This is inspired by the topic: "US Only Country With Poor Fat People?"

Although what I am asking you to imagine is highly unlikely, but what would happen if over 50% of people are overweight some time in the future? This means we become fat on average, which makes fat not fat anymore. So people have to alter their sense of taste and style and technology to accomodate their fatness instead of losing weight. This is already being done slowly in the USA. More and more companies specialise in products and services for fat people to be comfortable. Many fat people claim to despise themselves when they try diet or exercise. Some claim to feel insecure when thinner. Some simply go ahead and say, hey, this is how we are, and no matter what I do I can't lose fat without being unhappy, so we'll just have to embrace ourselves and our fatness, and let other people accomodate me. This is happening already. I am personally normal weight, so it actually scares me a little to think about -- when thin people become minority, will people respect or despise their thinness?

as long as it doesn't become the norm for women I don't care :)

Imagine having to sneak around to see your skinny girlfirend. Telling her "... no baby, we can't go out, let's just order in & watch this DVD ... folks will never understand if we're seen together .... ". Imagine feeling sorry for the size 3 girl in class because she's got such a pretty face - thinking "...if she'd only gain 50 lbs, she's really be something ..."
Look at the plus side (!!) when fat folks become the norm, the rest of us get more comfortable seating in movie theaters & on airplanes as companies move to accomodate them.

Highly unlikely, yes....but nowadays you'd think it were actually happening with all the primetime specials on obesity, as well as the number of people who just give up and live inactive lives cause they think they don't have the willpower or motivation to get out there and try some activities to help them get in shape again. For some, even this is impossible in a normal routine, but we can't be blamed for their inactivity.

Think of the monetary medical costs and lowered life expectancy.

Those 2 balance one another. The cost of funerals, however, will continue to rise as more materials are needed to build coffins, thereby requiring even larger hearses.

Yes, and the fact that more people will have to serve as paulbearers per funeral and miss work.

i tell you one thing, hollywood would be in deep. the trend of "beautiful" is skinny and fit... i think that while fat may become the majority, popularity will always send people to be fit.

i think that overweight people having no motivation or willpower is very true. society grants them special privledges for being fat, as well as encourage them by developing technology (i.e. motorized wheelchairs, liposuction) to encourage them to not worry about their weight.

however, their fat will catch up with them. i think soon the average age of death-which has been rising since the invent of modern medicine- will start lowering again. people will be less healthy, die more often of obesity related issues, and the equilbrium will be maintained.

I don't think it's a matter of "what if", but more like when. Just take a look at the kids(in America), not to mention the adults.

Yes, that's probably the worst part of this, the fact that so many children can bearly do what children could years ago, and even if they can they don't.

What’d ya expect? We have video games and cable TV nowadays. Outdoor activities just can’t compete with this.

well, hell, no parent wants to take their kids outdoors anymore. or if they do, they go "camping" in their $12,000, hottub in the back, sattelite TV RVs.

why should kids want to get outdoors when the "secret to great thighs and abs" is in a gym? why get a job on a farm when they can work in a place that makes you work a lot less and gives you fast, greasy food?

one site i can't stand looking at while camping...people who are sitting out by their campers and doing exactly the same thing they probly do at home: watch TV and waste energy. Isn't camping where you're supposed to get away from the bore of home and get some energy back into your dull miserable lives? This and other things, such as fast food and video games, contribute to the obese of America.

I used to think that playing lots of video games gave you a good workout by how much you work your fingers on the controllers...(i was very young back then and obviously that was far from the truth).

Kids are becoming more and more inactive. In my opinion, its due to heavy marketing of video games and fast food. Parents should know when to limit how much fast food and video games a child gets. (I'm not fully blaming the parents, but they should at least step in to know when a kid has had too much of an inactive lifestyle). If we limited this and kids got outdoors more, they would have higher self-esteem, make more friends, be more successful in activities in their later years, and more sociable with others.

And to give you a heads-up on just how much fast food we consume, here's some "fun" facts about fast food! enjoy...
http://www.geocities.com/snowyssillyfacts/fastfood1.html

(note: Fact #3 is just another sick reason why I don't eat at McD's)

Gee, silver, I wuz fascinated hearin' about what it wuz like when you were so... young... :D

Any buddy here ever hear of sumo? You know, that sport in which it's survival of the... fattest?

I think it odd, that it's prob'ly the number one favorite sport in Japan, a nation with not very many fat people...

...while as, in America, a nation with a large proportion of fat people, the sight of sumo is abhorent rather than way kewl! (Sumo, by the way, is an okay sport, if ya have the... stomach fer it...)

;)

Originally posted by In Odder Words
Gee, silver, I wuz fascinated hearin' about what it wuz like when you were so... young...

well, thats about all there was to it anyway:)

Added to Olympics...
Hot Dog eating contest.
Pool Floating.
Couch potato racing.
Pie throwing.
Very Brawd,jumping.


And.....

I think it's already becoming the norm, I get made fun of all the time for being skinny, and I'm just a normal skinny. I could understand if I was like a bean pole. Even though that's what some people call me, and I weigh 118 lbs, THAT'S NOT A BEAN POLE! lol I'm pretty sure we're somewhere close to 50%. I think I saw in a magazine that 60% of teenage girls wear over a size 13, that is really big and 60% is a lot (keep in mind I'm not completely sure about this). I do remember seeing it was a big percent. I know there are some disorders where people can't help that they're fat, but those who can help it cannot complain about being fat. Being fat is a lifestyle, a very LAZY lifestyle that says you don't care about yourself.

Ugababe

Those people with "true" problems, thyroid, etc...are few and far between. The problem is that as soon as someone is over weight they start blaming everything else instead of changing there habbits. I have spent time with lots of friends that say, "poor me poor me, I try everything and just can't loose weight". Then 5min. later they sit down with a bag bag of chips and 2 huge burgers from Mc d's. They ask other people how they loose weight and they allmost allways get the same answer eat RIGHT and EXERCISE. Of course the fat ones have an excuse for this to "well I'm just to busy to exercise and I have to eat fast food because I'm to tired to cook." The bottom line is bull sh**, loosing weight involves a life style change and in reality it is not that hard. Will power, will power, will power, change bad habits and take a 20 min. walk 4 times a week and some might just be surprised

Originally posted by mad dog
Ugababe

Those people with "true" problems, thyroid, etc...are few and far between. The problem is that as soon as someone is over weight they start blaming everything else instead of changing there habbits. I have spent time with lots of friends that say, "poor me poor me, I try everything and just can't loose weight". Then 5min. later they sit down with a bag bag of chips and 2 huge burgers from Mc d's. They ask other people how they loose weight and they allmost allways get the same answer eat RIGHT and EXERCISE. Of course the fat ones have an excuse for this to "well I'm just to busy to exercise and I have to eat fast food because I'm to tired to cook." The bottom line is bull sh**, loosing weight involves a life style change and in reality it is not that hard. Will power, will power, will power, change bad habits and take a 20 min. walk 4 times a week and some might just be surprised

That's exactly what I'm saying...

It's funny that 20-30-40 years ago we didn't have all these fat problems. Back when farming was a norm you hardly ever seen fat kids. Now with 4000TV channels, computers, games, etc...fat seems to becomming the norm. Lets not forget the Mc D's and doughnut shops on every corner.

In a way, it would actually be a GOOD thing if fatness became the norm because it’s a whole lot easier to gain weight than it is to lose it. If you wanted to fit in, all you’d have to do is eat a little more. Life would be easy.

Originally posted by Mopoloton
In a way, it would actually be a GOOD thing if fatness became the norm because it’s a whole lot easier to gain weight than it is to lose it. If you wanted to fit in, all you’d have to do is eat a little more. Life would be easy.
Did you even consider the number of health problems that would be thrown in if we all "eat a little more"? Why don't we all just live on a diet of three sticks of butter a day? We may fit in with THE OTHER OVERWEIGHT, INACTIVE AND DEPRESSED population, but would we really fit in with ourselves??

Eating right and excercising IS THE ONLY ANSWER!!! Since I started college, I've been doing a lot more lifting and running than I used to do, as well as eating better, and less (with partial aid to the "phenomena" known as the low-carb diet). I consider myself to be the kind that's not really fat, but not really thin....kinda in between, but not totally overweight. I'm hoping I don't become "one of them".

It's all the result of a subconscious revolt against the saying " ... you can never be to rich or to thin ...". In 100 years, sociologists will have a ball writing examination questions for their students to have them explain just why at the dawn of the 21st Century the population became so overweight!

I read a disturbing study the other day that relates to this issue. The study was sponsored, in part, by Gerber, so take it as you think it's worth.

The study found that a third of children aged 7 to 24 months ate no vegtables or fruit what so ever. What the hell are these kids eating? And, of those kids who did eat veggies, french fries was listed as the number one most consumed veg. The majority of tots (all between the ages of 7 and 24 months) drank pop all day and when they did drink juice it was the kind that is only 10% real fruit juice. Most of the kids were taking in up to 100 calories too many each day, but more than half the mothers interviewed said they considered their kids to be picky eaters.

All this obesity is starting at a young age, and when a 7 month old is not eating fruits and veggies it is no one but his parent's fault.

On the other hand (yes even after that rant, there's another side) I wonder how much poverty effects all this. 100% real juice is a lot more expensive than the watered down, sugared stuff. Even the real peanut butter that only contains peanuts and salt, and the icecream that contains nothing but cream, sugar and vanilla costs more than the stuff that contains hydrogenated oils and artificle flavorings. You would think all those perservatives and chemicals would cost more!

Ever see the pictures of people in the consentration camps?
Health problems or no I don't remember seeing a fat person.
Sorry for the terrible example, but no food no fat.

Hey, J_Lively's back! *Cheers*

Of course it's possible that technological advance comes through first and allows easy body alteration before fatness becomes norm. But that's another topic.

Did you even consider the number of health problems that would be thrown in if we all "eat a little more"? Why don't we all just live on a diet of three sticks of butter a day? We may fit in with THE OTHER OVERWEIGHT, INACTIVE AND DEPRESSED population, but would we really fit in with ourselves??

Eating right and excercising IS THE ONLY ANSWER!!!
Eating right is easier said than done. I just couldn’t see myself giving up greasy foods and sweets. Things that are “good for you” taste horrible. I see myself as being a little overweight, but not obese. I still, however, question whether or not eating right to stay in shape is really worth it. I mean, what’s the point in living a long, healthy life if all the food you eat tastes like crap?

Before I had the twins, I was never overweight, and diet and weight loss was never a concern of mine. Having said that, once I started growing 2 fetuses in my body my appetite was voracious! I went through a pound of grapes every couple days, that was just my thing. when it came to meals and planning meals it was like my logic was thrown out the door, i was hoarding and palnning meals ahead what I would eat. And god forbid if you came to my house and started rooting in my fridge! Pregnancy does crazy things to you and eating for three is a daunting task. The first year after the girls losing the weight was hard because I was indoors all the time, now that the girls are more mobile, this second year the weight is falling off......

If you look at Native people who are living on reserves in the traditional way, you hardly see an overweight person. Food is looked at as a necessity, not a pasttime, cause it takes up too much time and effort to obtain and prepare, as does keeping warm and clothed. Do you know how much wood you have to split over a summer to keep your ass warm over the winter? I don't think that many people have much of an idea anymore what people had to do even 50-100 years ago to stay full, warm, and dry.
Society now wants instant gratification in most aspects of life and resists working for the results and our biology and genetics hasn't caught up to the immobile lifestyle that is commonplace now.
Me? Although I respect the ruggedness and resilience of my grandmothers and their teachings and simplicity, I do not not fully emulate the old traditions and ways, although I am glad I have the knowledge to if the need ever arose........
Basically we weren't designed to be so idle, we were designed to chase after 15 kids, and provide for and clothe them all. The human body can accomplish a lot on very little.........