Seriously, how is anyone dumb enough to be fat?

[Aractus]

They said what now? I'm interested in what you said, but could you explain it for me? The epidemics are widely recognized, and at least for the numbers of diabetics it is easier to calculate those numbers than for the number of overweight.

Here's a 2006 press release from the IDF:

• The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has published new data indicating the enormity of the diabetes epidemic. Data published today in the Federation’s Diabetes Atlas show that the disease now affects a staggering 246 million people worldwide, with 46% of all those affected in the 40-59 age group. Previous figures underestimated the scope of the problem, while even the most pessimistic predictions fell short of the current figure. The new data predict that the total number of people living with diabetes will skyrocket to 380 million within twenty years if nothing is done.
  
  At today’s press conference in Cape Town, IDF President Pierre Lefèbvre told reporters, “Just twenty years ago, the best information available suggested that 30 million people had diabetes. A bleaker picture has now emerged. Diabetes is fast becoming the epidemic of the 21st century.”
  Diabetes, mostly type 2 diabetes, now affects 5.9% of the world’s adult population with almost 80% of the total in developing countries. The regions with the highest rates are the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, where 9.2 % of the adult population are affected, and North America (8.4%). The highest numbers, however, are found in the Western Pacific, where some 67 million people have diabetes, followed by Europe with 53 million.
  
  India leads the global top ten in terms of the highest number of people with diabetes with a current figure of 40.9 million, followed by China with 39.8 million. Behind them come USA; Russia; Germany; Japan; Pakistan; Brazil; Mexico and Egypt. Developing countries account for seven of the world’s top.
  According to IDF President-Elect Martin Silink, “The diabetes time bomb has been ticking for 50 years, and it’s been getting louder. Despite the warning, successive generations of world leaders have largely ignored the threat. Diabetes has now exploded with the force felt greatest in the Middle East, India, China and the USA.”
  
  Lifestyles in transition
  
  A complex interplay of genetic, social and environmental factors is driving the global explosion in type 2 diabetes. For low and middle-income countries, economic advancement can lead to alterations to the living environment that result in changes in diet and physical activity within a generation or two. Consequently, people can develop diabetes despite relatively low gains in weight. In the developed world, diabetes is most common among the poorest communities. Either way, wherever poverty and lack of sanitation drive families to low cost-per-calorie foods and packaged drinks, type 2 diabetes thrives.
  Diabetes is deadly. It accounts for 3.8 million deaths per year, similar in magnitude to HIV/AIDS. Once thought of as a disease of the elderly, diabetes has shifted down a generation to affect people of working age, particularly in developing countries. This has economic consequences. As IDF Vice-President Jean-Claude Mbanya puts it, “This epidemic is responsible for so much suffering and loss of life, yet so little is being done to tackle it. Where growing economies like India and China lead, many will soon follow. Doing nothing in the face of the epidemic will place significant stress on the economic development of many countries and will jeopardize the Millennium Development Goals.”

And here's a press release from 2011:

• New Diabetes Atlas figures released today by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) confirm that the diabetes epidemic continues to worsen.
  
  Data from global studies demonstrates that the number of people with diabetes in 2011 has reached a staggering 366 million, 4.6 million deaths are due to diabetes and health care spending on diabetes has reached 465 billion USD.
  
  IDF launched the figures at the Lisbon meeting of EASD (European Association for the Study of Diabetes) a week ahead of the UN Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which has demonstrated that world leaders are finally facing up to the challenge posed by diabetes as well as cancer, heart and chronic respiratory diseases.
  
  As only the second UN Summit in history to deal with a health-related issue, the global diabetes community is expecting international political leaders to sign-up to commitments, concrete actions and measurable targets to tackle NCD as they did at the ground-breaking High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS in 2001.
  
  ...

As you see the global number of diabetics in 2006 was 246 million with the data indicating we'd reach 380 million in 20 years time in 2026. We in fact reached 366 million - 90% of the way to 380 million - in 2011 - just five years later. In case you're wondering, according to IDF we reached 382 million globally last year and the new predicted figure is 592 million by 2035. The period 2006-2013 shows a 55% increase over 2006 levels in the number of diabetics, thus we would expect a similar increase in the number of overweight/obese people.

This is exactly why it's called an epidemic - it's literally out of control with the disease occurring faster than we can cope with, and affecting productivity and GDP.