[K1NGWARREN]

Maybe it was whale bacon, in which case 2 lbs is just one strip. Don't judge.

[Laura]

Word Nate. It's not a simple equation of

eat right + exercise = not get fat

not eat right + not exercise = get fat

that everyone seems to think it is. I'm pretty thin, and I never get off my lazy ass. I knew a girl last year about 15 pounds heavier who went to the gym all the time. We ate pretty much the same food, I think (since we both went to the same grimy cafeteria). It's just one of those things.

I'm not saying that if you're obese, you should just say "Oh well, nothing I can do!", but I do sympathize with people who can't maintain a minimum level of exercise and a diet composed 50% of donuts while their friends who do just that are thin as stick insects. It's not fair. Some people hardly have to think about staying healthy while others need to be constantly vigilant. That's the discrepancy that leads to so much misunderstanding; naturally thin people think that since it's so easy for them to stay that way, anyone who's fat must be a monumental slob. Not true.

(Though those people are in for a cruel surprise-- I hear once you hit sixty your metabolism changes! Tee hee hee!)

[Jen]

Laura: Indeed!

To clarify, I didn't mail this story to Nate to say, "Ha ha, that man is FAT! Ha ha!" Sure, carrying too much extra weight can be bad for your health--the man in the article was on his deathbed. And sure, weighing half a ton is preventable. But a lot of health problems are preventable, and they don't come in for nearly the same amount of opprobium that fat people do. Why is it that obesity seems to be such an affront to our moral sensibilities? I don't necesarily agree with everything, or even most of what this article says, but it raises some excellent questions, I think.

I just have never read a sentence as bizarre as, "A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed." Amazing!

[SimeSublime]

That phrase really stood out to me as well, I quite liked the irony.

I happen to be one of those people with an insance metabolism, and I hope to hell it never changes.

[Amber-Nicole]

I would be one of those naturally skinny people. Obese people don't bother me all that much. Except for when I think, "Hey, there are people in other parts of the world dying because they can't eat enough food. Here we are in this country, having problems with fat people. We suck." Blame it on genes or whatever, but I don't see poor little starving Ethiopians having any of those "fat genes." It's not healthy to starve yourself, but if you cut back on the food I would imagine you would lose some of that weight.


EDIT:Bloody typos.

This post has been edited by Amber-Nicole: 12 August 2004 - 10:29 AM

[Jen]

Right, but the question is, why should fat people "bother you" at all? Do they infringe on your righs or inconveinence you in any way? Maybe if you're on a bus and it's crowded, you might think, "Jeez, this would be more pleasant if my neighbour were thinner," but is that really such a major imposition?

People are starving in a lot of countries around the world (in the US, too), and maybe America as a whole consumes more food than it should -- I have no data to check, so I don't know. But why is that the issue? Why aren't we more ashamed that we use vastly disproportionate amounts of petroleum, that we overconsume fossil fuels, or that we build giant houses and enormous supermarkets?

There are a lot of fat people in the US, and it's easy to tell who they are and point fingers at them as people who are eating more than their "fair share." But how about the people who overuse electricity, plastics, oil and space? Aren't we just as wasteful?

[Amber-Nicole]

Yes, we are Jen. I have thought for years that we should stop spending so much damn time and money on oil, and start putting our efforts into finding alternate resources. Resources that won't run out, and that won't be quite so harmful to the environment.

[Chefelf]

On a related note:

Check out Ben Cohen's (of Ben & Jerry fame) Oreo cookie movie:

http://ww11.e-tracti...2Ba5ZpiFkv4x%3D

Trust me, it's relevant.

[jyd]

relating to what laura says, i believe some people have serious metabolism problems...but i have never seen a fat person that didnt eat alot, i know a bunch of hefty people. good friends but they cant put down a burger. i have one friend who is particularly large and all we ever do is get fast food...im cutting back because that stuff is so bad for you and it doesnt taste half as good as a homemade burger. but i have never seen someone overweight who doesnt eat enough to fill it in.

[Ninja Duck]

(Though those people are in for a cruel surprise-- I hear once you hit sixty your metabolism changes! Tee hee hee!)

This is why I plan to stay sixteen forever. That way I can taunt whoever I want with no consequences!

[J m HofMarN]

same here Ninja, I rather like being twenty and I think I'm going to have a portrait of myself made so it can age instead of me.

[barend]

the picture or Dorian HofMan...


as a 'large' person... i have to say... metabolism nothing!!!
ever since i started kung-fu i've been getting in shape...

i was anorexic as a child, but thatnks to asthesma I was always in a position where i could die at any moment... (it was quite bad)...
so i was put on an experimental stage drug, that basically completely fucked my metabolism and made me fat just in time for highschool!!!
and i've been struggling against the impossible ever since.

It's the most unbelivable fucked thing that could happen to you. because the facts, whether anyone wants to admit to it, are:
1. people put less value in the opinions of fat people
2. people are way less attracted to fat people
3. excercise of any kind is virtually impossible as stamina and endurence are non existant
4. you are NEVER physically comfortable
5. you are never psycholically/socially confortable
6. everytime someone laughs anywhere near you you assume it's at you
7. going to the beach is out of the question
8. there's no such thing as dignity

and the only way out is eat less and excercise!!!
harsh, but that's it...
alternativley... heavy anphetamines will do the trick aswell
(but i've chosen the healthy path)

it's a total shitfight (as we say in oz)...
and there's no compassion. when you are fat, you are alone in every sense of the word!

so with that in mind... my compassion is very high for people in the circumstance... and yet i have to say:

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH PEOPLE GETTING AS LARGE AS THAT?!?

i mean... i'm like 110kg (alot of that is muscle now) and 6' tall.
for those unfamiliar with the metric system, that means i'm too fat to be a babe magnet, not fat enough to be a hinderence on public transport.
(but if 6 people squeeze into a car, i'm in the front).
but surley you reach a point where you say...
"okay! that's it... life sucks too much, time to make a stand while i still can."

this should happen between 100kg and 130kg (220-286 pounds?) -if 6'
not at half a ton! that's just insane...

[SimeSublime]

Hmmm, you always struck me as the type who didn't care much what others thought of him, Barend. With the assumption of the ladies, as we all care what they think of us.

[barend]

I don't care what others think of me...

just as long as they listen to my opinions... because i'm alsways right.

('cept when i'm argueing with HofMan... he's prooven me wrong a couple times).

[reiner]

I've been one of the rounder guys for most of my life. Having to pay for all my food and rent because my college doesn't have dorms and getting a tedious manual labor job actually helped me lose some weight. A lot of it is just increasing your activity. Go figure.