What I don't get about this fat epidemic, is that you'd think most Americans would want to be thin, either for health reasons or getting laid, or both.

I bet a lot of them WANT to be thin, but a combination of overwork (not hard physical labor either), exhaustion from same, lack of spare time, and laziness brought on by exposure to TV makes them less able to exercise. I don't know who to "blame" for this, I know in my case (not fat but out of shape) it's laziness but I can't assume that about others.

But I think it's a more understandable, or perhaps more sympathetic, addiction than drugs or alcohol since the underlying urge is utterly necessary to everyone's survival.

You're assuming that sympathy exist here, in the Fark. But it doesn't.

Fat Americans are the reason American doesnt socialize health care. Us normal people don't want to pay for all the medical costs of the fatties.

/flame war in 3...2...1...

Okay, where's the bouncing fat kid?

Here she is!

Bonzo_1116 , make it stop!!

As a med student, I remember one guy who needed a CT to rule out a potentially serious neck injury (post-MVC). He barely squeaked under the maximum weight rating for the scanner bed (it was what, 300? 350 lbs?) so we thought we were okay... but this guy was HUGE. We measured the bore of the scanner, and the width of the guy's shoulders. Sho'nuff, he wouldn't fit INTO THE MACHINE.

He had to have his other injuries fixed, and the C-spine collar stayed on (for days) until they started to heal, so he could be cleared clinically instead of with imaging.

(oh, and for you medical nitpickers... plain films were tried... they were useless... guy was too big, and his shoulder injury precluded full visualization to C7-T1)

Bonzo_1116: Nurse!! Forklift, STAT!

It's scary how many nurses I've met or even treated with serious lower back pain problems. Being a human forklift, sadly, ends up being part of many nurse's job descriptions...

Won't someone please think of the nurses?

You_mean_Im_gonna_stay_this_color

Stay away from foods that have high fructose corn syrup, and sugar. Also, eat as much as you need, not as much as you can. And getting some exercise atleast for like an hour everyday would help too. Anyhow, that's just my suggestion.

DrPsycho: Won't someone please think of the nurses?

I just did a GIS for "nurses" and now I can't stop thinking of them.

Its easy

1: Eat less
2: Get off your fat arse and exercise
3: Profit?

Zeppelininthesky

1: Eat More
2: Get liposuction
3: Tyler Durden profits.

BRILLIANT!! To lose weight:

Eat less. Excersize more.

Thats just insane how Farkers could come up with the answer to obesity. Everyone said you guys were useless. Oh I didn't believe them, not I!

I had this problem, not because of being tubby but because I am just huge.

I was so tall that they had to take two x-rays of my chest and over lap them because my rib cage was bigger than what they could photo.

Yeah it sucks having to stand still and hold your breath when wheezing from pneumonia.

On another occasion staying at the hospital was nice, all the doors were wide enough for gurneys and wheelchairs which means my shoulders fit through them. :)

The bed was long and wide enough too. Only problem I found was that the gowns were just way too small. They don't make gowns for people with 58 inch chests.

/6'8' 380lb monster

Ulyses: BRILLIANT!! To lose weight:

Eat less. Excersize more.

Nine times out of ten, thats all it takes.

You_mean_Im_gonna_stay_this_color
Right. Sadly, most people have to 'work' on getting anywhere healthy. It's really up to them to get off there butts and do something about it. If not, obesity or something hits them and then they are stuck with med bills for all kinds of shiat.

Ulyses

If you thought that was impressive, check out these other miracle cures that I just thought up:

ALCOHOLISM:
1. Stop drinking.

NICOTINE ADDICTION:
1. Stop smoking.

DRUG ADDICTION:
1. Stop using drugs.

GAMBLING PROBLEMS:
1. Stop gambling.

VIDEO GAME ADDICTION:
1. Stop playing video games.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE:
1. Stop forgetting.

TUBERCULOSIS:
1. Stop coughing.

PARKINSON'S DISEASE:
1. Stop shaking.

Does anyone have the overlaying maps of:
a) pork consumption per capita in the USA? and
b) obesity rates in the USA?

I'm dead serious. Please post.

Oh yeah, let's see how that factors in with heart disease
per capita too.

/ GIS map non-finder

fatty fat fat

just slice them open with a electic carving knife and count the rings.

Schadenfreude.

Everyone knows that if you wanna be laid, you'll diet. So, abstinence education should be out, and everyone lets have s*x be in.

If you want to lose weight, eat less, eat healthier and exersize more.

Otherwise, shut your fat hole. I dont want to hear it.

/lost 30 pounds, and still going.

assess obese patients//thought that said asses of obese patients

Chariset

*throws away half bag of Sun Chips*

hehe. Reminds me of a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of getting some pizza and as I'm walking to the pizza place I see these two rather large folks stuffing pizza in their faces with reckless abandon. I turned right around and went the other way. I felt a little guilty about it later, but the sight of those people making their already obese selves even bigger made the thought of eating pizza seem really gross.

Hey! I just had a thought for getting people to think before they eat. Take those two folks and video them gorging themselves. Everyday show them that video and maybe it will disgust them enough that they maybe skip a meal or two.

Others have mentioned this and I can say it is true. I have personally sent more than one morbidly obese hospital patient to the local zoo for a CT scan. The weight limit on the CT scanner table is 400 or 500 lbs. Sad but true.

The japanese are laughing at us.

Jebus, makes you wonder what the hell they have to do for the Australians.

Glommed from my old job... probably not allowed to do this, but...






http://www.dshq.com/zoo.jpg
incase the image doesn't show


do'h

Good for you, bludstone for losing 30 lbs!

I'm a personal trainer, and I've always said: If I could eat for my clients, I would. I can punish them three times a week for months, but if they're going home and eating donuts and nachos, there's not much the workout is going to do other than prevent them from getting more fat.

It's depressing for them when they notice others being successful, while they are "stuck" and so they blame the program. Not to mention everyone who is paranoid about eating one slice of bread because of low carb diets. I actually had a client say to me "Why should I look at the calorie count? Isn't it just carbs?"

Sometimes I feel I should have gotten a psychology degree.

/doing my part to help the overweight lose weight

I want all those smart asses who say just eat less or exersise to try this-

Tie ten pound weights to each etremity and another fify pound bag around your waist. Now try running for a half hour. Or jumping jacks. Or just about anything arobic. Now try telling me that its easy to do.
I try running for just ten minuets and I feel like my heart is going to explode. And my doctor has told me specificly that only long term arobic exersise will do anything to get rid of the fat thats allready on me.

And as for eating less it is proven that obease people 9 times out of ten are lacking the nerve that shuts off hunger. Even after eating a full meal we "Faties" still feal as hungry as if all we ate was a rice craker.

I am so glad I am on the way down. Weight isn't falling that much, but my body is shrinking. I exercise 30 minutes every other day and still stay away from fast food.

I have been eating more than I should during these holidays. But I am not gaining weight. I know that I will if I stop the exercise though. Plus, I have found that exercise is the only way to get rid of my screaming back pain. I simply have to do it.

Go me. =)

fat? fatt wisssh a ph phat i wannna thinkinnn iii mmmaaakekek beautiffful,.. mmmovvieiieeeeee,, hhha ahsahserkl...gadkssj

Here's a clue for those who can't relate:

Overeating and or binging on junk food can be as addictive for some people as crack.

If you have never experienced an addiction, it's like this:

You get an intense itch. If you scratch it, you'll gain a quarter pound. You resist, but it's driving you nuts. WTF, only a quarter pound--you scratch. The next time the itch comes back it seems worse. You scratch again. It comes back more and more frequently.

10 pounds later you decide it's not worth it to gain any more weight. You decide to stop scratching. Maybe you stop long enough to lose a few ponds. But fark it, the itch is ALWAYS THERE and it's INTENSE. Eventually you feel like if you don't scratch you'll go farking apeshiat. So you start scratching again, and it gets harder and harder to resist.

100 pounds later you are desperate to stop gaining weight. You muster up a mountain of willpower and stop scratching for a year. You lose a lot of weight, but the itch never goes away. You think you can maintain that wall of willpower every waking moment for the rest of your life? Think again. In a moment of weakness you scratch just a little, and it feels SO FARKING GOOD you can't stop. Next thing you know all 100 lbs are back plus an extra 40.

This is the goddamned nightmare called compulsive overeating. It is a disease from which there is no cure, only treatment which may be effective in some cases.

My mother is a nurse, and she despises fat people. She was off on disability for a while getting physiotherapy. She can't work full time anymore. This means that if you're fat, you're hurting my mom. Please keep this in mind as I knock the doughnut from your hand and chase you through a 20 km run.

Bludstone,

Congratulations! That's awesome. Keep up the good work. I just hit 50 lbs off since April the week before Thanksgiving (I'm probably not anymore, but eh, I hadn't had mashed potatoes in over six months. Sue me). It was sure a hell of a lot easier to put on than take off.

Couple quick points:
1) Airlines seats just suck in general. I'm 6'0", but I still have knee problems after flying.
2) You don't have to completely give up eating fast food (or buffets for that matter) to lose weight. I eat out probably 8-10 times a week, while still managing to drop 1.5-3 lbs a week. Just be selective. If you want fries, don't get the breaded, fried chicken sandwich. Get a grilled chicken (or burger) and eat it open-faced. You'd be surprised what dropping out 200 calories of pure starch can save you in the long run.
3) Don't like the taste of diet soda and hate restaurant water (rarely it is good, because it runs through the punch/lemonade filter)? Save some calories. Fill your 2/3 full of Diet Coke, then a third full Coke. If you get two refills on a 24 oz. drink, you've saved roughly 360 calories, give or take some for ice. Cherry Coke overpowers everthing, so that what I use.

I also go an hour on an eliptical machine 4-6 days a week, but that's just me.

Before people start to biatch, I don't have kids, but I do work two jobs, yet still fit in a workout most days. No excuses. If you really want to lose, work for it.

Believe it or not... the Ambulance Service I work for has special equipment, and is even buying a bariatric ambulance for this reason. We have back injuries dang near every week, so the bariatric truck is equipped with a winch and a ramp.... I've personally been on runs where it's taken 9 people to transfer the patient from the cot (that holds 1600 lbs) to the hospital bed, on a special tarp.

::shutters::

Rozinante

My mother is a nurse, and she despises fat people. She was off on disability for a while getting physiotherapy. She can't work full time anymore. This means that if you're fat, you're hurting my mom.

That makes no sense whatsoever. Are you on crack?

Please keep this in mind as I knock the doughnut from your hand

I hate people who blame others for their problems. Please keep that in mind as you draw back your arm which now has a compound fracture if you so much as touched my doughnut.

jasperot9l - that magical thingee in your body that tells you to stop eating because you're full becomes overwhelmed when people become obese, and stops working.

I became about 10 pounds overweight simply because I didn't know how to eat properly. Most people can eat ok and be fine, but some have to eat extremely healthy and exercise vigorously everyday to keep fit. My problem was i believed all the PETA lies about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. I would eat nothing but fruits and bread all day, then have a "treat" of ice cream or whatever. What ended up happening was I was eating sugar (simple carbs such as bread = sugar) all day, so I was never full because of lack of protein. Since eating meat again, I've lost 7 pounds, which is quite a bit when you're 5'1"

All you have to do is glance into the shopping baskets of obese people at the supermarket to lose all sympathy for their plight.

Sorry, four gallon jugs of punch, a bunch of frozen dinners, white bread, hot dogs and bacon are not exactly a road to health.

Alright, since this story is from Reuters UK (via Yahoo), I am pretty sure its safe to say that:

The British think (and know) that we Americans are Fat (and we Americans are pretty much in denial of this).

AND

The Americans think (and some might know) that British have bad teeth.

SO what's all the fuss about?

This should be under the Obvious tag.

All that fat has to have an enormous amount of stored energy. We should offer discount liposuctions and use the fat in power plants.

/hey look at that fatty, I bet she could power a whole city!