Fat People in America

Let's admit it; we have all heard the saying that the United States is a country of obesity; even I was fat a good portion of my life. However, with all these hippopotamus' running around, we fail to realize that the American standard for "normal sized" has been thrown off pitch and we really do not realize how many people are actually fat. The ignorance is even greater for teenagers who are still in school which can likely be attributed to the healthy level of self consciousness that most schoolchildren possess which is a motivator to keep them from becoming overweight. Not until I was hired for the most tedious job ever at The Home Depot did I begin to see just how many people are fat.

Before Home Depot, I would always hear about how those four to six hour shifts at work are horrible, so my two hour day shifts should be a breeze right? Wrong. Perhaps if I had something to do more than sit at a HVAC table all day waiting for customers to inquire about air conditioning, then work would not be so dull. However, boredom can be a great eye opener, and the people of America are passing by my vision all the time. Everyday at work I will see many fat people pass me by, but I don't think much of it; it is almost as if living in America trains your brains to think that those ten to five hundred pounds is really just the norm, after all, healthy fit Americans are rare and far apart. There is one event at work that has ripped my eyes wide open, and that is what leads me to realize just how obese America is.

It was a sunny day at Home Depot, and the traffic of cows was good; of course, at the time I did not see cows, I saw people, until I saw her. She was huge, at least two hundred and fifty pounds standing at a height of around five foot five inches I estimated.

She was drinking a Starbucks Venti Caramel Frappuchino (I could tell by the tannish streaks along the cups circumference), and eating a doughnut. Now, I see people like her all the time at work (though she is a little far on the "Needs-to-Jog" spectrum), but something about this whale really made her stand out from the rest, and that was her baby manatee walking alongside her, baby being a relative term. The manatee was huge, I estimate she weighs at least one hundred and ninety pounds at a height of barely five foot one inches (for reference, I would estimate Mr. Hanley to be five foot nine, and weighing in at around one hundred and fifty), she was also drinking her Starbucks and eating a doughnut. What really stood out about this manatee was that she was wearing a tank top that would frame her figure, and a frilly skirt, judging by her age, which I would guess to still be in the single digits, her mother whale must have dressed her up; the term "Muffin Top" cannot begin to describe the horrors that my eyes witnessed.

Let's go over why this is wrong on many different levels:
Obese kid.
Kid dressed like she is headed to get laid (pedophilia if you're confused).
Fat girl wearing tight clothing.
Mother whale must have the horrible mindset of BBW (Big Beautiful Women)
Various combinations of one through four.

This event has directly lead me to mentally note just how many of the people that pass me by are fat, though I have stopped that since it would be easier to count how many of them are in shape.

Recent mental tallies give a confirmation that America is indeed very fat, which does not really surprise me much. What does surprise me is that the percentage of women who are fat is actually higher than men, I am surprised because always viewed the female side of humanity to be more self conscious of their appearance; I was wrong. At least four out of every five women are overweight, and at least half of those four can form a new species of elephant. Men are somewhat more able to keep fit, though not by much. With numbers like those, I would not even bother worrying about Global Warming, or the war in Iraq (Bless the marines over there though), I'm more concerned about America's expanding waistline. Many will call me shallow or hateful, but I simply speak truth (hopefully motivational truth!), America is an obese nation.