Japanese government cracking down on fatties -report

[SuperFerret]

Nobody here is saying everyone oughta become anorexic

Obesity needs to be tackled.

Remember to get more than one guy to tackle it though. It's kinda big.


Anyway, I'm ambivalent to this idea. It's good to try and get people to be and stay thin, but forcing people to do anything is definitely a negative. I think that this whole obesity thing is just a matter of self-control and biological luck. I'm fairly thin, 24 and my metabolism seems to be fast, so I can eat at McDonalds once or twice a week if I want (and I shouldn't be lectured if I do ), but I know that the food's not healthy and I always try to keep my diet varied.

 

[Alex The Great]

America Needs This

 

[Drizzle]

I fully support this. Go, Japan!

It's interesting, culturally speaking, though, because Japan is a culture that really looks down on obesity. It's not a socially acceptable sort of thing and people who are really, really overweight are viewed as having something wrong with them that should be fixed. Compare that with the U.S. where it's almost the opposite; people who are in good shape, eat right and exercise regularly are viewed as having something wrong with them because it goes against what is now our cultural norm of eating junk food, being lazy and taking the path of least resistance in nearly every aspects of our lives. We've become a country of McDonald's eating sloths.

jag

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I fully support this. Go, Japan!

It's interesting, culturally speaking, though, because Japan is a culture that really looks down on obesity. It's not a socially acceptable sort of thing and people who are really, really overweight are viewed as having something wrong with them that should be fixed. Compare that with the U.S. where it's almost the opposite; people who are in good shape, eat right and exercise regularly are viewed as having something wrong with them because it goes against what is now our cultural norm of eating junk food, being lazy and taking the path of least resistance in nearly every aspects of our lives. We've become a country of McDonald's eating sloths.

jag

Co-signed.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

What the hell are you talking about?

He's actually right. I don't drink, I don't eat fast food, I don't indulge in sweets, and I don't drink sodas. Americans tend to see diets as a means to an end, and not true lifestyle changes, therefore we've been manipulated into thinking that those who watch their macronutrient intake closely must have some motive for doing so and that this is simply a temporary circumstance. We also tend to look for the quick fix, ignoring any sense of delayed gratifications. We have advertisements that appeal to "real women" and "real men", and glorify habits like excessive eating and drinking. So yes, we view the lifestyles of the healthy and athletic as very counter-culture.

 

[Drizzle]

Jag said that "people who are in good shape, eat right and exercise regularly are viewed as having something wrong with them". This confuses the hell out of me. Since when has exercise ever been looked at in a negative way?

But I will say that Japan passing a law to restrict people's weight (or rather, forcing them to go into dieting programs) is something that borders on Nazism. Let people do whatever the hell they want with their bodies. Why should it be any of the government's business?

 

[Lantern Venom]

Nobody here is saying everyone oughta become anorexic

Obesity needs to be tackled.

Yes, by the individual not the government. The dangerous thing about something like this is that it will snowball. Weight is one of many issues when it comes to health. If Japan decides to make a certain waist size mandatory, other things are sure to follow. Then, it will be a real life San Angeles in Demolition Man.

 

[Drizzle]

Yes, by the individual not the government.

Exactly.

 

[MattBearPig]

33 inches on a Japanese person isn't very extreme. They're tiny little people.

 

[Crowforge]

They can be but I have friends that are 6 foot plus and are full blooded Japaneses.

 

[The Lizard]

^ This brings up a good point. The Japanese, in general, are getting bigger and taller as a population. Not everyone of course (my Japanese language teacher is a late-20s female who's a 5-foot tall size zero), but in general there are taller people and curvier women in Japan now. Blame bovine growth hormones in the beef or whatever.

 

[jaguarr]

Jag said that "people who are in good shape, eat right and exercise regularly are viewed as having something wrong with them". This confuses the hell out of me. Since when has exercise ever been looked at in a negative way?

Are you kidding? I take so much crap from friends, family, co-workers and even people I've just met over my discipline in my exercise and diet. It fries their brain that someone wouldn't want to eat fast food or all the crap that they do, and it also fries their brains that someone would spend "all that time" working out (5-6 hours a week is "a lot of time" for some people, apparently; guess they'd rather spend it watching television). That I schedule my workout times and won't change them for damn near anything or anyone is beyond them. They are constantly trying to lure me away from it with invites to go to the movies or out to dinner or whatever. And when I tell them I can't because that's my workout time, they simply do not understand it (thankfully, most of them have just learned to accept it even if they don't understand it). They think it's narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, a body-image problem, and a whole bunch of other things that would indicate that there is something wrong with ME, not with them. My reasoning for wanting to be healthy and have a lot of functional strength simply isn't good enough for them; there has to be something wrong with me for me to be so zealous and religious about my training and diet. It couldn't POSSIBLY be that they are the ones that might have something wrong with them in terms of their lethargy and what they find acceptable for themselves in terms of diet and exercise (or lack thereof).

Americans like to PRETEND that they are healthy. They have gym memberships and go there occasionally to socialize and do pseudo-workouts, but then they go right back to eating complete garbage, binge drinking, chain smoking (it boggles my mind how many people I have seen step outside the gym after a workout and light up a cigarette) and all the other bad habits that are making the U.S. one of the unhealthiest countries in the world.

jag

 

[Manic]

Move to the San Francisco area, Jag. All of California is vain and obsessed with its own looks, but NorCal does exercise like SoCal does plastic surgery.

 

[jaguarr]

Move to the San Francisco area, Jag. All of California is vain and obsessed with its own looks, but NorCal does exercise like SoCal does plastic surgery.

Oh, yeah. I know it. I have a lot of friends in the Bay Area and have spent A LOT of time there. The people are pretty fit where I live, too, for the most part (lots of outdoor sports going on here), thankfully. At least in the Bay Area, most people are pretty laid back and easy to get on with. It's not like L.A. where everyone's fake and plastic and sharpening their knives behind your back.

jag

 

[SuperFerret]

Are you kidding? I take so much crap from friends, family, co-workers and even people I've just met over my discipline in my exercise and diet. It fries their brain that someone wouldn't want to eat fast food or all the crap that they do, and it also fries their brains that someone would spend "all that time" working out (5-6 hours a week is "a lot of time" for some people, apparently; guess they'd rather spend it watching television). That I schedule my workout times and won't change them for damn near anything or anyone is beyond them. They are constantly trying to lure me away from it with invites to go to the movies or out to dinner or whatever. And when I tell them I can't because that's my workout time, they simply do not understand it (thankfully, most of them have just learned to accept it even if they don't understand it). They think it's narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, a body-image problem, and a whole bunch of other things that would indicate that there is something wrong with ME, not with them. My reasoning for wanting to be healthy and have a lot of functional strength simply isn't good enough for them; there has to be something wrong with me for me to be so zealous and religious about my training and diet. It couldn't POSSIBLY be that they are the ones that might have something wrong with them in terms of their lethargy and what they find acceptable for themselves in terms of diet and exercise (or lack thereof).

Americans like to PRETEND that they are healthy. They have gym memberships and go there occasionally to socialize and do pseudo-workouts, but then they go right back to eating complete garbage, binge drinking, chain smoking (it boggles my mind how many people I have seen step outside the gym after a workout and light up a cigarette) and all the other bad habits that are making the U.S. one of the unhealthiest countries in the world.

jag

I get alot of the opposite, though I'm by no means obese. I get crap about eating fast food and drinking sodas and stuff like that. I think that people should just mind their own business when it comes to someone's personal health habits.

 

[Manic]

I have a wide body frame in general. I don't care how much I diet & exercise (4 weeks and counting, so far), there's only so small I can get without removing some of my ribs. And the only way I'm removing my ribs is if God himself promises me some ho's.

 

[jaguarr]

I get alot of the opposite, though I'm by no means obese. I get crap about eating fast food and drinking sodas and stuff like that. I think that people should just mind their own business when it comes to someone's personal health habits.

You...know that stuff is really bad for you, right?

I have a wide body frame in general. I don't care how much I diet & exercise (4 weeks and counting, so far), there's only so small I can get without removing some of my ribs. And the only way I'm removing my ribs is if God himself promises me some ho's.

I think I've seen a pic of you around here. You should go the powerbuilder route (cross between powerlifter and bodybuilder) and start moving some seriously heavy weight. You've got the perfect frame for it and could turn into a serious, serious badass over time from that. (And that doesn't mean being chunky, either, it means just being thick and muscular and strong as all living hell).

jag

 

[SuperFerret]

You...know that stuff is really bad for you, right?

jag

Yes, I know. But I'm young and healthy, and I'll eat what I want. It's not like I eat at McDonalds more than twice a week anyway.

 

[jaguarr]

Yes, I know. But I'm young and healthy, and I'll eat what I want. It's not like I eat at McDonalds more than twice a week anyway.

I won't preach at you. I'll just say that I had that attitude when I was younger and that stuff has a cumulative effect that can catch up with you when you get older. I smartened up and caught it in time and cleaned up my diet and lifestyle before the damage was irreversible. Hope you do, too.

jag

 

[SuperFerret]

I won't preach at you. I'll just say that I had that attitude when I was younger and that stuff has a cumulative effect that can catch up with you when you get older. I smartened up and caught it in time and cleaned up my diet and lifestyle before the damage was irreversible. Hope you do, too.

jag

Oh, I'm fully aware that it'll catch up to me in the future, and I am taking steps to keep myself from becoming extremely unhealthy. I just want to enjoy my youth without having to nitpick over calorie intake and such stuff that's become the trend lately. (And at least I'm somewhat realistic about it, unlike those people who get salads at McDonalds and think that they're eating healthy.)

 

[hammy]

35 1/2 inch waist?!