|
|
03-01-2017, 07:46 PM
|
#1
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Fair Lawn
Posts: 2,936
|
My 600 Lb. Life TV show
I'm not sure if it reflects poorly on me, but I confess I watch this show every week - and I'm not sure why. I want to scream at the TV, watching these poor people who are so messed up psychologically as well as physically. But most frustrating, as a viewer, are the family members that enable these people.
Sort of related to this site, I do wonder how these people get by, financially. The sheer amount of food they eat has to be costly in and of itself. Invariably, the stories show the people driving to Houston (where the doctor does the surgery) in their one or two cars. The subject people don't work, and it often appears their family doesn't either.
So, where is the money for the food, the cars, etc? I can't believe welfare pays for all of that.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
03-01-2017, 08:13 PM
|
#2
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tampa Bay Area
Posts: 1,866
|
I watch it too ! And I don't know why either. Maybe its the same reason I watched Hoarders when we were downsizing. I want to know what NOT to do !
I think the diet choices are pretty much high carb (low cost), although I do see alot of fast food on the show. We don't know if these folks have other relatives who assist them or what level of debt they have.
Food can easily become an addiction. I know because I've gained 10 lbs per year in each of the 4 years before retiring. Thankfully that trend stopped with ER but losing weight has not been easy.
__________________
"For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." ~
Hebrews 12:11
ER'd in June 2015 at age 52. Initial WR 3%. 50/40/10 (Equity/Bond/Short Term) AA.
|
|
|
03-01-2017, 08:52 PM
|
#3
|
Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
|
Since we are confessing I watch 90 day finance .I'm not sure why but I do .I also scream at the TV . These women are so crazy .
|
|
|
03-01-2017, 09:03 PM
|
#4
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,305
|
My 600 Lb. Life TV show
Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work? I've wondered the same thing. Occasionally there's an employed spouse but sometimes there's no mention of anyone in the family being employed.
Also curious about who foots the bill for the travel, living costs in Houston, etc. Do they get compensation for being on the show?
|
|
|
03-01-2017, 09:08 PM
|
#5
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 979
|
Somehow this show always came on when I was doing cardio at the gym. It was a train wreck to watch. I guess that's why it's popular.
It is astonishing how easy it is to eat to a level of excess where 100+ pounds can be created, if you're predisposed to using food as some sort of emotional crutch.
It also can be astonishingly cheap to do, if all you eat is junk food. Family sized bags of chips, and candy, and cereal, and such can be had for almost nothing compared to even a much lesser amount of fruits and veggies.
Even sticking to the dollar menu at a fast food place can get you in excess of a day's worth of calories for the cost of a single healthier meal.
__________________
I'm free and I like it!
|
|
|
03-01-2017, 09:10 PM
|
#6
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 979
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by athena53
Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work?
|
Yep, sure can. Apparently both here in the States, and the UK.
__________________
I'm free and I like it!
|
|
|
03-01-2017, 10:39 PM
|
#7
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by athena53
Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work? I've wondered the same thing. Occasionally there's an employed spouse but sometimes there's no mention of anyone in the family being employed.
Also curious about who foots the bill for the travel, living costs in Houston, etc. Do they get compensation for being on the show?
|
I think that you can get disability. I remember a fellow I worked with having a handicap license on the vehicle. Later when he left the organization, the rumor mill had it he was on disability.
We watch those on occasion. Truly sad how people's lives can become so out of control.
|
|
|
03-01-2017, 11:46 PM
|
#8
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 16,972
|
So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 05:18 AM
|
#9
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 756
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunset
So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.
|
Ayup.
__________________
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” ― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 05:39 AM
|
#10
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 265
|
It always amazed me by the amount of mental gymnastics some of those people had when it came to justifying their decisions and behaviors to the doctor.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 07:25 AM
|
#11
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,305
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greencheese
It always amazed me by the amount of mental gymnastics some of those people had when it came to justifying their decisions and behaviors to the doctor.
|
Yes, but it also saddened me to hear the stories some of them had when they finally opened up to a counselor- lots of abuse and/or abandonment at a young age. I know that many people survive such experiences without turning to overeating, but I hope there's a special place in hell for the people responsible for these traumas. You wonder how different the patients' lives would have been without the effect of the abuse.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 08:04 AM
|
#12
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunset
So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.
|
As a person who gave testimony for someone who was ill, no amount of disability benefits would be enough to go through the humiliation and extreme digging through ones past for the disability benefits.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 08:26 AM
|
#13
|
Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Peru
Posts: 6,335
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by athena53
Is it possible that at some point you can qualify for SS disability when your weight and the associated health issues make it impossible to work? I've wondered the same thing. Occasionally there's an employed spouse but sometimes there's no mention of anyone in the family being employed.
Also curious about who foots the bill for the travel, living costs in Houston, etc. Do they get compensation for being on the show?
|
Yes... from personal experience within the family, this is true.
Not always is the situation of excess weight a matter of choice. At age 41, a lifesaving drug induced a system change, that allowed recovery from a near death 6 month hospitalization for guillain-barré syndrome which included 5 months of total paralysis. This also left acute lupus after recovery, and long term weakness and recidivism of other symptoms.
Social Security, Medicaid and programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offer minimal survival help for a person to live independently, though some supplemental help is necessary for minimal transportation needs.
While I can understand the tendency to fault indigent people, the cause is not always laziness. I suppose the real question is whether we would choose to trade places. The reality of this kind of "retirement" is too close to home for me to ever again make a judgement, without knowing the facts.
__________________
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
--Dalai Lama XIV
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 08:30 AM
|
#14
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,581
|
I confess to watching these kinds of shows occasionally (Hoarders and Intervention, mostly) and deriving some level of schadenfreude from it. No matter how down you might be about something not going quite right in your life, watching these pitiful folks wallow through their miserable situations is almost guaranteed to make you feel pretty fortunate by comparison.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 08:39 AM
|
#15
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,581
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by imoldernu
Not always is the situation of excess weight a matter of choice.
|
True... but I'd be willing to bet that at least 90% of the time, it is. Of course, you can always ask what is the root cause of someone's maladaptive behavior. Perhaps in many cases there is childhood trauma, or a genetic predisposition to something, etc. But ultimately we have to say that, in most cases, eating 5,000+ calories per day, every day, is within a person's control and is a conscious choice.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 08:39 AM
|
#16
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 9,939
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunset
So basically if someone is lazy and hates their job, they can early retire by simply watching tv, and eating a lot until they qualify for disability SS.
|
Perhaps this is one of those comments that sounded better in your head then it does in print....
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 09:39 AM
|
#17
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 6,496
|
Never watched any of theses shows. But do keep wondering who mucks out the stall after all the input is outputted.
__________________
There must be moderation in everything, including moderation.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 10:22 AM
|
#18
|
Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 13,844
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ivinsfan
Perhaps this is one of those comments that sounded better in your head then it does in print....
|
Agreed.
People in the situation on this show... aren't "oh see I could have had a decent shot at being normal.. but nah, decided to eat on the couch and oopsie now I'm morbidly obese and collect SSI". Not saying that's everyone, but that's not what I've seen on this show.
These are people with lifelong issues, a wreck of a family (you can see the dna all around them, and the enabling). They can't walk, or drive, they mostly seem to have had little/no education, but realize they are going to die young if they don't do something... Then cut to their mom in the next room cooking grits in butter with eggs because they know that's what they like...
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 10:41 AM
|
#19
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 567
|
I watch it as inspiration to not gain more. I am large but not that large. Weight is something that compliles from being chubby to fat to obese then 600lbs+.
My nephew has a wife he met when they were both delivering pizzas in their early 20s. She was short and fat, he tall and fat. She had a miserable childhood with all kinds of abuse and depression. Before he married her she had blood clots in her legs. She took a job in an office and gained 100lbs the first year. She had congestive heart failure still early 20s on oxygen and was put in a nursing home a few weeks. She lost a lot that time but gained again once back at work. She got bypass surgery @525lb and lot then gained again. Her depression medicine often failed to work and she got electric shock treatment. Now her memory is shot, she can't work even an office job and is on SSDI and oxygen at home. The good part is she now forgets to eat and forgets some childhood trauma. She still gets serious health issues and once had about 90 days where she forgot everything including not knowing her husband, she lost 20 years. She never at extreme amounts just when you can't breathe or walk you don't need many calories and even 500 a day extra calories gains you a pound a week or 52lbs a year.
|
|
|
03-02-2017, 10:46 AM
|
#20
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 9,939
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ls99
Never watched any of theses shows. But do keep wondering who mucks out the stall after all the input is outputted.
|
Another comment that sounded better in your head then it does in print..this is body shaming
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|