discrimination @ work is far more prevalent than anyone would like to admit. interesting take, Kipling. i especially enjoyed this post coming from a physically fit specimen like yourself!

you're right about these human sticks wearing black all of the time. what's up with that?

Let's take a triage approach...They wear black because:

>It's always so ever fashionable

>It emphasizes their 'thinness'

>It gives off a tough vibe, like "don't mess with me"

Any other readers have any theories about this?????????????

You juxtapose fat people only with the far extreme, the anorexic or trendy/vegan dieter, instead of looking at the majority of healthy individuals who pay moderate attention to what/how much they eat and how much they exercise. In doing so, this post appears as an attempt to reverse-discriminate, in theory against the polar opposite of the obese. Which is fine, anorexia should not be socially acceptable, since anorexic individuals are in worse health than the obese. But what you have achieved rather is a reverse-discrimination against all "non-fat" people, which includes all of those average-weight-Joe's in the world. All anorexics are thin, not all thin people are anorexics. See the difference?

Let's face some facts, fat people generally ARE lazy, or unmotivated. Hence allowing themselves to get or remain fat. Either exercise, assess what you eat, or both. It doesn't take too much effort, it doesn't take an eating disorder, and it doesn't take the kind of extreme dedication that weight-loss TV shows would have you believe. There's also a difference between overweight and overFAT. If you're 6'0 and weigh 220 because you lift every morning before coming to work, there's a good chance you're healthy. But if you're 6'0 and you weigh 220 with 30+% body fat because you watch TV before work and after dinner, then you're probably not fine.

Back to my point, laziness and lack of motivation are COMPLETELY FAIR reasons for discrimination, especially in the work-place. If one is unwilling to properly assess his or her diet to eliminate the nightly cauldron of macaroni-and-cheese, then what makes him or her more willing to properly assess any other work? A food-intake:exercise-output ratio for one's own body vs. a cost:benefit ratio for the new parts coming in from China? What's really the difference?

I challenge you this, find me other reasons people get fat. Then tell me if those are not worth discriminating against in the work-place. Because with no exceptions, laziness and lack of motivation should be discriminated against (actually if you can find an example where laziness should be rewarded, then please include that in any response). A back injury leading to obesity would be more excusable in the cubicle world, but not in the blue-collar world. And so you don't think I left this out, genetic pre-dispositions can be overcome. Those with genetic pre-dispositions to obesity shouldn't expect to achieve <10% body fat, but there's no reason to be >30%.

Other important notes. My seemingly harsh response is not (outwardly) health-related. While not the world's best study, [http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/168/15/1617] reports that 32% of obese people have normal cardiovascular fitness. I would love to argue that the 70% of fat people have poor fitness because they're FAT, while the 23% of normal-weight adults were metabolically abnormal because they're poorly nourished, but this assumes a lot about people's diets and backgrounds. Also it raises the "are the fat people not fat for the same dietary reasons that the normal-weight people are poorly nourished" question, to which there is no simple answer.

Nor is this cost-of-medicine related. If treating the diseases of fat people cost more than average-weight people, but average-weight people on average live longer than fat people, then in the end the medical costs will be similar. Surely there's a study that assesses these numbers.

"All anorexics are thin, not all thin people are anorexic." by GL. Not all lazy people are fat, and not all obese people are lazy or lack motivation. The result of obesity has many reasons some are genetic, as mentioned, some medical, and some are by the choices of food and exercise one makes.

I would say lack of food knowledge is another. Most people are not well educated about what they eat or how much of it to eat. With portions increasing via restaurants and food being processed or in some cases recreated with different artificial flavors, it is easy to see why people very easily gain weight. I truly believe educating people (especially our children) about the following:
1) benefits of natural organic food and the dangers of some of the ingredients in processed foods and
2) portion amounts is critical to helping people be healthy.
To learn some more about food, I highly recommend people to read Mastering Your Metabolism by Jill Michaels (she has no idea of this post).

Going back to the original article neither "fat" nor "skinny" people should be rashly judged or discriminated against.

You're completely right that lack of food knowledge is a major problem. I originally considered this factor when constructing my original argument. I threw it out however because I believe that that is just a side-effect of laziness. Everybody should put effort into maintenance of their own diet, including research about the foods you eat. If one has gotten fat, and realizes it, one ought to do something. Especially with the current crusade against obesity led by those anorexics mentioned above. Even if the anorexics are not in the right, obese people should at least be aware that there are definitely negative health consequences linked and attributed to obesity.

But my main point is that lazy people SHOULD be discriminated against. That is, those who are not self-motivated and lack the fortitude or will-power to overcome a situation are not ideal for the workplace - ANY workplace. Pencil-pushing jobs obviously have to lower their standards and hire some people of this lower-caliber human, since the brightest and most motivated usually aren't willing to sit at a desk permanently filling out paperwork for a boss as a means of income. However, that doesn't mean they should be allowed to fester in their ineptitude. Efficiency consultants would have something to say here about "the dregs of the system." I'm not saying that all fat people are lazy, or that all lazy people are fat. But there is definitely a trend, a positive correlation. I'm saying that the majority of so-called causes of and excuses for obesity can be traced back to laziness or lack of self-motivation.

Wow, GL; did some fattie whoop your ass as a child or what? Seriously, the venom in your posts is apparent. So you have not encountered lazy/unmotivated people who were not fat? I certainly have. While you state that
"lazy people SHOULD be discriminated against", and you later say that "I'm not saying that all fat people are lazy, or that all lazy people are fat", it seems quite apparent that you believe that all fat people are lazy.

I think the problem in GL's post is the generalization. While I do agree with some of the points made (because I too feel that many obese or overly fat people are indeed lazy) I certainly don't think they all are! I don't think that those who were gifted with good geneology and therefore are not overly fat or thin are always educating themselves well either. Unfortunately, many of us have less than desireable body shapes and I don't think too fat or too thin makes us lazy or not. One could also argue that anorexics are too lazy to eat...but my point is...people are people and we're trying too hard to categorize them here. In closing though...and at the risk of sounding completely contradictory here...there does appear to be a tendency for overweight people to lean toward the lazy side...

I think the problem in GL's post is the generalization. While I do agree with some of the points made (because I too feel that many obese or overly fat people are indeed lazy) I certainly don't think they all are! I don't think that those who were gifted with good geneology and therefore are not overly fat or thin are always educating themselves well either. Unfortunately, many of us have less than desireable body shapes and I don't think too fat or too thin makes us lazy or not. One could also argue that anorexics are too lazy to eat...but my point is...people are people and we're trying too hard to categorize them here. In closing though...and at the risk of sounding completely contradictory here...there does appear to be a tendency for overweight people to lean toward the lazy side...

GL:

While I think you had some valid points in your comment, I was very put off by your tone - judgmental and blaming As a therapist who has worked for 20 years with people who have serious food issues, I react to your rather simplistic observations, particular the "lazy" paradigm. Often there are underlying behavioral/emotional triggers to both over- and under-eating. So you might want to try being more compassionate. I suspect your attitude is readily perceived by your co-workers.

Overweight is the major problem in the world .It can be controlled from yoga. One should practice it under the guidance of a yoga teacher.

You must be fat