Weight Loss Thread

chaos_sl said:

So apparently this guy wasn't actually the world's fattest man in the 1900s. He was just a sideshow freak. This guyw as though:

So this dude's name was "Big Joe", he was 6'4" and weighed 754 lbs at his death. He definitely doesn't look like 750 lbs in that picture.

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Something really hit me about this picture. This guy weighed 750 lbs when he died, but it seems like hes standing. In this day and age, if you're 275 you better have your goddamn mart cart and be disabled.

Sad thing about weighing that much is the enablers that surround those people. You dont get to 500+ pounds eating 2500-3000 calories a day.

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It's the American government and our culture of making accommodations for everyone that really allows people to get to 500+ pounds. Handicapped parking for fat people, government assistance, stores providing motorized carts, etc. Like I was saying before, life is so ridiculously easy for fat people in the United States that they have no real incentive to get fitter. Unless a person can prove that his/her obesity is connected with a real health problem (i.e hormone imbalance, thyroid, whatever) then the government should not provide any assistance; not even so much as a handicapped parking sticker. It really boils my mutton how much our society helps people who are nothing more than flat out lazy.

But... But... Celiac disease bro.. Or diabetes... Or thyroid

Celestein_sl said:

My mother (used to be) very obese and I'd have this argument with her all the time when I'd ridicule her for using those scooters. "I need the scooter cause I can't walk anymore"... no, you can't walk anymore cause you're lazy and keep using things like the scooter, or driving places less than 20min(walking time) away...

Even when I was over 500lbs at the lowest point in my life, I could still get out of bed, walk, etc on my own. Because I never gave up and made sure that even if I was stuck being a fat fuck, I was least going to be a fat fuck who didn't need a fucking scooter. Everytime I see someone(who's under like 90 at least) riding those things, I see a pathetic quitter and nothing else.

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I guess I'll be the one - please don't be offended...How much are you now?

I think those scooters should only be for people with leg or other serious mobility injuries or issues. Being fat isn't an injury, and no matter what thyroid problem or whatever other magical problem you have, it didn't make you that big. If there's some rare 0.5% disease that makes you 800 pounds, then fine, but I work in a supermarket and can tell you the people that ride those things are lazyfat. The real kicker is seeing people having to walk around on crutches because all the fatasses took our two scooters.

My wife had to ride one of those scooters when she was pregnant with our third kid. She had this condition where walking was extremely painful because the hormone that causes ligaments to loosen in her pelvis basically worked too well, so it was like the bones in her pelvis were coming apart. We had to actually talk to a manager at one point because some totally able bodied, but fat as shit, person took the last charged one they had.

I don't know why people would even want to ride one of those things. They are embarrassing as hell, hard to maneuver, and the charge only lasts about half an hour.

It's hormones/genetics. Can't be ashamed of something you can't control. It's a good excuse.

The sad thing is I understand that in most cases it's a downward spiral, usually accompanied with depression, and it can suck and hardto get out of. In most cases, though eating right with moderate exercise can totally reverse the outlook (was my case anyway 60lbs down). But instead we enable them to not think anythings wrong.

Because we're the rejects the rest of the world didn't want... Hicks live in West Virginia, beautiful people live in California, Alaska is 85% testosterone fueled rage... I'm convinced that at least some genetics is correlated to geography, and not just pale blondes live in Norway kinda way.

It's not genetics, it's lifestyle. The areas of the US with lower rates of obesity tend to be urban, where people don't necessarily spend two hours a day commuting in a car. A lot of the obesity epidemic can be explained by the built form and commuting patterns of cities. The most overweight areas in the US are almost exclusively rural areas where fat fucks drive everywhere.

Eomer_sl said:

It's not genetics, it's lifestyle. The areas of the US with lower rates of obesity tend to be urban, where people don't necessarily spend two hours a day commuting in a car. A lot of the obesity epidemic can be explained by the built form and commuting patterns of cities. The most overweight areas in the US are almost exclusively rural areas where fat fucks drive everywhere.

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This and climate/access to outdoor activities.

I lived near the front range in CO for a bit and even though many people still had a commute to work (most driving 30-45 min to denver)/ate bad foods, lots of people had active lifestyles. Year round CO had shit to do outside - I could feel myself getting fitter just by hanging out with other people doing the things they did. Back in Texas I try to still be active but it's a lot harder and I think a lot of it for me is the weather. I thought nothing of getting up and riding lifts to the top of mountains in zero degree weather, but trying to ride some single track in TX in the summer (100 degrees with 95% humidity) is fucking terrible. People in the south just don't want to leave the AC it's so fucking hot and sticky outside. Downtown Houston actually has tunnels under the city people walk in between the buildings because to walk a block outside on your lunch break you end up drenched in sweat. It's hard to explain to someone who has not experienced a gulf coast weather.

I talk on bike forums a lot and people on the 'net from up north are always like "you should ride to work, everyone is doing it. it's great for you". And yeah, that's prolly swell for people that don't live in the south but it's fucking impossible here to ride to a white collar job when it's 95 degrees with 90% humidity at 8am. I'd do it if my office had a fucking shower.

Yup, all of that makes sense to me as well.

Even up north it gets pretty hot during the summer and spring, hot enough that you would be a sweaty mess I would think after biking to work. When I was in the Navy a few guys would do that but we had showers at work and a very lax policy about being on time when it came to working out. I commute 36 miles per day, also, and that doesn't count when I have to go to school which adds probably another 30 or so miles on. I don't ride bikes but that seems like a really long daily bike ride.

I really think that the overwhelming major cause of this obesity shit is diet. When I got fat, I didn't give a shit what I ate. I wasn't eating pizza rolls like chips yet or anything, but everyone has to bow at the feet of the master. A guy I know at work who is just fucking obscenely obese, he eats bullshit every day. Doughnuts, pop tarts, chips, fast food, soda, candy, etc. EVERY DAY. Dude one day bought a 12 pack of tacos from Taco Bell and ate that shit himself, in one meal, then ate again later. We go out to get food for lunch or something, this guy orders a meal and then another meal. We went to this sandwich place and he orders a sandwich, chips, a soda, and a salad. I explained to him the salad was a meal and he just says "I know." The other night, he is drinking a smoothie along with his meal. I explain to him that a smoothie is a meal replacement, not a fucking water replacement, he just doesn't care. He gets pissed when we criticize him but the dude is killing himself. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

People like the guy you described just don't give a shit. Clearly he doesn't care that he's fat. You find people like that all over the world, although there are more in the USA due to our acceptance of it and lack of public shaming.

The real problem in America is that most people have no idea what constitutes healthy food. The vast majority of the population equates "low/no fat" and "whole wheat" with healthy and they think they can eat as much as they want. A whole wheat muffin? Let's eat three, despite the fact that each one has 300 calories!

Another problem is that most Americans eat a diet of primarily processed/boxed/frozen foods, which tend to be much more calories dense than preparing meals from scratch. This is connected with portion size as well. If you go abroad and order food in a restaurant--even fast food like KFC, for example--you'll notice immediately that the plates and cups are smaller. Not to mention most places I've seen abroad don't offer free refills, so people don't guzzle hundreds or thousands of calories in a single restaurant meal.

Regular exercise (like in urban areas) helps combat these two things somewhat, but it can only go so far. Until the average American's mentality towards food changes, America will be the land of fat people.

P.S. That 12 pack of Tacos sounds awesome, but I doubt it would fill me up.