Any ideas for obesity?

[ShotgunShaman]

Me and my brother were recently discussing the problem of obesity, and came up with a few clever ideas to help put an end to this "epidemic."

Idea 1: Clothing. Continue to make clothing as normal. But clothes can no longer be made in any size above XL.
Hopefully it would result in: obese people being forced to either lose the weight, walk around naked, or make their own clothes.

Idea 2: At any given gym, such as the YMCA, have exercise bikes hooked up to generators, obese people can get paid for using these bikes for a certain amount of time.
Hopefully it would result in: obese people get a workout, jobs are created in a bad economy, and a lower electric bill. These machines would also be available for home usage, perhaps with similar results.

Thoughts? Ideas of your own?

And this (hopefully) has the search bar seal of approval. In my ten second scan, I didn't see this thread.

 

[Rotukai]

... its an interesting idea but then obease people will say its against human rights etc why get treated different than thinner people... altho one thing that annoys me is the fact they pay the same amount for clothes as we do... altho there is more material etc

 

[Ranis]

PUT DOWN THE FORK

But seriously stop eating. Maybe if grocery stores made a limit to how much people could buy things could change.
Also stores should be a sign that says obesity is not a handicap next to the little carts you can drive at like Walmart.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

I like the idea of hooking a dynamo to an excercise bike...
but then again, I always have liked it when a dynamo is used

 

[ShotgunShaman]

True, everything is improved by a dynamo.

 

[Inco]

Stop fucking eating so much and go outside (it's horrible, I know, I sympathize,) once in a while.

For that, i have to agree.

Normally its because the person who is obese eats more than necessary and doesn't get outside to burn off the energy created by the food consumed. Its a simple premise.

 

[APPCRASH]

It's their life choice, like smoking, or being a nerd. It's not our place to choose for others.

 

[Under The Chestnut Tree]

Ban soda drinks?

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Hell, you don't need to even hook up the machines (they would never generate enough energy to even cover the cost of the machines anyways). Just give people weight based tax breaks. I know that sounds awful, but let me finish. We know for a fact that one of the reasons that Americans have so many health problems is because so many of us are obese. If we were to institude a socialized healthcare program, then Americans who were thinner really would be saving the government money, and as such it seems fair that they could be given a modest tax break or some sort of reward.

The other possibility would be for the government to provide weight loss instruction free of charge. When I decided that I wanted to lose weight myself, I quickly realized that I didn't have the slightest idea what I was doing. I didn't understand how much a calorie was, or how many of them I should have in a day. I didn't know what a healthy amount of exercise per day was. I really didn't know anything, so I had to research it for myself, which I did, but a lot of Americans won't. We are, quite unfortunately, a lazy people as well as obese. If the government made sure to educate people in how to lose and keep off weight then it would help a lot.

But really, the government isn't ever going to help until we get lobiests out of Washington, cause the food industry's got em too, and they benefit from keeping America fat, and as a result the lawmakers who get money from these lobiests also benefit from keeping America fat.

 

[Rotukai]

actually... have an idea... shops to increase the price of junk food etc and make fruit and veg, organic etc cheaper (not sure about states but in the uk they are startin to cost alot)

 

[Ranis]

Ban soda drinks?

Funny I have a friend who just stopped drinking soda and it made a huge difference in his health already after like a month

 

[RavingPenguin]

Move out of the big city and live on a farm. I have never seen an obese farmer. Big farmer, yes, but never obese.

 

[Labyrinth]

Here's a genius idea: stop society being such a dick about weight. As I have said before [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.126070] much of the problem with weight is in the perception. Sure, it's unhealthy to be sedentary but that's regardless of ones weight. Chances are that fat person you're poking fun at has starved themselves half to death in the past so they won't need a size above XL. Most fat people have dieted like mad and regained the weight. I did, for example. It's not a matter of shaming people into being thin because fuck knows if that worked there wouldn't be a person on the planet above 70kg.

Fat is not synonymous with unhealthy.
Thin is not synonymous with healthy.

 

[Inco]

Seriously. I barely eat anything, but if I don't exercise tons, I gain weight.
I know how much it sucks to have to spend your (in my case, nights,) doing a bunch of outdoorsy shit, but that's life.

Same thing here.
I dont actually mind the outdoorsy crap. Its good to get out and about frequently and sports are more fulfilling than games when it comes to playing and going good.

 

[Ranis]

Fat is not synonymous with unhealthy.
Thin is not synonymous with healthy.

however obesity is synonymous with smelling like a rat carcass and that just doesn't really sit well with me no matter how healthy the person is

 

[Haydyn]

Who wants to see obese people naked? Besides, I'm skinny as hell and my shirt size is Large. Clothing companies are going to make clothes for fat people as long as people are fat.

Why pay obese people just because they are producing a tiny bit of electricity? And if it's that profitable, let fit people do it too.

Here's my idea how to stop obesity: Stop glamourizing the fat. If a TV show is going to have a fat comic relief character, have him die of a heart attack by the end of the 3rd season. Make it okay to make fun of fat people. I've seem people go insane at the slightest comment about obesity.

"WHY DID YOU CALL ME FAT?!"
"He didn't, he just said you don't play Wii Fit any more."

"STOP MAKING FUN OF FAT PEOPLE I'M NOT FAT WAAAAAAH!"
"Okay, if you are not fat you shouldn't be offended."

The reason people are getting fatter is because it's okay for them to be fat. Society lets itself go. I say, we bring in a "nice" form of Natural Selection. Let's bug the crap out of fat people until they lose the weight. Make being fat a bad thing. Rather than fat people dieing, all the fat people get fit.

 

[ShotgunShaman]

Not to rile up any sort of hatred or rioting or mass lynchings, but obesity is worse than smoking or other lifestyle choices. This is something that hurts the obese people, hurts other people by buying junk food, which means more junk food and higher prices on quality organic foods, is entirely stoppable (I mean for fucks sake, it's a disease that you inflict on yourself, as you know you're inflicting it on yourself), and it may well be a significant factor in poverty and global warming (agriculture is a leading cause of greenhouse gasses).
Cliched as it is, we need some tough love, or at least some more extreme measures. No one ever died of being offended or insulted.