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Comment by monero-xmr | Hacker News Reader

I’ve simply observed in life that people who are gluttonous have a lot of other issues. Even without exercise it’s simply calories in, calories out. Eating a reasonable amount is easier than eating a lot.

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"Calories in, calories out" is basically a useless phrase, implying that the human response to food and exercise is as easily modelable as a physics problem on a test. Especially how you seem to connect it directly to "gluttony," as though that were the main predictor of a person's weight.

The human body responds in many complex ways to your diet, activity, food intake, etc. Different people absorb variable amounts of calories from the same food, depending on ethnicity, age, type of food, when it's consumed, their microbiome composition, whether they're dieting, the weather outside, etc, etc. And yet, the state of the art is still to "calculate" calories by just setting food on fire and measuring the heat released.

That’s all cope. If you were on a desert island you’d lose weight, plain and simple. No amount of dancing around the issue or nonsense “scientific” studies will refute this fact.

Furthmore trying to normalize obesity is absolutely morally evil and wrong. You are killing people with one of the top killers of humanity - heart disease caused by obesity, lack of exercise, and poor diet. Trying to explain away obesity as a “medical issue” and ignore the 100% self caused aspect is atrocious and part of the reason why so many are sick and dying of this 100% preventable malady.

Do you think Gabe Newell or the countless other successful obese people are somehow immune to this complete lacking in self control? Perhaps they are just puppets controlled by little aliens?

Yes, if they were forced at gunpoint to eat right and exercise they would be healthy, plain and simple. There is no arguing around this. They are simply physically lazy.

I can’t believe I have to point this out. Folks who lived in times of food shortages.. still could end up being obese.

In addition to that, being obese/overweight isn’t always “unhealthy”. Just like being skinny, isn’t always healthy. It’s an individual persons health, and that’s between them and their doctor. There are countless variables in that equation.

And you frankly have no say in that, nor should you judge them for anything in their personal life related to health. Doing so is immoral and prejudicial.

No, being obese is never healthy. Somehow society has been brainwashed into thinking obesity is normal and healthy. Completely wrong. I highly recommend exercising and being in shape. You can eat more calories if you exercise more, if you just like eating a lot of food.

You have low social and emotional intelligence. They’re more important skills to have than you might think.

You might think your bluntness is charming or provides utility ultimately. It doesn’t. It’s offensive, inconsiderate and ineffective if trying to actually persuade anyone (except perhaps yourself).

Further your notion of how weight gain is correlated with “physical laziness” is deeply reductive and indicative of a lacking in basic empathy.

Basically, you’re being an ass hole. It would not surprise me if you were diagnosed with some sort of personality disorder like NPD. Hope that goes well for you in life.

No I have a great life full of friends and family and success. Being obese is a physical ailment, such as being addicted to heroin, except it’s donuts and cheeseburgers and pizza. It will kill you. I have family who are extremely obese with all of the usual ailments associated. It’s very sad and 100% preventable, and recoverable. But they would rather die I guess.

You think heroin addicts don’t quit simply because they’re too lazy?

We are coming full circle here. You have rightly acknowledged the link between heroin addicts and food addicts. We don’t expect anyone to hire heroin addicts, they need to find treatment and therapy before they would be considered employable. These are very risky, potentially dangerous people. However we as a society look around and see obese people everywhere, suffering from the same addictive tendencies. I think the crossover in personality traits is high between drug addicts and obese people. Physically fit people have a lot of positive characteristics and self discipline that lead them to being in shape. Therefore I will wait for the obese to get treatment for their addiction before I associate with them.

> If you were on a desert island you’d lose weight, plain and simple.

Which is entirely unrelated to any of the value judgments that the OP was placing on fat people.

My point is that the decision to be obese, excluding other factors like disability or mental illness, is 100% on the person who is obese. Nothing is stopping someone from eating less and exercising. This is something that anyone can do, regardless of income level. You can eat fast food every single day of your life provided you exercise, count calories, and take a multivitamin - you simply cannot gain weight and you will indeed be healthy. Being obese is a personal decision, one that is lazy and will ultimately lead to an earlier death than would otherwise happen.

Why are disabled people excluded from responsibility of this "personal decision?" Disability does not prevent a person from eating less or exercising more.

A lot of disabled people lack arms and legs, or have asthma so bad they can barely walk up stairs, or other varied reasons they are unable to exercise. It depends on the disability. But for the large majority of people that truly have nothing preventing them from exercising and eating right other than willpower, they should realize how blessed they are, and what a privilege it is to exercise.

Like other prejudices, this can over/mistarget what you're aiming for. One of the most intelligent, driven, and charismatic people I've ever met was fat. Their discipline and character put everyone else's to shame, including mine. Whatever genetic/environmental quirk that made them succumb to eating more had ostensibly no connection to other aspects of their life.

Also,

> Eating a reasonable amount is easier than eating a lot.

isn't this disproved by the obesity epidemic? Evolution prepared us to desperately seek caloric abundance and sedentary lifestyles since those things were so rare in the past. Now that we have them constantly, expecting people to fight their wiring is like expecting clocks to run backwards.

I feel empathy for people who have issues they have no control over, such as disability, mental illness, etc. But obesity is a self control issue. Just as I don’t hire drug addicts because it is a risk, I choose not to hire obese people. It’s simply too risky.

While you’re both scientifically and pragmatically wrong that it’s “calories in, calories out”

More concerning than that is your belief that you are accurate and could never be wrong. That folks with obesity are simply tarnished with an inability to have self control.

You couldn’t be more incorrect. Furthermore, the fact you think an epidemic and issue that affects millions could be summed down into four words… well it’s troubling.

The larger the problem, the more difficult the cause and more evasive the solution.

Another commenter accurately pointed it out. Your prejudice is blinding you.

No it’s just people don’t want to lose weight. If they lived with me and allowed me to control their diet and exercise routine, they would be in shape. It’s a matter of will and they don’t have the will to be normal weight, if not physically fit.

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