Do you feel the same way about people with a substance abuse problem?
To get to that kind of weight, it's more than just being lazy and not tracking calories. It's a serious psychological or physical problem. It doesn't happen just by deciding not to skip dessert.
I've always been thin, but I can still empathize with someone in that predicament. Do you think that he didn't want to lose weight and get some control over his eating habits? Read the actual article. He in fact did gain control over things for a while, through a regimented routine, but the surgery put him off it, and he lost control again.
You're calling him a "whiny bitch", but this guy, who has a family that was obviously supportive and loved him, had a serious medical issue that ultimately resulted in his death.
Try imagining them as an actual human being and not some cartoon caricature.
Calling him names wasn't necessary, but his point remains. You don't eat at McDonalds and drink DrPepper when you want to get thinner. This guy didn't want to get thinner. He didn't want it more than death. And so he died.
That's true, but it's unempathetic, and if everyone stopped thinking there, no one would help each other. Imagine a depressed person who commits suicide. You could say, well, this person clearly wanted to die, and so she killed herself. She wanted to die more than she wanted to be around for her family, etc. and so that was selfish, the end.
But what was making her want to die? Do you think she was unaware of it, or unaware that she was having thoughts that she couldn't seem to control? Could it be the case that living with major depressive disorder might have been so mind-rendingly terrifying that it made even death seem more desirable? But isn't the best solution in this case not really death, but rather for the depression to go away, and only failing that would one ever want to die? Don't you think a suicidal person would be more aware of this than anyone?
You say this guy wanted to get thinner but he also wanted to keep overeating, and unfortunately he didn't seem to want to get thinner enough, so he kept eating. But what he really wanted was for his uncontrollable desire to overeat to go away, and he could not make that happen himself.
You're correct, but if this person wants death more than getting thinner, it obviously means he has mental issues. The solution to mental issues is not to point out that someone has them, but to find ways to 'fix' them.
It's like telling a paraplegic that he can't get up the stairs because his legs are fucking lame. It's technically true, but it doesn't help in any way.
Go through US cities and realize how much absolute garbage food is produced and made available in place of healthy meals. Then look at the portion size that most places serve. Then realize that obesity and overweight rates are higher the lower you go down the income ladder.
It would be another thing if we had loads of great food and meals being produced with almost no fast food and the obesity rate was still climbing.
What your post illustrates is that you have zero respect for how powerful the environment can play in behavior and the other powerful forces (greed, politics) that go into shoving nutritionally cheap, unhealthy foods in our faces.
You're right about it being 90% mental effort and developing one good habit, and that can really only be conquered once you develop a self-awareness of what's going on with yourself and your environment. IMO that is one reason why obesity is present in the lower income levels at a higher rate, because education is usually lacking there.
When you look at historical data, obesity has been increasing steadily in the US for decades. To blame individuals seems small-minded. There are obviously larger things going on (no pun intended).
Why do you believe that personal choices cannot be correlated with the county one lives in? For example, people in Portland tend (according to stereotypes, at least) to eat a lot of Granola and Kale. Does choice play no role, and the city government merely forces hipsters in these locales to eat these things?
One can choose to do something, but social, economic, and environmental factors can affect the viability and difficulty level of possible actions. There may be a reason obesity seems to clump together in certain places, and personal choice could be an insufficient explanation. They may choose it, but that choice doesn't exist in a vacuum.
