Fat is not PC, obese is not PC, now overweight is not PC. Doctors should tell their patients that 'they should reach a healthier weight'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18262887

Well, I think fat people are gross. They are unpleasant to look at, jostle you in the streets, overlap you in an aeroplane seat... and you can't even pass them in a supermarket aisle. Especially I find fat women offensive, perhaps because they show a lot, what a lot, of leg.

I have every sympathy with those people who become fat through glandular disease, or from compulsive eating disorders, but they are relatively few and far between. My next door neighbour when I was a boy got stuck in the bath, poor lady. The embarrassment!

But if we were allowed to call fat people gross and repulsive, wouldn't that help to curb the plague of obesity which has affected the Western world... and is moving East?

I an guessing that you will want to get rid of ugly people next.

As I used to say to my first wife, it isn't water retention, it's cake retention.

I an guessing that you will want to get rid of ugly people next.

'Aesthetically challenged' is the term I believe

More PC BS. If I had a time machine, two people I would take out would be a young Hitler and the person who started Political Correctness. Well, maybe not Hitler. Maybe just do something to change the way he would turn out. The PC guy though would be toast.

Being overweight is a health problem. It is something that people have control over (unlike race or sexual orientation). I'm not for outright offending people, but the words "fat" or "overweight" are not the same as racial slurs. To gloss it over with PC terms just makes it worse. A little shame can motivate people to lose weight and become healthier.

I am a fat man and have a blog called fat man in paradise. i use the word fat quite often because when i was in denial i hated hearing the truth, i was fat, morbid obese and it hurt to hear the word fat but that was exactly what i was so just like the word skinny it is an descriptive word that fits. Being PC does not help, such a large bones, big, husky, even thick are not going to slap a person int he face and make them wake up make a healthy change in their behavior

I an guessing that you will want to get rid of ugly people next.

'Aesthetically challenged' is the term I believe

What a good suggestion! How nice, UG, that you were the first person to respond.

But the health of an ugly person is not endangered; the health of a fat person is. Quite apart from the visual aspect, of course.

IB - you say you have sympathy for those with glandular problems that make them fat.

Yesterday on the TV programme 'The Wright Stuff' it was stated that glandular problems are far more likely to lead to loss of weight than excess weight.

My personal opinion is that obese people should be locked away, not allowed out on the street, not allowed NHS treatment, should be sterilised, and shoulod have their mouths sewn up.

There are too many fatties in the world and the solution for most of them, not all, but most, is quite simple:

Stop eating too much!

I have a bit of fat on my belly now, but that is of my own doing because I seem to crave potato chips or ice cream late at night. It's a habit I am yet to kick. I'm not much overweight (6ft - 79kgs) but there is certainly a comforting pillow for someone's head.

I have to cop it sweet when a friend tells me i'm getting a fat belly. It isn't something I like to hear, but it does make me feel bad because they use the word 'fat' (negative connotation). If they told me 'Oh Bookman, you are looking cuddly', I wouldn't feel as bad, so I might buy some more choc fudge ice cream to celebrate.

Now, as you rightly pointed out, the term 'overweight' is becoming politically incorrect!

I say call a Fatty a Fatty. Do them a favour while their heart is still pumping and they can do something about it. Forget the term overweight, or 'reaching a healthy weight'. Fatties just don't need these enabling terms.

I fell into a lazy diet of work then beer and takeaway pizza late last year. Its interesting how the body actually starts to crave the junk food. I see the same folks now at work getting fatter and fatter on processed sandwiches...crisps...doughnuts etc. I pity them cos I have been there....feeding that craving.

However it takes only a couple of weeks of perseverence to kill that feeling. That and exercise. Now I swim a good distance every day and have swapped the crisps for fruit.

I feel and look 200% better for it!

Not given up the beer completely though....I am human after all...

Edit: sp.

My personal opinion is that obese people should be locked away, not allowed out on the street, not allowed NHS treatment, should be sterilised, and shoulod have their mouths sewn up.

Gulp!

Your last suggestion would have considerable supplementary advantages, though.

At 181 cms and 77 kgs, I feel entitled to be a little smug (there's a beer beside me as I post). If I let my weight go up to 85 kgs, which is not exactly fat, I simply don't feel so good. My blood pressure starts to rise, too.

One thing I have noticed is that a rice-based diet makes me fat while a potato-based diet keeps me slimmer. But I guess that probably varies with the individual.

i know a country where overweight people are referred to "he/she is healthy"

i know a country where overweight people are referred to "he/she is healthy"

Tonga or Samoa? I remember at QE II's coronation in 1953, Queen Salote of Tonga, something like 6'6" and 270 lbs, stood up in the pouring rain throughout the procession to the Abbey waving to the crowds. The Londoners took her to their hearts.

And in Thailand there is, of course, a Miss Thailand Fatty competition (or some name of that sort)... make the best of it if you have to, I suppose.

A lot of ignorance here. Fat people's BRAINS are different. Science knows this know from scanning technology. Diets over the long term almost always totally fail, mostly resulting in rebounds even worse. Only very, very ignorant people think obesity is about will power. For a thin person to mock a fat person is shameful. It's a disease that medical science doesn't yet have effective cures for. Yes, stomach bands DO work, but they are expensive and dangerous. Interestingly, those who get stomach bands actually change their BRAIN FUNCTIONING to be like the brains of thin people. We know this now and the hope is eventually this brain change can be achieved medically with a much less expensive and invasive procedure. That is the hope for fat people, whatever, you call them, not diets, and not ignorant hateful psychological abuse by cruel people.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/234712.php

I'm a smoker, I can't resist the impulse to smoke, does that mean my brain is different as well?

The human body is an engine, albeit a very complex one, it has a fuel intake, a motor and an exhaust system. If you put more fuel in to it than the motor needs, some of it may come out of the exhaust, but most of it will go to making the engine bigger.

So, I'm very sorry JT, but the answer is the correct diet coupled with exercise, if these scientists can't find a miracle drug that removes the impulse to eat when not needed, then the only way is willpower.

I don't have the willpower to stop smoking, who do I blame, I blame myself, and I don't moan about scientists not finding an easy out for my failings.

And as my mother used to say ..... "always remember that the hole you have in your head, is much bigger than the one at the other end"

Then explain why 99 percent of obese people fail long term when trying diet/exercise?

Yet people CAN quite tobacco, heroin, etc. at much better long term success rates?

I'm sorry about the massive ignorance that this a will power issue. It is much more complex than that.

And like I said, medical science now does have a medical cure for both fat body and fat brain. But it is not a realistic thing to do for most fat people, sadly. But later, it is very possible there will be a much less invasive surgical implant to simulate stomach tying, which we now know, changes the BRAIN. Change the brain from a fat brain to a thin brain and yes you have cured obesity for life. NOTHING to do with will power at all. It's easy to believe myths your Momma told you. Grow up and face the science of it.

BTW, I am not a supporter of fat pride any more than I would be a supporter of heart disease pride. Being fat is very undesirable and yes unhealthy. But have some human sympathy please for people who are suffering this, and yes some day are going to be cured by medical science. Given diet/exercise almost always fails, yes it is better than nothing, but don't demonize the almost everyone that fails. Your assumption that it is about weakness is simply wrong.

Come off it, JT. Why is it then that the percentage of grossly obese people in US, UK, and probably in Europe as well has shot up over the past twenty or thirty years? Why is it suddenly common to see gross Chinese and Thais whereas twenty or thirty years ago there were hardly any?

Diet is the answer, not different brains. The introduction of Western junk food, and packed snacks, just happens to have coincided with the increase in obesity. Are you suggesting that's coincidence?

Then explain why 99 percent of obese people fail long term when trying diet/exercise?

Yet people CAN quite tobacco, heroin, etc. at much better long term success rates?

I'm sorry about the massive ignorance that this a will power issue. It is much more complex than that.

And like I said, medical science now does have a medical cure for both fat body and fat brain. But it is not a realistic thing to do for most fat people, sadly. But later, it is very possible there will be a much less invasive surgical implant to simulate stomach tying, which we now know, changes the BRAIN. Change the brain from a fat brain to a thin brain and yes you have cured obesity for life. NOTHING to do with will power at all. It's easy to believe myths your Momma told you. Grow up and face the science of it.

BTW, I am not a supporter of fat pride any more than I would be a supporter of heart disease pride. Being fat is very undesirable and yes unhealthy. But have some human sympathy please for people who are suffering this, and yes some day are going to be cured by medical science. Given diet/exercise almost always fails, yes it is better than nothing, but don't demonize the almost everyone that fails. Your assumption that it is about weakness is simply wrong.

As a fat man I agree that my brain may be wired differently towards food much like a person with a drinking disorder or drug habit. IMO the reason there are more success stories from drug and booze recovery is trhe support groups such AA and NA having said this will self control, behavior modification and an willingness to admit that a fat person has an eating disorder is the 1st step. It does not require medical surgery, drugs or fad diets to control weight. it requires self control.

Great, now give fat people the "I was born this way" crutch. People aren't born fat. They are raised with bad eating habits and bad exercise habits. If as adults they think differently it is because of how they were brought up. It is learned behavior - just like self control is. I was raised with bad eating habits but I saw my 155 kg father and knew I didn't want to be like that. I'm 89 kg (188 cm), topped out at close to 100 kg. If someone put enough money on the table, I know I could reach 155 kg in 2-3 months. Self control and being a Cheap Charlie are the only two things keeping me from being obese.

A lot of ignorance here. Fat people's BRAINS are different. Science knows this know from scanning technology. Diets over the long term almost always totally fail, mostly resulting in rebounds even worse. Only very, very ignorant people think obesity is about will power. For a thin person to mock a fat person is shameful. It's a disease that medical science doesn't yet have effective cures for. Yes, stomach bands DO work, but they are expensive and dangerous. Interestingly, those who get stomach bands actually change their BRAIN FUNCTIONING to be like the brains of thin people. We know this now and the hope is eventually this brain change can be achieved medically with a much less expensive and invasive procedure. That is the hope for fat people, whatever, you call them, not diets, and not ignorant hateful psychological abuse by cruel people.

Well, this nonsense proves your American origins - believe just about anything, won't you?

Come off it, JT. Why is it then that the percentage of grossly obese people in US, UK, and probably in Europe as well has shot up over the past twenty or thirty years? Why is it suddenly common to see gross Chinese and Thais whereas twenty or thirty years ago there were hardly any?

Diet is the answer, not different brains. The introduction of Western junk food, and packed snacks, just happens to have coincided with the increase in obesity. Are you suggesting that's coincidence?

The reason for the grossly obese in US, UK and Europe has a one word answer - McDonalds.

Diet and standards of living do affect the sizes of people in the emerging nations - when I was working in Hong Kong I travelled on the KCR every day and one could see the difference in generations by the passengers - the grandparents were 5'4", the parents 5'9" and the teenagers were taller than me (6 ft).

But none of them were fat.

Fast food, processed food and too bloody much food are a part of the answer - lack of strenuous exercise makes up the balance of the equation.

Don't sit in front of your computer believing the lies of other idiots, don't sit in front of the TV watching football. Get out there and do something about it! This morning I watched a rowing eight on the Cam, all apparently older than me (75). I was cycling along the tow-path at the time, making a change from my usual walk to the shops.

Your assumption that it is about weakness is simply wrong.

Actually, Jingthing has a valid point. There is a growing body of evidence that much obesity is caused by factors that are very difficult to control..

The obesity explosion that has swept the Western world over the past 30 years may have been caused by a virus, scientists have said. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/western-surge-in-obesity-may-have-been-caused-by-a-virus-2084737.html

People love to have people to look down on. There are some anti-fat people bigots here. It's sad.

If you actually CARED about fat people as PEOPLE, you'd be very interested in the medical issues about obesity and the hopes for cures. Like I said, the stomach tying operation already works. Works massively better than diet/exercise which almost always fails.

Yet you push this obsolete diet/exercise obsession that almost never works for what purpose? To help fat people? I don't believe it because it almost never works.

People love to have people to look down on. There are some anti-fat people bigots here. It's sad.

Don't talk to me about bigotry, I've been on the receiving end of that for most of my life, and I am physically incapable of changing the reason, no one else can for that matter.

Do I whine and moan about it, no, do I expect other people to find a solution, no.

If you are fat you have two choices, go on a diet, or don't, and just put up with people pointing it out.

I don't have two choices.

Now kindly take your 'it's not my fault' attitude and stick it in your mouth, that will serve two purposes.

You refuse to face reality. Diets do not work! Period. For 99 percent of obese people over the long term. So the diet choice is really diet and stay fat, more likely even fatter. But you aren't interested in facts, are you?

Diets do work.

When you stick to them.

Unfortunately, over fat people are like alcoholics, hiding bottles in the bottom drawer and employing the 'it doesn't count principle'

It doesn't count if it is after 10pm and you are standing up eating directly from the fridge, without using your hands.

It doesn't count if you order a salad for yourself and a large serving of pork balls deep fried in lard for your partner, and then share.

It doesn't count, if there is anyone looking.

But I've only had three, yep, you had three there, and three there and three there.

I do not have a problem with reality, faced it several times and realised it was right.

Stop deluding yourself.

.

Diets do work.

When you stick to them.

I had a friend who was telling me the diet I was on doesn't work. Even though both of us lost weight on it before, he told me it doesn't work. I reminded him that he lost weight on the same diet and he replied, "yeah, but I gained weight again as soon as I stopped it". Uh, yeah.

When I was diagnosed as diabetic my meter told me that eating low-carb would be the best thing. I avoided all potatoes, rice, noodles and bread and lost 22lbs in 3 months without feeling hungry. I let my hair down at Christmas and on my birthday and have roast spuds, stuffing and all the other goodies. I also have fish & chips if I find myself in Skeggy or Mablethorpe. I've noticed that for a few days after a big carb meal I crave more carbs quite badly. I think there's a certain addictive element to carbs that makes it difficult to avoid them.