I want to know why people think overweight people just sit around and eat?

Question

dont't people understand they could be overweight because of medical problems? I'm just wondering. That seems to be the norm.

Answer 1

Unfortunately... it is a stereo type. I have seen obese people who watch what they eat and work out routinely... but can't seem to loose the weight. I have also seen that over weight person who orders two full King Size meals from Burger King and eats them in the resteraunte. It is merely a case of the few that do it actually giving bad cred to those that live healthy lives.

Answer 2

Because of the tv shows. They show the huge (600 pounds plus) people and ALL the food they DO consume. You notice it is those who are so big they can't get about. Even in the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape, it shows his mother laying there with an electric skillet and a microwave by the sofa where she slept. Physical disabilities don't always show on the outside of a person. So they just think they are lazy and want to sit all the time. They don't know they may have spina bifida, or degenerative spinal disease, or any of many other problems that can cause them not to be active. Anyone will gain weight on a minimal amount of food if they can't physically get out and about.

Answer 3

long time ago when movies first stareted out the directors thought it was funny to put heavy people in as a joke or gag. it seemed funny to see a fat person stuffing his/her face with a turkey leg pie or cake than it would a tin one .even today , how many heavy people ar on the a list ? none . in all honesty most heavy people have a very sensible diet , but their body just can't lose no matter what . the older a person gets the less easy it is to lose also . (I'm living proof) so hopefully people out there realize that obesity is a disease and not something that is caused by sitting around eating all day and night ... i eat one meal a day . i weigh 175 , and am 5'5" i wear a size 12 and that's down from 3 years ago , ..... so i hope i answered your question .

Answer 4

Because most people in the industrialized world DO sit around and eat. Not just somebody who is overweight. I know when I busted up my foot and therefore don't walk nearly as much as I used to, I weigh more.

But the judgmental part of it is they have to focus attention away from their own bad habits, and they will see them in others even if they aren't there.

It's called projection.

Another part is that we are conditioned to admire skinny above robust. Hard to imagine in a society and economy that is geared to make us weigh more. But it's true. If we had to go out in the fields every day and gather enough vegetables for the table, cut wood to cook the food, spend hours a day out in the fields chopping weeds away from the goodies, and starve ourselves like the third world people do, and not by choice, we would look at a little extra weight as a sign of wealth.

Plus, the diet industry makes a boatload of money by telling us that if we spend more money on their plans we will look like the very thin people we are supposed to admire.

Answer 5

It's because many associate being overweight/obese with laziness. Yes, it's true that many in the position that you've mentioned may have medical problems. Usually, if it's medical, the weight is due to hormonal imbalances or genetics. Then again, psychological disorders can come into play too. I say that people are way too quick to judge.

Answer 6

I work in an office with someone who's 55 and overweight. He constantly talks about the need to lose weight and why some people don't. He blames his mother for the dinners she cooks for him, he stops on his way to work for a breakfast burrito, he's first in line for the donuts the salesmen bring in, he gets candy from the machine, and then he crows about how he tries to eat healthy on the rare days he brings a salad or a bit of fruit. I also know a fat diabetic colloge professor who bought low-fat sour cream once, and took it back to the supermarket in a huff demanding his money back because "it didn't taste like the real thing". Stop enabling these people. The vast majority of overweight people have no medical problems, simply poor eating habits, and the rest of us are tired of hearing their excuses. If they want to be fat, let them be fat and shut up about it. But don't expect us to be sympathetic about why they can't get dates or why their spouses lost interest in them and left.

Answer 7

Ignorance

Answer 8

People who are not overweight may have difficulty identifying with someone that they perceive is being very different. You just have to let them think what they think, because chances are you're not going to change their minds until they really start to ask the questions for themselves.

Answer 9

Do you know what else is the norm? People blaming medical and genetic problems on their weight when they could at least get up off their fat ar$e and get SOME exercise instead of laying around all day and night.

Answer 10

because it is by far the easiest way to approach this issue