Fat Is A Self-Inflicted Disease

I just came back from three days in Las Vegas. What an
eye-opener!

The biggest, most lavish buffets in the world attract the
biggest, most expansive people. “All you can eat” takes on a
whole new meaning when you realize just how much some people can
consume at a single sitting. Most remarkable was the sight of a
dutiful wife bringing a piled up platter to the table for a
husband who was obviously way too fat to stand in line on his
own.

That picture was rather unusual in that the wife was about
normal weight. It seems that in most cases, the woman is the
humungous one, waddling through the casino in her big-as-a-tent
shorts, followed by a skinny, wiry guy who looks, at best,
disinterested in life.

Of course, it is harder for women to lose weight, courtesy of
nature’s trick of a small frame coupled with sinister hormonal
influences. But in our society, where pretty girls and sex sell
everything, women tend to be so much more weight conscious.

So what happens? Did they never approach the social ideal or did
they battle for years and then one day just give up?

If you control your weight for an external reason – catching a
mate, making friends, becoming popular – once these goals are
accomplished, the effort no longer seems worthwhile. If you
fight to stay slim for intrinsic reasons – you like to look
slim, you like fitted clothes, you respect yourself when you
know you look good – then you are more likely to keep plugging
away at it.

What is so pathetic about the obese is not just how awful they
look, it’s the deadness in their eyes: no pride, no
self-respect, no self-affection. What a depressing way to exist,
made only more tragic because it is self-inflicted.

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