Too Fat to Graduate – Or how Obesity can affect your life in unexpected ways?

Lincoln University in Pennsylvania makes the news with a controversial policy of making students who are at a BMI (Body Mass Index) of greater than 30 take a special one-credit gym class to graduate.  No other requirements to have their weight change or anything.  The class will be required to graduate and receive their diplomas.  The emphasis is on walking/conditioning for the class.

So is this yet another form of obesity prejudice and an obsession of the thin against the out of shape?  Or do you think it is a good thing?  What if they where to just make everyone take the class?  What should a institution of learning do with 20% of their students in the obese range?  Should they just leave them to their own devices or make an attempt to educate them on the possibility of losing weight and reaching a more healthful state?

I am not in the camp that being overweight you can still be healthy.  I hear that argument all the time and for me I was not vital, I was not healthy, and I was not at all at the quality of life I am now.  I know what morbid obesity does to the body.  Sure I got up every day and did my job.  I was sick more often than my less hefty co-workers, and often suffered lower energy levels.  I even resulted to drinking sugar free energy drinks to keep going.  I see more and more people daily dealing with the same issues and seeing the drained look on their faces.  I think we need to help them find their answers to health and strength,  not that it has to be a certain BMI or a certain “skinniness”.   Just a state of health that doesn’t take years off their life or put them at greater risk for disease.

At the same time it doesn’t mean that obesity can or should be used to discriminate against people.  However ,  I can say now with a more healthy weight I do get treated differently.  Same person,  just  closer to healthy weight.  My BMI is now under 30.   I get treated much differently than a year ago.  You can’t tell me there is no weight prejudice in our country I have lived it and see it clearly every day.  The question is:  What choices do we have to change it?  Do we concentrate on moving towards a healthy state and just let people alone?  If so what will that mean to us when we are paying for each other’s health care?  I know that we suffer from an obeseogenic  trend in our society.  We are moving in many of our states to a population of 30% or higher that are obese or morbidly obese.  We are going to have the need to find some answers.

Your time to weigh-in on the issue,  What do you think?  If you were going to Lincoln University or working there what would you do or say to the administration?  What would you say to the 20% of the students that have to take the class?

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