$10K to lose weight? Come on!

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012 10:00 PM

I'm writing in regards to your article "Raising funds to lose weight" [News, July 11]. You should be ashamed of putting something like this in print.

Have you lost all common sense? Being overweight comes from poor lifestyle choices and simply eating too much of the wrong foods and lying on the couch instead of being active.

I sympathize with the kid who obviously doesn't have a right role model since her mom is also obese, but raising $10,000 to lose weight?!

This money could feed several villages in Africa where people are dying of starvation, or pay for the chemotherapy or transplants or care of sick people who really need it. You name it — just look at your FaceBook page or the Internet to see how much sorrow there is around us!

How can you possibly endorse such a waste of money when all you have to do to lose weight is eat right and exercise, completely free? Is your message that every overweight person should raise $10,000 for some fancy camp because they cannot do it by themselves?

Come on, Wednesday Journal, you can do better.

Rada Ivanov, M.D.
River Forest

Reader Comments

11 Comments - Add Your Comment

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Foom

Posted: August 6th, 2012 1:16 PM

Ask your mom or another adult to ride the bus with you to a better neighborhood where you can get a quick jog in and pick up some grocerys at a decent store. Excuses are why people stay overweight

Foom

Posted: August 6th, 2012 1:14 PM

OP Guy, stop making excuses by your logic everyone that lives in low income environments should be obese. So what you are saying is sending this girl to camp is a waste of money because when she returns there is no way she can keep up her healthy eating and exercise routing because no one on low income can possible do that.

Op guy

Posted: July 31st, 2012 12:51 PM

Foom, do you know who many grocery stores the are in Austin? Do you know the resources the have to access education to change a life time of built up poor habits? Have you ever tried to go running in Austin? Do you know how dangerous that could be? Not everyone has the same privilege as people in River Forest.

Supportive skeptic

Posted: July 30th, 2012 2:01 PM

Again, did anyone see the original appeal? It claimed to be tax-deductable by routing your donation via beatcreators.org, an afterschool music program for kids in the 5th congressional district. The site includes a picture of and implied connection with State Sen. Hendon, whose afterschool programs are under investigation and three of whose campaign workers were indicted for state grant kick-back schemes. Just sayin'.. its' all a bit odd.

Foom

Posted: July 30th, 2012 1:11 PM

It does not take money to lose weight. There are plenty of healthy foods that are inexpensive and going for a jog only cost as much as a pair of running shoes. There are free computers at the library that can be used to access a world of weight loss information and healthy eating plans. Point is there are many ways to lose weight and $10k could really help a lot of needy people.

Op guy

Posted: July 30th, 2012 12:43 PM

Rada, compare the level of obesity in poverty ridden areas to middle/upper class areas and you'll see that the level of obesity in underprivileged areas are far greater. Poor people can't afford to eat the same way as people like yourself in River Forest, so you are really speaking from a position of privilege and expecting that everyone can afford the same habits as yourself. Another problem is poor education, another thing that poor people have to deal with and RF residentents don't.

Posted: July 29th, 2012 10:36 AM

Awesome of you all to snark on a teenager. Stay classy, Oak Park.

Pratical Guy

Posted: July 28th, 2012 8:24 PM

Much cheaper alternative. Have her jaw wired shut. Welcome to Obamacare.

Facts?

Posted: July 28th, 2012 3:42 PM

Rada Ivanov loses all credibility when she writes "How can you possibly endorse such a waste of money when all you have to do to lose weight is eat right and exercise, completely free?" Completely free to eat right? Many studies have linked the high cost of healthy food to the obesity epidemic. Obviously, there is more to it than the cost of food, but it shows a real lack of global thinking to state the eating right is free. I would personally expect more from a doctor.

Supportive skeptic

Posted: July 25th, 2012 5:40 PM

Lisa Scott, did you even read the original appeal? As I recall, this person stated they had been to this same camp previously and afterwards quickly regained the weight lost during the program. Whatever its successes, clearly the program doesn't adequately cultivate the skills and habits to maintain a healthy lifestyle. One doesn't need to be a professional researcher to know that throwing more money towards the same problem in the same way is likely to produce a different result.

Lisa Scott from Oak Park

Posted: July 25th, 2012 2:54 PM

Give it a rest, Dr. Ivanov. I'm sure you're a great internist, but clearly haven't researched the complex variables that feed into weight and what produces successful weight loss for each person. At least the kid is motivated to try something. Running her story doesn't constitute a referral; it's just an interesting story. A teen who lost a bunch of weight on his/her own also would be interesting. Finally, it's not like anybody's forcing you to contribute, so keep your nasty comments to yourself

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