csense...come on! You can buy a banana and an apple and a cheese stick for a lot less than a big Mac!

Sigma in my case I never lost all the weight from my pregnancy, then health issues made matters even worse. I am about 45lbs over weight as to what I feel I am healthy at... My meds and back issues make it difficult to lose the weight. And in all truthfullness you really don't see it coming, it just kinda sneeks up on you, you don't see the changes in yourself like others can see.

actually it is about what we eat and health goes much deeper than calories in and calories out

http://money.msn.com/family-money/does-b...
An interesting take on the subject.

How does one gain 50 lbs in the first place and not realize there is a major problem? Those people that lost a ton of weight congrats, but were you drunk or high the entire time gaining it? Seriously i would like to know.

When fruits and vegetables are less expensive than junk food, there will be fewer obese people.

Westerbust is dead on. It's all about the calories. Rather than focusing on what we eat, people need to focus on how much. Eliminating the suger, fat, carbs, gluton, etc... wont change anything if calorie count is higher than what is burned. There is an active number of calories burned at rest, light activity, all the way to high activity lifestyles. The trick is to figure out how many calories your body requires to maintain your current weight, then scale back. Getting the govt involved in this is just going to wreck it for everyone. Next thing you know, certain foods will be taxed, certain foods will be disallowed, etc... It's bad enough that I can't go to McDonalds and get a TRUE Supersize meal anymore...can't get my big gulp at a movie theater in New York City....all because a large protion of the population ruined it for the rest of us. The big gulp and the super sized meal doesnt make you fat...its the glutony that does.

Diets don't work because they are temporary and often involve feeling hungry. You have to make a permanent lifestyle change to lose and keep weight off. Once you are obese, it is much harder to lose and keep weight off because you can't lose fat cells once you gain them. They will shrink, but will still be there wanting to be "filled up" again. So even if you can't lose much weight, making dietary changes will still set an example for the children and others in your life who can still prevent obesity.

This site has some good information:
http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/oehp/obesity/s...
-
Also if you look through your kitchen, fridge and freezer, I'm sure you will find some reasons why you have excess weight. Frozen pizzas a staple? Poptarts for breakfast? Lunchables? Breads, buns, rolls for every meal? Dessert after every meal? There are so many bad eating habits that are so easy to fall into due to convenience and our busy lifestyles.

sal-I could not agree more. These people act like we WANTA be fat. Most, if not all, obese people I know are experts on diets and nutriton because they've been on dozens of diets, lost and gained back weight on all of them. NOBOY I know wants to be fat,I think its in our genes-I bet everybody on here knows somebody that can eat like a horse and not gain a ounce. I drive by Burger King and gain three pounds. If they want it down to 24%,
us obese people will have to die.

Ha, Raw milk and boycotting GMO's... City people and their lack of knowledge of agriculture... gets me every time!

Although I do agree with you on your theory of eating being a learned behavior. I myself have lost 25+ pounds in the last month, by simply eating better. Your body gets used to lower caloric intakes with time, I've found that by eating less it doesn't bother me anymore and I can't eat anywhere close to as much food as I used to.

Everyone should do some research on the subject. Here is another you can add to the list: “Processed” Dairy is very unhealthy. If you read up on the processing of milk you will understand what causes people to be “dairy intolerant”, in the name of making it safe to consume. You will also start to understand why it adds pounds to our waistline. Since I stopped eating dairy (except Raw Milk and products I make at home from the raw milk) I have lost near 50 pounds (and still loosing) and my caloric intake is the same as it has always been. More nuts, vegies, meet, legumes and a little fruit replace the dairy. I am never hungry. I too do not eat grains and will not as long as they are GMO. p.s. corn is not a vegie, it is a grain :(. Also If it comes in a box you should not eat it. Read the labels, when you can't pronounce something read up on it. It will turn your stomach to find out what is really in your food. Eating is a learned behavior, if you change your eating habits for a couple weeks you will loose the cravings and your weight loss will be the bonus that keeps you going.

I AM OBESE.. See, I can say it.. It is MY RESPONSIBILITY. Not the government and not my taxpayer neighbors.. who have their own issues. Stop trying to turn my personal problems into a reason to implement agenda 21.. 'The plan calls for compact community design that enables more people to bike or walk to work' that is straight out of Agenda 21, people. I'd have more time for exercise if I didn't have to monitor the stupid government. And yes,aint it amazing how we all started getting fatter after the government started pushing all those whole grains on us.. finally, those of you making degrading comments about fat or obese people.. 1) I wonder how many of you could stand to nip off a few pounds 2) Wonder if you realize that the people you point to as fat may be actively working on losing weight and have lost some already - I have..3) How many of you drink, smoke, use drugs recreationally? I don't, and most fat people I know do NOT. So, climb off my fat ass, you nanny state do gooders, or I'll sit on you!

donnaw-no one has willpower when they are hungry. The key is to not buy this junk in the first place so it isn't available to eat mindlessly. Also, if you eat lots of veggies, then you won't be hungry and it's much easier to avoid crap-food when you don't feel hungry.

whz bng and joym m are on the right track of the real problem here. The taxpayers support programs to feed crappy food to people who supposedly need it, and then support more programs to tell them they eat too much crappy food. And of course, this is just to try and reduce the amount of taxpayers dollars being spent on health care for the folks who were fed too much free crappy food.

ditto wetorbust, well said.

And as long as people continue to accept they are fat and be ok with it....you'll always have it. The expectations of society contradict each other... If you tell someone they are fat and need to lose weight you are "bullying" them. So people cant say anything and fat people accept it and roll with it. They themselves are too dumb or naive to do anything about their problem and society has been banned from saying anything to them.
We live in a country where there is an obesity epidemic and where skinny jeans are trending...nice.

When a hospital dietician tells a juvenile diabetic (9 years old) he can no longer dring "regular" soda but must drink "diet" soda and puts in writing; six or more a day is ok. The system is broken.

Calories>>>Calories out. It's that simple. If you aren't burning what you are taking in, it gets stored as fat. Lower you intake of high calorie processed foods. No pop, if you do, drink diet. Eat responsibly 6 days a week, have one cheat day. Exercise at least 3-4 times a week, more if possible. We don't need the government to tell us what to eat. Unfortunately a majority of Americans are either lazy or uneducated, or a little of both.

Browns...in 99% of the time if you see an obese child I'd bet the parents are also obese. And people KNOW why they are obese so all the govt programs in the world aren't going to make a difference. And you posters talking about too much bad carbos in our diet ARE SO RIGHT! But it takes will power. Who doesn't like the sweets and the bad carbs but they are the culprits! I love bread and potatoes but I really have to watch them. I can do without sweets but the starchy carbs are my downfall.

I would LOVE to see all of you on these committees and in politics to "fix" the problem.

Even though the government is trying to help the poorer people with breakfasts, lunch, after school snacks, it is true that obesity can be a result.

True, it is NOT up to the government at any level to fight or fix the problem. There are educational programs out there for parents/adults and children in how to eat right and exercise. It is up to the adults raising the children to do the right thing in teaching the children how to eat right. The adults need to be the role models.

Unfortunately, there is not enough prevention out there. We hear stories of how severely obese children are taken from their parents (or whoever is raising them) because of the weight issues. The public cries that the child shouldn't be taken from the adult. Is that so wrong for the child's health and well-being to help them learn out to become healthy and lose weight? Maybe the government should become more strict with prevention to keep the obese children at home. Would it really be wrong to ask the medical professionals to do more when they see an obese child come in and the adults raising the child are not taking on the active role of helping the child become healthier and lose weight?

zdog - Right! People need to demonstrate personal accountability. Guns kill people just like spoons make you fat.

The problem with this plan is that it doesn't address the bad eating habits. Adding a little more fruit is NOT going to help. Exercise does not help if you just consume more calories to replace the ones you burn. Education is the key and I don't see that addressed in this plan.
-
Cut all processed foods and the pounds will melt away, even with minimal exercise. That means no food with HFCS in it (cuts a lot of processed food by removing that one ingredient!). No white bread or items made with white flour or corn flour (bread, pasta, cookies, chips, donuts, etc)-only %100 whole grains and limited amounts of that. The staples of the diet should be basics, lots of vegetables, and some fruit, meat, cheese and whole grains. Almost nothing should be prepared and/or in a box or can. All drinks should be naturally sugar-free with water as the main one (water, tea, coffee, or milk). No "diet" products with artificial sweeteners (it is hard at first, but doesn't take long to get over sugar cravings).
-
Obesity is putting a huge strain on our healthcare system and therefore needs to be addressed by government since they/we are paying for a lot of it. We all need to care about this problem because it is raising health care costs (and taxes) for ALL of us.

Great comments happycamper and observer. and woudl everyone please get off the gov't crap. please. YOU are responsible. Not the gov't, not the school lunches, YOU are, every single one. I see what people are feeding their kids, I see what most people's shopping carts are filled with, I see you eating out a restaurants and everywhere else. The gov't isn't making those decisions, YOU are.
-
I used to volunteer to go in in the morning to serve lunches in J'ville. It wasn't the gov't that was providing the food, it was plan ol everyday americans and the choices were ridiculous. Sugar and cereal, tons of it and their excuse was, well they won't eat anything else.
-
The number one reason we are fat, is we feed ourselves like cattle. Grain, grain, grain and sugar, sugar, sugar and we're rewarded with heart disease, inflammatory bowel and joint diseases, obesity and rotten teeth. Congrats American, following up right behind it would be activity levels

Congratulations observer2, thats awesome..

Happycamper, you took the words right out of my grain free mouth! Have personally lost over 20 pounds without much exercise at all...just cut out the grains & most sugar. Of course this means no bread, doughnuts, cookies, etc. But you replace those calories with meat, veggies, tubers and a little fruit. Your gut health will improve as well...no more heartburn, etc. Oh my, I have confessed to disobeying the gods of big pharma and the FDA food recommendations. Hope I don't get struck by lightening!

whz_bng - to be more specific, the hot lunch programs permitted in Wisconsin schools serve crap. Everything on the kids' plates are brown, white, and yellow, like the days they serve (breaded) chicken nuggets WITH mac and cheese AND fries. Somewhere in there they do serve fruit and veggies, but the kids are not going to eat those first, and then they run out of room and time, and the good (better?) stuff gets dumped. For young kids there shouldn't need to be more than two carb exchanges in addition to milk and fruit in a hot lunch, and all that added fat from breading and fake cheese is not needed.

Butt seriously, The same grains we are feeding cattle to fatten them are the basis of many Americans diets.
Reduce your grain intake reduce your weight.

Private industry has made them fat (fast food, meds, weight loss fads) why does the state have to correct the problem?
Private industry has insured the government and the people they are responsible (companies) and take responsibility for their actions. Let private industry correct their mistakes.

Next time you are in line inside a McDonalds, etc., look around. It is obvious we eat too much fast food and don't exercise enough. So if the state govt tells us what we already know we will change?
twerp...99% of obesity IS junk food related along with no exercise IMO.

I hope that the government takes into account that many, I mean many meds out there cause weight gain. Not to mention other health issues that could make a person over weight and not able to lose it. It is NOT just eatting too much junk food.

Fewer fat kids around when I was in school. Since the gov't started taking over with school breakfast , lunch and afterschool feedings you get the unintended consequences.

Parents need to lead by example. Also, I'm disappointed that Janesville just dropped the requirement for Health class in high school.....the polar opposite of what should be happening.

Its a direct result of our failure of an education system. #1 thing people should be concerned about is their health. Not their job, not income, not anything else. Because without health nothing else is possible. Fat is the new style it seems, muffin tops are supposedly cool... to me fat is unhealthy and if you're fat that says a lot about you... You cant manage yourself. People dont understand they are fat because their caloric intake is more than they can burn off. But they are tired... being tired is a direct result of not being active. Be active and you wont get tired, eat right and you wont get fat. Stuff I learned in elementary school.
-
My tax dollars already go towards this....Public schooling. If that is failing then I do not think we need to stick more tax dollars into fighting fattys. As long as its "cool" to be fat, no one is going to care to get healthy because they are uneducated.....obviously.

Is this really up to the State ? If they wanted to bike,walk,exercise and,eat better,they the obese should just get out and do it. Just an idea.