed, it instead creates obese monstrosities. Of course, we can't--and shouldn't--try to rid ourselves of this instinct, but the question is: how can we get around it?


Move to Africa?

That's going to be one big coffin, custom Jumbo size.

feed the wor-r-r-r-r-ld!
let them know it's christmas time.

Read the labels -- avoid anything with corn syrup like the plague. That's what has been making us fat bastards since it was introduced in the 80s.

I'm surprised that the human body could stretch that wide. The stretch marks must've been appalling. But to live to the age of 63 is quite good by the standards of someone that large. But even though she lost a monumental amount of weight (I mean, I'm not exactly petite but she lost the equivalent 5 of me!) it just goes to show how much strain on your body all that excess weight that can be. Poor woman. She must've been really unhappy if she wanted to commit suicide.

Seven-hundred pounds lost is a damn amazing feat. Sure, she was still morbidly obese, but it is amazing how miniscule 300 pounds can look compared to 1,200.

It's so sad for her to have had to live like that. =/

We know she was American not because she weighed so much, but because of her determination and drive to lose all that weight. It's the "American spirit".

Yeah, I know you want to turn this into an American bashing thread, but at least make the insults creative. There was a smelly hobo next to me on the bus, he must be from Europe because everyone knows Europeans never bathe, why are Eurpoeans always so dirty and lazy? You dont hear me constantly ranting about it though, because bitching and complaining is also a European stereotype.

I dont actually hold these beliefs, but its not hard to insult other nationalities, see how easy it was!

I'm an American, and the comments I made earlier in this thread wasn't intended to "bash" anything. There are undeniably things wrong with our culture, as there are every culture.

You know what's really US-American about this? Not the fat woman; we all have those. It's more the use of 'large' in the title and 'heavy' in the article- I honestly thought it was about, say, the tallest woman when I read the thread title only. Any other person would have called this the 'fattest' woman, or, if you must be polite, 'most overweight' or something..

At least you didn't say 'most horizontally challenged' or 'differently sized' woman.

Heh. I have to admire her.

Anyone who knows how difficult it is to lose 20 pounds has to marvel at the determination it must have taken to lose 700. Think about that a while -- she lost what, two thirds of her peak body weight?

It's a pity that she died (it's a pity when anyone dies) but the strain on her body must have been horrific when she had ALL her weight, and still must have been rough when she got down to 400.

We know she was American not because she weighed so much, but because of her determination and drive to lose all that weight. It's the "American spirit".

Yeah, I know you want to turn this into an American bashing thread, but at least make the insults creative. There was a smelly hobo next to me on the bus, he must be from Europe because everyone knows Europeans never bathe, why are Eurpoeans always so dirty and lazy? You dont hear me constantly ranting about it though, because bitching and complaining is also a European stereotype.

I dont actually hold these beliefs, but its not hard to insult other nationalities, see how easy it was!

European is not a nationality. There are many countries that make up Europe. Its like having an American stereotype that includes the USA, Canada and Mexico, despite them being three completely different cultures. How can you compare the culture of Scandanavia to Spain, Greece and Italy? You can't make a generalisation about a continent.

Finally, if you didn't realsie America is officially the fattest nation on earth. Thus you can presume that the fattest person in the world will probably come from America.

I hope she sang before she died. Otherwise I don't consider this over.

Finally, if you didn't realsie America is officially the fattest nation on earth. Thus you can presume that the fattest person in the world will probably come from America.

*sigh* No matter where you're from, half a ton is not normal. The fact that she happened to live in the USA is irrelevant. She could just as easily lived in any nation that has decent food. Or do you see a Sumo and conclude that Japanese are large?

She should have been proud - she made quite the accomplishment. Few could equal her successes.

But now that the reigning champion is gone, who is the largest woman in the world now?

*sigh* No matter where you're from, half a ton is not normal. The fact that she happened to live in the USA is irrelevant. She could just as easily lived in any nation that has decent food. Or do you see a Sumo and conclude that Japanese are large?

I never said it was normal....I just stated that as the Fattest nation on Earth, you would expect the fattest person to be from that nation, America. Of course she could get that fat in any prosperous nation but you would expect the fattest person in the world to come from the nation with the highest obesity levels, regardless of which nation it is.

[QUOTE=Oeck;12029795]You know what's really US-American about this? Not the fat woman; we all have those. It's more the use of 'large' in the title and 'heavy' in the article- I honestly thought it was about, say, the tallest woman when I read the thread title only. Any other person would have called this the 'fattest' woman, or, if you must be polite, 'most overweight' or something..
QUOTE]

Perfect example of pc.

I hope she sang before she died. Otherwise I don't consider this over.

You win the thread!
:D