[bcsoda]

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

There are few disorders/diseases that make obesity inevitable, one of them being a leptin deficiency which affects very few people. This paragraph of yours makes it sound like everyone who is overweight is a helpless, peer pressure driven ignoramus. Certainly obesity is linked to genetics, as well as a multitude of other things, but at the end of the day 99% of people have control over their weight, and most do not choose to exert it - willingly.

I think that this piece of advice extends to a lot more than being ashamed of exercising, but at some point you just have to stop caring what people think. There are routes that exist to help people in this situation if they so desire.

Certainly skinny people can be very unhealthy, but the World Cancer Research Fund highest recommendation to preventing cancer is to be as lean as possible. I thought I'd provide an example rather than just claiming the opposite.

My intent definitely wasn't to make it sound like overweight people are all helpless and peer pressured, but like you "I was more speaking of a select portion of people to argue some points". As for the people who choose not to exert their control over their weight willingly, I have to ask, why should they? Fine, if you legitimately have health problems that are proven to be caused by your weight, then maybe someone might want to lose weight, but if they have no health problems then who is society to stigmatize them and demand that they be more aesthetically pleasing (which is constantly changing by the way. 100 years ago a woman who weighed over 200lbs was one of the most famous actresses and known for her beauty, and now today you're criticized if you weigh more than 100lbs)

For many people being able to ignore what someone has said is incredibly hard. I would love it if I could ignore every negative comment that anyone has ever said about me, but who is actually able to do that? And if you're part of a group that is constantly stigmatized by media and society you're having these comments thrown at you on a daily basis, whether it's directly or indirectly, and it's almost impossible to ignore.

And maybe the World Cancer Research Fund recommends being as lean as possible to reduce your risks for cancer (I've never personally researched this, so I couldn't say for sure myself), but there's also been some research done that in general people who are overweight live longer than those who are "normal" weight, underweight, or obese:

"Compared to people who fell into the normal-weight category:

Those classified as underweight were 73% more likely to die.
Those classified as extremely obese with BMI of 35 or greater were 36% more likely to die.
Those classified as obese with BMI 30-34.9 had about the same risk of death.
Those classified as overweight with BMI 25-29.9 were 17% less likely to die."

(http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090...le-live-longer)

So maybe as lean as possible isn't always the way to go?

Originally Posted by fotze

Clearly my sarcasm and posting history has been too subtle. This is clearly my fault, going to have to turn it up a notch.

Sometimes (actually a lot of times around here) some posts and threads are so monumentally stupid, that instead of arguing the other side you agree and take it up seven notches and see if anyone notices.

I can see where you're going with that, so I guess it's just that we have different ways of dealing with things. I'd prefer to call someone out about something that I think is apalling, rather than try to come at it with an over the top reply on their side, since that could potentially be very damaging to someone's self esteem. Could you imagine being someone reading this thread who is obese, handicapped, and doesn't know your sarcastic attitude, seeing that someone is referring to them as "handifatted" and that the idea of who they are makes that person wretch? They have no way of knowing if you're serious or not, and I don't know if saying that's just how you approach things makes it any better.

Originally Posted by HOOT

...
People who get hurt feelings over name calling need to see someone and get help.

What a great idea, you're right, it would be awesome if everyone who gets hurt feelings over name calling could get help to realize that these people are just being jerks. All they'll have to do is fork over $185 to $225 per hour (these are based on the going rates of therapists that I personally know). Or maybe, just maybe, the people who are doing the name calling are the ones who need to get help to figure out why they feel the need to do that and what they need to do to stop. Why should the people who are being bullied have to be the ones to change?