Seriously, how is anyone dumb enough to be fat?

[thesummerqueen]

I have a big sugar addiction which isn't too bad because my work is physical plus I go to the gym. But if I had a better job working in an office for long hours and I never got into the habit of exercise I can see how I'd easily become overweight.

Yah, I was a farm boy, and then in the service, and then a laborer. My weight has become a problem since I began working in an office, and I started doing that around 1990.

I gain weight whenever I don't get a lot of exercise. It's not because I necessarily eat unhealthy foods. I was recently berated by the doctor for this assumption for being overweight, yet when she tested all blood levels and everything else besides my weight (asthma/allergies notwithstanding) I was healthy as a horse. My boyfriend even monitored my food consumption for a while and was impressed that I prefer fruit to chocolate, stove-top popcorn to microwaved, water to soda, etc.

It really all has to do with a sedentary lifestyle and the weight melts off when I become a gym rat, spend all my evenings gardening, or excessive time out in the woods on photography tromps. It's not about being stupid.

Meanwhile, I'd like to point out that being "skinny" doesn't mean you're healthy. That same boyfriend is only about 20 lbs over what the gov't says he should be. I think he looks fit and healthy. His job requires him to walk 3-5 miles all over a studio, bending, squatting, etc while he takes portraits. However, because I actively hike and go to the gym, I have greater endurance than he does. Put both of us out on a trail on a hot day in the summer and I guarantee I'll last longer - even with the asthma. That's because I make time to use the elliptical.

Your post is basically a regurgitation of every misnomer known to the media about obesity.

Americans in particular suffer from work ethics which are encouraged to require people to sit at a desk for 8+ hours in order to look "dedicated", and we're inundated with fast food options in order to maintain this ethic without being told what calorie amounts those food actually contain. Wives and mothers who sift through places like Pinterest are much more likely to find dessert recipes than healthy food choices which could be packed into lunches. We're peer-pressured into watching TV shows (this is A Thing - I get berated because I don't like to sit and watch TV 99% of my free time), and our suburbs can be horrible places to try to get exercise, or to choose to walk to the store instead of driving, and many of our cities are not structured for pedestrian living.

I don't consider these things excuses, per se - people can work around just about anything if they're dedicated. But sometimes culture needs to change to regard some things as more important than others, and our culture still requires us to drive everywhere because the car is a status symbol, and for us to work long hours doing stupid shit because 'Murica! I could be skinny as shit if I didn't have to work till 5 every day.