Obesity: It’s the New Black
I’ve had my struggles with weight as we all have. It’s the basis of the “JBdotC Eat Less, Move More (You Fat Bastard) Health Initiative” where you a) eat less, and b) move more. Admittedly, I haven’t been doing either as of late, but that why the Good Lord invented New Year’s resolutions.
The main thing that drives me insane aboot government run health care is when I hear people supporting it and complaining aboot health care costs…who do absolutely nothing to take care of themselves in the first place. They’re overweight, eat like crap, don’t exercise, and want the government to pay for them to get healthy when a majority of their health problems are their own fault.
So when I read headlines like “Obese Americans now outweigh the merely overweight,” those are the first people who come to mind. So sayeth the good folks at Reutuers…
The number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government. Numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are “extremely” obese.
“More than one-third of adults, or over 72 million people, were obese in 2005-2006,” the NCHS said in its report.
The article then went on to give you all the facts and figures that generally make you stare blankly at your computer screen in disbelief.
I don’t have much more to add other than yearly membership at my gym is only $300, and eating healthy is relatively cheap…if you’re willing to put the time in to do the excruciating work of clipping coupons and comparing the grocery circulars that come in the local paper.
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I can see where you might think that eating less, moving more is the only solution – and it is a good solution so long as you are not suffering from arthritis, which makes movement extremely painful, or so long as your endocrine system is in working order.
And so long as you inherit the right genes. It is a much more complex problem than just eating healthy and getting exercise.
I gained weight because the company I worked for demanded at least 60 to 70 hours a week of work – working behind a computer or traveling all over the world to work behind a computer.
In the 7 years I worked for them, I only missed 2 weeks due to illness because I got shingles, and had to work at home because one of the idiots in my group had never had Chicken Pox or been vaccinated for Chicken Pox, so my weight had no bearing at all on health care costs or absenteeism.
I won awards for my customer service skills, and yet, I was told I no longer fit into their corporate world of youth and fitness (I was 54 and fat) so it would be best if they fired me and gave me a few months severance but only if I signed a statement promising them I would not sue them for age discrimination.
So, I am now learning to be a farmer. I am very slowly losing weight, because I am not forced to sit on my rear all day long. And because I walk the fences several times a week to check the land and critters.
I have dear, good friends with serious health issues that CAUSED weight gains – they cannot lose weight easily, or at all. I’m one of the lucky ones.
No one is giving any one who weighs to much a break, believe me! I just hope you don’t ever have to experience the prejudice I did because of my age and weight.
I hate to say it to the above responder, but it’s a good solution regardless. Saying ‘that’s all fine and dandy if you’re healthy but…’ smacks of excuse making, which I believe is what this blogger is getting at, and it is a much too common one. I am not a healthy person who is sitting in judgement of you, by the way. I have multiple sclerosis, which is extraordinarily painful. I could also give a litany of serious health problems that I have had throughout my life (including hypothyroidism, which is a favorite “reason” for being obese), but I’ll just stick to the recent. In addition to the MS, I am sitting here at the moment with a broken foot from falling (MS causes coordination problems), I have had numerous surgeries in the past two years, including a very major invasive one and….I’m not fat. I’m not even slightly overweight. I did have to lose 70 pounds after being bed-ridden for 10 months, but I lost every pound (I’m also in my 40′s so being young is not an advantage I had either). And I was bed-ridden, not just my normally disabled self. Why did I do it? Because living with a chronic, painful, disabling condition leaves me with two choices. 1.) Feel sorry for myself and give in to the pain. Use it as an excuse to do nothing. Let it rule my life and have no life or 2.) accept that this is how I am going to feel and live anyway. Help myself to be as healthy as I can be. I will never run a marathon or even be able to walk very far, but why would I voluntarily disable myself further by not doing anything to help my body to be as good as it can be? Conditions like MS AND arthritis are HELPED by exercise. Yes, it is painful to do. I am in constant pain. However, the long term benefits are huge (pun intended). Over time whether you are healthy or chronically ill, the body will get stronger, joints stabilize and become more limber, muscles loosen, and it aids in losing weight. In fact, excess weight is a major contributor to arthritis and other neuromuscular pain. Not exercising or moving enough is a major contributor to a worsening of the condition. MS is a degenerative disease, which means it will get worse no matter what, but it can get worse a hell of a lot faster by doing nothing. Is everyone who is overweight at fault? No. But I agree with John that most do little to nothing to help themselves.
To Beth,
I sympathize with you and anyone who has a debilitating condition like arthritis AND anyone who is simply frustrated with their weight and have difficulty keeping it under control. I have my own weight frustrations and my list of excuses can compete with anyone’s – mental health stress, chronic fatigue, etc.
However just because you or another similar person can not “move” as much as you would like, eating properly — not just “dieting”, can help a person stay in shape. Even if a person is hungry, it is scientifically proven that if you move more, your body needs more calories to run and if you “move less” as you eloquently described was your “forced” situation of working 70 hrs per week — you can afford to eat less, and better food.
I would further like to add that being “forced” to work 70 hrs a week is a bunch of BS. A career path is a choice, I don’t know your particular situation but nobody is forced to work certain hours if they really don’t want to — they should quit and find a company and career path that supports their needs better. Furthermore, and I’m embarrassed to compare myself with this — there are myriads of people who work long crazy hours and “manage” to get themselves to the gym. Why do you think gyms are often open 24 hours per day? – its THOSE people who work the long hours that would need this form of accomodation.
I’m writing this to myself as well as anyone else who is tired of ridiculous excuses..
and one last note, genetics is only shown to affect “where your body stores fat” – there is no scientific evidence that support that someone has a “fat” gene or a “skinny” gene — there may be some truth in it but you can bet there are a lot of “lifestyle choices” that families pass on to each other as you start to see “fAT families” develop, etc… I see best “friends” get fat together and skinny together all the time – genetics can not explian this phenomenon… their daily life choices are the strongest factor.