I don’t buy it. If the cost of health care is the concern, that would be the same argument for all lifestyle ‘risks’. From sexual partners to owning a car. Lots of sports related costs, old people and disabled. And besides, Lots of medical conditions and medications cause weight gain too. Public humiliation of fat people trying to be active contributes greatly to the their weight problems.
The people who see a fat person and start spouting health cpmcers or costs surely are only doing that to feel superior. A lot of fat people work. pay taxes, and health care costs. And a lot of slim people sleeping around, or doing drugs, doing extreme sports, don’t. Your health care costs are higher due to Government bureaucracy and over loading the freebie gravy train of medical care.
I must agree with TH, AIDS is still more expensive to treat than obesity.
Plus some cases of obesity is caused by medications not just simple overeating.
Here are some common prescribed drugs that cause weight gain
There might be some overlap as I got these sources from several sights but wanted you to understand how many drugs out there can cause this and how many Americans can be on one or many of these drugs at one time.
amitriptyline (Elavil)
amoxapine
desipramine (Norpramin)
doxepin (Adapin)
imipramine (Tofranil-PM)
nortriptyline (Pamelor)
protriptyline (Vivactil)
trimipramine (Surmontil)
phenelzine (Nardil)
isocarboxazid (Marplan)
tranylcypromine (Parnate)
paroxetine (Paxil, Pexeva, Brisdelle)
sertraline (Zoloft)
fluoxetine (Prozac)
citalopram (Celexa)
Medicines for diabetes, such as insulin, thiazolidinediones, and sulfonylureas
Antipsychotic medicines such as haloperidol, clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, and lithium
Antidepressant medicines like amitriptyline, imipramine, paroxetine, and sertraline
Epilepsy medicines like valproate, carbamazepine, and gabapentin
Steroid hormone medicines like prednisone or birth control pills
Blood pressure-reducing medicines like beta-blockers such as propranolol and metoprolol
Steroids prednisone, oral contraceptives, norethindrone, Nexplanon, tamoxifen
Antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft), amitriptyline, trazodone, alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium)
Diabetes drugs insulin (Humulin N, Lantus), glipizide, pioglitazone
Opioids oxycodone, hydrocodone
Antihistamines ranitidine, diphenhydramine (Benadryl), cetirizine (Zyrtec)
Blood pressure medications metoprolol (Lopressor), atenolol (Tenormin), propranolol (Inderal)
You talk as if only fat people get criticized. Everyone gets criticized. Slim people sleeping around definitely get criticized. People who undertake risky sports and hobbies get criticized. People having too many kids get criticized. Smokers were practically hunted for sport. Being morbidly obese is like sky-diving with a parachute that was packed by people who don’t like you. Trying to convince us that it is the one and only behavior that should not be criticized is really unlikely to be successful.