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You're fat, and it's your own fault

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,485 ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Interesting debate. Nice that they were polite and had a proper debate about it. I found her a little bit irritating. It's very hard to argue with basic thermodynamics.

    Interesting that he used "over fat" instead of "over weight".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,863 ✭✭✭kevpants


    I thought this was another thread about me...

    Good interview, shame it was so short. I disagree with the lady but I thought she came across really well. I thought the professor really addressed it simply and hit the nail on the head, liked the use of the term "over fat" rather than just "big" which the interviewer seemed intent on using.

    The female doctor didn't seem to have any comeback but tried to divert the conversation onto the subject of persecuting fat people, which wasn't the professors intention. She didn't seem to give an alternative viewpoint to the professor's that if you're fat you've just taken in too much energy and now you're storing it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,333 ✭✭✭✭itsallaboutheL


    kevpants wrote: »
    I thought this was another thread about me...

    Good interview, shame it was so short. I disagree with the lady but I thought she came across really well. I thought the professor really addressed it simply and hit the nail on the head, liked the use of the term "over fat" rather than just "big" which the interviewer seemed intent on using.

    The female doctor didn't seem to have any comeback but tried to divert the conversation onto the subject of persecuting fat people, which wasn't the professors intention. She didn't seem to give an alternative viewpoint to the professor's that if you're fat you've just taken in too much energy and now you're storing it.

    +1

    I actually thought it was one a bout me!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,338 ✭✭✭the drifter


    i knew it wasnt about me :P

    ill listen to this later...stupid job :(


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,602 ✭✭✭celestial


    These kind of interviews are pretty annoying in fairness!

    They were trying to have an intelligent debate but she didn't have the backbone to come out and say yes being fat is detrimental. If she had admitted that, then saying that being fat is not the whole story when it comes to health/wellbeing (which is very true) would have sounded a lot more compelling and maybe there could have been a proper discussion.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,369 ✭✭✭cmyk


    I wouldn't really have classified this as a debate either.

    She lost me with her opening line to be honest, "He's making an assumption that fat or being fat is unhealthy is a point I would disagree with." and her inability to provide any evidence to support this.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,567 ✭✭✭mloc


    Like the majority of over-fat individuals, that woman was blinded by her own self-imposed ignorance.

    I really admire the professor for his honest, accurate and clear portrayal of the causes and effects of obesity, particularly his discrimenation between over-fat and over-weight.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 21,981 ✭✭✭✭Hanley


    I wonder what she's a Dr. in anyway....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,589 ✭✭✭Hail 2 Da Chimp


    Hanley wrote: »
    I wonder what she's a Dr. in anyway....
    Pies!


    But in all seriousness, I think it's a subject way too many people tippy-toe around and it was nice to hear some straight talking.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,315 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    I think it's a subject way too many people tippy-toe around and it was nice to hear some straight talking.

    Takes a while! AHAHA.

    What annoys me is most fat people aren't all that worried about it, and don't blame their genetics or any other BS reasons, but the ones who do are the ones TV etc. pick to talk to.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭floggg


    Is she actually a fat advocate? thats almost as dumb as the paeodophile rights group that was set up in Sweden.

    She actually used the word "fat-phobia." Are we going to now have fat pride marches! I do not want to live in such a world!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,472 ✭✭✭Kev M


    Difficult topic because nobody wants to insult anyone.

    She had nothing worth saying. Being fat = Eating too much of the wrong stuff... easy as.
    "Oh well there are other factors to consider and there are studies that show...."
    There are other factors e.g insulin sensitivity being a huge one in my mind, but that can easily be worked around. If you look hard enough you can find a "study" to prove ANYTHING.

    That American program The Biggest Loser is pretty good, they have some morbidly obese guys 400lbs+ losing 30lbs+ a week, through hard training and controlled diet. It's actually really impressive.

    That old professor knows the deal!!


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,369 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    "...not wearing a seatbelt is a risk factor to health"

    What? :confused:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,640 ✭✭✭podge57


    i was watching Xpose the other night (dont judge me!) and they had an ex-model on, who is now pretty much obese

    she was talking about how much happier she was, and basically said women shouldnt worry about their size, as if wanting to be in some sort of decent physical shape is a disorder. Obviously some people take it too far, but she was making a ridiculous arguement

    i wish they had someone on telling her she will probably die considerably earlier than a healthy person


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,388 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Hanley wrote: »
    I wonder what she's a Dr. in anyway....
    Certainly not physics!
    It's very hard to argue with basic thermodynamics.
    She managed it, which is laughable to many but some believe that crap. It is a simple energy balance, and should be simplified to that. She was saying people have different expenditures so it is much more complicated than "simply calories in and calories out". It is not complicated at all, if you get a new fuel efficient car and put too much petrol in it will overflow so you adjust accordingly. If you are on medication, getting older, have your legs amputated, then you adjust your calorie intake accordingly. If you get thinner start eating more and vice versa.

    "do you accept that, that if you eat less you won't be the same size"
    "no actually I don't".

    oh dear...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,333 ✭✭✭✭itsallaboutheL


    podge57 wrote: »
    i was watching Xpose the other night (dont judge me!) and they had an ex-model on, who is now pretty much obese

    she was talking about how much happier she was, and basically said women shouldnt worry about their size, as if wanting to be in some sort of decent physical shape is a disorder. Obviously some people take it too far, but she was making a ridiculous arguement

    i wish they had someone on telling her she will probably die considerably earlier than a healthy person

    ahem *cough cough* ghey


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,640 ✭✭✭podge57


    ahem *cough cough* ghey

    i said dont judge!!

    it was on already and i was too lazy to get up and change the channel

    thats my story, and im sticking to it...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭floggg


    "...not wearing a seatbelt is a risk factor to health"

    What? :confused:

    The retarded thing is, she said that being fat is a risk to health in the sasme way as not wearing seat belts, smoking, drinking etc - all things which we are actively encouraged not to do! why should being fat be any different!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭floggg


    podge57 wrote: »
    i was watching Xpose the other night (dont judge me!)

    Consider yourself judged.

    I was at least expecting a decent excuse, like a hormonal other half or something!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,530 ✭✭✭TheInquisitor


    Fatness should never become "OK". Higher taxes for fat people so they can pay for their increased risk of related diseases!

    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055577634


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 432 ✭✭RealEstateKing


    How little pity there is for fat people. We have all learned to have more enlightened attitudes to Alcholism, Depression, and drug addiction over the years, but not obesity.

    Most people who are seriously overweight deperately want to lose wight and many are trying all the time to do so, and some succeed some dont.

    I genuinely beleive that obesity is the result of a psychological emptiness in much the same way that alchohol/drug addiction is. Obese people are not simply weak-willed lazy ****ers who cant be arsed to lose weight. They more often than not are people who are unhappy at some basic level, and have entered nto a bad relationship with food as a result, in much the same way alchohlics and drug addicts are.

    They deserve all the help they can get. Its easy for people who have never stuggled with their weight to dismiss it all as laziness, and its to a certain extent understandable. But as anyone who has ever been addicted to anything knows, giving up is not usually that simple. A person who has never smoked can say "Well jesus, why dont you just give them up for **** sake?' Anybody whos ever been a smoker knows that its not quite as easy as that. Same is true with food, except that losing weight is far harder than giving up cigarettes or alcohol.

    Secondly, though Genetics are not the entire cause, there are definitely genetic elements in the size of human beings: Some people are naturaly skinny, like my friend, and no matter what they eat/do, they stay that way: Sometimes to their annoyance. My skinny friend eats a full Irish every day, Drinks 4 pints every night, Pizzas for dinner, Chips for lunch and does no excercise, and he's as thin as a rake. I have to keep to a very strict diet or i'll be overweight in seconds. I cycle 100 miles a week and dont drink and Im still a couple of stone heavier than him.

    This doesnt remove personal responsibility from it of course, but the sight of naturally skinny people getting a kick out of laughing at fat people's inferiority is nauseating to me. Being fat is no fun, and you need all the help , support and TLC you can get to lose that weight. and its ****ing hard. The last thing you need is people who've never had to struggle with their weight scoring points off you.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,695 ✭✭✭King of Kings


    <snip>


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 21,981 ✭✭✭✭Hanley


    podge57 wrote: »
    i was watching Xpose the other night (dont judge me!) and they had an ex-model on, who is now pretty much obese

    she was talking about how much happier she was, and basically said women shouldnt worry about their size, as if wanting to be in some sort of decent physical shape is a disorder. Obviously some people take it too far, but she was making a ridiculous arguement

    i wish they had someone on telling her she will probably die considerably earlier than a healthy person

    Amanda Brunker by any chance?? Such a tit.... one month she's standing on her box telling the (sunday) world how she loves having her curves, how she's a real woman cos of it, how she pitys the models etc.... and the next she's out with her "new and improved" slender figure, which she has turned into a book or DVD or some sh!te.
    How little pity there is for fat people. We have all learned to have more enlightened attitudes to Alcholism, Depression, and drug addiction over the years, but not obesity.

    Alcohol and drugs are the same as food now??
    Most people who are seriously overweight deperately want to lose wight and many are trying all the time to do so, and some succeed some dont.

    They want to lose weight, but they don't want to change. Sustainable weight loss tactics are the problem tbh. Most people want a quick fix.
    I genuinely beleive that obesity is the result of a psychological emptiness in much the same way that alchohol/drug addiction is.

    I don't believe it. So there.
    Obese people are not simply weak-willed lazy ****ers who cant be arsed to lose weight. They more often than not are people who are unhappy at some basic level, and have entered nto a bad relationship with food as a result, in much the same way alchohlics and drug addicts are.

    So if they're unhappy they can't lose weight? Like there's some physiological block on your body's ability to drop fat unless you're perfectly content with life???

    They deserve all the help they can get. Its easy for people who have never stuggled with their weight to dismiss it all as laziness, and its to a certain extent understandable. But as anyone who has ever been addicted to anything knows, giving up is not usually that simple. A person who has never smoked can say "Well jesus, why dont you just give them up for **** sake?' Anybody whos ever been a smoker knows that its not quite as easy as that. Same is true with food, except that losing weight is far harder than giving up cigarettes or alcohol.


    Being obese is more addictive than nicotine???

    This doesnt remove personal responsibility from it of course, but the sight of naturally skinny people getting a kick out of laughing at fat people's inferiority is nauseating to me.

    Ya reckon there's a lot of naturally skinny people here? I'd be willing to bet there's a lot of "average" or heavier than average people here.
    Being fat is no fun, and you need all the help , support and TLC you can get to lose that weight. and its ****ing hard. The last thing you need is people who've never had to struggle with their weight scoring points off you.

    America is THAT way
    >


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,208 ✭✭✭fatmammycat


    How little pity there is for fat people. We have all learned to have more enlightened attitudes to Alcholism, Depression, and drug addiction over the years, but not obesity.

    Most people who are seriously overweight deperately want to lose wight and many are trying all the time to do so, and some succeed some dont.

    I genuinely beleive that obesity is the result of a psychological emptiness in much the same way that alchohol/drug addiction is. Obese people are not simply weak-willed lazy ****ers who cant be arsed to lose weight. They more often than not are people who are unhappy at some basic level, and have entered nto a bad relationship with food as a result, in much the same way alchohlics and drug addicts are.

    They deserve all the help they can get. Its easy for people who have never stuggled with their weight to dismiss it all as laziness, and its to a certain extent understandable. But as anyone who has ever been addicted to anything knows, giving up is not usually that simple. A person who has never smoked can say "Well jesus, why dont you just give them up for **** sake?' Anybody whos ever been a smoker knows that its not quite as easy as that. Same is true with food, except that losing weight is far harder than giving up cigarettes or alcohol.

    Secondly, though Genetics are not the entire cause, there are definitely genetic elements in the size of human beings: Some people are naturaly skinny, like my friend, and no matter what they eat/do, they stay that way: Sometimes to their annoyance. My skinny friend eats a full Irish every day, Drinks 4 pints every night, Pizzas for dinner, Chips for lunch and does no excercise, and he's as thin as a rake. I have to keep to a very strict diet or i'll be overweight in seconds. I cycle 100 miles a week and dont drink and Im still a couple of stone heavier than him.

    This doesnt remove personal responsibility from it of course, but the sight of naturally skinny people getting a kick out of laughing at fat people's inferiority is nauseating to me. Being fat is no fun, and you need all the help , support and TLC you can get to lose that weight. and its ****ing hard. The last thing you need is people who've never had to struggle with their weight scoring points off you.

    Not being funny RE, but I doubt many on here are thin or fit without considerable effort to be so. I'm thirty-six and my mother is extremely over weight, so it would be very easy for me to shrug and say, 'well it's in the genes.' In fact I can put on weight very easily-damn you delicious buttery bread. But I don't shrug and play the gene excuse or older metabolism ruse, I run, I play sport, I eat well, I lift heavy weight and I maintain a fit non fat body with some effort. I'm not going to excuse some of the more OTT comments here but there is no real excuse in this day and age for people to be tremendously overweight if they don't want to be. The education is there at their finger tips, but as Hanley rightly says, it's change that stops folk, changing eating habits, chnging lifestyle habits, changing exercising habits, change can be tough, but it's all very possible-if you want it. Yes people should have support, but they also have to think and act for themselves too.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    The video doesn't appear to want to work for me, but I'll give my 2c anyhoo...

    All I really want to say is some people are born with no chance. The thread I started the other week about the teenagers needing a gastric bypass is a classic example. Bad parents with absolutely no clue on healthy nutrition passing on their bad habits to their kids and the cycle continues. Couple this with zero education on nutrition in schools and next to no sporting activities and there's no hope at all for future generations. Jamie Oliver has the right idea, I went to school in England and the only choices in the canteen at lunch is chips, pizza and burgers, and a desert of course! Not to mention the multiple vending machines in the hallways.

    IMO, fitness and sports should be a major subject in school, just look at the likes of N. America where there are gyms in pretty much every school, basketball teams, football teams, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, baseball. WTF do we have? Yep, rounders. My secondary school didn't even have a soccer team.

    As for adulthood, well, when you've been living off microwave meals, take aways and chocolate for most of your life, it can be a hard cycle to break. I do believe there is a certain dependancy on these types of food, you don't get fat because of a depression/emptyness, you get depressed because you get fat. The only thing these people have to make themselves feel better is the food that got them there in the first place.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,315 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    All I really want to say is some people are born with no chance. The thread I started the other week about the teenagers needing a gastric bypass is a classic example. Bad parents with absolutely no clue on healthy nutrition passing on their bad habits to their kids and the cycle continues. Couple this with zero education on nutrition in schools and next to no sporting activities and there's no hope at all for future generations. Jamie Oliver has the right idea, I went to school in England and the only choices in the canteen at lunch is chips, pizza and burgers, and a desert of course! Not to mention the multiple vending machines in the hallways.

    IMO, fitness and sports should be a major subject in school, just look at the likes of N. America where there are gyms in pretty much every school, basketball teams, football teams, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, baseball. WTF do we have? Yep, rounders. My secondary school didn't even have a soccer team.

    Yeah and look at the great physique people leave high school with over there. :P
    The trouble is mostly parents. I'm only out of school and in Primary School played Rugby and GAA, soccer outside school. In secondary school I player badmintion and there were soccer, GAA, basketball and even table bloody tennis teams. This is a school without about 600 students in a rough area, so it ain't like 75% of the parents are interested, but the teams are still set up and have the numbers. The rugby club was just down the road, I think they have 4/5 teams at senior level, if not more, and anyone could walk in in their teens and join. There's no problem with organisation, its the will of the parents that's the problem.

    The funny thing is is that looking at the 100 or so who were in my original year and the 100 or so from when I stayed back there were maybe 6 or 7 fat guys, me probably being the worst. I often argued that the teen obesity thing was overstated in my experience but on reflection it may just be due to the sports that were around.

    Also if they're going to have a compulsary PE classes then they have to be fun. While I think it's a sorry, sorry excuse when people use hating PE as a reason for not exercising later, but get rid of all the excuses then tax them. :pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭floggg


    Fatness should never become "OK". Higher taxes for fat people so they can pay for their increased risk of related diseases!

    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055577634

    Thats dumb as ****, sorry.

    obviously, i don't think outside of medical reasons (thyroid problems etc) fatness is a good thing, but cop on, you cannot tax fatness. thats just absurd. in that case, tax slutty people because they are more likely to die of aids, tax cyclists because a car is more likely to hit them, tax idiots because, well, they're at risk of doing stupid life threatening stuff.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 21,981 ✭✭✭✭Hanley


    floggg wrote: »
    Thats dumb as ****, sorry.

    obviously, i don't think outside of medical reasons (thyroid problems etc) fatness is a good thing, but cop on, you cannot tax fatness. thats just absurd. in that case, tax slutty people because they are more likely to die of aids, tax cyclists because a car is more likely to hit them, tax idiots because, well, they're at risk of doing stupid life threatening stuff.

    The whole concept of externality charges come into play here.... Fat people place a burden on society over and above the burden they place on themselves, so they should be "charged" for it. Like most economic theories it's nice, but not workable.

    Taxing certain foodstuffs would probably be the only reasonable way to enforce it I guess??


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,333 ✭✭✭✭itsallaboutheL


    Hanley wrote: »

    Taxing certain foodstuffs would probably be the only reasonable way to enforce it I guess??

    Get away from my Milk Tray ya bollox!!!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭floggg


    How little pity there is for fat people. We have all learned to have more enlightened attitudes to Alcholism, Depression, and drug addiction over the years, but not obesity.

    First of, depression does not belong anywhere near the same category as any of the above, and especially obesity. genuine cases of depression are a serious illness (although i do think the term has used far too liberally in modern times). i don't think you can ever say somebody who is clinically depressed has any control over it.

    Secondly, i have no pity for drug addicts or alcoholics either. i'm sorry, but people need to take some personal responsibility for their lives. i'm not for one minute saying its an easy habit to break, but at the end of the day, you have to ask how did a person get to that position, and what are they doing to get out of it. it may be hard, but people can and do kick both habits, if they really want to. its those that don't really want it that can't.
    .

    I genuinely beleive that obesity is the result of a psychological emptiness in much the same way that alchohol/drug addiction is. Obese people are not simply weak-willed lazy ****ers who cant be arsed to lose weight. They more often than not are people who are unhappy at some basic level, and have entered nto a bad relationship with food as a result, in much the same way alchohlics and drug addicts are.

    They deserve all the help they can get. Its easy for people who have never stuggled with their weight to dismiss it all as laziness, and its to a certain extent understandable. But as anyone who has ever been addicted to anything knows, giving up is not usually that simple. A person who has never smoked can say "Well jesus, why dont you just give them up for **** sake?' Anybody whos ever been a smoker knows that its not quite as easy as that. Same is true with food, except that losing weight is far harder than giving up cigarettes or alcohol.

    Secondly, though Genetics are not the entire cause, there are definitely genetic elements in the size of human beings: Some people are naturaly skinny, like my friend, and no matter what they eat/do, they stay that way: Sometimes to their annoyance. My skinny friend eats a full Irish every day, Drinks 4 pints every night, Pizzas for dinner, Chips for lunch and does no excercise, and he's as thin as a rake. I have to keep to a very strict diet or i'll be overweight in seconds. I cycle 100 miles a week and dont drink and Im still a couple of stone heavier than him.

    This doesnt remove personal responsibility from it of course, but the sight of naturally skinny people getting a kick out of laughing at fat people's inferiority is nauseating to me. Being fat is no fun, and you need all the help , support and TLC you can get to lose that weight. and its ****ing hard. The last thing you need is people who've never had to struggle with their weight scoring points off you.

    Sorry, as a former obese person and somebody who still struggles with my weight, i gotta call you on this - thats bull****.

    I was fat for most of my life until very recently. I could make up bull**** excuses like it was because i was a shy, timid person, introverted, and not the most popular, but that would be a load of crap. it was for one simple reason - i ate a lot of junk, didn't understand what i was eating, and didn't exercise enough. simple as. it was all on me.

    I "tried" to lose weight for years, and only ever seemed to gain it, and thought i always would be fat. i made half ass attempts to take up exercise, eat what i thought was "healthier", eat less, etc etc and got no where. i would go through cycles of this, and then fall back into bad habits and pile back on the pounds. i almost started to believe it was my genetics etc. and that i would always be fat.

    but thankfully, i never gave into that thinking, and about a year and a half ago, i finally said enough was enough and decided i would do whatever it took to get in shape. but instead of ploughing off and throwing myself into what i thought was healthy, i actually took some time to educate myself, and started to read up on what was the best approach to take. i radically changed my diet, i started to exercise regularly and effectively and i took up weight. once i got started, i was amazed at how easy it actually was to lose weight. i made a few simple changes to my diet and committed myself to exercising and the weight fell off me.

    At the end of the day, i speak from exerpience when i saw that fatness is a persons own fault. as hanley has said, often people want to loss weigt, but they are not willing to commit to the change involved. how many posts are there on here from people who ask for help on losing weight, but then won't take our advice when we say cut down on carbs or drink, or eat more vegetables. or people who say they would, but they can only eat canteen food in work, yet aren't willing to bring in their own lunch.

    yes, there are people who ave high metabolisms and who can eat a load of junk and never put on a pound. thats great for them. then there are others who gain weight easily and have to put a bit of effort into staying in shape. while that may not be fair, that doesn't mean you shouldn't put that effort in. nor does it mean the skinny person shouldn't either - there is more to health than a small waist line.

    I also agree that it shouldn't be acceptable to make fun of fat people (cardio - i'm looking at you with those pics of hanley) - it happened to me as a kid and it had a terrible effect on me. but that doesn't mean we should create a culture of tolerance for being overweight/unhealthy either. being overweight is bad for you for so many reasons, and is easily rectfied, so there really is n excuse. and i think i am well qualified to make that statement. i know i will always have to work at my weight, but i also know its entirely within my own control.


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