Obesity
By writing this I will probably have half the Internet tripping over me but so be it. I feel that some topics shouldn’t be avoided just for the sake of potentially hurting anyone’s feelings. And if their feelings are hurt it’s mostly likely because it confronts them with their problem, which they tried to avoid dealing with.
The topic I’m talking about is obesity. There are many reasons why one can be obese, i.e. an illness. Another reason why one can be obese is food addiction. This might sound weird but it exists. There are people who are addicted to food, and not just a bit of junk food now and then. No I’m talking seriously stuffing themselves with everything but healthy food, every single day.
Watching a documentary about four obese people with a food addiction earlier today I have to admit that I felt appalled. Not because they were so big, (the lightest person weighed over 200 kilograms) but because of the amount of food they were literally shoving down their throats and the way they did it.
Let’s start by stating that the average male needs 2,500 calories a day, and for a woman that’s 2,000. That means healthy food although I’m sure we all have our occasional junk food outbursts. From the four people in the documentary (two male, two female) the least amount of calories that was eaten on one day was over 9,000 by one of the women. The biggest amount of calories on one day was eaten by one of the men; over 36,000 calories a day.
Most of these people realized their eating habits (or rather, disorder) was slowly killing them. Even though they felt bad and even hated themselves for it, they continued to eat what they eat. In my eyes you probably don’t hate yourself, or your eating habits enough to quit what you’re doing. I understand it’s not that easy and definitely not done overnight, after all it is an addiction. But if you realize that your life is in danger, you are confronted with the amount of food you eat on a daily basis, and you are sick of yourself for doing it, than that should be your eye-opener and your motivation to do something about it and change your way of life.
Most of these people hadn’t been out of their room, let alone their house for years (!) because of their obesity. When confronted with his daily intake of food, all the food placed on a table, one of the males said ‘This is not even half, wait, not even a quarter of what I used to eat, this is nothing!’ After which he started eating again. This same man said that he didn’t eat that much and he never ever had food delivered during the night. His family stated he did, and added that he’s in denial (and no that’s not just a river in Egypt!)
Surely I’m no skinny Minny but I’m not obese, I would even go as far as to say that I’m of average weight and height. I like my occasional burger and fries. But with that in mind I still can’t get my head around why someone doesn’t see the light after being confronted with their life threatening habits.
Putting that aside though I also don’t understand why someone with another eating disorder like Anorexia is sometimes admitted to a clinic or hospital, in some cases even involuntarily, to safe their life while someone on the other side of the scale (literally and figure of speech) isn’t. After all in both cases someone’s life is in serious danger. Why do anorexics get help for it and are people with obesity not helped in the same manner. Losing that much wait to safe your life is, in my eyes anyway, not something you can deal with on your own. Especially when all you can think about is food, food and more food.
It is however only fair to state that one of the men (the one eating over 36,000 calories a day) is now following a diet to loose weight, he tries to eat a maximum of 3,500 calories a day and even has made a statement for his home nurses to refuse him food even if he begs for it. This takes courage and shows he’s really trying to change. It won’t be easy, he will have his share of set backs and stuffing himself but he’s willing, and he realizes he has to if he wants to live. Which is something the others said too; “I have to because otherwise I die” but I don’t think it has sunk in with them yet, otherwise they would be trying as well.
I’m not trying to start a fight, cause some e-drama or anything else along those lines. I’m merely stating my own opinion and hopefully a civil discussion on this sensitive topic. Like I said, it’s a serious problem, especially in today’s society where junk food is easy to get, but I don’t feel it should be avoided.
Plugged: Amanda
20 Comments on "Obesity"
Yea, I don’t think many would disagree with you, where the point of disagreement is I can’t find.
Personally, I don’t see why people don’t help the obese, but it’s just a stigma of societies views on the person.
If you are skinny, you are ok, but if you are fat, you are to be ridiculed. You don’t get the same treatment.
The problem is that I guess many people consider obese people as lazy, they made themselves that way, and they are too lazy to get themselves help.
They don’t want to sympathize, they want to criticize.
All I can say is if this is the world that an obese person lives in, then they need to take the initiative because it doesn’t look like it is changing any time soon.
I have no idea what point I was trying to make. 
The reason I thought this might cause some e-drama is because people misread and think I generalize all obese people. That’s usually the case with e-drama, misreading or generalization.
I just feel a topic like this should be discussed rather than being avoided. Obesity is a problem in all its forms, especially with junk food widely available.
Talking about it seems a bit of a taboo because it’s either perceived as making fun of someone, or feeling sorry for someone. And with the latter you get things like Why do you feel sorry for them? Because they don’t fit into today’s ‘standards’ of pretty? or Because they are bigger than what’s considered normal? etc.
Being obese has nothing to do with not being pretty, it has to do with serious health risks and even life threatening conditions.
And even young kids are more often obese than back in the day. This should be a signal to everyone that things are going to the wrong way and that we need to step up, find out why things are going that way and try to prevent it.
Some can’t handle the truth though, and get their feelings hurt. So be it, the truth hurts sometimes, and this might just be an eye opener
How strange that on the exactly same day I also made my blog a weight topic!
I’ve had – not that many people know this, mind you, least of all my family – an eating disorder before that carried on for a couple of months. I doubt anyone really noticed as I’m naturally very thin anyway.
But I agree that people need help if there weight is of either extreme.
I think your argument was to-the-point, and not without justification, and so there shouldn’t be any “e-drama” as you put it.
I do agree that people on both sides of the weight scale need help, but I think that they need help BEFORE they get to the stage where they are either severely under or over weight.
If you can tackle the problem before it becomes life threatening, then perhaps it will be easier to tackle?
I think that many people pay more attention to annorexic people , because it’s more “out there in the media”, I’m sure cases of people who are bullimic or anorexic are always the one in the celebrities, or famous people … while the fat-eating disorder are always your average citizens (although there are some who are celebrities). It’s just the mentality of people now – SKINNY SKINNY SKINNY, so people are kind of not focusing on the FAT side. And you know what, you’re absolutely right.
Funny how the day Amber made a post on weight, I did as well (sorta) and now you too haha … hm. e-trend? kidding 
but it’s great you’re trying to get people to be AWARED.
And to respond to that..(just to tell you how annoying it is to be a big girl (or boy)
I am seriously overweight when you look to the BMI index. People can see I am overweight but the ‘fat’ is spread all over my body so ‘lucky for me’ I don’t look seriously overweight .. just overweight ..if you know what I mean.
The point is that I went to the doctor when I was 10-11 and he sent me to this nutrician. That woman put me on a 1200 caloriees diet. (which is a crash diet and REALLY bad for a child that still needs to grow.)
So anyways I lost weight, gained weight afterwards etc..From age 12-19 I was an emotional eater and since there happened too much bad stuff then I really overate myself. I didn’t eat 36000 caloriees but I think up to 5000…And because of the problem that people didn’t like me the way I am I got other problems as well causing more and more overweight. At that time I couldn’t do a lot of sports anymore..got tired of everything etc. I also developed an eating disorder…and the only thing that was on my mind was…I need to be slim otherwise people won’t like me…..isn’t it just sad that everything is about looking perfect..
When I was 13 I started smoking. When I was 18 I got diagnosed with asthma. I had to quit smoking and loose weight cuzz the fat was around my lungs pushing my lungs somewhere they shouldn’t.
But the message wasn’t really clear for me… I didn’t wanna quit smoking otherwise I would gain weight again.
Instead of quit smoking I started to use it as a method to not eat more than 3 times a day. First I smoked really a lot but after a while it helped. Then in September 05 things got really bad. So I started eating eating eating etc.
Then with the new years revolution I had enough of being big and the person classmates made fun of.
And to make a long story short..in January I decided it was time to stop eating unhealthy, to work out my problems, when I was ready with college I wouldn’t see those bimbo’s again and I had to be strong.
I already lost 30 kg so far, worked out a lot of my problems, I live in in studentdorm so it’s expensive to always eat healthy but I do my best. Alot of veggies and no fastfood! No candy and cookies on workdays but in weekends I am allowed to eat nice stuff haha
I still don’t practise any sports cuzz I am too tired from college but I walk to and from school ( 20-25 minutes each time), I walk to almost everything…when I do grocery shopping I walk with my bike so I don’t have to wear all those bags home ( those are too heavy haha)
Anyways I feel good…have good and bad times with eating. But overal….another 30 kg to go and we’re happy heheh
oi I totally forgot to add
The help doctors can offer to serious obese people like they showed on t.v. is that stomach ring. For people who are so overweight they have to lay in bed there are no real solutions for a diet. It can help but when you’re laying in bed, cuzz you have no energy at all it’s a good option.
I do think doctors have to notice obesity at an early age. Most kids who are already big will even turn bigger when they grow up. There are campains (?) everywhere in the world right now to stop obesity with children. I also think parents, teachers and doctors need to do everything they can to prevent children to become fat.
I wish my folks would’ve been more strict to me… it’s not that they allowed me to eat whatever I want and my mom cooks really healthy with loads and loads of vegetables and less potatoes en meat and so on but I always stole candy and they did say it wasn’t good for me but that was it..
yes it’s true you have to have a certain weight before you can go the operation….but not only after loosing weight these serious obese people will be alright..
.they have to much skin so they need plastic surgery as well (which is dangerous as they take away a lot of skin so bloodvains and so on should be cut off and put on somewhere else..) they had a tv show on that as well….blaah
But nothing is impossible
It’s great you took measures in your own hand and decided to do something about your weight Sarah! I hope you achieve your weight goal 
.
However the stomach ring you mentioned isn’t a solution for the people on the TV documentary with the severe obesity. They would have to loose (a lot) of weight first before they can undergo surgery, and in that lies the problem…
Nothing is impossible it’s just very hard. But what I just can’t understand is that these people know they are eating themselves to death and continue eating the unhealthy food. And I don’t mean occasionally, their diet only consists of junk food and vegetables, fruit and the like are nowhere to be found.
Also, their family are usually not helping them much, if they can’t go out to get the food themselves the family will bring it to them.
If someone close to me was so seriously and dangerously overweight I wouldn’t help them by giving them the food they are craving for. I just can’t get my head around it that other’s can’t do the same for someone they love. To me it seems that they rather see them die eating the junk food than going through a struggle to live a good and long(er) life.
You can’t understand it cuzz you probably don’t know what is is to be addicted… I don’t know what those people go through as well but I do have an idea since I was addicted for food too and I also have a cigarette addiction. I can’t really compare those but I am sure you also wonder why I smoke while I have asthma. It’s part of the addiction, you can’ change it or else something will happen…and what if you fall back… etc.etc.
Yeah but it also has to do with how you approach it, if you start it off by saying ‘Ooh it’s never going to work anyway’, guaranteed that it won’t work. It’s not just changing your habits but it’s also a mind set.
You’re right I have not been addicted to food or cigarettes. Let’s take cigarettes for example, I have always been able to say no when one was offered. And to be honest, I indeed don’t understand why you smoke while you have asthma, you know what it does to you and how the cigarettes make it worse. You can change it, you’re worrying too much about the consequences of quitting, and in my opinion you worry about those consequences more then the one’s you will have to face from not quitting.
Do you not think that the asthma is bad enough without the cigarettes?
Besides, the family of the obese people aren’t addicted to food, so why would they not stop their loved one from eating. After all they need to hand them the food anyway, they can’t get it themselves due to the obesity.
To answer the first stuff..
That is part of the addiction… everything is about cigarettes. First I was more addicted than I am now.. I planned my entire day based on how much I smoked. Now I just smoke whenever I want to and where possible. When I stayed at your place I smoked less than I do here. I ran out of cigarettes today and I got so frustrated after an hour or 3. It’s really bad I know but once you get addicted you stop thinking about consequenses only about the feeling you have after you took one. Everything else is not important. I know it also had to do with the mind set but at some points you have to make a decision. I’ve noticed I can’t go on a diet and quit smoking at the same time…tried it many times while I was guided by either a nutrician or a lungspecialist. So now I want to do it step by step.
And also yea I am too scared I gain too much weight now if I stop smoking.. and what else should I do when I get stressed which will give me that feeling that a cigarette does.
I’ve been trying to quit…maybe like 16 times but I am not ready. I can’t mess too much with my head and thoughts right now or I wouldn’t be in therapy already :p Everything has to go step by step.
And for the families.. I don’t know why they give their loved one food. Maybe they’re scared for some reason… or they don’t like them ”suffer” .. I think they think that when they will be strict on that person that he will suffer or get upset and that’s not something what loved ones would like to see..maybe they need some help too ..
I didn;t catch this post cuz I have been one of them sick people lately… I always try to visit bees sites once a month. Sadly I do it around the second week of the month, in which I had the flu. Anyhow on to what I got to say. I am ‘fat’. I wear a big size yes I do. I was never taught how to take care of myself in that degree. Food was also such a rarity when I was growing up that when we did have food I gorged myself on it. When we had food regularly I didn’t get the idea we wouldn’t run out of it & I didn’t need to gorge. I was very thin when I was in high school however due to me walking 6 miles a day. I developed IBS and to his day suffer from it severely. I also have damage to my system from my first pregnancy. I now have a husband willing to go through it all with me to loose weight. I think the only reason people would get pissy over this is because most people who talk about this issue yell and tell us we are fat pigs – thinking that this way is a choice. You wrote about it decently and this is rare.
I personally don’t see this as being too much a taboo subject. I am easily 100 pounds overweight, and nothing you said upset me. I like food, not nearly as much as the people in your blog haha, and sometimes I eat more than my share. Some factors for my weight gain, as you also mentioned in your blog, are diseases. One it’s in part hereditary *don’t worry, I’m not blaming it on my parents haha*, I have a thyroid disorder, hormonal disorder, and cancer. I’ve reached out to anyone willing to help, but everyone just basically flakes on me. (Oh yah, I’ll be your “personal trainer” lets work out 4 times a week… and we never work out once, or they pick tasks that are way to hard for me… like spinning. haha) I go to a gym and no one I know goes. I hate working out with all the buff skinny people staring at you thinking “My god, why didn’t that girl start working out BEFORE she became a cow?” My husbands mother and sister were going to Y and I was going to change my gym to the Y since they seem to go so often. I cancelled mine to change it, and they said “oh yah, BTW we’re going to go to your gym now instead.” So I had to beg the gym to uncancel it and let me keep my really good price. And guess what? They haven’t started going there yet. I don’t want to be fat. I don’t sit there and think about food 24/7. But I also don’t have many healthy habits. My husband HATES everything active that I like; ie Ice skating, camping, walking aimlessly around parks, taking the dogs to the park for a picnic, riding bikes, skating. (and he, BTW eats so much worse than I do, he weighs 142 lbs, how fair is that?) Anyways, long enough comment. But I agree with you whole heartedly, and I also feel that people should start treating obesity as a disorder that requires help as well. You don’t go from 250 to 140 overnight, and it sure as hell isn’t easy going from something you are used to, to something so strict. Motivational guidence is key. Good blog!
I understand what you are saying here, but you can’t believe everything you see on tv. Obesity is much more then people being lazy. There are people out there that are obese and are quite active. They live normal lives and enjoy the company of their friends and family. Not all obese people are stuck in their beds eating all day. Food addiction is a completely different addiction. If you have never been addicted you can never understand. I’m not trying to be mean or anything. I’m just stating a point. Honestly I’m tired of people acting like they “understand” when they so obviously don’t. Food is something you have to eat to live. Do you realize how hard it is for someone that has a food addiction to just eat what is good for them? Also. You stated in that post that obese people eat loads of junk food. Did you know that there are many people that are obese and all they eat are fruits and vegetables? The point of that is that even too much healthy food is a BAD thing. Yes obesity is a bad thing, but I recommend that you don’t believe 1 thing that you have read on tv. Talk to an obese person. Its not as easy as not eating. I agree with a lot of the things you posted, but I feel like you think its to easy. Some stuff said sounded to me like obese people are idiots. Its so easy to be healthy. Well think again. Its not that easy. There is such a thing as genetics. It is proved that most obese people get it from their family.
Dreamer you obviously missed the point of this post, it’s about the people that can’t get out of bed and live normal lives, and they do eat junk food as that’s what they prefer. I’m not talking about general obesity but about a specific group of obese people.
Besides, this was a documentary where they actually followed these obese people and let them tell their story as well as their relatives.
I’m not stating obese people are idiots. Aboslutely not, as you may have noticed one of my friends posted her, she’s obese and I definitely don’t think she’s an idiot. What I’m saying is that I don’t understand the family when they give an obese person junk food instead of something that would be good for them!
Maybe reading the post again makes things clearer for you.
I have a bit of a food addiction and this post didn’t upset me. I know it’s an old post, and I’m sorry if I upset you by posting a comment.
Leave a comment
Before you post be aware that first-time commenters are moderated and anonymous comments will be deleted.
I don’t see why this would start any e-drama. Sure, there are a lot of obese people on the Internet (a few pop to my mind), but there are a lot of super-skinny-to-the-point-of-anorexia people as well.
If they themselves don’t think that they constitute a health risk, then they seriously need to wake up to their own health problems. If you get to the point where food and the thought of more food to come occupies your every waking moment, then that’s a problem.
I think this post is right to the point.