Your perception of overweight people?

Watching a motivational You Tube video today the speaker Gary Vandernuk was speaking to a large audience .
He seems to be a tough talking type motivator, no laughs etc.

He mentioned fat people, he said he doesnt employ fat people because they are not successful, they lack energy,they dont have that go go, they dont look successful, they sweat and puff.

It then brought me back to an article I read many years ago on a succesful Realtor John Mgrath who said he made every employee at that time go to the gym to look good.

I know that looking good is important in real estate and in most sales jobs but what is your personal perception?

If your overweight do you find you are discriminated against ?

Would you employ a large person ?

Does being very overweight mean you lack discipline?

Do you need to be a certain weight to be successful ?
Is exercise important to be successful ?

 

I hope we can do something about this crisis. .
Imo government needs to regulate more here.
40% of the Queensland health budget goes to preventable illness that's just unacceptable and stupid from a societal point of view.

 

I agree it is a crisis. I don't agree that regulation will help. What is the government going to regulate?

 

Advertising. Labelling. Tax on unhealthy foods.

 

What's unhealthy food? If dieticians and obesity researchers can't agree on what is unhealthy, how is the government supposed to tax the right foods? Judging by the Australian dietary guidelines, they wouldn't have a clue.

 

I'm not the worlds most active person these days, not in this heat. I can't believe the lifestyles that many people live though. Seriously, people in their 50s and 60s looking much older than my 80 plus years old father in law. They can barely get out of their seat. So much sitting around working at the office, then sitting around eating then sitting around watching tv, sitting around on holiday on a coach/cruise ship or at the beach. Very sad, and yes there's a tax payer cost as well as cost to the individual.

 

Some of you are avoidng the original questions because I think you want to be politically correct.
If its any consolation I am considered probaly morbidly obese at 140kg..

 

Some of us are avoiding the question because it is a potentially divisive thread.

 

Soda. Unequivocal. That's a good start.
Can go a lot further in labelling too.
Unfortunately there's no other solution I've looked at this issue how else do you get people to sort this?
For every $1 the government spends telling people they should eat healthy the food companies probably spend 20 telling them to eat their stuff and "obey their mouth"

 

excatly there's no one answer or scenario for fat people that you're after. Everyone is different. But as a general rule of thumb peple need to get healthier, attitude is different to health

But it seems the gub is also interested in getting people healthy too. I juts happened to be here now:
Get Healthy at Work

Get Healthy at Work is a free NSW Government workplace health service that aims to help improve the health of working adults by giving workplaces tools and support to address:

• Healthy eating
• Healthy weight
• Physical activity
• Active travel (i.e. walking, cycling, public transport to work)
• Smoking
• Harmful alcohol consumption

No matter what industry you’re in or the size of your workplace, Get Healthy at Work makes it easy for you to identify the biggest health issues facing your workplace and make changes for the better.

 

I don't have a problem with individual fat people because I think it would be unreasonable to judge without understanding their circumstances I don't know whether or not someone had an alcoholic father who sexually abused them and the best thing they can do is eat alot of food to try and forget about that. I think it's important to have empathy for people and not say fat people are lazy with no self control and so on however I think those elements certainly do exist and contribute. It is slightly exasperating that overweight people are actually making decisions every time they put some food in their mouth so I tend to get frustrated with a culture (rather than individuals) that supports obesenegenic behaviour and how influenced we are by industry making a lot of money selling unhealthy products without paying the kind of taxes that will cover the costs. If we didn't have a socialised health system who would really care but we do.

I know personally and work with every day a lot of obese people and I'll tell you what it is pretty depressing to be around no one to talk to about activity constantly reinforcing poor decisions amongst each other sometimes actually being sizes against slim healthy people I do wish that I worked with a more normal distribution of body size

 

If your overweight do you find you are discriminated against ?
Don't know never been but i can imagine it happens.

Would you employ a large person ?
I am going to assume we're talking about obese people for all my answers. Would
i ever ? Yes. Some people have genuine health issues. I would look at their track record, skills, accomplishments and ability. Tbh what I don't like and most likely wouldnt employ for a professional business role is ppl with multicolor hair, hooks and pins coming out of everywhere with large tattoos covering much of their skin. Almost zero chance i would consider someone like that for a professional business role.

Does being very overweight mean you lack discipline? If you can rule out a medical condition and the lifestyle is McDonald's , kfc and nightly binging then yes. But also likely to be some emotional triggers involved.

Do you need to be a certain weight to be successful ? I think feeling good about yourself emotionally, physically, psychologically etc and having high self esteem is very important to a person's success level. Super important in fact. Imo we are mostly ruled by our emotional states so when those states are compromised, we won't be performing to our potential in life.


Is exercise important to be successful ?
I don't exercise much if at all and I do ok so i don't think it's essential.

 

]Ok i'll be honest and dare to answer.
Me too

If your overweight do you find you are discriminated against ?
Don't know never been but i can imagine it happens.
That's hard to define. I've been overweight since the birth of my first child, and although trying constantly to tame the beast, it just never goes away. I think it does in a sporting situation, but not so much in a general everyday scenario. That being said, although I AM overweight, I am not grossly overweight, just enough to bother me.

Would you employ a large person ?
Would i ever ? Yes. Some people have genuine health issues. I would look at their track record, skills, accomplishments and ability. Tbh what I don't like and most likely wouldnt employ for a professional business role is ppl with multicolor hair, hooks and pins coming out of everywhere with large tattoos covering much of their skin. Almost zero chance i would consider someone like that for a professional business role.
Another hard to answer question. I think this would depend on the job & the skill set required, and maybe how large, the large person is. Like Leo, I would never employ any of his examples for a professional roll, however a larger person, without the above traits, may be suitable. Some large people look and act professionally, while others just look like grubby slobs. This is not because of their weight, but general slovenly behaviour including cleanliness of themselves & their clothes. In my business, should I need to employ someone, I would not hesitate to employ a couple of my friends who are quite large.....but in saying that, they have the appropriate knowledge that I would require in my business & I know of their work ethic.

Does being very overweight mean you lack discipline? If you can rule out a medical condition and the lifestyle is McDonald's , kfc and nightly binging then yes. But also likely to be some emotional triggers involved.
Yes....and no! I know some very disciplined larger people, but I also know some that are not.

Do you need to be a certain weight to be successful ? I think feeling good about yourself emotionally, physically, psychologically etc and having high self esteem is very important to a person's success level. Super important in fact. Imo we are mostly ruled by our emotional states so when those states are compromised, we won't be performing to our potential in life.
Define successful! Are we talking about financially successful, and if so, who determines the success level? Or are we talking about feeling good about who you are & what you believe in?


Is exercise important to be successful ?
I don't exercise much if at all and I do ok so i don't think it's essential.
Maybe.....but hinges on your definition of successful. If you want to be the next champion sumo wrestler, you would need to be a large person, but you'd also need to do your fair share of exercise. If you want to be a millionaire day trader, weight is not an issue, nor is exercise, just the ability to sit at the computer all day making the right decisions.

 

If your[sic] overweight do you find you are discriminated against ?
I'm only slightly overweight, so no I don't feel discriminated against on this basis. I do believe though that in general obese people (which are many people that consider themselves overweight) are discriminated against in day to day life.

Would you employ a large person ?
Sure. However being completely honest, if there was an obese person and person with a healthy weight that were the same otherwise, I'd probably subconsciously choose the skinnier person.

Does being very overweight mean you lack discipline?
Unless it's one of the very rare cases where people actually want to be overweight, yes. I'm messy and lazy, which are also evidence of me lacking discipline, however my indiscretions aren't visible everywhere I go.

Do you need to be a certain weight to be successful ?
No

Is exercise important to be successful ?
Yes. If you look at marathon runners for example, they're more successful in life than the general population. I think this is because often that if you're driven to achieve weight and exercise goals, you'll also be driven to achieve work and money related goals.
It doesn't make these people better, but on average, it certainly makes them more focused, committed and successful (and possibly happier) than those that don't exercise.

 

I know that looking good is important in real estate and in most sales jobs but what is your perception?

I think looking presentable is important -neat and clean. Though my standard of presentable might be quite loose... I wear mountain sandal to work

If your overweight do you find you are discriminated against ?

Never really badly overweight as adult. I think it's less of an issue in workplace. I do get a lot of teasing and called fat as kids.

Would you employ a large person ?

Can they do the job effectively and efficiently? Everything else is less of an issue

Does being very overweight mean you lack discipline?

Not always. I know many who had serious medical conditions. Some people also love their food and discipline on other aspect of their life.

Do you need to be a certain weight to be successful ?

I think successful people come in many shapes. Being healthy would be helpful though.

Is exercise important to be successful ?

Depends on individual. If they think it is then it is. Discipline in one aspect of life usually help with others but it doesn't have to be exercise

 

This is an interesting one. I think it comes down to this - if you are **** hot, you can get away with looking however you want, but you have to deliver the results. If you are not the person that is the best at whatever it is, then you are competing with others that may have a similar skillset, and are able to deliver similar results, so you will inevitably be judged on external factors to some degree - be it piercings, tattoos, obesity, etc.

As for the question of the gov introducing regulation or whatnot, that would be good, but if you look at the history of governments promoting healthy eating, you will find heavy influence by lobby groups representing the agriculture industry etc. And look where that has led us.

cheers,
Inertia

 

Never been overweight but i'll try and answer some of the questions.

Would you employ a large person ?
Absolutely. If someone knows about their Subject matter, that's the only thing that matters.

Does being very overweight mean you lack discipline?
Yes taking in consideration you have no medical conditions. You get obese by overeating so if you are not disciplined enough to stop over eating then obviously you are not disciplined.
That doesn't mean you are not disciplined in other parts of your life though.

Do you need to be a certain weight to be successful ?
Nope.

Is exercise important to be successful ?
Absolutely or to be more accurate just simply being active works. Being active and specifically exercise gets the body to produce feel good hormones and spikes your energy levels all day long which gives you more drive than inactive people. It can be a slippery slope if you over do it thought.

Discipline and habits are crucial especially in our current day an age. You need motivation at first but that should only fuel the start of the journey to transform whatever it is that is not working for you and then repetition an habit makes you disciplined and ingrains that change into you.

 

I don't think you can say they are more successful in life, how would you know?
However, they would highly likely be more disciplined and apply persistent determination to have reached that level.
It takes a lot of mental toughness to be a marathon runner and that does carry over highly to other areas of life.
That's why hard physical activity that pushes your limits helps you grow in more ways than physical growth.
Anybody neglecting being physically active is only living half a life.

 

Actually, dietitians and researchers agree, and the evidence is overwhelming, that high calorie low nutritional value food, non controlled portion sizes, mindless eating ( in front of the TV) and a sendentary lifestyle are to blame.

I would add self indulgence and too much 'rewarding' of ourselves with food.

The dietary guidelines are fine. Not sure why you are criticising them.

 

They are still fairly fat phobic and still a bit too sugar friendly. Not all fat is bad. Sugar should definitely be small doses only.