So because I try not to just argue but also present solutions, here’s an idea: they should make it conditional, as in, if the obesity is caused by a physical/medical disorder (slow metabolism doesn’t count) then you get the benefits, otherwise you’re really just fat, you should get over yourself and take responsibility for your actions.

Do you honestly think that anyone wants to look in the mirror every single day and see themselves obese? I mean really think about that. Yes there may have been bad choices made in that person’s life but NO ONE wants to be fat. No one wants to carry around all that weight and have people look at them. You can’t walk into a store and buy normal clothes, you can’t fit in normal spaces, you can’t sit in normal seats, and you can hardly move around. Do you really think people enjoy being obese? This is an outrage that you people get on here and judge others that you do not even know.

Obesity can be caused by many things and although over eating and lack of physical activity may be contributing to it, it may not be the direct cause. Genetics are a huge factor in weight gain and retention. Not everyone has a fast metabolism. Obesity also has many other factors that generally go along with it like depression, mood disorders, a general state of unhappiness, isolation, and many other factors. It is an illness that has severe repercussions that many are not understanding.

I was never a size 0 or 2, but I was healthy and at a normal weight for my age and height the majority of my life. Around 21 I noticed that I had started gaining some weight. My lifestyle did not change, and I was not binging on bad foods, or alcohol or anything like that. My metabolism simply slowed down. Going to school full time and working two jobs does not exactly leave much time to exercise, let alone eat. As i said my eating habits did not change, nor did my activity level because I was not a previous exerciser although I had a normal body weight. The little bit of weight started interfering with my life and I started isolating myself from others. I became very unhappy and moody. This process just kept on and I tried dieting I tried exercising and it seemed that no matter what I did nothing was even putting a dent on my weight loss. ( It is VERY difficult for some individuals to lose weight ). I saw doctors and they just did not understand, and they tested me for thyroid problems, but nothing there either. The weight gain was not understandable to my doctor and I explained nothing in my life had changed. I am 5’1 so weight sticks out like a sore thumb on short people, it makes us look huge. 2 years later I was the largest I had ever been, 215 lbs. That is ENORMOUS for someone who is 5’1. My diet was not wonderful, but it was not a direct result of me sitting on my butt eating all day long. As I said I was attending college full-time and working two jobs, among other responsibilities. I had tried many times to lose weight on my own but it just did not happen. I saw a weight-loss doctor (who is expensive I might add) and she started me on a VERY strict diet plan and a diet pill. I followed it religiously although it was hard. I mean literally I eat nothing but green vegetables and lean proteins, and fruit, that is IT. I have lost 50 lbs so far but I am not back to the weight I want yet. This was a severe struggle for me, and it was not so much a physical struggle as a mental one. Obesity plays on the mind like you cannot imagine. You don’t even look in the mirror after awhile because it is too painful. I was so depressed, moody, and irritable that I was hard to be around. I knew that I was all of these things but I just could not seem to change it. It basically overtook my whole life. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. Losing weight is not easy. If you are small and never had a problem with weight or losing those 5 lbs, you simply do not understand. We all don’t have the Biggest Loser trainers or knowledge or TIME to do these things on our own. Simply stated: Skinny people will never understand the mental pain and struggle that individuals struggling with their weight face.

My father’s side of the family is all overweight/obese, many are diabetic, and all of them have faced severe heart problems and strokes. My mother was adopted so we do not know her family history at all. I took this matter into my own hands, I forked out all the money every month to see this doctor and I did this journey on my own. It can happen but many individuals can’t do this without support. And the whole world calling you fat/obese and not accepting you is not exactly the most supportive environment. We should be accepting of these people and trying to help them, not judging them and ridiculing them for being fat. We do not know what makes everyone fat or why it happened. You cannot judge every single obese person and say that they are lazy because obviously I was not I barely had time to sleep or any time for myself.

Obesity is a bigger problem than this world realizes. The mental journey that one must undergo to face and overcome obesity is extreme. I am not at all saying it is an addiction, because although food may be addicting to some, that was not my experience. It was not the food, it was the simple lack of motivation to even wake up. I did not want to wake up, I didn’t want to see the fat girl in the mirror, or go to class and sit in the desk that I couldn’t fit in anymore, or make friends, or be around old friends because I’m fat and I don’t want them to see me. Obesity is a crippling illness both mentally and physically and we as a nation should be more understanding and develop programs to help combat this illness, not slice people down because of it. Because hey all those models you see in magazines, they don’t really look like that in real life, every single girl in every magazine is airbrushed to look even smaller, or airbrushed to have abs, or airbrushed to be tan. They are not real. Even THEY don’t look that good.

We should be fighting for equal rights for obese individuals to receive care for this condition. That is not advocating that fat people sit at home and stay disabled and get paid for it. I am advocating programs to eliminate obesity and help fight it. REALISTIC programs that fit into the busy schedules and lifestyles that Americans have and can afford. So many gym memberships are outrageously expensive, and seriously what obese person wants to go to the gym and get on a treadmill with tons of really skinny people SURROUNDING them and staring at them like they are an abomination? NO ONE. That is why they don’t go to gyms because it is humiliating and people make you feel so bad, like all these people on this post. You people contribute to the fat problem. You make fat people feel bad when they try to better themselves, and hey getting skinny doesn’t happen overnight. I am still on my journey to being the healthiest me, but losing 50 lbs has drastically changed my life. I am not depressed, I am not afraid of seeing people I knew, I am more confident and less moody. I mean really you don’t want to get on a treadmill when you feel like your going to break it, or that everyone is watching you workout. You don’t want to lift weights when your body is jiggling for the world to see and you can’t do it. It is humiliating and just sends you farther down the hole into a depressive state and mood. It is a vicious cycle. We should HELP people who are struggling, not hurt hem, judge them, or ridicule them. You people are making things worse by doing so.

Also, I am educated and I have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and currently enrolled getting my Master’s in Psych so I understand the mental game and depression. I am coming from a psychological standpoint and this is a journey most could not undertake alone. It can be done but many need support or an understanding of how hard it is. It has been hard for me to do alone but I realized I had to do it because how can I help others if I can’t even help myself? So i did and here I am.

Stop judging obese people. You do not know their story or their struggle. Lift them up and give them encouragement to change their lives and battle obesity, because it is a battle. It is a long process to overcome obesity, and to lose that much weight. It is not feasible for many to lose 10 lbs a week like they do on TV. It just isn’t possible unless losing weight is all you do and have no job or school. The stigma that all fat people are lazy needs to go away because no one wants to be fat, and no one wants to be laughed and mocked. No one chooses to look that way or feel that way. Obesity is a slow creeping disease that can eat you alive and the more people criticize, the more fat people will become. Acceptance and encouragement are key to helping people battle this illness, and without it America will just continue to be fat and the percentage rate of obesity will increase yet again.

The discrimination associated with obesity is bad enough causing daily added anxiety but the complications caused by the illnesses associated with obesity (High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Heart complications to name a few) make matters much worse. The side effects of quite a few of the medications that treat the associated diseases are sometimes debilitating and dangerous by themselves but in addition, most list Depression as a key side effects. Which any corporate efficiency analyst will tell you is a leading cause of job absenteeism, lowered production and loss of efficiency in any major industry. To be obese, in pain, suffering from the effects of various health issues and possibly the medications to sustain life AND to be expected to “suffer quietly” (since you caused your own problem they believe) is a reason to be depressed. If that isn’t the qualification for a disability, I couldn’t imagine what would be.