Because I only have a couple of minutes, I wanted to throw in a thought. The talk about outdoors being free, sidewalks, etc. bugs me a bit.
Not everybody lives in the nice, temperate climate like Iowa. It must be nice to have 78 degree weather (heat index 81) like in Ames right now. Have most of you ragging on the "deep south" (granted, the food is horrible for you) ever even been there, much less in the summer? It's 94 with a heat index of 111 in Houston right now (pretty mild humidity for July today, as well), and even after the sun goes down, it's gonna be 90's out. It's been like that since early June, with the exception of the few days that Hurricane Alex soaked us, and will be like that until October.
That's big-time heat exaustion/stroke territory, especially for the obese. I walked out to my car to get a book an hour ago, and my shirt's still not dry. Do you go outside and walk in the winter when the wind chill is -5 out every day? Probably not, you go to a gym (like I do when it's this hot out - and before you label, I run 3-5 times a week when I'm not exhausted from work and night classes), or you're SOL.
Moreover, news flash, not everywhere is as safe as Iowa. There are areas in Houston (as in every big city), that I wouldn't feel safe walking out at night in if I had an assault rifle with me. Come on down and take a stroll in the 5th Ward at night here and let me know if you'd want to walk there every night. On top of that, those areas are population dense and usually poor - the same people who can't afford a gym membership.
Just food for thought. Call them excuses if you want. You can go back to telling us lazy, worthless, unintelligent eyesore "fatties" how to live, what to eat, where we can live, and how to spend our money. Thanks, comrades.
Yes, while summers are brutal down south (trust me, I know), you can still get up early or go late in most places. Otherwise, the only option is really the gym. I know here, the YMCA has discounts for people that can't afford it. I don't know what the other options are, but I'm sure there are some somewhere, especially for kids.
At any rate, that doesn't excuse the fall, winter and spring, where it's all quite temperate. In fact, that's one of the big reasons for living there in the first place - year round activities outside. And it's not like Iowa doesn't get hot either. There are a whole bunch of people riding bikes across it in the middle of July
I agree that it's not easy. That's not the point, though. I'm not telling other people how to live. I don't have a huge problem with the obese. I was one of them.
I just have a hard time with the vast majority of obese people telling me that they are genuinely more happy being obese than they would be if they were healthier. That's a lie, for most people. It's a convenient lie to cover up years of poor health choices, and possibly addictions that are difficult, painful and otherwise hard to change.
Nobody is calling obese people unintelligent or worthless. Lazy, perhaps. Ignorant, perhaps. But that's different than unintelligent or worthless.
In fact, it's exactly because many of them are intelligent and worthwhile that it is to society's benefit to keep them healthy and higher performing for as long as they can.
The only real problem aside from that is with the health care system. Obese people (and smokers, for that matter) are a burden on it moreso than people who live a healthy lifestyle. The health care system is a public service (like it or not) that is shared by all. Some people abuse it, by abusing themselves, and that's not fair to the responsible minority who make responsible decisions.
Health is just as much an individual responsibility as finance is. Some people can take care of themselves, while others cannot and it's often the responsible ones who are left with the burden of cleaning up after them.
