Okay. This is bizarre.

[Deja Q]

I'm 34 and have a gut.

Tonight I saw a mother with her 10 year old girl.

The girl had a gut.

Her gut was, seriously, as large as mine.

:(

Now I don't have much excuse for me having mine, and it'll take a lot of exercise to get rid of it. But what the hell is her excuse for looking like that? She's a young girl; a third my age if not younger! Children are supposed to have energy and vitality. She looks horrible. It truly is tragic.

She has the right to look that way all she wants. And given the way society is headed, maybe it's better to give up. (which is why offshoring will render the US exterminated once European and Chinese customers spend more than Americans do) But, sheesh, this is becoming so commonplace.

This isn't genetic-based fat. This is no-exercise combined with eating-lard-from-vending-machines-all-day fat.

I wish things were being re-engineered for the 1950s. Stay-at-home mom, no latch key kids, time to make proper meals instead of this "fast food" garbage because both parents have to work multiple jobs... that's the cause of most of society's ills. No time to properly raise children, and the people who proclaim to be 'family values' spend more time helping those who have nothing but what seems to be contempt FOR families.

Maybe we aren't a society and I should get fit again -- for the sake of myself; forget everyone else. If I can't live to make a positive difference for someone else, maybe I should live for my own benefit instead?

What is the message people are receiving these days? I sure as hell don't know. Do you?

[XemaSab]

1. .

:popcorn:

[pauliedangerously]

2. What about stay at home Dads?

I'd be up for that.

[Deja Q]

3. If a dad wanted to be, why not?

My own preferences, however, keep me biased to the belief that we do not need any more children on this planet. I do donate to causes to help children, but I will never be a parent.

To speak in riddles: I am wise enough to know I am a fool.

[SoyCat]

4. My husband and I aren't going to have children, either. We just hope to

*finally* one day get my niece. Her parents are beyond f'ed up. Very long story. I definitely agree with your feelings on how society is failing children. My family has several kids who are overweight to grossly-overweight and of course, play video games all the time, never play physical games, and never eat fruits and vegetables. They live off chicken nuggets and soda. I'd be dead in a week if I ate like that.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. Our adopted kids will be required to find something they enjoy doing...

That involves physical activity.
Duckie

[SoyCat]

19. Sounds like a great idea. More parents should do the same thing.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. I agree...

We're not having kids of our own. We're going to take in the kids no one else seems to want. I think that's my mission in life. We've just got to wait until we get a 2 bedroom apartment before we can apply to be foster parents.
Duckie

[Deja Q]

7. Coolness!

Best of luck in getting the children! :thumbsup:

[SoyCat]

20. *Best of luck, future foster/adoptive mom!*

[graywarrior]

8. I just recently watched our neighbors, both extremely obese

who have one very active, tiny little skinny 6 year old. These people do their food shopping at Cumberland Farms, which is across from their house. They have bar-b-ques frequently and they force feed the kid whether he wants to eat or not. They sit on the porch, throw their heads back and drop food into their mouths and in between yell at the kid to get off the swings and get over here to eat.

It's frightening. I live in a rural area where Walmart is the only place to shop. More than half of the kids I see there are grossly overweight. They waddle down the aisles behind their grossly overweight parents. I can't envision a future for them. They'll be dead before their 30 at this rate. And it seems as if they think it's normal to be like that.

[Joe Fields]

10. Oh, for god's sake, please.

Kids waddling down the aisle behind their grossly overweight parents? Nothing like a little hyperbole before breakfast.

[graywarrior]

11. I had to look up hyperbole.

:dunce:


:hi:

[Joe Fields]

9. Just a question, Hypno...

Why does it bother you? People come in all colors, shapes and sizes.

I've always felt it is much more what a person is like on the inside.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

12. Thank you.

[Deja Q]

22. True,

but it is not healthy to be!!

A person, aged 56 and a left-wing liberal that makes me look like Reagan by comparison, told me once that regardless of what I looked like, it is not healthy And it's not healthy. He gave a damn and told me accordingly.

Maybe I should stop lamenting on the condition of others or even concerned that someone less than 1/3rd my age has a beer belly as large as mine - that's really sad. And not healthy. They're not going to change one way or the other. I need to improve myself so maybe I should stop looking disapprovingly at them or making comments or any of it to others. Sounds a bit freeperish, but I don't believe people should be supporting "gut acceptance". That's way-different from "fat acceptance", which is about genetics and not a shiftless lifestyle. And, to reiterate, my own lifestyle is sedentary too. And it's not easy to get back into things, especially when I've got heart problems. But I sure as hell am working on reversing it. Because I do want to live.

Besides, inside or not, people don't give a fuck about ya unless ya look a certain way. All my life I've been laughed at. Not as much for my belly (which has been better and has been far worse) but because of my sartorial taste, facial expression, the 'elfin' quality of my face and the fact I look different in general.

Never mind the amount of people, in personal ads or otherwise, who say "Look as if you do take care of yourself". If I take care of myself, that shows others I love myself. Therefore they will want to love me too. (and for all the talk I hear about "love thy own self"...)

It doesn't bother me that they look different. It bothers me because it's not healthy or conducive to living a long, healthy life.

[tinfoil tiaras]

13. Was that 10 year old also wearing skanky clothes from

Abercrombie, Hollister, etc and carrying a pink RAZR phone and/or a "designer" bag (like those fake Louis Vuttons..)

:puke:

[driver8]

14. Hey tinfoil tiaras, great REM picture. Have you been on Youtube? Lots of

early REM videos. I posted one the other day for REM fans in the lounge and only got one response. There must be more of us!

[tinfoil tiaras]

15. Thanks-i love that picture with a passion

I want my husband to look like Mike Mills in that picture-*swoon*

Or Peter Buck for that matter *double swoon*

I love Youtube, but I haven't been there lately. I'll check out the old R.E.M. stuff there! :D

[Deja Q]

23. See post 22 for my perspective.

Assuming it's okay for me to have a perspective.

Apparently, it's wrong to feel concern for a child who, ounce for ounce, is far more obese than I am -- and in a problem that's worsening in America.

[zanne]

16. Why doesn't anybody equate childhood obesity with...

Lack of walking? Or running? Kids aren't allowed to go anywhere on their own anymore; they're driven everywhere. I know there's a good reason for not allowing kids to go places on their own. I just think that what's being overlooked is that they're transported everywhere they go.

[hotforteacher]

17. When people get this reactionary over a topic

it often makes me wonder how much they actually spent thinking about it. I am not referring to Zanne. I think that is an excellent, relevent point.

Umm...Type II diabetes is one of the greatest rising childhood diseases, and some of you think it's okay to get bunchy like someone has a prejudice? While prejudice against obesity is real, the problem is as well.

Funding for schools has slashed budgets and time spent in gym class, rising fear of children due people having children later in life (ergo protecting them more fiercely. and the whole child abduction fear campaign in the 80's) is wreaking havoc on young children's ability to "roam free" and get some well-needed exercise. The videogame epidemic. Rise in computer use and time spent sitting. The rise in poverty and more single-parent households and marketing of "easytomake" foods, due to lack of time (and a perceived lack of time )to prepare more nutritious meals...yikes. My apologies for a badly constructed paragraph.

Yikes. Double yikes. This isn't hyperbole--this is a real an issue. The way I see it, it is an economic issue. And we all know what the mythological middle class is becoming--non-existent.

[Deja Q]

21. VERY true.

A shame.

While trash food is a contributor; not exercising or excess sitting (game playing) is another big factor.

So is apathy, but our own countrymen give too many people no reason to improve their lives these days. (it's not going to stop me from improving mine, but for once I can empathize with the masses...)

Also, people living 30 miles from work and driving all the time doesn't help. Or wasting time trying to find a parking space close to the entrance. There are many little things that help.

Oh, those signs at work that say "jog in place at the copy machine". I did that once. Got stared at as if I was a freak. Even though the sign is RIGHT THERE. :eyes: Peoples' own bizarre attitudes creates peer pressure for people to NOT do the right thing. Once again, individuality is seen as bad.

[KayLaw]

18. My son is fat

It hurts him too, he wants to be thin. He has autism and takes a medication called Risperdal. It slows his metabolism but increases his appetite. We want to take him off the med but he just can't fit into school without it. Whatever you do, please don't make these heavy kids feel worse about their condition.

[Deja Q]

24. Risperdal made me gain weight too...

I'm not out to hurt kids. Don't get me started on my life history because I know damn well what it's like. (oh, I've a form of autism too...)

I also wonder, knowing the mental health industry, how many of these meds children ought to be taking. I've been put on a few and my parents put in their veto power because the shrinks were fuckin' WORTHLESS. (Only last year did I find anyone of merit, and that speaks volumes...)

Are there other drugs he could try? Like Strattera?

But gut-based weight gain always comes from the metabolism (from what I've read). Those with belly fat (rather than proportioned fat) are far more likely to have heart problems, strokes, diabetes, and any number of nasty things.

When I was on risperdal, my doc told me to exercise more to compensate. I didn't at the time because of my indolence. And, with my heart condition these days, I was a damn fool not to listen to him, in that respect. Still, the careless way many docs prescribe drugs is as disturbing as every other malady in this country.

I'm not going to go out and be holier than thou despite wanting to. Especially in that I'm no buff stud and may never will be because of a heart condition, and a fused spinal cord that makes certain weight lifting exercises something to avoid unless I want to expedite the necessity for another surgery - something I'm not sure I could survive at this point.



On edit: Spelling/grammar