The title of this piece is a two-fer, because it refers to the condition of someone who is inconveniently overweight in the job market and the workplace, but also it describes how obesity stays on the job every minute of every day, always doing its best to cheat a person of the full enjoyment of life in all its aspects.
Evidence that this is a widespread problem is provided in an essay, “The Real Cost of Being Fat.” Author Christian Curet begins with some thoughts about time and how a person tends to become careless, and to underestimate its worth. It does seem that in life, the specifics are negotiable. A person might put the highest value on work, or on personal relationships, or both, and that is a matter of individual preference. The point to keep in mind, however, is that wasted time is something we will never get back. Also, we will regret (sometimes bitterly) its loss.
As a prime example of a time-waster, the author offers, perhaps surprisingly, “excessive leisure,” an intriguing idea that stirs curiosity but is not discussed further in this essay.
Back to business
Meanwhile, he describes how much of his time is wasted by an activity which, while stationary and maybe even relaxing, could by no means be described as leisure. That is sitting in an outpatient clinic with a needle in his arm, receiving infusions to treat Crohn’s disease and ankylosing spondylitis.
To that information, he adds, “Because I’m about 100 lbs overweight, I have to sit in this chair for an extra hour every time because the volume of medicine is based on weight.” A repetitious weekly chore is organizing all the medications for the following seven days. In confessional mode, he writes:
I have to take time each day to deal with my CPAP machine for my sleep apnea. I have to take time to measure my blood sugar because I’m a Type 2 diabetic. I have multiple doctor appointments for these conditions too. You add all that up and I’m losing hours of my life a month because I didn’t take time to take care of myself before.
The great majority of this patient’s health problems are routinely associated with obesity. He admits, as many of us will if we are honest, that in our younger years, we were in fact quite careless, taking on board a plethora of inappropriate foods, and too much of them, as well as ignoring the necessity for frequent and meaningful exercise.
But wait, there’s more
Medical care is not the only cause of monetary outflow. Clothing is a major expense, and a sensitive issue. (See “Fatsploitation is Alive and Well.“) And food? Eating well is more expensive. Only junk food is cheap.
Now, here is an aspect of carrying too much weight that never occurs to most healthy-weight people. With 100 or more extra pounds of body weight, even the most motivated customer can find that the equipment for many health-inducing activities is forbiddingly expensive. A person who wants to get some exercise could be forever discouraged by the price difference between two different kayaks, one of them extra-large.
To finish up, this very fortunate writer credits his wife and kids in a lovely tribute:
I’ve found that if I ask, my family will do most of these things with me. They’ll cook healthy foods with me, join me in exercising (if it’s fun) and will slow down and climb the steep trails with me. I just have to be humble enough to ask and not see it as a burden for them, but as an opportunity. For all of us.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “The Real Cost of Being Fat,” Medium.com, 08/21/20
Image by CDD20/Pixabay
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