They are always playing shows on TLC about morbidly obese people. I never pay these shows any mind, but last night I decided to watch one. Which lead to watching another. Which lead to watching another. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
I’ve lived my whole life battling a few pounds here and a few there. I watch what I eat and exercise. I don’t eat junk food. I rarely snack. I don’t drink much. I drink a ridiculous amount of tea when I get cravings. I stop eating when I’m full.
I watched these people eat and eat and eat and eat and eat, and it made me sick. For instance, this is what I typically eat in a day: 2 packets of oatmeal for breakfast, leftovers/sandwich/salad for lunch (this is usually my biggest meal of the day), and then whatever I make for dinner. I make everything from scratch and don’t eat portions bigger than my hand. That’s it. I allow myself 2 cups of coffee in the morning and then it’s water and tea the rest of the day. I work out 5-6 days a week.
Okay, so that’s pretty normal right?
Well, this is what the man on one show ate in a day: 2 dozen eggs used in a cheese omelet with one loaf of bread for toast and 1 package of bacon, 5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for morning snack, 3 full-sized hoagies (subs for you weirdos out there) and a 2 liter bottle of soda, 2 burgers or 2 orders of Chinese food for afternoon snack….you know what, I just threw up a little in my mouth thinking about this. You get the point.
How does one get to this point? Doesn’t common sense kick in. I just don’t buy the ‘food addiction’ excuses either. You don’t get physically sick when you stop eating so much. Hunger pangs go away. Honestly, it’s okay to feel your stomach rumble. You’re not going to die. If you start getting a headache and dizzy, then go and eat. I sometimes feel hunger pangs up to an hour after I eat. I don’t know what causes it, but I certainly don’t go and eat again.
I guess what I’m wondering is, what causes someone to eat themselves to death? Is it a lack of love for oneself? Lack of self-control? Laziness?
And don’t they know when to stop. If you can’t walk on your own or wipe your own ass, I think that it’s a sign to stop eating and start taking care of yourself.
It pains me to see these people suffering like this, but I find this kind of gluttony disgusting. I don’t think I’m being ignorant saying that.
And by morbidly obese, I don’t mean you can pinch an inch…..I mean that you look something like this.
That’s all.
Fresh Air Lover 
Your typical day isn’t normal to me. I wish I had your self control when it comes to food and especially exercise. I’m not ‘big’ but I could lose a few kilo’s (pounds for you weirdos out there) ;o)
I tend to eat when I’m bored but I’m working on eating the ‘right’ foods when I want to snack ..
And I soooo lack motivation when it comes to exercise .. even though I want to look better in jeans.
At the end of the day .. I only have myself to blame for my lazy fat ass.
That looks like the one college roommate I didn’t choose for myself. She was a real bitch. 😛
That kind of thing pisses me off, too. It’s people like that who give regular, fluffy, people a bad name and why the whole stereotype came around that ALL fat people are lazy and do nothing but stuff twinkies in their mouth all damn day.
I have no thyroid and in women, it controls the majority of your functions; including reproduction, metabolism, etc.
It is VERY hard for me to lose weight and I AM a fluffy girl. NOTHING like the picture you showed but still…
However, I work out two times a day, five days a week. I am religious about Weight Watchers, I don’t eat fast food. I eat well-balanced, proportioned meals – right down to the freaking measuring cups.
I believe 100% in “being your own kind of beautiful” and for me, I know I’m never going to be a skinny girl. That doesn’t mean I can’t be healthy, though.
It irritates me that that is what they are doing to themselves and it makes the rest of us heavier people get sucked into the fucking stereotype by strangers… but I also feel sorry for them.
They must have absolutely no quality of life whatsoever. I don’t know… I just look at them and see these hurting people who have turned to food instead of pot, coke, sex, alcohol, or whatever… to numb the pain. I understand that. But I also understand about things like taking care of yourself…
Ugh. It’s a complicated subject I guess. Or maybe I’m just wiped out from a long ass day and it’s almost 2am.
Tata, for now! 🙂
PS: I don’t judge/blame you for your feelings on the matter, though! I hope that’s not how this sounds!
There is someone for everyone though, and I bet someone has “had” that lovely lady in the red thong more than once.
Talk about throwing up in your mouth.
I would have to say for someone who gets like the lady in the photo it’s definitely low self esteem along with a few (many?) enablers in her life. H Ditty and I are both overweight and it’s definitely because we don’t excerise more than anything else. Our meals are pretty standard and I rarely buy any snack foods, we just need to quit sitting in front of the computer and/or the tv so damn much.
I believe whole heartedly in eating disorders though. I’ve known enough people who’ve gone though or are going through them.
It makes me wonder what triggers people to eat like that? I don’t know any women who haven’t or aren’t battling a few pounds or more sometime in their life. It’s normal I think. Women tend to eat more for emotional reasons, makes them feel better, perhaps men do too. There has to be a sicknes that causes one to gorge oneself with food. If they get to the root, then they can lose the weight. It is terrible to see people so large because it’s so unhealthy!
I’ve seen those shows too and it boggles my mind. There must be something in your brain that says STOP EATING NOW. I don’t understand how one person can eat that much and not vomit on a continual basis. I watch what I eat too and exercise and yes, I splurge now and then with a single serving of ice cream or something like that, but…hell I know if I’ve over done it because my stomach starts to hurt.
The worst part about the bed-ridden fatties is that there is always a wife, mother, brother, SOMEBODY who is enabling them. If homeslice needs that much poundage of food a day, tell the enablers to start making it out of celery and carrots.
Well it doesn’t make sense to me either but in some cases. (Stressing some) You can have an compulsive eating disorder that you CANNOT control. I was recently diagnosed with a binge eating disorder and it truly is no joke. I hid it for years and I am nowhere close to being morbidly obese. My friend’s wife has this as well. I was put on an medication that seriously helped me. I know it is funny to joke about but it really is, no joke.
Oh, my dear – I recently had to part ways with a long time friend because of her attitude about herself and her lifestyle.
Sometimes the poison we put into our bodies overflows into everything that we do in life. When I say she had turned into an ugly person, I’m not talking about her weight – but mind, she was considerably obese.
I used to feel sorry for her, but years of watching her complain and lie and eat chicken wings and cheeseburgers and whatever she wanted – (washed down with damn near a bottle of booze a night) or sit on her ass and smoke a pack of cigarettes….
Every once in a while she’d ask me to support her getting healthy – but then she’d lose interest and she’d get pissed that I was losing weight and she wasn’t.
I’m fluffy. Totally. I’m always working to keep the weight managed – but I’m never going to be a twig (nor do I care) I just want to be able to walk around my neighborhood when I’m seventy-three and not keel over.
I don’t get it either… and everyone blames McDonalds, and the media and everyone else but the person that makes themselves that way. Mental, emotional and physicall illnesses can be treated, but not by force.
I don’t joke about it. It doesn’t disgust me. People are free to live lives the way they choose to.
But don’t blame McDonalds for you choosing to eat a cheeseburger.
I was always the guy who could eat anything and stay skinny, I mean seeing my heart beat through my chest skinny until my late twenties and then the gut that won’t go away. Okay, I am not exactly breaking up with it so it isn’t so much the stalker it could be. But my Dr. loses her mind when I am a few pounds over what she wants me to be. Now I see these shows and wonder at what point do you give up and say, 500, 800, lbs is just what you will be. I don’t get it either.
boy i wish i didn’t have to eat sometimes, just get tired of food. One thing is sure you got to be some sort of mental case to be doing that to your body.
Sometimes there are thyroid and other medical conditions, but you’re right in that this level of obesity is out of hand. On the other hand, I think you are way beyond the norm concerning your self-control. What comes naturally to you is probably a struggle for most people.
Unfortunately, food can be a drug of choice too.
I’m not sure if anyone’s said this yet, but no, your diet/exercising isn’t just normal, its a shit ton better than most peoples. Better than mine at least, but I’m blessed with a good metabolism, whatever that means. But um, yeah, you can afford to eat more. Hunger pangs shouldn’t be a common occurence i dont think.
Also, thanks for the nice picture at the end. I was eating strawberries. They were tasting pretty good until that moment.
bexxie: I’m not a big snacker. I never have been. I never buy snack food and the only time I do snack is at parties.
dee: They are always the ones that are bitches. Not the fat ones, but the ones we don’t pick.
amber: I’m fluffy too. It’s very difficult for me to lose weight too. I have a medical condition. Maybe I’ll get into it here. I love my curves, though.
jocular: I’m sure she’ll give it up to anyone. If she doesn’t love herself enough to stop eating herself to death, then why would she be picky about who she slept with.
katrina: I’ve been thinking about this, and I definitely blame the enablers. For the people in the show that were bed ridden, it’s the family and friends who are feeding them this stuff. They should be ashamed of themselves.
jessica: I agree. It’s sad that they are essentially killing themselves.
jr: I agree. My stomach kills me if I eat too much. I feel like I can’t move. I don’t understand why this doesn’t happen with these people.
blog portland: I totally agree. If it were me feeding the obese person, I’d tell them that they will eat what I give them until they can get out of bed and fix their own damn food.
kevin: I wasn’t joking about it. It’s horrible and I don’t get how people do this to each other. I know many people with eating disorders, my mother was bulimic and my step-sister was anorexic. At some point though, you’d think the loved ones would step in.
mg: I hear you on the blame game. I don’t think people understand that you really are what you eat. If you put chemicals and poison into your body, it destroys you. The body is something that needs to be respected.
edtime: I know. I don’t get it. I think if you can’t walk a mile, at any pace, you need help.
bobby: I know. It’s sad.
katrice: I think that if I went overboard with eating, I wouldn’t enjoy food the way I do. I love food. Lovvvvvvvveeeeee food. I watch the food network all day and am always thinking about food. So, when I eat I do it slowly and enjoy it. My lunches are a free for all. I eat as much as I want. But, I do control myself because I want to stay healthy.
arjuna: I don’t get too many hunger pangs, don’t worry. It might seem like I don’t eat much, but I do eat a big lunch. I allow myself to eat as much as I want. It’s dinner that I am a control freak about.
If you have to rig your bathing suit with f**king chain link, it’s time to lose some weight. Holy hell.
And this is coming from an overweight person.