BY THE NUMBERS

Five Financial Costs of American Obesity

We know that being overweight isn't good for our health, but carrying extra weight costs more, too.

By Tina Peng | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Aug 15, 2008 | Updated: 1:03 p.m. ET Aug 15, 2008

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Posted By: FATKATNPROUD @ 11/15/2008 11:46:53 AM

Comment: SuzieC, You are a really unhappy person aren't you. For you to judge me the way you do. YES I AM OBESE. Yes it is not healthy. Yes I'd like to lose it. But the grim reality is, it's not easy. This is something I have battled since I was 13. I almost got down to a healthy weight once. Then I got pregnant with my BLESSInG FROm GOD!....so I wouldn't trade her for the world. All fat and obese people are not disgusting and smelly like you may claim. They are just trying to live and work just like the rest of you. So if you see me on the street and I disguist you. Just look away. Then you won't lose your lunch.
Posted By: FATKATNPROUD @ 11/15/2008 11:42:46 AM

Comment: SuzieC, You are a really unhappy person aren't you. For you to judge me the way you do. YES I AM OBESE. Yes it is not healthy. Yes I'd like to lose it. But the grim reality is, it's not easy. This is something I have battled since I was 13. I almost got down to a healthy weight once. Then I got pregnant with my BLESSInG FROm GOD!....so I wouldn't trade her for the world. All fat and obese people are not disgusting and smelly like you may claim. They are just trying to live and work just like the rest of you. So if you see me on the street and I disguist you. Just look away. Then you won't lose your lunch.
Posted By: jnretter @ 11/06/2008 4:00:31 PM

Comment: I am a thin person, but that doesn't mean that I am healthy. Yes, being overweight can cause health problems like increased risk of heart disease as well as diabetes, however, thin people are also at risk. We cannot judge people because we feel like they are draining our health care when such a thing is far from true. The true drainers of our health care are those who do not have jobs or pay taxes, live off of welfare and expect everything to be handed to them on a silver plate when they do nothing. I respect those who struggle with being overweight. It is a hard life, and I know that I do not have the same struggles as you do, but as someone said, we all have our struggles and our so called faults. We need to learn to care for others and not judge them. Instead of being hypocritical, perhaps being encouraging to others would be a better way to go. Passing judgment is the easy route. Go out of your way to love someone who you may have trouble being around. Is that really so difficult for our selfish, egotistical, arrogant society to do?
Posted By: traceyjo @ 10/15/2008 12:32:06 AM

Comment: p.s. my cholesteral is 142 my blood pressure is 120/70 i am not diabetic
Posted By: traceyjo @ 10/15/2008 12:31:09 AM

Comment: hi suzie c
i am overweight and it is because i have hip dysplacia. i used to be a runner but now can't really walk. because i am only in my 30's surgery isn't an option at this point. why be so mean?
Posted By: SuzieC @ 09/16/2008 4:22:34 PM

Comment: It takes effort to stay slim and healthy. Fat people have no self control and are probably lonely and pathetic people. I'd tell them to leave the house and go take a walk, but I wouldn't want to see them on my street. and would probably hit them with my car if it wouldn't total it. Take the candy bar out of your mouth and go to the gym. I'm sick of the excuses you all make about your gross bodies and smells. It's going to take some work to stay slim and beautiful like me, or you can stay as the hideous cows you are and blame all the pretty people. Your choice. Just don't expect me to cover your diabetes or other fat problems. You chose to be a pig.
Posted By: SuzieC @ 09/16/2008 4:18:28 PM

Comment: JaxChitown, have you considered suicide? Fat IS disgusting, and you would do us all a favor.
- Posted By: sjksing @ 10/13/2008 11:27:26 AM
  
  Comment: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! How dare you talk to another human being like that! Jaxchitown and anyone else's life you don't feel is "worth it" is worth way more than some silly figurative amount you think you pay. People like you really make me sick! I have had enough of the crap spewing from your keyboard. Your words are hateful, spiteful, and rude! Skinny people are also prone to diseases... I pay for your STD treatment and medication, or your smoking or drinking habits, or your porn addiction or your need for psychotropic drugs, or your cancer treatments about as much as you pay for me being fat! I work and pay in as much as you do. So drop your elitest attitude! Everyone has some type of issue that ails them. EVERYONE. You are not perfect. You are human and have issues and will die just like the rest of us! So stop pointing your judgemental skeletor fingers our way.
Posted By: JaxChitown @ 09/16/2008 4:01:48 PM

Comment: I think because of this article I will stop eating altogether. I've done everything from nutritionsits to excessive exercise (and everything in between) to lose the remainder of my weight. It's socially embarrassing. While we have laws against hate speech, it's perfectly acceptable to discriminate against someone who is overweight. It's ok to not hire or promote someone who is overweight. It's ok to sit in meetings with people who drink excessively every night and take every 15 minute smoke break every day and have them talk about you and your weight right in front of the managers. I done with this. I can eat heathily and watch every morsel that goes into my mouth, get 8 hours of sleep each night, and work out at least 5 days a week for an hour each time and still be at my current weight. I'm so tired of hearing about how ugly and disgusting fat people are. I'm tired of paying more for out of style clothes and getting ridiculed by people who don't know me. Most of all, I'm sick of crap articles like this, when I know that half of my so-called normal weight co-workers are a drain on the health care system --with their STDs, binge drinking, smoking, and risky behaviors, who can't walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded--more so than I'll ever be. I'm going to go to the other extreme and become so anorexic so that I can stop reading crap like this AND become a true drain on the medical system with my osteoporosis, dangerously low potassium and sodium levels, and tooth decay.
Posted By: HolyokeMassager @ 09/16/2008 3:47:29 PM

Comment: JUst because someone is overweight doesn't make them a drain on society. There is no need to be calling them "Fatty" or other names. That just shows your ignorance. I have not missed a day of work in the last four years, I pay my own health insurance and I am obese. My premiums are not based on my weight but are based on the number of employees, their ages and their number of dependent children. Does that mean I should complain because people are old or have more children than I do?
- Posted By: SuzieC @ 09/16/2008 4:24:20 PM
  
  Comment: Fat people are prone to diseases. It's that simple. Be fat, it's your choice, but us thin people shouldn't have to pay for your bad choices.
  - Posted By: sjksing @ 10/11/2008 11:59:50 PM
    
    Comment: SuzieC you clearly are just an ignorant bitch who has no idea that you are not the answer, but the antagonist and WE would all be better off if you would just stop eating to get skinnier so that maybe your organs will shut down and take you out with natural selection.
Posted By: HolyokeMassager @ 09/16/2008 3:41:13 PM

Comment: I think people need to be a little more considerate of the "fatty" (as ownup posted). Just because someone is overweight or obese doesn't mean that they are responsable for the high cost of medical care. I happen to be obese and have not taken time off from work because of any health reasons. I have several skinny coworkers who are always calling out sick with this problem or that. People need to stop making broad generalizations, and be less judgmental of the people around them.
Posted By: Becalm @ 09/16/2008 3:40:39 PM

Comment: My work is retraining emotional (habitual reactions) Overweight people often are lonely, islolated, anxious and angry. Passive aggressive where they take out frustrations, etc by eating. Eating, is comforting, private, available. History may play a role as high fat, high carbs and fast food are often more available to lower income families.. Often overweight people are undiagnosed depressed with limited support systems available to them CR BC CA
Posted By: Becalm @ 09/16/2008 3:30:09 PM

Comment: I specialize in emotional modification and I've found that most obese people feel lonely,rejected isolated, they can also be suffering from depression that has gone undiagnosed. They typically find comfort in eating. This in my opion is a social problem. Lower income families may learn the habit of high fat or fast foods. I think the food is not the problem it is the coping mechanism that is solitary, comforting and easily available. CR. BC Ca
Posted By: ownup @ 09/16/2008 1:15:20 PM

Comment: Everyone should care. Everyone who wants affordable health care should care about the fat person next to them stuffing their face, because that fatty next to them is using up all the health care funds and raising costs.
A healthy person might incur a few hundred or even A thousand dollars in insurance payouts over the course of a year. A fatty will incur thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars going to surgeries and seeing doctors over the course of a year combating the damage they do to their body every day!
So as a person that wants affordable health care, I care! I shouldn???t have to pay higher premiums because some fatty wants to indulge in Mc Donald???s on a daily basis! And universal healthcare, whatever dream land that came from, will never be possible in a country whose population will consist of a majority of fattys by 2030!
What happen to America???s new attitude of ???not in my back yard???? Huh? Where did that selfish attitude disappear to when it came to fattys and their affect on our government and private funding especially as it relates to health care costs?
America needs a revamp. We no longer need to pay for those who cannot pay for themselves, and freely choose to inflict enormous costs on themselves. It is the fatty???s choice to eat Mickey Deez every meal, so it should be up to these fattys to pay for their own health costs, because they are the people inflicting the health problems on themselves.
If people are incompetent enough to eat fast food after videos like ???Supersize Me??? let their fates befall them. Don???t spend hundreds of thousands of the working man???s money to correct their health issues. I make my money by working hard, I am sick of paying for fatty???s who live off welfare and refuse to work! Let them live as they live??? sure no problem, but let them die as they would die.
- Posted By: SuzieC @ 09/16/2008 4:26:09 PM
  
  Comment: Amen! If this were poor people we were paying for, everyone would be screaming that they need to get jobs. Fat people CHOOSE to stuff their fat fing faces with pizzas and fast food every day. I am not paying one more penny for their disgusting bodies.
Posted By: skinnyminny2 @ 08/25/2008 4:33:52 PM

Comment: And I don't understand why everyone gets so worked up over this. Let people be fat, it's not like an ebola outbreak or something. It can't be fixed because people CHOOSE what goes in their mouths and how much activity they do. They purchase, they chew, they swallow. Their problem.
Posted By: skinnyminny2 @ 08/25/2008 4:27:49 PM

Comment: Why should I care? I don't know them. They have their own loved ones who care about them and I have my own, I have no reason to be concerned for some stranger's welfare. It's their problem that, for the most part, they probably created themselves.
Posted By: nmbrldy69 @ 08/19/2008 1:15:10 PM

Comment: "Meager stipend"? It was never meant to be the sole support of an individual, merely to augment. If people don't want "meager", then put more in, one way or another. Most people are vigorous enough to work far past their receipt date of social security. As a heavier person, I put way more into the economy through taxes to support those on social security, among other government welfare programs. Get off your economic soap box - 2 different issues.
- Posted By: summer4077 @ 08/20/2008 8:24:04 AM
  
  Comment: You obviously didn't read the entire chain of those postings. They are not two separate issues.
Posted By: skinnyminny2 @ 08/18/2008 2:41:40 PM

Comment: I know lots of vegetarian athletes but size depends on the sport. We distance folk are skinny, yes, it's necessary for the sport (that's why we're often referred to as 'stick women'). My point was that if one eats more natural foods and does even moderate exercise, it's almost impossible to be overweight.
Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/18/2008 10:11:27 AM

Comment: I HAVE MET APPROXIMATELY 1500-2000 VEGANS(OR MORE LIKE THAT MANY WHO REFERED TO THEMSELVES AS VEGANS) AND YET I HAVE NEVER MET 1 THAT IS WHAT I WOULD DESCRIBE AS ATHLETIC OR EVEN LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE STRONG AND VIGOROUS, SKINNY, EVEN GAUNT YES, BUT NOT PARTICULARLY HEALTHY LOOKING.....................I AM SURE THERE ARE SOME THAT ARE STRONG(FOR THEIR SIZE) AND THAT THEY ARE AT LEAST AVERAGE HEALTHY.............HOWEVER, IF GIVEN THE CHANCE TO CHOOSE A BODY TYPE(MOST ARE CONSERNED WITH THE AESTETIC FIRST) IT WOULD NOT BE THE AVERAGE VEGY DUDE FOR ME!
Posted By: skinnyminny2 @ 08/18/2008 9:07:36 AM

Comment: I agree with Mark Towers.....I almost guarantee that if one eats mostly vegetables, lean protein, leafy greens, little fat and no processed sugar they are not going to be overweight. Heck, it'd be a struggle to eat enough to maintain! Some members of my own family are ehavy because of their diet and lack of activity. I, as a distance running near-vegan (no animal products except fish) manage 115 lb at 5'8". And I eat often, am rarely deprived.
Posted By: Mark Towers @ 08/18/2008 2:48:48 AM

Comment: It seems to me that anyone can change their weight, if the proper steps are taken. I have heard the genetic reason a number of times but this just tells me that these people need to be especially careful of what they eat and the amount of exercise they get. As far as stress and lifestyle contributing to some ones weight problem, if you have enough time to over eat to an obese level you have enough time to change your diet. Maybe even eat less, to give more time to your children or what not.
Posted By: Margogo @ 08/18/2008 12:13:39 AM

Comment: I lost 25lbs in one year just by not drinking alcohol. I went from 145lbs to 120lbs and I feel so much better. At 5'4'' I am a healthy weight again, but I hope to lose another 5 or ten thrugh additional exercise and diet.
Posted By: skinnyminny2 @ 08/16/2008 12:16:03 PM

Comment: I wish they'd sell airline tickets by weight...just like when one mails a package. It's only fair that my 115 lb should cost less than someone else's 350 lb!

I don't care if people are fat, it's their choice. I don't know them and don't care about them--but there are some things that they really should pay more for. Plane tickets are one of them.
- Posted By: cleoj @ 08/21/2008 1:05:24 PM
  
  Comment: skinnyminny - I find this a repulsive idea. You would not be punishing only people who are overweight/obese, you would be punishing people who are also athletic, merely big-boned, or are overweight due to a bodily disorder such as a hormonal problem. People like you are the reason why obese people find skinny people to be mean. You don't care about people who are fat? What an awful thing to say. I am not obese and I still think your comments are terrible.
Posted By: noslugs @ 08/16/2008 3:22:59 AM

Comment: I find this all amusing???.???fat activists,??? fat acceptance, obesity normalization. Where does it end? Many replies herein want us average size people to accept others??? girth and shame us for being critical of excess. When I pay for an airline seat, I want the seat to myself, not some stranger???s hangover. Why is it wrong for us to expect a seat to ourselves? If you chose to be supersized, which is beyond what society designs its furniture for, and if you require special accommodations, than you rightfully so should pay more.

Our obesity epidemic costs society significantly (lost work hours, preventable health care costs, diabetes, etc). Excessive weight correlates to lower quality of life when formerly normal activities become challenges (walking up stairs, etc). I like to eat and I eat a lot but I know its consequences. Obesity is mostly a lifestyle choice so why should the ???normal frame size??? have to make allowances for those who have chosen to be oversized? In nature there is natural selection, humans accommodate the bell curve fringes and equalize health costs with healthy people subsidizing those on a voluntary self destructive overweight path. Obesity is a hand to mouth problem.

My employer requires me to work out three days a week (45 minutes to burn 300 calories minimum). I double that while working a 60 hour week. I need the exercise to balance my mal aligned work hours. I still make time for cooking. I have a hard time finding good ingredients since most American mass produced food items are designed for convenience so they come with many nutritional drawbacks. Americans do not realize their mega-food-center offerings are not particularly good for them. There is a surprisingly pervasive lack of food knowledge throughout society. Americans are not known to be the most astute consumers. I do not blame the companies, I blame the consumers. Marketing is designed to move products, consumers have to be informed. If you buy bad food, you eat bad food.

I do not have a TV nor do I want one. If you want to sit on the couch and watch TV, I recommend the National Geo or Discovery Channel one hour program, The Science of Obesity, to better understand how weight affects your inner workings. If it motivates you to get off the couch, that is good. Get off the couch and see the world around you instead of trying to make others accept your irregular size. (Today, I hiked a 12,000 hill to see the sunrise and was still in my office by 930AM.) Obese people miss out on many things.
Posted By: newsisfun @ 08/16/2008 1:50:56 AM

Comment: You missed an obvious one: food. It's no secret that the cost of food has been rising at a noticeable rate. And if you eat more than normal, that can certainly affect the budget.
Posted By: DefiantEditor @ 08/16/2008 1:30:43 AM

Comment: As European nations adopt a more Western diet, overweight people are becoming more common abroad as well. Even the French, known for their slim women, are experiencing a steady increase in weight. The combination of lack of physical activity and the typical American diet is often cited as a reason. The recent study which found that thin people are often just as prone to health issues as many who are overweight may indicate there are, heretofore, unknown factors, such as stress and genetics, that are causing ill health in many people. Perhaps those who are thin but suffer from diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure should be studied more closely to determine what other factors may cause these problems often attributed to the overweight. Thin people are not always healthy, heavy people are not always ill.
Posted By: wake up @ 08/16/2008 1:07:52 AM

Comment: Well, could someone tell me why other nations are not fat? Could it be their lifestyle, discipline and wisdom?
Do you think it helps the image of America abroad?
Posted By: sjksing @ 08/15/2008 11:03:14 PM

Comment: This is directed at no one in particular, just my own observations from a person that is being deemed by society as obese: WARNING... IF YOU ARE NOT FAT, THIS MAY NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU. (Come on, lighten up, that was some sarcasm)

I was reading a study a couple months ago about how 8 out of 10 woman would rather die than be overweight. Does anyone else find that alarming?! I find it sad. Well, sad, silly, and illogical. How obsessed is this country? Are we really that self centered? Because that is what I was thinking when I first read it.

After reading it, though, it got me thinking. The one thing I find disturbing about all of this is that being "overweight" or obese is the biggest form of acceptable discrimination practiced in our society today. I can not argue with scientific fact, so I won't. I understand the uses of the study and why they choose to report it, but there is a bigger picture here. Why is is that you can no longer discriminate on race, color, creed, gender, abilities, etc but if I am walking down the street minding my own business there are many people that feel the need to comment on me or the fact that I have a weight issue. Why is that anyone else's business but mine. I get it. I am not "perfect". What is ideal? There are reasons why we are all different. That includes, again, race, color, gender, creed, and yes size. So, please understand, the next time you see someone that is "overweight", obese, or just not up to your individual standards, please keep you comments to yourself. I do enough judging of myself everyday. I am not ignorant. I do understand why and how I got this way. No, I don't blame society or any other reason. I take responsibilty for it, but it is not your place nor your right to point it out to me. Every day is a struggle and it is people that have never had to endure that struggle that have no clue what is it like. For those who have been there, i find it funny how you are so easily changed in your mind set when you become an "after". All of a sudden they seem to get a mentality of "well I did it, they can too. And, if they don't they are just lazy." Just remember you got take all the time you wanted to change your size. It didn't happen overnight for your I'm sure and it will not for me either. How quickly you seem to change your stripes to become just as judgemental.

After all of this, if you take away one thing from this... just stop. Stop being so mean. Start by helping. Help a friend become more active. Help a friend to make smarter choices, but only if they ask or show an interest. Stop assuming you know better and are better than people that are "overweight" and obese. After all, this is all subjective. We could keep arguing about this until the end of time. Bottom line is that we as a nation need to become healthier, but being rude and nasty about it will only make things worse. Stop treating us like we have the plague.
- Posted By: alxcaphonh @ 08/16/2008 11:38:16 PM
  
  Comment: "Why is is that you can no longer discriminate on race, color, creed, gender, abilities, etc"
  Have you not notice a similarity in the examples you've listed? PEOPLE CAN'T CHANGE WHAT YOU'VE LISTED. That is why you don't discriminate. Jesus fukking christ. Skip a goddamn meal every once and awhile and you won't be discriminated against, but the black guy can't become white. Just like the butch lesbian can't like the ***
  - Posted By: sjksing @ 08/17/2008 12:23:25 PM
    
    Comment: I see your point. I have not looked at it that way, but why so much anger? Do you truly feel like you are superior? I am not a person who believes in excuses. They are a waste of time and effort. But, if you had ever been in this position, you would know it is a little more scientific than "skipping a meal" once in a while. I have heard it all... "back away from the cookie", "put down the fork", "get off your ass and stop being so lazy"... Come on man, you have t o be a little more original next time. When I figure out what works for me, then I will do it. Maybe it is excess stress from taking care of my two children under two. Or, maybe it is the fact that I and my husband are fulltime students, or maybe the fact that after I get out of class and taking care of my children I have a fulltime job to go to... and so on. They are not excuses, just fact. I, as posted in the earlier message, understand how I got this way and the stresses in my life that have attributed to it, But, for me, it is not going to happen overnight. No one can healthily lose it that way. So, maybe your should try to harness your anger and focus it into other directions before it makes you fat like me,,, just a thought. :)
    - Posted By: summer4077 @ 08/18/2008 8:49:47 AM
      
      Comment: I'm sorry, but those are excuses. They may be fact but they're still excuses. I did the same thing you are doing--full time student, full time job (and a part-time one on Saturdays), and caring for my nephew and 2 nieces. Actually, that made me less prone to overeating b/c I was so busy all the time. Also, I wanted to make sure they were eating healthy and getting the nutrients their growing bodies needed, so I made healthful things. That's not to say we didn't have the occasional fishstick or mac n cheese night, but I was mindful of things. Eating healthier gives you more energy to take on the myriad of responsibilities you have.
      Of course, that's not to say that people should look at you with disgust or be rude. That's just ill-mannered and inexcusable.
- Posted By: fatboy @ 08/15/2008 11:43:06 PM
  
  Comment: almost the best post i have ever read
  
  thank you and good luck
  - Posted By: wake up @ 08/16/2008 12:54:41 AM
    
    Comment: Other nations are not obese!. Please look around in Asia, Europe and India and everywere else. It is because of a different lifestile. In the U.S anything goes. We interpret that with "freedom" while it is lack of discipline in 99% of the cases. It definately doesn't help the American image.
- Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/15/2008 11:17:49 PM
  
  Comment: sjksing *BRAVO**BRAVO**BRAVO* OMG, you are so right! Thank you for saying that with such poise and dignity! We can all learn from your attitude, so I hope others will be inspired, learn and play it forward!! Nobody likes the playground bully.
  - Posted By: sjksing @ 08/15/2008 11:26:07 PM
    
    Comment: Thank you! I appreciate you kind words. That is just how I feel... :)
Posted By: pumapurr @ 08/15/2008 11:00:43 PM

Comment: Here are 5 associated with being not fat:
1)Getting hit by cars while out jogging
2)Dying on treadmills and of random heart attacks while trying to be 'healthy" (Tim Russert, Isaac Hayes, Jim Fixx, etc) and sneering that this is an exception and doesn't count (obviously!), even though it happens every day in every community.
3)Succumbing to pneumonia and cancers because the body is on the border of starvation (Jim Henson, etc.)
4)Doing your best not to enjoy life, and succeeding
5)Adding 10 years to your hateful, circumscribed, mean, Scroogelike life, where 20% of your waking moments were spent like a rat in pain (remember, no gain! push it! push it!)

I myself am average weight, but I've known many many overweight people who are happy and many fitness freaks who are chronic sourpusses. On the whole, I'd rather spend time with a fat person than a skinny one - they are just more fun, and seem to enjoy life. Sorry if fat and jolly bugs you, but that is Santa Claus, Bacchus, The Buddha, etc. Nasty string beans are often villains in the movies for a reason. Because they hate life and hate anyone who enjoys it. THAT is the real reason you inveigh against 'fat". Because it demonstrates abundance, indulgence, and (god forbid!) hedonism because you secretly long for it in your sad self-hateful trapped little lives. Fezziwig would still invite you to have a good time though, Scrooge! There's still time.
- Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/15/2008 11:14:36 PM
  
  Comment: *clapping* Did you ever NAIL this one on the head!
Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/15/2008 10:55:55 PM

Comment: A new study was just completed which has proven that heart risks for thin an fat are nearly the SAME. *gasp* Imagine that! You can read a synoposis of the study in a MSNBC article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26143255/ and for those that can actually read and comprehend in more depth you can do as I did and write and ask for a copy of the complete study of Mary Fran Sowers, PhD Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology mfsowers@umich.edu It is called "metabolic obesity" and she sent it to me most expeditiously.
- Posted By: sadie_mae @ 08/15/2008 11:37:29 PM
  
  Comment: Are you really implying that the heart risks for obese people are the same as thin? I'm sorry, but that must be flawed. Common sense dictates how much more the heart has to work for a larger sized body, thus creating additional stress.
  - Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/16/2008 12:36:41 AM
    
    Comment: Sure Ms. PhD researcher... did you even bother to read the parameters of the study? Of course not. Everyone has an opinion, even the uneducated ones. Your ignorance validates one point, everyone is entitled to their opinion - doesn't mean it's the right one.
Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/15/2008 10:51:41 PM

Comment: It never ceases to amaze me how uninformed the know-it-all's can be. How you think you are 'entitled' to your seat, but someone who is a different size is not 'entitled' to theirs. How you think your lifestyle choices are the right one, and anyone who's different than you is wrong. GET OFF your high horse! You live your life, and let the next person live there's! You do not have a right to tell me if I'm happy fat or sad fat, anymore than if I'm happy tall, or sad short. The point IS: I AM A HUMAN BEING, just like you. As such, I am just as entitled to whatever as the next person. Too bad if you don't like it! I would never shy away or hesitate to set a rude inconsiderate person straight. You come at me with your fat hate attitude, and I'll squish you like an obnoxious pimple! You don't like my fat ass encroaching into your seat on the plane? Well I don't like your screaming little brat kicking the seat behind me, or the little twit that mommy and daddy think is so cute hanging over the back of the seat making faces at me, or the European who doesn't save their armpits and use deoderant, or the ( insert whatever whine of the moment you want ) The point is... THAT'S LIFE - get over it! If you don't like it - take a friggin hike and go piddle and moan somewhere else.

This notion that all fat people are a burden on themselves and the health system is just nonsense. You can find examples and extreme's of everything. You have no more idea why the person next to you is fat than you do how much money they have in the bank or what type of car they drive. It's none of your business!
- Posted By: firemedic258 @ 08/16/2008 11:26:08 AM
  
  Comment: Kerri,
  I paid for my seat on a plane. My FULL seat. You can keep your FAT butt out of my seat or I will tell you about it. I will win that battle. Just as I will tell any parent on a plane to make their kid stop kicking my seat.
  
  Get off your high horse.....your probably breaking his back anyways....with your sactimonious "I have a right to be fat and everyone needs to bow before me attitude." Yes,you have a right to be fat and eat yourself to death. The rest of us couldn't care less until your fat starts oozing into our space (literally). I have friends of all shapes and sizes. My sister is VERY large. I love them to death. What I can't stand is people like you who are on a MISSION to insist that YOU have a right to MORE rights than the rest of us (like our space) because you have CHOSEN to take up MORE SPACE than the rest of us.
  
  You DO cost society more in health care bills. It has been proven. I have studied it (MPH) and I have seen it (firefighter/paramedic). If you want to be fat, fine, but you should pay more to be fat. You want the right, take the responsibility for it. That will help pay for the next back injury on my crew when we have to carry your fat a$$ out of your house when you ARE having that heart attack.
  
  Yes, this was probably harsh, but some of us are sick of politically correctness where no one is responsible for themselves. We are sick of these people then taking over OUR space and rights. We are sick of them demanding more rights than the rest of us. Now go cry into a box of donuts if I hurt your feelings with the truth and then tell me that obesity is a disease. I'll be out for my daily run.
  - Posted By: summer4077 @ 08/18/2008 9:25:09 AM
    
    Comment: Firemedic, I'm from EMS, too, and I can't agree with you more. I especially love the whole "it's genetic!" rally cry. Really? Our genes have REALLY changed that much in 40 years? Those scientists studying evolution by picking through ancient bones must have it all wrong--living, breathing genetic evolution is going on right now!
    I know this simplifies it, but WALL-E hit it right on the head. If we keep making excuses, 200 years from now we're all going to be lazing our fat butts around on floating, moveable chairs, sipping our dinners out of a cup.
    Image-google "childhood obesity" or "obese kids"...it's really sad.
- Posted By: pumapurr @ 08/16/2008 12:08:08 AM
  
  Comment: Straight shootin' and no doubt about it. Ahhh...now that's the tonic!
- Posted By: sadie_mae @ 08/15/2008 11:48:36 PM
  
  Comment: "how you think your lifestyle choices are the right one and anyone who's different than you is wrong". No, dear, that is not what was being discussed. Lifestyle choices do not mean choosing between a quarter pounder with cheese (super size that, please), and a bucket of the colonel's best. Iyou are defending a battle that you've already lost.
  - Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/16/2008 12:30:14 AM
    
    Comment: Sadie.. you wanna bet? It is ABSOLUTELY my right to choose what I want to eat. What is wrong with you people that you think YOU can tell ME what I can eat, but I can't tell you what YOU can eat? Since when are you right and I'm wrong? You are not judge, jury and executioner! Next you'll want to tell me what clothes I can wear, how tall the heels on my shoes can be, or what side of my head to part my hair. IT IS NOT YOUR RIGHT to dictate to me what I can and cannot do with my body! PERIOD.
    - Posted By: C. MacLean @ 08/16/2008 11:46:37 AM
      
      Comment: And if you choose to exercise your right to eat more, use more health care, and take up more space, you can pay more, as well. No one is telling you what to eat or what to wear, but they are telling you to take responsibility for your lifestyle choices, because the rest of us choose NOT to take responsiblity for your lifestyle choices.
      - Posted By: summer4077 @ 08/18/2008 9:27:07 AM
        
        Comment: Exactly! Smokers have paid more for insurance for YEARS, why not obese people? Smoking has also been banned in most public places, but I bet the chubsters aren't shedding any tears for smokers' rights. (I'm not for smokers' rights at all, just drawing a parallel between the two.)
Posted By: loriw @ 08/15/2008 10:36:53 PM

Comment: I am an RN and I have said it before and I say it again and it doesn't just apply to obesity and it's not very politically correct but here goes....
We don't have a lack of health care in this country we have a lack of health.
There it is.
Posted By: fixitup @ 08/15/2008 9:59:48 PM

Comment: Well, according to you, fat people just aren't worth what " normal " people are then. Let's get rid of them all Adolph.....
Posted By: sash @ 08/15/2008 9:18:15 PM

Comment: I fly approximately twice a month on budget airline Southwest; to California and back. I have to say that at least 1/2 the time, I have lost at lease 1/2 of my seat to the obese/overweight person who chooses to sit next to me. I am what used to be normal sized (5'10" and about 150 lbs. and female).

Am I expected to bring up the fact that I'm sharing my seat with someone else who obviously needs two seats to the flight attendant, or should I (as I have up until now) wait for the flight attendant to notice that I barely fit in the seat because of my height and because of the person's weight next to me, barely fit because of my wholly "inconsiderate" weight?

I can't change my height but YOU sure as hell can change your weight.

By the way, I"m this size because I work at it-----also, I work full time and I'm low income.
Posted By: Rick A @ 08/15/2008 9:01:40 PM

Comment: Here are 5 more:

1) Higher food costs than required. If you take the additional extra amount consumed over a lifetime, it is a very significant $ amount
2) Inability to do traditional home maintenance tasks. You might argue, that's why people rent. Well, then the inability to be a home owner from the finacial perspective needs to be taken into account. This is a huge $ amount over a lifetime.
3) Lack of self-esteem, causing de-moralizing consequences in motivation (both social and economic)
4) Early retirement required, with no ability to perform any economic functions.
5) Early death, causing minimized value to family and society

Remember, YOU have control. Never forget that most important point

5) Lastly, lack of self esteem causing
Posted By: abbychloe @ 08/15/2008 8:24:54 PM

Comment: Obesity is a sickness much like other addictions. However, it is each individual's responsibility to combat the "disease." It's simply a matter of self-control and honesty. Unless obese people are willing to truly look themselves in the mirror and decide that being thin is better than the very best hamburger, they will always be large. They should NOT get special favors because they choose a heavy lifestyle.
- Posted By: sadie_mae @ 08/15/2008 11:46:01 PM
  
  Comment: Obesity is a sickness?? Yeah, in some cases, but in most it is just poor choices and a apathy.
Posted By: fatboy @ 08/15/2008 8:23:41 PM

Comment: as a male who should weigh 200, and is 280, get bent. There are many reasons to be overweight, stress, medical conditions, and the overall liking of good food. The only thing this story accomplishes is to reiterate that all fat people suck. Well thanks, its not like we dont know how the whole world feels allready. Why dont we talk about something that matters to the world, not what matters to a bunch of ego maniacs who happen to be there ideal size. just ask them
- Posted By: Master Debater @ 08/16/2008 1:02:07 PM
  
  Comment: Get bent, haha. You can't even bend over to look at your toes, haha. Go roll down a hill, haha.
- Posted By: abbychloe @ 08/15/2008 8:30:49 PM
  
  Comment: You think that people at their "goal" weight are ego maniacs? I am at my goal weight and yes, I enjoy wearing fashionable clothes and looking nice, BUT I'm most happy to set an example for my two young children. I want to live the longest, most healthy life I can and it's a proven fact that thinness is one of the keys to longevity. I'VE BEEN FAT AND I HATED IT; HOWEVER, I DIDN'T FEEL THAT ALL FAT PEOPLE SUCK. I feel sorry for overweight people BECAUSE I'VE BEEN THERE AND I KNOW HOW SAD I WAS. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and either accept yourself for who you are or DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO BE UNHAPPY.
  - Posted By: fatboy @ 08/15/2008 9:34:54 PM
    
    Comment: now i feel sorry for myself, shame on me.
    once again a opinon on whos happy and whos not.
    and thanks for feeling sorry for me. I didnt even know i was sad.
    now unless you actually have a point other than pointing out how you not a ego maniac, like everything you said.
    go away
    - Posted By: last4one @ 08/15/2008 11:19:41 PM
      
      Comment: I'd be ashamed of myself if I was a fat boy too.
      - Posted By: fatboy @ 08/15/2008 11:39:13 PM
        
        Comment: to bad listening to yourself doesnt work, it should.
        but obviously only apperance matters, otherwise your total lack of compasion would be enough.
Posted By: CaliforniaCyclist @ 08/15/2008 7:11:57 PM

Comment: Topics like this never fail to bring out the "fat activists" that transform discussions about physical well being into discrimination. If you take their logic seriously, then combating alcoholism is analogous to discriminating against alcoholics. Certainly no one should suffer discrimination, but to make the topic of obesity an issue of discrimination is simply a way to justify one's personal poor lifestyle.
Posted By: agiraffe @ 08/15/2008 7:06:50 PM

Comment: I for one think that the key to avoiding obesity is to stay away from fast food restaurants all together...I gave them up just 3 weeks ago and have lost 7 pounds and I'm hardly starving. I make all of my meals at home (yes, I have a full-time job and work some extra evenings). I pack a lunch pail full of healthy things the night before. I've saved money and lost weight and I don't even miss the greasy fried stuff
- Posted By: MChieco @ 08/16/2008 12:36:10 AM
  
  Comment: Congrats , you nailed it ! Eating fast food on a regular basis will make you fat. Its as simple as that. You can eat anything you want once in a while. Its what your everyday habits are that will determine if you are obese.
Posted By: gotohorse @ 08/15/2008 6:57:36 PM

Comment: After being on an airplane where an obese person was seated in the middle seat and flowed over into 1/3 of my seat, I'm not as sympathatic to loosing my rights in favor to someone who didn't buy the two seats he really needed.

I've watched obese people being waited on hand and foot by their families who end up with no life because they won't get help for their addiction. I've seen children loose the involvement of their parents because the parents are to obese to go to the events that they participate in.

The lose is more than money, it is loose of involvement, infringing on others time and space, extra privledges and rights the rest of us don't have.

Why does one group get privledges when it is something that can be dealt with vs. those who have disabilities that they have no control over.

I have had close relatives who were obese and who have dealt with it and saw their struggle. I'm not unaware of how tough, as with most addictions, it is to conquer. I'm very suspecious that our food has so many chemicals in it that it triggers addiction in some people and not others. None the less, it can be addressed.
Posted By: Russell Williams @ 08/15/2008 6:40:26 PM

Comment: What are the savings from obesity? If being fat is deadly then fat people do not live as long and therefore collect less socialsecurity and less pension money is paid to them.

I was once on a pannel disucssion where someone said that, because of obeisty this might be the first generation where the parents lived longer then the children. When it was my turn to speak I commented that if the previouse speaker was correct then Social Securty was saved.. The previous speaker was left somewhat at a loss for words.

Russell Williams Fat Activist
- Posted By: summer4077 @ 08/18/2008 9:33:15 AM
  
  Comment: The meager stipend most people get from social security pales in comparison to the thousands of extra dollars spent on an obese individual for healthcare throughout their lives.
- Posted By: sadie_mae @ 08/15/2008 11:43:36 PM
  
  Comment: What about all the obese people I see on social security disability? Your argument is silly.
- Posted By: Trey9128 @ 08/15/2008 10:05:12 PM
  
  Comment: By the way, I could write a book (maybe I should) on both the short term and long term health implications olf obestity. It's truly scary how unhealthy obesity really is. And you can make all the excuses you want, but only YOU control how much food passes between your lips.
  
  To say I'm happy being fat is self deception. No one honestly prefers being fat. If they say so, they are lying, at least to themselves.
- Posted By: Trey9128 @ 08/15/2008 9:54:06 PM
  
  Comment: You don't really have a clue, do you? Huge portions of the health care budget are consumed in the last few months of life. As a medical professional, I can vouch for the fact that obese or not, you really work hard to avoid death in a 50 year old obese patient vs. the dignified natural death of an 85 year old. This often futile attempt to save these people fighting premature death is VERY expensive, and creates a huge financial hit on the health care economy. Yeah, if you are obese you will die young (you don't see very many obese 80 year olds, do you?), but you also die a very expensive death.
Posted By: Master Debater @ 08/15/2008 5:08:27 PM

Comment: Before everyone gets their panties in a bunch, why don't you at the topic in a different angle. If you do this, you'll see fat people come out ahead when it comes to all-you-can-eat buffets and extra large clothing. Cha-ching ring one up for the fatties.
- Posted By: last4one @ 08/15/2008 9:43:08 PM
  
  Comment: Yea....if you wanna be a 40 year old virgin.
Posted By: ds88220 @ 08/15/2008 4:43:35 PM

Comment: its about time we can talk the effects of obesity on our society. maybe we can do something about it and not get into trouble for discriminating against large people.
Posted By: kerrilynnaz @ 08/15/2008 4:35:46 PM

Comment: This is the stupidest list of 5 things I've ever seen! If you want to hate on fat people, do it with some common sense. Let's see... who costs more - one single fat person, or one family of 5? How about, one fat person vs. one person on WELFARE. Your priorities are effed up!
- Posted By: firemedic258 @ 08/15/2008 8:36:20 PM
  
  Comment: You are talking about two entirely different issues. Why don't you actually try to make an argument. It isn't a stupid list because these are serious issues. Obesity DOES result in serious health costs. There have been significant injuries to health care workers because of caring for obese patients. The cost of these injuries alone gets expensive. When a team of firefighters and paramedics are required to move ONE patient and this happens more and more often, America does have a problem. Ambulance companies have had to purchase extremely expensive vehicles/stretchers to move obese patients. These are significant costs. Obese individuals should not be discriminated against, but the person who loses half his seat on an airplane to an obese person also shouldn't have his rights taken away. An obese person SHOULD be made to buy two seats if he NEEDS two seats. America has a serious problem and it must face it. You can call yourself a "fat activist" all you want. That still does not mean that the human body was built to carry 400 lbs of weight. Yes, humans must show understanding and empathy to others because we have higher levels of understanding. However, the human body was still built for a certain weight limit. Our empathy and spiritual heart may have evolved to accept obesity, but our knees and physical heart did not. While we can show concern for others in this condition, we still must recognize that it is not a healthy physical condition. If others choose to live their lives this way, fine. However, I should not be forced to use my money to help pay for their lifestyle choices, especially ones with which I do not agree.
Posted By: sgandersen @ 08/15/2008 4:14:31 PM

Comment: Two of the largest purveyors of childhood obesity, Coca-Cola and McDonalds. try to improve their image by sponsoring the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee, in turn, is eerily silent about children-related scandals, such as He Kexin being too young to compete on the Chinese woman's gymnastics team. Nasty vicious circle.
- Posted By: wake up @ 08/16/2008 1:14:24 AM
  
  Comment: There is Coca Cola and McDonalds all over the world. Why isn't the rest of the world obese? Do we have any choices on what passes betwen our lips? Or is it forced down by some evel forces?
- Posted By: last4one @ 08/15/2008 9:41:31 PM
  
  Comment: ....And this relates to the article how?

Top Story

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Five Financial Costs of American Obesity

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