Alternet Headline today:
Is It Okay to Fire People Who Smoke or Are Obese?
Lead paragraph:
Two years ago, as part of their "wellness initiative," the Cleveland Clinic stopped hiring smokers. When the Clinic's CEO, Delos M. Cosgrove, was asked about the program for an article in last weekend's New York Times Magazine, he said that if it were up to him, he would also stop hiring obese people as well.
What I see this it makes me smoke without the use of tobacco.
The NYT article referenced says this:
People’s weight is a reflection of how much they eat and how active they are. The country has grown fat because it’s consuming more calories and burning fewer. Our national weight problem brings huge costs, both medical and economic. Yet our anti-obesity efforts have none of the urgency of our antismoking efforts. “We should declare obesity a disease and say we’re going to help you get over it,” Cosgrove said.
My Dad ate all day. He started eating when he got up and nibbled all day. He was always skinny as a rail. He was not active. He hated exercise and never worked at a hard job. Still he was skinny.
I eat less than my little kids, 8 and 9. I almost never eat before noon, have very little for lunch, may snack a bit but not sweets or junk food, never have seconds and if I snack at night it's a small amount. I say big. I have a bad knee and a condition that prevents me from doing any kind of cardio. I have no money for a doctor and the VA will not even diagnose my problem, much less treat it.
I could live on lettuce or nothing and I do not loose weight. I might loose some if I could walk four or five miles a day but unless I want to wind up in the floor writhing in pain I dare not try that.
There are some people who sit around and eat and never exercise and get big. But there are a lot of people who are like me, who are big and can do nothing about it unless they simply do not eat at all. Even so there are who demand people like us should "get with the program," usually those who are naturally thin, like my dad, or who are physically healthy and enjoy sweating to the oldies for hours a day, look straight down their skinny noses and assume all people like me do is sit around with a bag of chips and a box of twinkies.
Nobody would like me to be thinner more than I. I was actually walking five miles a day until this illness struck. Even then I was in better shape but I was not loosing weight.
How many are like me? Why should we feel guilty because of our genetic makeup? Smoking is a choice. The way our body works is not a choice. This country has gotten stuck on an unrealistic ideal. Vain people work all day and starve themselves to meet it. Some, like Dad, don't even have to do that. The rest of us, however, just try to live our lives. But if we don't measure up we're fat, lazy, selfish, ugly.
Life is inherently unfair. Nothing is going to change. People are still going to dislike folks like me. We're still going to hover over the mouse button and consider lying when certain questions show up on a profile. We're still going to put head shots on our profile rather than reveal our size. We're still going to be ignored or snubbed because of our size. It's like our brains don't work, we have no heart, we're worthless and useless for friends because our pants are larger than the average.
So, there's the vent. I don't feel much better, either. Go figure.
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| Here it comes! Bigots against Big... |
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msjo62064
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Aug 19 @ 7:07PM
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Well I agree with you 100 percent on what you said. I have had more men not look at my profile cause of my weight. Some of us cant help it the way we look. Its just the way our metabolism is. I dont eat much either and im still not skinny. People need to start looking at whats on the inside not whats on the outside. We have feelings too just like everyone else.
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LipGlossQueen9
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Aug 19 @ 7:10PM
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The big girl that I used to be still lives inside me and I hurt for the people who don't do much in the way of eating, are active, and still weigh a lot....yet they're discriminated against.
It's hard to watch that happen to people. Especially when those same people smoke, drink, take diet pills, smoke pot, overexert themselves with exercise, eat the wrong foods in order to "diet", or starve themselves. 
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observed50
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Aug 19 @ 8:27PM
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Yes...we all know of people for whom there are health reasons that weight is gained. Many gain now because of medications. I have a friend whose medication for tourettes has resulted in the gain of 150 pounds. Another friend on steroids to prevent organ rejection after a kidney transplant gained 100 pounds...though both men know they don't exercise enough as well, and the bigger one gets, the harder it is to do so.
But as a nation...the concern with obesity isn't about the few who have health factors feeding weight gain. It's about fat kids, grade school and high school, fat young adults, and fat adults and seniors, in numbers that have ballooned (no pun attended) in the last 30 years. Our work habits, our living habits, our play habits...topped by our eating habits and eating culture, have all contributed to unstoppable weight gain.
The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease shares the following on its website...
The prevalence has steadily increased over the years among both genders, all ages, all racial and ethnic groups, all educational levels, and all smoking levels.[7] From 1960 to 2004, the prevalence of overweight increased from 44.8 to 66 percent in U.S. adults age 20 to 74.[6] The prevalence of obesity during this same time period more than doubled among adults age 20 to 74 from 13.3 to 32.1 percent, with most of this rise occurring since 1980.[6]
That rise isn't from genetic or disease factors. I'm sure some of it could easily be related to anti-depressants. I had a friend balloon on Wellbutrin. But the numbers are still not capable of accounting for this massive shift in weight. Lifestyle change, from rural to suburban, from manufacturing to service, from farm to professional, from home cooked to eating out, and from family meals to eating on the run or at buffets...all contribute to weight gain and lack of movement that increases body metabolism.
Because as much as we probably all know people for whom weight gain is not so much about them, we probably all know far more people for whom weight gain is definitely about life choices...including ourselves. I haven't changed my eating habits while no longer playing bball 8 hours a week. My body is saying 'change!' but my head has not yet fully engaged the reality that I no longer move naturally and often enough to keep weight trim and slim. So my body is no longer jockish...now its...mmm...no longer jockish. 
And I know as often as I think about the changes that have come, and the changes that are needed to balance them...I rant and rave about it...and I don't feel much better either.
*where'd I put those Oreos?* 
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sloriver
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Aug 19 @ 9:17PM
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When I was a thrity something I was thin and hardbodied. I ate anything I wanted and snacked as often as there were snack foods around. When I hit 40 I started to pile on the weight. I went from a fit 175 pounds to a still fit but fat 230. Losing forty pounds is the hardest job I ever failed at. I keep trying, though. My weight stays a little over two hundred. I admit I have a willpower problem. I could lose weight if I stopped eating so much. The recepe is simple. Eat less. The doing of it is like kicking a drug habit. That said, fat bodies are not the fault of our chemestry in the great majority of people. It's been proven that people who were fed exactly what they claimed to be eating lost massive weight.
I had two hamburgers for dinner today. A dozen tater tots trimmed it off. Right now, I'd like to have a double dip of rocky road. I know this about myself. So no rocky road enters my house. It's just the way things are. Smoking, drug use, and obesety are problems of conduct. I know this and I'll never excuse my fat. I'll just keep trying to control it. In the meantime, any naturally skinny folks like I once was who don't like it can kiss my fat a$$.
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dharmaseeker
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Aug 19 @ 9:51PM
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Getting older is a leading cause of weight gain. Ha. Although it's not so funny.
It's true there are many who are bigger because they eat a lot and the wrong things. The four greatest culprits are TV, Computers, Video Games and Food Stamps.
The first three are obvious. People spend too much time watching and playing and not enough doing other stuff. Food Stamps is a problem because of the way they're handed out. It's not "stamps" anymore but what else to call them? Anyway, I used to be a caseworker. The amount of FS goes up with the number of people in the household. A family that qualifies with four or five people gets hundreds of dollars worth. Add a couple kids to that and there's seven/eight, more than any family needs. Poor folks have bad eating habits and with FS they can load up on bulk foods that are not good. I saw it a lot, people with no money but who ate way too much. What else are they going to do?
There's another reason for being heavy too: depression. Kids get depressed so they eat too much. People make fun of them for being a little fat so they eat more. By the time they are middle age they're not only way too heavy but have such horrid self esteem and totally lack willpower.
Just more thoughts...
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missliss78
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Aug 19 @ 9:57PM
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 I know you will receive lots of arguments against your blog.
I've seen it before.
I've always seemed to be predisposed to being a big girl.
Back in my late 30s/early 40s I was quite active, doing aerobics at least 3 times a week, along with other classes in body toning, weight lifting, etc. I ate a decent diet. I was still a big girl.
I have a couple of health issues which attribute to my weight. And for over a year, I suffered with a chronic foot ailment. I finally found a procedure to help me with that last year, but it took several months of recovery for real improvement & still, my foot will never be 100% again.
Like yourself, I'd give just about anything...short of starvation...to be a smaller person....but as sloriver said....anyone who doesn't like me for what I am can simply kiss my fat ass!
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luneib
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Aug 19 @ 11:41PM
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Sometimes weight gain is due to an underactive thyroid, you can ask your regular doctor to write a slip for you and get it checked at a clinic. Ask the doctor too to recommend a clinic.
I know what you mean 'though, I've been gaining weight, but it's because I don't always eat right, money is tight you eat what you can afford, sometimes it's foods with more carbs than not.
That is bigotry 'though not wanting to hire bigger people, that's like saying we can't accept you as a human being unless you arel thin. If that were the case, we would all be clones.
One of my best friends lives abroad, she is around 200+ lbs, could be around 300, anyways, she eats regular meals, not alot of junk food, but....she is on meds for medical problems, and the meds are what put the weight on her, she can't control that, she needs them. But....she is one of the sweetest people I know, so these people should not judge a person by their weight. 
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LipGlossQueen9
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Aug 19 @ 11:45PM
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I remember when I was in 8th grade...I was pretty heavy, but it wasn't so bad. 140...so I was pretty big, but then in my freshman year of high school I was put on Risperdal for bipolar disorder, and I ballooned up to 170 pounds. I was taken off that and put on a bunch of other medications the next year and ballooned up to 185. I lost a bunch of weight the next year but put it all back on after I was put on Lithium.
The drug combination I'm on now is all very good with the weight thing. I think medications have a bigger impact than people want to realize.
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bardnsage
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Aug 20 @ 12:45AM
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Water Aerobics man,,,, easy on the knees.
My biggest problem with any type of ideal weight,,,, is look at the damn charts they want us to be in. 6'3" man,,, is supposed to go between 150 and 170. It just ain't going to happen.
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observed50
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Aug 20 @ 1:02AM
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MissLiss> Is it okay if I kiss your fat ass and not slorivers? I just know he has a hairy fat ass....just know it! 
So just be a doll and bring it closer to the screen so I can kiss it... 
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dharmaseeker
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Aug 20 @ 8:31AM
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Water Aerobics man,,,, easy on the knees.
My biggest problem with any type of ideal weight,,,, is look at the damn charts they want us to be in. 6'3" man,,, is supposed to go between 150 and 170. It just ain't going to happen.
Water aerobics might help but there's not a single public pool in this entire town except for the Boys and Girls Club for kids and it's always so full there's no room to turn around in. The city closed all their pools and put in water play parks. My family travels over an hour to a resort just to swim.
When I signed up for the Air Force at seventeen they said I had to loose 30 lb to get down to 185. I lived on one can of tuna or a baked hb patty a day for a month. When I went back to weigh on a Friday I was 3 lbs over still. I fasted for three days and passed on Monday. It's the last time I ever saw 185.
With our stay thin society it's no wonder there's so many anorexics and bulimics.
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