Comic: The City...by Derf TRUE STORY...

[El Pinko]

[Buzz Clik]

1. I outgrew my taste for corndogs long ago.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. "Fatty scooters"

Haha

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. the obesity plague is getting ridiculous

I've always been a big person, at my fattest about 50 pounds overweight, but nowhere near 300 pounds. Now you see folks so big you used to only see their kind in circus sideshows. I've been on an eating/lifestyle change since last fall and am slowly coming back to my ideal weight--and I'm doing it under doctor's supervision. I haven't felt so good in years--more energy and a more positive outlook on life. It takes discipline to change habits. I'm thankful I was able to do it.

[pansypoo53219]

5. i went on an exercize regiment in HS. 1 lb before 150 was toooo much.

i stopped the slide then. just watching the biggest loser motivates me to exercise. but i am evil. i watch it while drinking coffee with HALF& HALF, eating a brownie. oh, and thank god for my pretty good metabolism.

[El Pinko]

9. Metabolism is funny.

If I eat avg. 2300 cal per day, I will gradually gain wait. If I eat about 2100, I will maintain. If I eat about 1900, I'll lose.

So I guess I should be grateful that I can control my weight. But online calculators say that a guy my size should be able to eat well over 3000 cal and maintain their weight.

I wish I could get away with eating that much.

I can't even have beer except for special occasions because it makes me gain for several days after.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. That's one reason I went to a doctor

I've been on diets since I was 8, and they didn't work. I've found out through my MD and ND that I have a metabolism that will be great if we're ever in a starvation situation, as I can take a tiny amount of carbs and make it last a loooonnnnggg time. Also, having thyroid problems is a factor for me, at least, in losing weight. I had an eating plan custom designed for me, taking into account all my health factors, my family health history, and my lifestyle. I'm so happy because I've found out many foods I don't care for aren't good for me anyway! And I also realize the addictive nature of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Now if I inadvertently eat something with them in it, I get a glycemic reaction and take chrome to put the blood sugar back where it should be.

[El Pinko]

7. Congrats and keep up the good work! I've lost 100 lbs in the last 2 years...

...I went through a midlife crisis and depression and gradually went from 30 lb overweight to 100 lbs.

But everyone doesn't need to be a stick. Some people - Queen Latifah, Greg Grunberg etc. are a bit heavy and look really GOOD that way.

But when it gets to the point where you have trouble walking and you have a stomach under your belt and another huge one hanging over it, it's probably time to take proactive action.


Sadly there are groups out there who are trying to encourage morbidly obese people to stay that way (NAAFA).

It's true that diets - IE temporary changes and crash diets don't work long-term.

But long-term changes in eating habits and more exercise do work.

The "fat kid" from "Stand by Me" lost all the weight and has kept it off for over 15 years.




The sad thing is, he doesn't look all that fat in the before pic compared to a lot of kids today. When the movie came out, a kid his size was much more unusual...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. The Obesigenic Lifestyle

Here's a link to an interesting article about the heavying of America:

http://www.futurevisionsfoundation.org/Obesigenic.htm

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Don't be surprised if you're attacked here on DU

Something will probably be said about anorexia and media images of stick-thin women, and so on, and so on.

[El Pinko]

8. Okay, I won't be surprised.

I'm not crazy about the ads with skeleton women (or the fact that all men are now expected to look like Brad Pitt in "Troy").

Anorexia is just as deadly as obesity.

But I don't believe for a moment that skinny models in mags cause obesity any more than the fat people in the mall make the models starve.

The fashion industry is wacko.

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. Extremes are a problem

Anorexia and obesity are both unhealthy.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. Sure, but that's not what I was referring to

There's a tendency on DU to depict very overweight people as normal and beautiful, and healthy lean bodies as anorexic: you're either fat, or you're too thin.

[El Pinko]

14. That's the NAAFA "diets don't work" drowd

NAAFA (National Association for Fat Acceptance) was started in the 1970s by a non-overweight man who was an admitted "chubby chaser" who had a sexual fetish for heavy women and did not want them to lose weight.

They started pushing a very positive message - that we should love and accept our individual body's shape as it is and not try to make it fit arbitrary standards and ideals.

Up to there, it's great. It would be ridiculous to tell a Queen Latifah to try and look like a Kate Moss. Obviously we each have a unique build and one person's healthy weight is very different from another's. I don't see anything wrong with being 10, 20, maybe even 50 lbs overweight, if you can comfortably carry it.

But NAAFA takes it a step further. They tell even the most morbidly obese that "diets don't work" and that by trying to change their diet they'll just get on the yo-yo rollercoaster and end up even heavier, and that they should basically just accept themselves as they are, eat pretty much as much as they want of "healthy foods" and maybe take a walk now and then.

It's true that crash diets, fad diets and temporary changes to dietary intake DON'T WORK in the long term. The ONLY way to have lasting improvement is to get regular exercise (including a bit of strength training) and to eat consistently less food of better nutritional quality on a CONSISTENT BASIS, FOREVER. There is no point at which "it's over". It's all about maintaining the body in good condition so that it will last a long time.


With conscientious monitoring of my food intake, I've gone from 275+ lbs to 180 in about 2 years. I'm at pretty much the ideal weight for a man my age and height, and intend to keep it up. I no longer have acid reflux, ankle pain, fatigue, indigestion, etc. like I did before.

It's not easy, but I really did not want to end up on one of those stupid fatty carts, nor did I want to get risky gastric surgery.

I wish NAAFA would modify its opposition to dietary changes and weight loss. It's great to accept one's body and its imperfections, including some fat.

But 100, 200, 500 lbs of excess fat on the body is not something that should be accepted. It is a prison that will eventually kill the prisoner.

[dysfunctional press]

11. i saw something kinda similar once- although it was more a testament to laziness than obesity...

i was sitting at a red light in the city, and a guy in a motorized wheelchair is crossing the street in the crosswalk in front of me...as he went by i saw that there was a little platform bulit on the back of the chair, just several inches off the ground. perched on the platform was a woman and child, presumably wife and daughter...i found it rather odd, is all.