Obesity

[Drolefille]

If there's a health related problem I'd suggest referring to a doctor. S/he can tell them to lose weight.

But i still see nothing wrong with talking to a close friend/sister about it. Especially if it's an indicator of more serious issues.

Overweight people KNOW they're overweight. But they don't necessarily know that someone's there for them. It's the same reason you give someone your support for any other major life issue.

[Jimmy Choo]

Originally Posted by jadis96

As someone who lost 45 lbs recently and is trying to lose 45 more (I got stuck at a plateau on weight watchers UGH!)

Congrats on those 45 pounds!!!!!!!! Hitting the plateau SUCKS. I've lost 20 lbs. myself and now I've hit a plateau as well. But knowing that it can be done gives me the motivation to get the rest of it off!!!!!

[James]

Fat does cause brain damage actually . . or at least lifestyles that lead to fat. Also there is the whole insulin issue and how it effects the body.

As far as what you are saying: If the person is whining to you about getting a date or health issues with the whole, "why is this happening to me" attitude, it seems correct to mention the obesity issue.

Allowing someone to be in denial about it doesn't seem very helpful.

Besides, being overweight isn't cancer or a deformity or something else that can't be changed, in fact its one of the few things that are pretty much under a person's control.

Originally Posted by blueangel

And, I totally disagree. Do you actually think they don't know why they are having trouble getting a date? Do you actually think they don't know why they don't feel well?

Fat does not cause brain damage. Give overweight people some credit!

[Minnow]

I would hope my friends would be honest enough and care about me enough to pull me aside and let me know if I have a serious weight problem. I would most likely know or be guessing I had one already. I do think it would be important for them to let me know it is because they are my friend and they would rather tell me than so idiot i do not know on the street or in the market palce.

Cameron Bishop
Phi Mu Alpha
Delta Omega Chapter Alumnus

[blueangel]

Originally Posted by Minnow

I would hope my friends would be honest enough and care about me enough to pull me aside and let me know if I have a serious weight problem. I would most likely know or be guessing I had one already. I do think it would be important for them to let me know it is because they are my friend and they would rather tell me than so idiot i do not know on the street or in the market palce.

Cameron Bishop
Phi Mu Alpha
Delta Omega Chapter Alumnus

Do you not have a mirror? NO ONE should tell ANYONE that they are overweight. It is none of their business.. and the overweight person KNOWS they are overweight. The only thing you can do.. as a FRIEND is to be their FRIEND.

It's a shame how society discriminates people just because of how they look.

[blueangel]

Originally Posted by James

Fat does cause brain damage actually . . or at least lifestyles that lead to fat.

Before you make a statement like that, please back it up with some scientific proof. I would like to see a link for a study which concludes fat leads to brain damage.

[James]

Why would you make me support the obvious?

Actually there is a whole bunch more but its 4am . . if you like we can discuss the role of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and cognitive decline as well as premature aging.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_DocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_DocSum

Originally Posted by blueangel

Before you make a statement like that, please back it up with some scientific proof. I would like to see a link for a study which concludes fat leads to brain damage.

[James]

Its wierd. Obesity will more likely kill you than smoking or drinking, and yet its cool to tell someone they shouldn't smoke or drink. In fact its encouraged.

And to use the argument BlueAngel is using: They freaking know they smoke and drink!

But we tell them anyway. Sheez. Whats the difference?

[blueangel]

Originally Posted by James

Its wierd. Obesity will more likely kill you than smoking or drinking, and yet its cool to tell someone they shouldn't smoke or drink. In fact its encouraged.

And to use the argument BlueAngel is using: They freaking know they smoke and drink!

But we tell them anyway. Sheez. Whats the difference?

I agree that obesity causes a host of ills... which in turn cause a host of ills. However, I still am not convinced on your premise that it causes brain damage. The study you cited only looked at OLDER people... and it was far from conclusive.

The other study regarding memory loss cites those who have insulin problems. There are many diabetics that acquired the disease, yet they had low body fat. So, I suppose you could make the connection indirectly that obesity sometimes leads to type two diabetes that sometimes leads to memory loss. A bit of a stretch, but technically, I suppose you could make that analogy.

Please do not misunderstand me. I agree with you that obestiy is very unhealthy.. as is smoking. However.. the people who are overweight and who smoke do not live in a vacuum. They know they have unhealthy lifestyles.. it is just really hard to change. If it was easy, everyone would be thin, fit, and non smoking.

I think your heart is in the right place. You're worried about others. However.. pointing out things they already know about themselves is hurtful and can actually make their habit worse.

The best thing you can do is just be a good friend and support them if and when they're ready to make a major lifestyle change.

[vividas_FUNK]

Perhaps I should go back and read all the posts, but I just wanted to add to what those have already said about the relationship between obesity and cognitive function (i.e. memory, perception, etc). A recent study has show that there is a link between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimers disease. Type 2 happens to be the subset of diabetes related to obesity...

However, I think whether or not you're obese should be a personal health issue. Mainstream culture perpetuates the ideal that skinny (or near skinny) is the prototype. But skinny isn't necessarily healthy. A skinny person is susceptible to the same risk of acquiring high blood pressure, diabetes, and other (preventative) illnesses as a bigger person, especially if they are suffering from an eating disorder.

As for being aesthetically pleasing, that's relative. Shoot, some women (and men for that matter) could stand to gain a few pounds in my opinion. Not everyone follows the "status quo" when it comes to looks. Just because you wouldn't date someone who you perceive to be fat, doesn't mean someone else won't. To each his own.

But kudos to everyone who's lost weight. It's a struggle. I've been there myself and know that it takes a lot of faith and dedication to make it work

[blueangel]

A lot of the problem with obesity is our food industry. Do you know that cereal companies and cookie companies employ food scientists to formulate our food to make us crave more? Ever wonder why you can't stop at just one bowl of cereal, or one cookie? It's not will-power-- it's how the food has been engineered to make you not feel full.

Another problem is the widespread attitives such as high fructose corn syrup and the transfats. And, even though a label may say the food contains no trans fats.. it still might. If it's below a certain percentage per "serving" (and who ever eats one serving?) a food company can claim "no trans fats."

So if you see the words "hydrogonated" or "partially hydrogenated" or "high fructose corn syrum" --- run! Once you start reading food labels, you'll be horrified at how wide spread these very unhealthy ingredients are.

[CutiePie2000]

As someone who "eats" clean (It's a lifestyle that I have been following for a year now, where I do my best to avoid processed food) and competes in "Figure", I can tell you that the vast majority of stuff sold in the grocery is processed crap. If it's sold in a box (i.e. cereal, cookies, crackers etc), it's processed and it's crap.

An example of a healthy, minimally processed, breakfast is a 1/2 to 3/4 cup of slow-cooked oatmeal (or better yet, oatmeal made from steel cut oats), and stir in 3/4 cup of egg whites. Microwave it for a bit, then take it out and stir, stir, stir. Microwave it a bit more, if it needs it (depending on how powerful your micro is) It should come out nice and fluffy. It will hot as blazes, so stir in 1/2 cup of raspberries or blueberries or strawberries. You can also add in some stevia and cinnamon for flavor. You could even crush 5-7 almonds and add those in too for crunchy yummy flavor, although that will start to add a bit more fat content (because there is already fat in the flax).

Anyhow, this breakfast is very nummy (in my opinion) and very good for you too.

For lunch, I have chicken breasts or tuna, sweet potatoes or rice or yams, green vegetables and water...LOTS of water.
Small meals, every 3 hours is the key!

[FHwku]

BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator (Adult)

A lot of obese people don't perceive themselves as being obese. Were I obese, morbidly or mildly, I'd want to hear it from my doctor first. Then I would want my friends to pummel my self-esteem into a fatty paste until I did something about it. Obesity is not an indicator of moral failure, but I doubt that most obese people eat right and exercise.

I may be obese and not even know it. I guess that's like being secretly fat, but being the only person not in on the secret.

from here.

Obese men and women are reasonably accurate when it comes to reporting their own weight, says researchers, but they are much more likely than normal weight persons to misjudge what weight falls into the obese category and therefore do not consider themselves to be obese.

Dr. Kimberly Truesdale, a research associate in the laboratory of Dr. June Stevens, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented the study results in April at Experimental Biology 2006 in San Francisco. The presentation was part of the scientific program of the American Society of Nutrition, Inc.

One hundred and four men and women, both white and African American, between the ages of 45 to 64, were asked to report their weight in pounds; categorize themselves as either underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese; and estimate how much they would need to weigh in order to be considered obese. The researchers then collected weight, height, and other measures for each person. BMI, or body mass index was calculated by weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared: a standard tool for categorizing individuals as either normal weight (BMI: 18.5 - 24.9 kg/m squared); overweight (25.0 - 29.9 kg/m squared) or obese BMI: greater than 30.0 kg/m squared).

Using the measured BMI, there were 31 normal weight, 40 overweight, and 33 obese adults in the group. About 90 percent of normal weight adults and 85 percent of overweight and obese adults accurately self-reported their weight and height such that the BMI calculated using those self reports fell in the same category as actual BMI.

That accuracy changed, however, when researchers asked participants about their perceived weight status, that is, if they would consider themselves NOW to be underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. Seventy-one percent of normal weight and seventy-three percent of overweight adults classified themselves correctly, compared to only 15 percent of obese adults who correctly considered themselves to be obese.

The researcher then asked participants how much they would need to weigh to be classified as either underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese, and again the results varied depending on current weight status. On average, normal weight participants were reasonably accurate in these estimates, but obese participants overstated how much they could weight for every weight status category, from underweight to obese. For example, if a participant was 5;7" and normal weight, they would estimate normal weight as 143 pounds (BMI = 22.4 kg/m squared) and obesity as 189 pounds (BMI = 29.6 kg/m squared) but an obese participant the same height would estimate normal weight as 164 pounds (BMI = 25.7 kg/m squared) and obesity as 233 pounds (BMI – 36.5 kg/m squared.)

These findings have important public health implications, say Dr. Truesdale and Dr. Stevens. If obese adults do not consider themselves to be obese, they are not likely to pay full attention to public health messages about the consequences of being obese. More research is needed into why obese adults do not consider themselves to be obese, with two possibilities being perception and denial.

###

The research was supported by the General Clinical Research Center at the University of North Carolyn at Chapel Hill and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digest and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

another related article

[blueangel]

I'm not a big fan of the Dr. Phil show.. but I saw a promo yesterday and HAD to watch. The subject was about a man who married a model thin woman who had gained more than 100 pounds. Did she know she was overweight? Yes. Did she want to lose weight? Yes. Had she tried? Yes. Was she successful? No.

Part of the reason was that she ate for emotional reasons. And guess what her wonderful, thoughtful, caring hubby said to her? Get out of the way, you're so fat you're blocking the TV! And other gems like that.

With someone telling you constantly that you need to lose weight.. and stabbing at your self esteem.. it's no wonder she's having so much trouble.

Telling an overweight person they're overweight is cruel.

[RU OX Alum]

yes, that situation is cruel, but encourageing healthy activities like exerosize and a healthy diet is not.