ITS SO INCREDIBLY SAD

[ttdriver]

Has anyone else ever gone out to eat and noticed the percentage of overweight people present at one time??

Tonight, DH and I went to Chili's. Table after table after table of people who aren't just overweight, BUT OBESE ... ordering appetizers, several with more than one!! Then ordering dinner? Bottomless chips and salsa should be outlawed!

Forgive me, but it makes me want to cry. I see this evident EVERYWHERE we go ......... I so want to say 'STOP THE INSANITY!'

Tonight, in particular there was an entire family, Mom, Dad, & 4 kids from ages 14-down (??) munching away on chips, salsa, blooming onion, and chicken wings. The kids were ALL severely overweight ... the Mom and Dad at least pushing 300 ... I wanted to cry for them.

I don't mean to sound insensitive or uncaring...the point is just to look around and see the incredible obesity epidemic plaging Americans these days....its horrific. No wonder our beloved Dr. Atkins made it his life's mission to END the DIABESITY EPIDEMIC. Thank God I found DANDR when I did, cuz I was SURELY headed down that same self-destructive path.

I just hope and pray the TRUTH gets out there and soon, or folks, in a decade or less, we are going to be facing SERIOUS health problems in this country.

I tell ya, it makes me so sad.

Betty

[Miss Seaneen]

Thank god you said this. My attitude has changed, full circle. It makes me depressed and sad. Every day on my way home from work the station is littered with people sitting eating McDonald's, shovelling chips into their mouths, not caring, not even thinking about what they;re eating. One thing is for sure, even if I don't stay on this WOE forever, I could never go back to that. It makes me sad.

[borntolose]

When I was growing up obese people were freaks, I know because I was one of them. Now we are seeing way to many very young people that are not just carrying baby fat or overweight but obese.

Will this be the new plague that eliminates future populations? Where will it end or will the future generations be disabled by their own weight.

:help Report: Obesity will reverse life expectancy gains.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/16/obesity.longevity.ap/

[ttdriver]

:sadblinky :sadblinky :sadblinky

I read that CNN article and you know, its unbelieveable anyone is BLIND to what's really happening ... look around for crying out loud!!

:raving :raving :raving :raving

Schools are equipped with JUNK FOOD VENDING MACHINES, while physical education classes have been eliminated from the list of required courses!! Convenience foods (processed crap) are everywhere and CHEAP!! Who would debate that its cheaper to eat macaroni and cheese than a porkchop? Who has time to cook their meals at home while working a full-time job and running kids here and there?? Ever go out to eat and not be offered "appetizers" before your meal? I haven't.
What, watch the Superbowl WITHOUT the chips? Summer without the big 3: baseball, hotdogs and apple pie?? 4th of July picnics without corn on the cob, baked beans and strawberry shortcake? Thanksgiving without stuffing and mashed potatoes? Christmas without cookies?

Oh no, this country doesn't have an eating disorder!! grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Betty

[Lady_Hawke]

Living in Norway, its rare to see obese people, unless of course I happen to glance in a mirror. But for the past year or more I have noticed things on the shelves at shops like "cambridge diet" and low fat things and I tell DH....well now the norwegians are going to get fatter and fatter. I see more and more american fast food places opening up and it really makes me feel sad for Norway and its people. I really think americans were pretty normal weight wise until the 70s when all thefast food, low fat and diet stuff hit the shops. Or was it even earlier than that?

[pluorvee]

the thing i hate is to hear overweight people talk about those that smoke. Their problem (weight) is just as bad.

[Kent]

I don't know... Being a dad to overweight kids and husband to an overweight wife and having looked in a mirror to a very overweight self, I can't fault these people for living their life their way. If they aren't ready to lose, no matter what I think, tell, or cajole them into whatever they do lose would probably be temporary. If someone asks how I lost my weight, I'll tell them and tell them of the commitment I made, and if it helps, great. However if they are ok at the moment just accepting themselves for who they are, far be for me to tell them they are bad, ignorant, uncaring people for being obese. Maybe they are the same frustrated person I was with a bad knee exercising three days a week, trying portion control, and suffering failure after failure.

Best thing I can do is be an example of what to do and perhaps in time they will change their motivation or thinking as well.

[Nutri_Nut]

I would like this message to come across in the "right way;" however, something tells me it will not. But I will try, nonetheless.

Most people I know who criticize people who are overweight are very thin themselves. You are 5 feet 3 inches and yet weigh only 93 pounds. That is unbelieveably small. I am 5 feet and 3/4 inches tall, and the least I have weighed doing low-carb is 135. I could NEVER get down to 100 let alone 93.

You are fortunate that you can exercise as much as you do and enjoy it and eat in such a way that is not realistic for most people. I'm glad you are able to do this.

However, even when I eat properly, I cannot look model thin. Not everyone is overweight because they eat too much.

Personally, I think we can be too obsessive about our weight to the point ALL we think about is what we are going to eat (or not eat) to make ourselves thin. Everything about us - our inner beautiy, spirituality, character - goes to pot because all we can think about is getting thin.

Instead of being so sad about the physical condition of the people in this country, I am more concerned about the moral and spiritual depravity that exists.

[Pam_C]

I was on perscription steroids as a kid so I was very tiny till I hit high school. I never looked at myself and said "whoa I am fat". I didn't care what people said or how they looked at me. It took me falling flat on my face in Wal-mart in the express lane while I was chasing my 3 yr old to say enough is enough. What if we had been outside and she had ran out in front of a car I could not catch her. I did not just eat sweets and gain weight. When I got pregnant I had just started to get into shape and had to have several shots of steroids again so I gained and gained. I always remembered myself as a scrawny little girl. Now that I have started Atkins and lost 65+ pounds(I didn't start weighing till the 2nd week) I see how big I was. My "new" eating habits have carried over to my whole family and I hope to spare my daughter the taunting of others by instilling them in her as well! I would also like to say that I am not trying to lose weight to look better if I could have been healthy at 220+ pounds then I probably NEVER would have gone on a diet. I am doing it to be healthy not to look "hot". (Although I do) ha ha ha
Pam

[Nutri_Nut]

I grew up model thin. I could eat anything I wanted and not gain weight. That all changed when I turned 24. Since then, I cannot even maintain my weight by eating even a semi-normal diet. For example, if I eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, a salad with meat and cheese for lunch, and a meat with one starch veggie and one non-starch veggie for dinner, I gain weight!

When I was following Atkins, I got so tired of spending every waking moment obsessing over food - what I was going to eat, what I was not going to eat, and how I was going to manage to eat low-carb in spite of the "real world" around me. A low-carb obsession is no different than a food-aholic obsession. Both involve a constant "thinking" about food.

While my husband can tolerate a low-carb lifestyle fairly well, my older teens cannot. They never adapted to my eating habits and never will. And they don't need to - they are thin naturally.

[Jake]

To me its a personal choice, if they are happy being over weight thats their business. I was over weight, all of us here were so I feel I can't comment on how other people live their lives. When they are ready, if that is ever they will seek out a diet and start exercising to lose that extra weight. Until than theres not much that can be done. Others had try to convince me to start working out or change my eating habits to lose weight honestly I didn't care thats how I became over weight in the first place.

[ttdriver]

Most people I know who criticize people who are overweight are very thin themselves. You are 5 feet 3 inches and yet weigh only 93 pounds. That is unbelieveably small. I am 5 feet and 3/4 inches tall, and the least I have weighed doing low-carb is 135. I could NEVER get down to 100 let alone 93.

You are fortunate that you can exercise as much as you do and enjoy it and eat in such a way that is not realistic for most people. I'm glad you are able to do this.

However, even when I eat properly, I cannot look model thin. Not everyone is overweight because they eat too much.

Personally, I think we can be too obsessive about our weight to the point ALL we think about is what we are going to eat (or not eat) to make ourselves thin. Everything about us - our inner beautiy, spirituality, character - goes to pot because all we can think about is getting thin.

Instead of being so sad about the physical condition of the people in this country, I am more concerned about the moral and spiritual depravity that exists.

First of all, I would like to say CLEARLY that I never criticize anyone for their weight. My original post said IT SADDENS ME to see how much of our population is severely overweight. Statistics clearly show that 70% of Americans are overweight; CAN'T WE ALL AGREE THAT IS A SAD STATISTIC? I didn't say these are BAD people because they're overweight .. and I NEVER WOULD.

I think alot of people see how small I am and think 'what would *she* know about how it feels to be overweight'. Well, I WAS overweight for my size for a long time after being VERY THIN as a young child. I got fat because I didn't make good food choices and because I didn't exercise.
TOTALLY MY FAULT. I didn't blame any one else for my weight gain.

I'm sorry if my post offended anyone. That was not my intent at all.

Best thing I can do is be an example of what to do and perhaps in time they will change their motivation or thinking as well.

I totally agree.

Betty

[Nutri_Nut]

ttdriver - at 5' 3" and 132 pounds, you were not overweight to begin with! You were well within the "ideal" weight range. I am only 3/4" taller than you, and at 135, my doctor considered me "ideal" and I looked great (size eight).

Just based on what I have read about you so far, I am greatly concerned about your perception of your body, ttdriver.

You considered 132 lbs. overweight when it was within the bounds of your ideal bodyweight.

Your diet is extreme - even outside the bounds of what Atkins advocates. Atkins does allow some starch veggies (even an occasional potato) and whole grains in lifetime maintenance, yet you shun them completely.

You look extremely thin - too thin.

I understand where you are coming from in your post. But, as I have pointed out already, you have never been "obese" by any medical standards based on what you have told us here.

[ttdriver]

ttdriver - at 5' 3" and 132 pounds, you were not overweight to begin with! You were well within the "ideal" weight range. I am only 3/4" taller than you, and at 135, my doctor considered me "ideal" and I looked great (size .

It seems to me that your perception of your body is skewed somewhat, which is a concern.

I beg to differ. I am very tiny .. and we all know that ideal weights do not take into consideration bone structure. You can be the same height as another person but not be able to carry as much weight on your particular frame.

Your diet is extreme - even outside the bounds of what Atkins advocates. Atkins does allow some starch veggies (even an occasional potato) and whole grains in lifetime maintenance, yet you shun them completely.

You look extremely thin - too thin.

How do you know my diet? Have you been watching me eat? Excuse me, but I think you have me confused with someone else ... I eat whole grains every single day ... where did you ever get the idea I shun anything completely??

Your opinion of my size is your opinion. And that doesn't make you right.

Betty

[hapankorppu]

Finland has been called, on several occasions, "Little America" and nowadays I can very clearly see why. Here in Helsinki, people have grown noticeably larger in less than a decade. I moved here in the early 90's and became the walking freak show because of my extra kilos. Now I'm not that different from the crowd and yes, it is very sad.

It is not just this or that nation that's gaining weight. It's the whole freaking fast food loving "McWorld" we live in :anger

If only people were thinking about their tomorrows instead of their tonight's mega meal(s) and if only there were less potato-whatevers on the market (not that I'm saying it's THAT black and white - it's not) ...