Some are just as you suspect. Others tho, are like your aunt. They have a medical problem that causes it, or medication to take care of the problem causes it. I met many ladies who were considered obese (like your family, it does not run in mine either), but it was a thyroid problem that caused it.

Like most things in life, I doubt you can pin obesity on a single cause.

I was obese for many years. And now that I look back at photographs I can't believe I ever let myself get that way. In truth, no I didn't realize I was so large. I've since lost several dress sizes. And somehow now i have that mechanism that switches on when I see I have gained a couple of pounds. It makes me work harder and eat less. Just wish I had been like that years ago. I wasted so much of my life being overweight. I have so much more energy now and can do so many things that I couldn't do before.

I gained weight with each of my pregnancies. After each pregnancy there was about 15 pounds that I didn't lose, well after three pregnancies that is 45 pounds which is a lot on my 5' frame. I think it's easy to be in denial about it. I really don't think I look that bad when I look in the mirror maybe a little chunky but not huge or gross but when I try on clothes or get pictures back I feel horrible. I have started weight watchers and lost 3 pounds.

I am not making excuses but my family is all big. I think your weight can still be controlled regardless of your heritary facotrs but some people are blessed with a lean frame and a high metabolism. Others of us have to work really hard at it. I can get myself back to a healthy weight but it's not going to be easy.

Self-control is key. But genetics do play a part. I am learning that the body is a very fine instrument....throw off a couple hormones and suddenly your body can't heal itself, internal organs start malfunctioning, lots of things, including the inability to burn calories effectively.

I used to look at fat people and think, "Good grief. Stop eating."

But now I know sometimes you can do all the right things and something still go wrong with your body.

In the end, each person's body is their business. What good does it do me to think someone is fat? Or thin? Does it matter in my life?

No.

Who am I to judge them based on my ideal standard?

I am talking on a relationship level here, a human level, not a "driving up the cost of health care" kind of thing.

take a look at the list of product ingredients for nearly every manufactured food item offered to the general public--as opposed to unprepared produce, meat, fish and non-processed grains--and you'll easily see one major factor: corn sweetener.

stop ingesting anything containing corn sweeteners to experience results similar to going off the sorts of medications referred to in previous replies to your post.

I don't think obesity is considered "okay" so much as people are starting to see it as inevitable (which it's obviously not in most cases).

I personally come from a family filled with fat people and have some close relatives who are obese (my mother is morbidly obese).

Currently I'm about 15 lbs. overweight. NOT 15 lbs. over a size 2, but actually 15 lbs. over what is considered a healthy weight for my height. I was briefly "obese" according to my BMI just before I got pregnant (size 14 American), and that SUCKED.

I would say for me that it's about 94% lack of discipline on my part and 6% heredity and other factors.

At one time I was much better at controlling my weight (I actually led Weight Watchers meetings several years ago) but I've worked hard at killing my metabolism, I have little interest in exercise, and I indulge myself far too often.

I tend to put on weight when things are going well in my life. Happiness leads to fatness for me.

Right now I'd love to take off some weight but a)I'm scared it will affect my milk supply and b)I'm so stressed out as it is I don't think I can handle another demand. Neither are very good excuses.

Time will tell if I get this weight off or not.

I'm a size 12 right now and I would like to be a 10, which is still large, but more realistic for me than something like a 6 (the smallest I've EVER been was a 4 in HS and I was literally starving myself to achieve it).

Wow, sorry to ramble!

So, is this a bad time to tell you that yo momma is so fat she has smaller fat women orbiting around her?

Would it make you feel any better to know that yo momma is so stupid she put a ruler in her bed to see how long she slept?

PS - Don't encourage me (yes, even a "Gah" is encouragement), cause I have PLENTY more!

Yeah that's probably true. But I'm more focusing on those that could be a healthy weight but aren't. You know, the ones who



An aesthete? A tall person who finds that seats on public transport have been widened rather than lengthened? Someone stuck next to an obese person on a plane who finds themselves crushed beneath a sweaty roll just when they least expect it?

Public obesity is a public problem, just like smoking.



Sounds interesting. I know that when I stopped eating readymade foods and forced myself to cook it was easier to stay healthy. I didn't know that was the cause.



I wouldn't worry too much about that. Mothers usually carry a little extra weight. There are few things more disgusting than a woman who neglects her children so that she can have rockhard abs just weeks after giving birth.



Gah to you too! That kind of claim is so patently false it's not funny. Hardly any okay jokes rely solely on fatness to be funny. What about a show like Boston Legal or the Daily Show? Or Chappelle? Or (racking my brains for good US comedies...) uumm... those other American shows that are funny?

Trust me - Norbit is the best Eddie Murphy movie of his fat decade. How YOU doin?



More! More!

I have never had a problem with an obese person in public. Ever.

Really? You're lucky. I've been crushed against windows in buses, sat on on planes (Now that's a hideously unpleasant experience), and had the wind knocked out of me by a flab roll in the moshpit at Big Day Out (another singularly unpleasant experience).

Is that a problem? Or just an accomodation?

In my group of friends, I have some who are overweight, some how are skinny, some who are fitness-mad and some who are not so fitness inclined. My friends are such because of who they are not because of how they look. Having said this, I'm lucky because I have a high metabolism and am naturally fit and slim.

I think it is a combination of genetics and that I eat very well. The occasional fried, fatty food is okay, but not as a regular part of my diet. I believe, as Tova said, self control also has a lot to do with it.

Most American airlines don't yet require obese people to purchase an extra seat, but my mom always does as a courtesy to other passengers but also for her own comfort.



No danger of that here, haha. I've found that young children tend to like soft mommies.



(courtesy of my 6 year old) Yo momma's so ugly, she looked out the window and saw a hideous beast. Then she realized it was a mirror.

Hehe.

Alternately, yo momma's so fat, she jumped up in the air and got stuck. Of course, that was before she fell and cut her leg and gravy poured out.