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SebastianGray (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#51: Sep 27th 2011 at 1:40:05 PM

I will admit I have been lucky as I have never had to go to the doctors for anthing to do with my weight (only ear infections and shots for holidays, I have never even broken a bone in my life). I wouldn't be adverse to forcing people like me to pay more for medical services related to obesity as I also think the same of alcoholics and smokers.

I am obese on the BMI at 6'3" and over 300 pounds

honorius from The Netherlands Since: Jun, 2010
#52: Sep 27th 2011 at 1:51:14 PM

This is true, but I would imagine that there is a much higher occurrence rate of medical treatment related to obesity versus sports injuries. Also, with relation to sports injuries, it would be more about better safety rules...
It would be hard to compare. If an obese person suffers a heart attack it could be blamed on his overweight but it could be coincidence as well. But if someone breaks his ankle during a soccer match the cause is quite clear.

If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied -Rudyard Kipling
JosefBugman Since: Nov, 2009
#53: Sep 27th 2011 at 1:57:05 PM

So does every country on earth.

-sigh- unfortunatly we never know what change is going to be for the best. Such is life I guess tongue

How does one gain weight without eating poorly BTW?

edited 27th Sep '11 1:58:02 PM by JosefBugman

SebastianGray (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#54: Sep 27th 2011 at 2:08:17 PM

Zero exercise and large quantity of food. I don't exactly eat healthily it is just that I eat less poorly than the thinner people I know (I haven't eaten anything that could be considered junk food in over six years and never ate it much when I did) I will also miss meals completely now and again if I am busy or can’t be bothered to cook (I hate cooking).

edited 27th Sep '11 2:09:52 PM by SebastianGray

HeavyDDR Who's Vergo-san. from Central Texas Since: Jul, 2009
Who's Vergo-san.
#55: Sep 27th 2011 at 2:17:58 PM

[up][up] Protein-based meals. When athletes need/want to move up a weight class, they still maintain a "proper" diet but eat more fish, protein bars, etc.

At least, that's one way. Other people just have health disorders that make them gain weight despite eating comparatively healthy.

edited 27th Sep '11 2:18:30 PM by HeavyDDR

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior
JosefBugman Since: Nov, 2009
#56: Sep 27th 2011 at 2:24:41 PM

Strange, I personally eat a lot of stuff that is supposed to be fattening (also sugar and stuff) and yet with the occasional exception of mouth ulcers I tend to be healthy.

I wonder if a cure/ gene therapy might be found through "science" before anything gets changed in a legislative way.

edited 27th Sep '11 2:27:30 PM by JosefBugman

Lock Space Wizard from Germany Since: Sep, 2010
Space Wizard
#57: Sep 27th 2011 at 2:29:56 PM

You know, I don't do any sports, yet I could stuff myself with chocolate and would still probably rather lose than gain weight somehow...

edited 27th Sep '11 2:30:39 PM by Lock

Programming and surgery have a lot of things in common: Don't start removing colons until you know what you're doing.
Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
deathjavu This foreboding is fa... from The internet, obviously Since: Feb, 2010
This foreboding is fa...
#59: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:22:27 PM

Bring back gym.

I wasn't aware it ever left. I had mandatory gym throughout grade school, middle school, high school and we even have gym classes in college (which is a little weird, I guess, but you can take it in whatever athletic subject you want. Taking skiing for a class was amazing, I got to do exactly what I wanted to do but couldn't normally find time for and got an incredibly easy A for it).

edited 27th Sep '11 3:23:54 PM by deathjavu

Look, you can't make me speak in a logical, coherent, intelligent bananna.
Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#60: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:22:59 PM

Well it seems that it isn't mandatory any more; the joy of a doctors note.

JosefBugman Since: Nov, 2009
#61: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:32:25 PM

Anyone can get a doctors note. Plus it doesn't help if you suck at team sports and can't choose which sport you want to do.

Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#62: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:34:04 PM

Excuses. That's no reason for you to not dress out, and sit off on the sidelines listening to music.

Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#63: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:34:31 PM

I loved gym.. Dodgeball kicks ass.

I wish I could play more often, occasionally we get the unit together and play no-holds-barred badass dodgeball instead of PT.

Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#64: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:35:22 PM

You know they got rid of the hard rubber balls in school right?

JosefBugman Since: Nov, 2009
#65: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:36:24 PM

What kind of team games were you playing?

I would quite happily have just stayed in the swimming pool for the entirety of gym if I'd had the choice. I loved water polo tongue.

But yeah, I am none too sure that making the obviously rotund kid try and climb a rope will help anyone.

Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
TheGloomer Since: Sep, 2010
#67: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:39:20 PM

Excuses. That's no reason for you to not dress out, and sit off on the sidelines listening to music.

You gotta do something about the pushy parents who don't want their kids' feelings to be hurt when they're crap.

Me, I'm shit at all physical exercise, and I'm incredibly unfit. The most exercise I get is from walking the dog about a mile and a half a day. I was last placed in every race and last picked in every team. I couldn't climb, I couldn't catch, I even struggled to do a forward roll. It didn't stop me from taking part. Just because you're crap at it doesn't mean you skip it, because it's part of the curriculum until you're in lower sixth. I was crap at mathematics too, but I didn't skip that. It's the principle of the thing for me.

edited 27th Sep '11 3:40:02 PM by TheGloomer

Karalora Since: Jan, 2001
#68: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:39:50 PM

Today I read an interesting theory by blogger Amanda Marcotte, to the effect that poor Americans eat too much fast food in part because it's one of the few pleasures they have. American culture still has a puritanical streak that makes pleasure-seeking suspect, especially for those who are "undeserving," (i.e. poor)...but everyone has to eat, you can't fault people for eating, so those who can't afford other kinds of entertainment might seek entertainment by indulging in greasy, over-sweetened food.

Well, I thought it was interesting... It was certainly better than another spurious screed about how modern Americans just don't have the fortitude of character to eat only soybeans and jog five miles a day. No epidemic can be an individual problem.

JosefBugman Since: Nov, 2009
#69: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:45:13 PM

Sure it can, it just has to be a problem for a lot of people tongue.

But I'm being flippant, I think whilst its very nice to say "[fill in group] are only doing it because [fill in blank that makes it societies fault]" it's more likely a combination of factors and individual preference as much as anything else.

We have an obesity problem over here, but you don't see there being the same "puritanical" thing in our corridors of power tongue

Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#70: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:47:00 PM

You gotta do something about the pushy parents who don't want their kids' feelings to be hurt when they're crap.

They need to man up and prevent their children from turning into pussies. Nobody is going to pat you on the back and tell you you're doing good when you fuck up in the real world; might as well teach them now.

Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#71: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:48:39 PM

^^^

That does sound kind of interesting, any chance you could post a link?

Me, I'm shit at all physical exercise, and I'm incredibly unfit. The most exercise I get is from walking the dog about a mile and a half a day. I was last placed in every race and last picked in every team. I couldn't climb, I couldn't catch, I even struggled to do a forward roll. It didn't stop me from taking part. Just because you're crap at it doesn't mean you skip it, because it's part of the curriculum until you're in lower sixth. I was crap at mathematics too, but I didn't skip that. It's the principle of the thing for me.

Yeah, honestly, I wasn't very good at any sports requiring hand-eye coordiantion in school(note, blind in one eye) but I loved playing them anyway. Not sure why, maybe a masochistic streak. I later learned I was good at track and wrestling in high school, because running on a track and manipulating someones joints doesn't require much from your depth perception.

edited 27th Sep '11 3:48:49 PM by Barkey

USAF713 I changed accounts. from the United States Since: Sep, 2010
I changed accounts.
#72: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:49:33 PM

Today I read an interesting theory by blogger Amanda Marcotte, to the effect that poor Americans eat too much fast food in part because it's one of the few pleasures they have. American culture still has a puritanical streak that makes pleasure-seeking suspect, especially for those who are "undeserving, " (i.e. poor)...but everyone has to eat, you can't fault people for eating, so those who can't afford other kinds of entertainment might seek entertainment by indulging in greasy, over-sweetened food.

Link? And... interesting theory. Has some merit. I'd need to look at it more to say definitively, although this is an argument that American society is simply too McDonaldized (which is a real sociological term).

My personal favorite in gym was floor hockey...

I am now known as Flyboy.
Karalora Since: Jan, 2001
#73: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:52:00 PM

@Bugman What can I say? America loves to export its culture!

Marcotte didn't imply—and I don't believe I did either—that it was the only reason, but it makes sense that it's a reason. Corn subsidies are probably a bigger one. But seriously, it strains credibility to think that over half of Americans individually decided, with no outside influences, to start eating less healthy. Obviously it's a societal problem, requiring societal solutions. Just shaking your finger at people and telling them "Eat better! Exercise more!" isn't going to do much.

ETA: Link to original article. (Should have posted it earlier, was copy-pasting something more important at the time and couldn't afford to mess up my Clipboard.)

edited 27th Sep '11 3:53:44 PM by Karalora

JosefBugman Since: Nov, 2009
#74: Sep 27th 2011 at 3:52:35 PM

@Barkey: How did you get into the army? No offence, but the way you talk about your life is starting to make it sound like a Lifetime Movie of the week smile

Vellup I have balls. from America Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: The Skitty to my Wailord
I have balls.
#75: Sep 27th 2011 at 4:01:14 PM

They need to man up and prevent their children from turning into pussies. Nobody is going to pat you on the back and tell you you're doing good when you fuck up in the real world; might as well teach them now.

The purpose of P.E/gym though isn't to teach kids not to toughen up, though. It's to please the school board and the government for largely superficial reasons. That, and as far as I'm concerned, anyone who can simplify a function by trigonometric substitution, proceed to decompose by partial fractions, perform a by parts separation, substitute again and proceed to integrate a correct result has more balls than all the jocks at any homecoming game combined.

They never travel alone.

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