Is obesity a choice or should it be considered a disorder?

There are different things that can lead to a person becoming overweight. Certain medical conditions can cause excessive weight gain. While I have not researched the issue, I think trouble with the thyroid gland is one such instance. In these cases, obesity could be called a medical disorder. However, many of the cases of obesity in this country could be prevented. Too many Big Mac's and other fast food meals, as well as common overeating, can easily lead to obesity. According to the McDonald's website, a basic Big Mac value meal, which comes with a medium fry and medium coke, totals up to 1130 calories. Another popular meal combo is the Double 1/4 pounder with cheese. This meal deal, with a medium fry and medium coke totals 1330 calories. For breakfast, a bacon-egg-cheese biscuit, hashbrown, and medium coke totals 780 calories. Looking at these facts, and considering that most people require LESS than 2000 calories per day (a 24-hour period) it is easy to see how our tendency to hit the drive-thru for a quick meal during our busy day can lead to obesity. Most people eat at least two meals per day, if not three meals per day. A quick lunch at McDonald's can provide over half of the calories needed by most people in ONE MEAL. Now, combine that with the fact that most people eat 2 more meals throughout the day (not including snacks from the vending machine or the gas station), and with the fact that most people get very little exercise (and certainly not enough to burn off the 3-4 THOUSAND calories they consume in a day, and it is easy to see why there are so many fat people in America... The health care costs caused by overweight people in our country are as enormous as some of the people themselves. I can easily see how this problem is only going to get worse unless people start to make changes in their lifestyles...

I have noticed more and more people are overweight. They can't seem to lose weight either. I am wondering if food manufacturers aren't putting something in the food to make us hungry. The more we eat; the more money they make. Example; there is a potato chip that tastes great but when you stop eating them, you start to crave them. Makes you want to eat the whole bag. I stopped eating potato chips because of this. It would be nice if some scientific study could be done.

I thimk obesity is a choice unless the your doc saids that theres a problem. There is no reason for some of the obesity in the world. there to many gym in the world for people to be fat.