Redjake

Something a lot of people don't realize is the whole "metabolism" thing. I'm not super overweight or anything but I could definitely stand to loose a lot of pounds. The thing is, I tried to last semester by going to the gym 4 times a week and doing cardio and the weight machines. I gained an enormous amount of muscle and kept the fat. I actually gained weight. Why? Because of my diet. Even though I don't eat much more (if any more) than the normal person, I am still overweight.

You can give the preach job of how I wasn't "working out" right and how I didn't do my diet right, but in the end, some people can eat all they want and not work out and still keep a nice body. People like me have to bust their ass to keep from being Class III Obese and eat celery all day to lose weight.


So when you see someone who is overweight, don't assume they are lazy and don't care about the person sitting next to them on a flight. It's not always that simple Some people will always be bigger than the next person.

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skier

People are intolerant of many things in our culture. Most people are intolerant of people that eat with their mouths open, or fart in public, or sleep with thier cousins. We have norms and social mores in our society and being very obese is one of them. I'm not saying it's right to have them, and I would not like to justify my position. In this aspect of life, I'm a bigoted asshole. Sure, you can enjoy being fat. Some people enjoy sleeping with their cousins. It's just not for me. Whether or not you have made a decision to be obese (this so-called "choice" to be fat) the fact remains that our society currently supports a thinner norm.
When I see a very obese person, I see someone that has failed to take care of their body. This does not affect my perception of their personality- I just see that in this area of their life they don't concern themselves. You can be the nicest, most honest, dependable person in the world, but still have a problem with your weight. Obesity is quickly becoming the #1 killer of americans. It is beating out tabbaco- being fat is more dangerous than regularly breathing in smoke. I don't understand people's sympathies for something that shortens your life span and makes it hard to do physical activity.

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thingstodo

I don't really care what other people do with their own lives or their own bodies. I do begin to care when their activities or lifestyles begin to impact my life and space. Here are some examples:

-Listen to your own music but don't do so and cover up what I am listening to
- I pay for a complete seat on an airplane and expect to be able to use all of it, both horizontal and verticle; it's like my yard..if you live next door, keep your crap in your own yard
- be quiet in a movie theater; I didn't pay to listen to you talk, I paid to experience a movie
- Smoke all you want but keep your smoke away from me
- toss your drink container in a trash can but don't toss it over my head and drip crap all over me
- clean up after yourself
- manage your kids and don't bring them to innapropriate places
- if we are sitting next to each other in a public place, go to the bathroom to fart

On the other hand, I do expect to have my space invaded in certain places.

- Chuckie Cheese
- water parks
- any place kids go to have fun
- the smoking section of a restaurant or a bar
- public bathrooms for smells

I guess there is a time and place for everything. If we all respect each other we'd all get along better. Focus on the issue as it relates to you, not what you don't like about someone else.

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flamingdog

Well, that's debatable given that obesity is on the increase. There might come a day where the obese outnumber everyone else. Then what's the norm?

Where did this 'norm' come from anyway?

That's a bit simplistic. Some people try and fail to lose weight, they battle it all their life. Some people eat too much for compensate for psychological scars. Some people just like food. Some people just eat junk. Thing is, you can't look at an obese person and say 'you fucked up your body', because it may not be that simple. Plus that kind of superior attitude only ever rubs me up the wrong way.

To a point, I agree. To get morbidly obese is, for me, something qiute unacceptable. But I'm happy the way I am, and I suspect that may be too fat for you. I eat what I eat and the way I eat because I like it. For the same reason, I smoke pot daily and listen to loud music that may fuck up my hearing.

That's the way I live my life. I believe in taking my pleasures wherever I find them, and that means in the here and now. Nobody is promised tomorrow. There are so many ways I could walk out my front door in five seconds and be a smear on the pavement a minute later, so trying to guarantee myself extra years by denying myself the things I want... seems stupid.

paulskinback

I'd have to say that losing weight and quitting smoking probably need the same amount of will power, it is a choice -whether or not you choose to do so is up to you.

I think we should accept the fact that some people are overweight and some people smoke. end of.

In fact I've found that smoking supresses hunger, so can lead to weight loss. You should try it.

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Squishor

I have gained a new appreciation for the difficulties of losing weight in the past few years. I have always known that I couldn't possibly understand the struggles of people who try to lose weight, since I stopped growing at 5'2" 100-105 pounds at age 16 and no amount of cheesecakes could make me gain an ounce. I happily disregarded all mention of calorie counting and aerobic exercise, things that just didn't matter to me. That was then.

Eventually, in my mid-30s, my weight started creeping upward, no doubt due to metabolic changes and taking birth control pills for a few years, until I weighed a colossal 130 pounds. No big deal, right? I went off the pill, stopped eating such heavy meals late at night, downsized my ice cream portions, and started getting more exercise. But I didn't lose weight. I stepped up my efforts but still didn't lose weight. I thought, this should be easy. After all, we're just talking about 10 or 20 pounds, right? It's not that easy, even though I didn't feel the need to return to my former stick-figure status. Normal skinny would be just fine.

Finally, a couple of years after going off the pill, I have lost about 15 pounds and am happier with the way my clothes are fitting. I cannot imagine the struggles I would be going through if I were trying to lose 50 or 75 pounds. My feelings have swung between humbling acceptance that I am not exceptional after all, and increased fear and disgust at the thought of obesity. I don't think my story is all that unusual, but it has made an enormous impression on me. The experience has shed some light on my place in the human race.

K-Wise

Well first good post Lebell...and ugh second Redjake, don't be so discouraged that you actually GAINED weight rather than lost...I'm sure you already know but believe it or not you almost always do..because muscle weighs more than fat..more than likely it means you gained a lot more muscle than you give yourself credit for. Yer right about the metabolism thing. Sometimes I eat a lot but I've always been skinny..flat stomached n what not...my dad was the same way when he was young but has since gained a lot of weight..I imagine sometime in the future it will all catch up to me. And actually starving yourself can have other negative effects that are kinda common..when you don't eat a normal healthy ammount of food your body reacts to that and what foods you do eat your body stores as fat to compensate....kinda like the more you sleep the more tired you are and need more sleep. So yeah it's not always their fault theres a lot of knowledge about health out there that isn't offered or that we haven't discovered yet which is probably why people try all the answers but don't always get the results. I'm sure there are some people out there who really just don't care to know but more than likely most of them are very much aware and don't really know what to do about it(asside from surgery). The ones that don't care eventually do end up caring when health issues start arriving. Either way Lebell is right they're people first and people for the most part are naturally good..what makes them bad and bitter is people judging and labeling them, and basically being disrespectful out of ignorance ya know? Ya just assume that they don't respect themselves so why should you respect them when you really can't possibly know that unless you talk to them which you probably won't because you're disgusted with them without a truly good reason to be.

Asta!!

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Cynthetiq

just don't be the latter part of my sig.

water_boy1999

Intolerance is definitely needed in our world. However, what about this perspective: Why can't smokers be more tolerant of non-smokers? I don't see them fighting for our right to breath clean air when we go out on the town. I don't see obese people saying, "Poor skinny white guy. I am blocking half of this gentleman's seat and I am sure he will be very crammed on this 6 hour flight". Why does it not work both ways? I only hear things like the skinny guy is intolerant because he doesn't want to be crammed on the flight. I see smokers intolerant because they can't smoke wherever they damn feel like. They are the first people to say if you don't like it, don't go out to eat. However, if that were the case, there would scarcely be any restaurant a non-smoker could eat because according to a previously quoted statistic, 30% of the patrons there will be puffing away while I am enjoying my steak and potatoes. I often walk into a plume of smoke as I enter potential client sites. People smoking outside the front doors with no thought in their mind that perhaps some of the people coming into the building might not want to be smothered in smoke. Where is the tolerance there? I am glad that I live in California and the no-smoking laws are in effect because situations like this are now few and far in between.

I do not judge obese people or smokers. I do believe they have the right to live as they want to, regardless if it hurts or hinders their health. But people seem to forget that tolerance goes a long ways when it is considered from both sides of the coin.

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