New bill would make it illegal for restaurants to serve the obese, page 9

Not everyone is overweight because they overeat. Some people have health problems which either prevent them from being active. Other people have health problems which prevent normal, healthy food from being processed correctly in the body.

I hardly eat anything at all much of the time, yet I weigh nearly twice what I should. For years I dieted and exercised, yet kept gaining weight. I have numerous health problems. The medical profession blames my weight for my health problems, yet I know for a fact that I was having these health problems when I was skinny. No one would listen to my health problem complaints until I became fat, then they blamed my weight. My health problems caused my weight gain.

I used to get the supersized meals, but I certainly didn't eat them all at once. I'd cut it up into multi-meals and have lots of meals out of one supersized meal. No way I could've eaten all of that. Way too much food!

I used to eat a lot of fruits and still gained all this weight. Now I know I cannot eat fruits because of one of my many health problems. I have interstitial cystitis where the lining of my bladder is gone in spots and the nerves are exposed. When I eat fruit or drink fruit juice, I get bad bladder pain that lasts for days. I didn't know what caused it though until I was diagnosed. Drs kept thinking I was getting bladder infections and kept instructing me to drink cranberry and fruit juice which was making the problem worse. I had those symptoms literally all my life, since I was born probably, but people in my family kept telling me basically to shut up, there was nothing wrong with me, and that I was just trying to get attention.

I have Crohns also. I have trouble eating most vegetables and have since I was a kid, although my family didn't believe me and forced me to eat them anyway. I was born with that also since I remember having the problem as early as 3/4 yrs old and cannot remember anything before that to know if I had the prob as a baby or not. I have trouble with milk, cereal, etc as well.

About all I can eat is bread, potatoes, chicken, small amounts of peas/carrots if boiled to ultrasoftness, small amounts of banana and apple, and I have to drink lots and lots of water. If I drink a soda I'm in pain often for days bladder wise, but sometimes sipping coke will help if my Crohns gets upset. Often what I can eat with my Crohns upsets my bladder and and what I can eat with my bladder problem upsets the Crohns.

I have a friend who has diabetes. The diabetes causes her to not lose weight, even though she doesn't pig out.

Health problems can and do cause the body to retain fat.

Did you know that not sleeping enough can cause people to overeat? The body has less energy because of lack of sleep, so the body adapts by telling the person that he/she is hungry.

Stress can cause the body to not process fat properly.

People with low blood sugar often end up with weight issues. The body produces too much insulin, sometimes the insulin is good insulin, sometimes it's bad insulin, and the body reacts by needing more food or the person faints.

Lots of health problems out there are contributing to the overweight population. It is not just overeating.