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According to some sources, at least 1 in 8 of the world population is classified as ‘obese’. Since nobody in any government seems to have thought up a working solution, what do you believe can be done to solve the epidemic?

the alleged definition of obesity

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[–] Tehhund@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

This will be unpopular, but: just stop caring. Let people be whatever size, treat them equally, and don't sweat it. You may not like that but one way to solve an issue is to realize there is no issue.

Would people be healthier if they weren't obese? Possibly. The evidence is a little mixed. I'm in the middle where I think not being obese is healthier but the effect is overblown by related factors. People would be healthier if no one drank alcohol but I don't think banning alcohol is worth it.

(Revealing my biases: I've been extremely fit, I've also been technically obese, and I'm on a GLP-1 inhibitor because I want to lose weight. But I'm not interested in telling other people how heavy they should be)

https://www.the-independent.com/news/health/obesity-no-crisis-regular-exercise-more-important-than-weight-fat-but-fit-professor-traci-mann-a7833306.html

Bring on the downvotes, my body is ready.

[–] QuickSuccess@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I disagree. Obesity is medically proven to be unhealthy, and many obese people might just give up trying to improve their health, especially if they are told that there's "no issue".

Even if we didn't care about them or their health, society at large still pays for the extra inevitable medical bills, since we can't really just stop providing healthcare for medical issues caused or exacerbated by obesity.

[–] Tehhund@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So you agree that alcohol and automobiles should be banned because they are harmful to health and society pays substantial costs due to their negative impacts?

[–] QuickSuccess@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

I didn't say anything about banning anything in my previous comment, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from. But anyway:

Automobiles have negatives, but also positives. In my opinion we shouldn't ban them, but if we can encourage reduced usage where unnecessary it could help people's health and the environment. But it would be silly to ignore the benefits that they did and do provide.

As for alcohol, I wouldn't outright ban it, but I would lean towards banning advertising it.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 3 points 5 days ago

As you've been both fit and technically obese, I suspect you also realize exercise is much harder to do when you're obese. Not just because moving your body is harder, but because you have less energy and thus it might be much harder to motivate yourself. It's a vicious cycle where gaining weight is even easier when sedentary and being obese makes it harder to not be sedentary.

And with socialized healthcare in most countries, everyone's paying the price. I say this as someone currently technically obese as well.

Luckily most people don't WANT to be obese, so GLP-1 inhibitors are a bit of a godsend. Forcing anyone to lose weight I can't condone, but giving people the best possible chances to be healthy seems like a no-brainer.

[–] waterwasamistake@lemmy.zip -1 points 4 days ago

Thanks for this sane comment.