I See Fat People

In the past year I've really been noticing the rise in obesity that's been reported so widely in the media. I see it most when I travel, as I'm usually in the States (where I think it's probably slightly worse than it is here in Canada) and if you're in a major U.S. airport these days, you're probably there for awhile, since chances are at least one of your flights will be delayed. So you have a great opportunity to see lots of different people pass you by, and lately, most of them look overweight.

As someone who was skinny as a kid - "bone-rack" was a common insult hurled my way - I never really had to watch my weight until recently. In university, I was six foot, two inches and weighed 130 pounds. A year and a half ago - or about 20 years later - I was six foot, two inches and weighed about 230 pounds. Clearly I was ridiculously underweight at 130 lbs, but there was also no doubt in my mind that I'd tipped the scales the other way last year. It was a moment during our Hawaiian vacation, when I caught a glimpse of myself in the hotel room mirror, naked above the waist, that convinced me I needed to lose some fat. When we got home from Hawaii, I got on the scales and then put a piece of paper with 230 on it, on the fridge, so that I'd be constantly reminded of where I'd gotten to, weight-wise. Then, every week for about eight months afterward, I weighed myself on the same upstairs scales and recorded my new weight. Gradually, by a pound or so a week, I managed to get myself down to right around 200 lbs, at which point I levelled off and have held steady ever since. These days I only weigh myself occasionally, but I've only moved within a 5 lb range since. And when I checked the ideal weight by height for my stats, it looks like I'm only 5 - 10 lbs above the top of that range. So that seems reasonable to me.

How'd I do it? Nothing all that special: I biked to work 8 months of the year (but I'd been doing that before I started trying to get my weight back down) and I tried eating until I was no longer hungry, instead of eating until I was full. Those two things seem to have been all I needed, along with the constant reminder - on the fridge - that I'd allowed myself to become overweight and had needed to do something about it.

So what I can't figure out is why so many people are obese these days and doing nothing about it. Are they OK with how they look? Are they unconcerned that they'll suffer serious health issues like heart disease or high blood pressure as they get older? Do they not care what sort of example they're setting for their kids? Or is it simply a case of them doing exactly what they want every day, which includes over-eating and not getting any exercise? Is the weight problem just another symptom of people becoming more and more selfish and hedonistic?

Of course, in the final analysis, I shouldn't really care. As long as it's not someone I love (thankfully, my small number of close family members aren't among the growing community of Hungry, Hungry Hippos) what's it matter? It doesn't, except when I have some large body overflowing out of his or her seat onto mine, in a theatre or airplane. Then I mind!