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US Weekly has an article with a diet created by Madonna’s trainer, Tracy Anderson. I’ve always followed diets in which you eat at least 1200 calories in small meals throughout the day, and that’s about the lowest I can go without freaking out and binging on carbs in the afternoon. It’s uncomfortable for me, though, and I prefer to stick to around 1500 calories when I’m trying to lose weight.
Madonna’s trainer recommends a diet at under 800 calories a day, which is about 1/2 the recommend amount for women. Most experts say that 1200 calories is the absolute lowest a woman can go without feeling lethargic and deprived. A diet of 1500 calories a day is considered healthier and safer for women, and you can even eat 1,800 calories a day, exercise and lose weight safely.
So US Weekly is printing a diet that falls well under 1,000 calories a day, with some days less than 700 calories, along with recommending 2 freaking hours of exercise 6 days a week. Supposedly you can lose 20 pounds in 6 weeks with this diet. That’s insane and counter productive. Here’s the diet, along with what I’ve calculated are the calories for each from FitDay.com. (which I highly recommend if you’re counting calories - it’s free.)
WEEK ONE
Sunday
Breakfast
1 cup Kashi cereal, with ½ cup plain — or vanilla — nonfat rice milk [262 calories]
Lunch
3 oz grilled chicken breast — or fresh turkey breast (no deli meat!) — with ½ cup each of chopped cucumber and tomatoes [189 calories]
Snack
1 cup mixed berries (try raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) [45 calories]
Dinner
1 cup organic pasta with ½ cup steamed spinach [330 calories]
[Total: 826 calories]
Monday
Breakfast
1 cup Kashi cereal, with ½ cup plain—or vanilla—nonfat rice milk [262 calories]
Lunch
2 hardboiled eggs with ½ cup each of baby carrots and cherry tomatoes [194 calories]
Dinner
3 to 5 oz grilled sea bass with ½ cup steamed spinach [240 calories]
[Total: 696 calories]
[Diet from US Weekly, calories calculated at FitDay.com]
I could eat twice that, still lose weight, feel normal and content that I’m eating healthy. It really pisses me off that a diet that can fall under 700 calories a day is touted as healthy by some celebrity trainer and that’s somehow ok.
A much healthier diet is the one that Janet Jackson follows which consists of five meals a day of around 250 calories. You can even eat 6 to 7 meals at 250 calories and it’s still healthy and will help you lose plenty of weight. You should eat a mix of carbs and protein, either at each meal or at separate meals if you prefer to separate. But please - don’t go under 1200 calories a day. You’ll end up losing weight in the short run, but how are you going to keep up that diet? It could also slow down your metabolism. I’m so glad I don’t have to starve myself like that for my job. It just seems outrageous to me, especially combined with 2 hours of exercise. I’m super hungry if I eat 1200 calories a day and do an hour of hard exercise, can you imagine following this starvation diet?
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Madonna, Weight Loss
124 Responses to “Madonna’s trainer reveals insane starvation diet with 2 hour/day workout”
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I agree, I could eat twice that and lose weight. 1200 calories is what you need for your organs and brain to function, a person just sitting all day will need 1200 calories. Heh, maybe this is why she sounds so bloody stupid in interviews.
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Even 1200 sounds like fucking torture. Long live Big Macs!!!!!!
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Sunday actually sounds rather healthy i guess fat Americans can’t wrap their minds around the idea of low cal foods, its not how much you eat but what you are eating and for those of you who said you would be happy eating double it sounds like allot of food. i can’t eat 2 cups of kashi for breakfast that’s way to much, and if you read the box 2 cups is was more than the recommended serving. just like 2 cups of pasts is more than you should eat. Americans need to learn more about portions!!!!!! Also haven’t any of you heard of vitamins and supplements…
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i must agree. I’m an American and American portions disgust me. People consume obscene amounts of food here, much more than what is needed.
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im an American also
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It’s nothing to do with that - did you even read the article? It’s to do with limiting calories to 800 a day which is dangerous and unhealthy and very very stupid.
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Bradleybeagl if you read that correctly you would see it says 1 cup of kashi, and 1 cup of pasta, not 2, obviously with only this small amount of food it would make a huge difference between 1 or 2 cups. Oh, and where are you from? All of the wealthiest countries overeat, are you from Sub Sahara Africa or Southeast Asia? Then you would have room to talk. A-hole
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Oh, sorry - I meant it largely as an aside. I agree with the portions in what was listed, I should have said - but more snacks should be included in the day. But regarding Monday’s 5 oz sea bass portion, what SHOULD one eat? 10 oz? no. i just think more snacks are needed so that overall- more than 700 is consumed.
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I’m American as well, and this is an example of how Americans can be incredibly neurotic about food. It’s either insanely too much or insanely too little - it’s never just FOOD. Chill out, bro. I live in Europe now and people just eat without worrying about it. It works much better for me.
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I can’t count calories. Long live low carb diets.
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Where are the potatoes!?!?!
Joking. It’s true about portion control. One of my daughters just went on a diabetic diet (it’s familial although luckily I seem to have been skipped) and was shocked to learn that a serving of orange juice is four ounces. And I am a big eater, but almost gag at the portions of food served in most restaurants. I always get two meals out of each, by taking half of it home with me.
But this diet is insane. Not enough calories to keep you going. It’s traumatized me so badly that I am going to have to go downstairs and buy a Snickers.
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I think (although I agree, this is a grueling and probably not healthy regimen) it should be noted that going below 1200 can be OK when being monitored closely. I did a hospital-sponsored diet program (weekly visits w/ reg dieticians, exercise physiologists, etc, bloodwork monitoring, short term program) where we started out at 1040/day for 5 weeks, and went up to 1200. They calculated our calories for maintenance, all that jazz. It was a really, really good program and I lost almost 40 lb in 12 weeks! Granted, I can stand to lose a bit more, so I can’t speak for everyone. Portions are out of control in America, as well as the types of food we eat - processed and fast food galore! Small meals and snacks every 2-4 hours, so that you never get hungry, is key. I think a big part of our problem in America is sedentary lifestyles too. I think this trainer’s diet coupled with that amount of intense workout is definitely too much for most people. As an aside, reducing carbs is important, but people go too far with the no-carb thing. You need some starch for energy and digestive health.
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1040 calories is better than 800. I’m Canadian, 140 5′5″ could stand to lose 10 lbs - I’m usually between 120-130lbs. I’m not all for huge portions, no way. But 800 calories a day is just stupid.
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i can read, and i was referring to the people who said they could eat double!!! also i did read the article and it is ok to drop below 1000 calories as long as you have consulted a doctor. furthermore to successfully lose weight you have to drop 500 calories below what you normally eat.
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oh and michelle, if i am an A-hole for speaking the truth about the big fat American life style, then you must be a big fat American to get offended by it. and by my last count Japan was one of the world’s wealthiest countries and they are healthy and do not over eat as you said all rich countries do.
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You can eat double 800 calories a day and it is perfectly healthy and much more healthy than this diet. I am a 5′7″ woman and burn about 2400 calories a day at least, so at 1600 or 1800 calories I would still lose weight, just a pound or so a week. Read the article before criticizing. I’m saying double those calories, which most doctors recommend, not double the portions on the stupid cereal and pasta.
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I don’t think that anyone was saying that the portions listed should be doubled. I think that the statement is that the total amount of calories, if doubled, would be healthy, whereas what is listed is not a healthy amount.
Celebitchy and I posted at the same time, so just to be clear, I’m agreeing with her, not responding to her.
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I’ve never counted calories
Really…
If I need to lose a little weight, I tend to go for natural proteins (low-fat meat such as chicken and turkey for ex. ; non-fat yoghurt and cottage cheese ; any kind of fish even salmon ; etc.) without counting anything and vegetables. Then, I reintroduce more “normal” meals with carbs gradually (this is spread over two-three months if, say, I lost 3 to 4 kilograms).But when I read that she could only have half a cup of cucumber, I had to reread it to make sure I didn’t see it wrong.
And where’s the daily piece of dark chocolate to keep the fun going?
This is a living hell.
I couldn’t work out on such a diet AT ALL. -
I really don’t want to know how many calories were in the fabulously greasy lunch I just ate. But I don’t really care cause I don’t pig out on any kind of regular basis.
I totally agree about American portions. Its really really gotten out of control. I’ve never counted my calories before so I don’t know what would be best for me. But I can say that the meals listed in the article would not be enough food for me. I have blood sugar issues & need to be able to snack (healthy stuff) during the day.
And who can work out for 2 hours 6 days a week? There is no way the vast majority of people can fit that in their schedules.
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im not saying that everyone should go on this diet, what i am saying is that Americans don’t understand portions!! and if you don’t eat refined sugars or sat fats you would be surprised at how many cal you are consuming. i guess its hard for people to imagine cutting out mayo and coca cola from their diets. And i stand by the fact that Sunday sounds healthy, but if you want to add butter while you cook it then right there you would be over 1200, so whats healthier eating it with the butter or without?
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you don’t NEED starches in your diet. You do need some carbohydrates… preferably mostly in veggies. We just live in a nation where people consume hundreds or thousands of carbs a day … and call that NORMAL. ITs not … we don’t need that much. Hence… LOW carb not NO carb.
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About the american portions issue that has been going on in this comments discussion : I must say that when I first visited New York I thought the food was surreal.
And then there are those huge supermarkets that only sell sweets and ice-cream.
I don’t blame americans for the way they eat and I’m sure that a lot of people there try to be as healthy as possible but the general “food environment” is simply enormous in quantity. I did not understand how you could buy such large bottles of orange juice for example. It all looked “too much”.Here, in Europe, we buy bottles of milk that are 1 liter.
We open up a bottle of diet coke once a week at home.
I have a ceramic grill installed in my kitchen which allows me to cook any meat or fish or even most vegetables without adding any olive oil (which I prefer to use from time to time to add to a special kind of meal).But, every night, we have a glass of red wine and I eat a normal butter croissant from my favourite bakery two times a week. And I have a daily piece of very dark chocolate.
Still, I manage to stay at 50-51kg for 1m65 and fit into a French size 36 (which is a EU34, UK6-8 and US4-6).Life can be so much more enjoyable if moderately sinful.
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Bradley - you would have to add 100g of butter to bring it up to 1200 calories. To be honest, I read what you said a few times to understand what you meant - that IF she was to eat precisely double of her current diet it would exceed the recommended portion size in some cases - right?
To be honest, if either of these days could be classed as healthy it;s monday. At least there protein is provided at two meals which is essential for someone trying to build muscle like Madonna.
1600 - 2000 calories are recommended for the average adult female. For those who are particularly active, it’s recommended they eat more. 800 is the absolute minimum requirement for basic body function, and even that is classed a starvation diet. I really wouldn’t want to be in the same house as someone on that regime. I’m slightly hypoglycemic and am positively nasty if I leave it too long without some protein or complex carbs.
And she’s still only getting maximum 4 out of the recommended 5-a-day of fruit and veg.
But you are absolutely right about one thing - by consistently reducing calorie by 500 cals a day below your average it will help you lose about 1lb a week - as 3000 calories are needed to be used up to “burn” 1lb of fat.
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Jesus, when will people understand that calories are entirely subjective to the person. My wife goes overboard with this stuff all the time, reading websites and calculating calories by body weight, BMI, all that shit. It all comes down to what you weigh, what you want to weigh, and how many calories you burn every day.
If you want to lose weight, you don’t necessarily have to starve yourself. People forget that there’s two sides to the weight equation - intake and energy burning. If you don’t want to decrease intake and starve yourself, you can increase energy burned.
The idea that you have to eat just over 1000 calories a day to be fit is fucking retarded. A standard MRE or equivalent field ration in just about any part of the world is 2000 calories or more - how many fat soldiers do you know? That’s on a 6000 calorie or more a DAY diet.
Granted, an average person isn’t going to burn near that many calories, but it’s not hard to eat 2500-3000 a day with 45 minutes to an hour of exercise a day. I’ve been out of the service for more than a year, I still eat more than 3000 calories a day and weigh just over 170lbs at 5′ 10″. You just need to do some kind of cardio every day: running, basketball, something.
It’s not even the idea she only eats that much, it’s that she does ALL that physical activity while still eating that little. It’s no wonder I’ve heard she’s obsessed with B12 shots, it’s probably the only reason she can stand up.
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there are 100 calories in one tablespoon of butter so actually what i said about adding butter is correct. most people add way more than one tablespoon when they are cooking especially when considering pasta, just watch the food network…
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Weren’t we talking about Madonna? Frankly I don’t care what any of you eat but Madonna just sets herself up for ridicule. Hello osteoporosis!
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In response to AC:
Starch vs. Carbohydrate
Starches are the most basic form of carbohydrates. It is found in all fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. Starch is broken down in our digestive tract into small molecules of glucose, which are then absorbed and transported into cells for energy production.
Many fruits and some vegetables contain significant amounts of glucose and fructose, as well as a disaccharide called sucrose (ordinary sugar), which contains both glucose and fructose.
Our bodies have been accustomed to metabolizing about 300 grams of glucose (mostly from starchy foods) every day for thousands of years.
We have always consumed some fructose, often in the form of fruits and honey. Until about 200 years ago, the average daily intake of fructose was only eight grams a day. As ordinary sugar (sucrose) from sugar beets and sugar cane began to be readily available, the daily intake of fructose raised 10 fold to 75 grams a day. The problem is further compounded since the 1970s, when high fructose corn syrup was introduced as a substitute sweetener. About 9% of the average dietary calorie intake now comes from fructose.
When sucrose is ingested, it reacts with water to generate glucose and fructose in equal amounts. Each 100 grams of sucrose produces 53 grams of glucose and 53 grams of fructose. Sucrose is called a disaccharide for this reason. The ingestion of 100 pounds of sugar (sucrose) per year translates into 125 grams per day and 66 grams of fructose. With about 8 grams added on from fruits and honey, the total average intake per day now becomes 74 grams. Our body is used to metabolizing only eight grams of fructose a day. The nearly 10-fold overload has caused many health problems, which we will discuss below.
That was taken from this article, it is very good!
http://www.drlam.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/2001-No5-SugarandAging.cfm
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Whoa…I eat all of that in one meal alone.
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No one is talking about age here. Madge is nearly 50
and likely pre-menopausal if not into it already. The
hormone crazy her body is doing is probably kicking her butt metabolism wise.
If you want to stay at top condition after 50 you may need to really work at it. It’s not easy any more, if indeed it ever was. -
I never eat more than 500Kcals a day. Just on special holidays or once a month, maximum. If someone wants to stuff themselves with bigmacs its their choice. What do you care about what she eats? Does it make you feel better about your one eating habits?
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where’s the potatoes?!?!?
NOT joking!!! complex carbs are a blessing. potatoes, brown rice, sweet potatoes!! yum. they fill you up, have few calories, lots of nutrients, lots of chew-factor, and taste wonderful. add vegetables, beans, heart healthy olive oil, seasonings and spices and you have a meal or a side dish. love my complex carbs!!!
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Madonna looks like a tranny; don’t know why anyone would want to look like her anyway. Just sayin’…
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bradleybeagl, where are you from that you are such an authority on this subject? people should realize that everyone has their own requirements for their own body, and that is what has been negelcted in nutrition is intuitive eating.
also that if you come onto a thread and immediately insult a whole nation of people, you are going to a) upset people and b) seem insecure and immature yourself. by the way, before you bother, im canadian, whatever that means to you.
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Scott, you’re totally right, eat sensibly and move more is the way to doing it. Counting calories tend to turn you into a food obsessed bore.
But I cannot see how this article can be accurate - by moving around at all she’ll burn 800 calories, more as she’s so muscular. And you can guarantee that she’ll burn 800 calories minimum in 2hour workouts. So I think someone is telling porkie-pies about portion sizes.
Bradley, I respectfully disagree with you regarding butter. I doublechecked the two forms of butter (pure and one with added oil to make it spread) in my office fridge and both gave approximately 750 calories per 100g. This is about the same as oil as they’re both primarily fat.
1 tablespoon usually equates to about 15g and a large tblsp about 25g. So a 15g tablespoon of butter tends come to about 105 calories.
It’s not important, but it was a welcome distraction from work
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retro-actress: i am an authority on the issue of Americans being fat asses for many reasons; 1) I live in America and have eyes, I can see the fat people and watch them eat their over sized portions. 2)I have purchased meals from restaurants here in America, guess what the portions are huge. 3) I can read, therefore when I buy a food product, I read the nutritional information and can clearly see what the correct portions are. Therefor I can recognize when people are eating too large of portions. 4) I am a college graduate and have learned through classes how there is a problem in America with obesity.
I must state again that I am an American and if you are offended by my statements then you must be part of the increasingly growing population of overweight people in this country. There is a problem with obesity and I am tired of our health care systems being clogged with obesity related problems. Obese people are disgusting to me and there is no one to blame but themselves, in this day and age there is no acceptable reason to be obese.
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Bradley - I think if you paid attention to half the people in this thread you would understand the point we’re trying to make.
Big portions do not make people fatasses. You get fat by eating a ton and doing NOTHING. It never ceases to amaze me how many people complain they’ve never found a diet that works, but if you ask them if they exercise, they look at you like you’ve grown a second head.
I eat Mcdonalds twice a week, and believe me when I say I am the type who used to supersize. I don’t have some hyperactive thyroid or super metabolism that keeps me thin. I just don’t spend all my time on my ass.
Food nazi’s like you are taking the focus off the real causes of American obesity - self control and laziness. We cry about our school kids getting fat - so we take the soda out of the lunchrooms - but the damn kids aren’t required to do gym more than 1 year of high school anymore! How does that make any fucking sense at all?
Eat what you want within reason - just get off your ass and work it off.
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Yes, but the point of her going so calorifically low is the fact that all of this low end calorie curbing has put her body into such a fraught state that it doesn’t lose weight at 1000kcals a day WITH exercise, let alone 1200kcals.
This is what a lifetime of calorie dropping does to the body, it goes into survival mode and does anything it can to stop the body dropping weight - be it fat or muscle.
Fact is, Madonna probably can’t get results without eating that little. Oh well, she’s vowed not to get fat so she’s clearly doesn’t mind living on rations for the rest of her life - she’s happily recompensed given her choice of career, so who cares.
I’m more worried about people WITHOUT her career and it’s perks trying this regime on for size. (Clue: don’t do it unless you’re happy to starve for the rest of your life, or you can afford to pay people to help you do it.)
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JEBUS. I would PASS THE HELL OUT if that’s all I got to eat in a day. I’m starving just looking at that ridiculousness.
If you’re trying to put on muscle, your body will eat itself on that little amt of nourishment.
Yeck. I would not be a pleasant person to be around. I certainly would not have the energy for a 2 hr work-out on that b.s.
/raiding the pantry right now.
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Scott F.: Im sorry i was under the assumption that when talking about diet, exercise would be a given. i exercise everyday, and eat healthy the problem is people don’t exercise and complain about their diets not working. Also you cant blame schools for fat kids you can blame the fat parents for not feeding them correctly or teaching them about diet and nutrition. furthermore why does the school system have to be responsible for exercise; instead of buying kids a happy meal and putting them in front of the playstation or tv, parents should have their kids play outside, or as many good parents do enroll their children in after school sports!! and yes exercise is important but so are portion size and the types of foods consumed. I think the point people are missing is that over sized portions are bad, and yes exercise is good but if your diet is shit then your not giving your body the fuel it needs.
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that diet is just not healthy i’m with everyone else on that. even with occasional doctor monitoring (which most people can’t get, hello HMOs or no insurance)there is a not-small risk for long-term cardiac or musculo-skeletal damage.
bradley - perhaps the reason everyone assumes you have no idea what you’re talking about (besides the claiming butter has like 7x as many calories as it really does) is because you take the most combative stance possible with everyone. if you’d chillax and stop accusing everyone of being “fat-ass Americans” which makes you sound like a pro-ana 14 year old girl with anger issues, you wouldn’t get such a negative response. just sayin.
now, gym-ward ho! -
bradleybeagl have an f-ing cheeseburger and shut the hell up. eyes to your own ass, okay?
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RC: im sorry you feel that way but in reference to the butter issue i was correct actually if you want to get technical i was a few calories below what the caloric value actually is. furthermore i was simply commenting on the fact that statistically America is the fattest country. you must just be a fat person as i said and will say again the only people who would get offended by a fat America comment are fat Americans. and if you can read i said that the Sunday diet sounds healthy , i never agreed on the crazy amount of exercise that goes with the diet, nor did i say that all people should follow it. it seems that im not the one that needs to learn to read.
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Bradley - You’re making yourself look like an ass. Stop trying to act like you know something, and calling everyone who disagrees with you fat. This data took me literally 2 seconds to find by searching “fattest countries’ in Yahoo.
From Forbes.com
“In a list of the countries with the greatest percentage of overweight people, Nauru tops a list of countries with the greatest percentage of overweight people, with an alarming 94.5% of its adult population (ages 15+) classified as such, based on the most recent estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, Niue and Tonga round out the top five, all with a portly population of over 90%.
The U.S. weighs in at No. 9, with 74.1% of those over 15 years old considered overweight.”
So statistically… well, you’re full of shit.
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Not only is this diet irresponsible in regards to the health and sanity of those who follow it, I notice that one of the meals includes Sea Bass, which is a threatened, over-fished species. If you follow this, not only can you damage your own health, but that of the planet as well. Good work.
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Re: Scott F.’s stats: makes me believe that there is a genetic component to obesity. I can’t imagine that Micronesia, Cook Islands, Tonga and Niue have a very “American” lifestyle w/ McD’s on every corner and Playstations in every home. Although I admit to having zero knowledge about these countries except guessing that their populations are perhaps Polynesian or Samoan? Traditionally big people, no?
I am overweight because I am genetically predispositioned to be that way. All that really means is that I have to work harder than, say, my husband, to be “thin”. At this age and stage, I just ain’t got it in me anymore to work that hard and micromanage what I eat to that degree. Life is short; I’m gonna enjoy it. Plus when I was “skinny” and getting whistled at and hit on all the time, I certainly wasn’t any happier. In fact, i was so consumed with what I had (or hadn’t) eaten, how long I had (or hadn’t) worked out and how loose (or tight) my clothes were feeling that I couldn’t take a second to notice anything else. I imagine I was a huge BORE to be around. Hence, now I’m a happy fatty…
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scott f: good for you, you know how to google. although the USA is 9th on the forbes list those figures are calculated by the percent of the population. Naru may be 1st with 94.5% but Naru only has a population of 10,000 people so they have 9,450 obease people, yet the USA’s population is 303,967,000 that means with 74.1% there are 225,239,547 obease people in america. so although Naru has a higher percentage we have the most fat people!!!
1.Nauru 94.5% -population 10,000
2. Micronesia, Federated States of 91.1% - population 107,862
3. Cook Islands 90.9% - population 20,200
4. Tonga 90.8% - population 100,000
5. Niue 81.7% - population 1,600
6.. Samoa 80.4% - population 188,540
7.. Palau 78.4% - population 20,000
8.. Kuwait 74.2% - population 2,851,000
9.. United States 74.1% - population 303,967,000yet again i have not called anyone on here fat, learn how to read!!!
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To the poster who said that Sunday sounded healthy:
A half-cup of cucumber? Really?
I agree that people often don’t understand portions, and that smaller amounts of food often satisfy as well as larger ones, but this diet is insane.
It was irresponsible to print this diet in a magazine like that, even with the caveat of suggesting a physician consultation. Even diets for the obese or patients due to go in for heart surgery that are designed for fast weight loss are not this restrictive calorically. Chronic calorie restriction at this level leads to amenorrhea (loss of periods) in most healthy women and definitely would be unhealthy.
There are lots of diets that work for different people and for different reasons. The South Beach diet (low fat, low refined sugar, lots of veggies and lean protein) works well for me, and doesn’t require calorie counting at all. The SB diet, for example, encourages salads with plenty of veggies (not just 1/2 cup of damn cukes) in addition to the protein. In fact, it stresses not cutting quantity/calories too harshly.
The reason this article upsets me is that it feeds the unhealthy spiral many women have with diets and eating. The more crash diets and yo-yo-ing you do, the harder it is to attain lasting weight loss or balance. That trainer is going to make a lot of real doctors and nutritionists angry, just wait and see.
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bradley: are you so combative b/c you’re hungry? just saying. and yes sweetheart please do call me fat… it would make me laugh my skinny ass off.
thanks for the comments folks.. i enjoyed them. *high five* scott f for being such a well tempered good sport to bradley.
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Oh, and bradley, I just read your statement “obese people are disgusting to me and there is no excuse..”. Well, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, go f yourself.
And to the chick who says she never eats more than 500 calories a day, I hope you are just not adding properly because that is anorexia right there.
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Not fat, but am offended. Calling ALL Americans fat and lazy is ridiculous.
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“Obese people are disgusting to me and there is no one to blame but themselves, in this day and age there is no acceptable reason to be obese.”
What’s disgusting to me is when people are judged on their appearance more than whether they are kind, or generous, or honest, or any number of other things that I think say a lot more about character than waist size.
To get back to the original topic, this diet is not healthy. While the portions may be perfectly fine, there are not enough portions. When you add strenuous exercise to the mix, the diet becomes not just unhealthy, but irresponsible. I can certainly understand Madonna’s desire to stay fit as she gets older, and I know that doing so gets harder as one gets older. But this suggests a lack of perspective that is troubling. The goal shouldn’t just be to be thin, or even fit–it should be to be healthy. I am very skeptical that the diet and exercise plan described here will achieve that.
And I’m not even getting into what I think of Us Weekly, regardless of this story.
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Bernie: to state that im the one being combative, and congratulate others for their patience is ridiculous. Not once on here have i insulted a specific person, all i have made are generalized statements regarding to the fact that most Americans are obese. Yet to those of you who disagree with me have specifically called me an asshole, full of shit, an ass, anorexic, and told me to go f- myself, so ask yourself whose the one being combative and disrespectful, quite frankly i have given more respect to those of you who have disagreed with me than vise versa.
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Jesus man, you just don’t know how to quit when you’re ahead do you? Not that you were every really ahead - but still.
You didn’t call anyone who disagreed with you fat? I quote -
“you must just be a fat person as i said and will say again the only people who would get offended by a fat America comment are fat Americans”
“if i am an A-hole for speaking the truth about the big fat American life style, then you must be a big fat American to get offended by it.”
I’m offended, and while I can’t be 100% certain, I would wager to say I’m probably in just as good if not better shape than you. If you want to starve yourself, that’s fine, but calling everyone who doesn’t want to fat is just fucking retarded.
“obese people are disgusting to me and there is no excuse..”
“yet again i have not called anyone on here fat, learn how to read!!!”
I can read douche - maybe you need to read your own writing. As long as we’re working on generalizing Americans, how about we take on the ’stupid, illiterate American’ image. You’re not helping our case by being (supposedly) college educated, yet seemingly unable to punctuate or capitalize.
You come here calling people names, spouting off bullshit numbers, and acting like a moron, then people are going to call you out on it.
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i said “you must” be i didn’t say “you are”, and your newest response just confirms the fact that i have given more respect to you than you to me. considering i have shown restraint and not called you any name as you have me
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I will try to write this comment as respectful as possible. A fellow colleage of mine invited me into this discussion.
I would like to give some insight into my background so that my comment may hold some validity. I hold several Doctorates in Medicine and am a licensed & practicing Pediatrician and Nutritionist.
The comments made by ‘bradleybeagle’ are for the most part on the mark. America by far, as numbers go, is the most obese nation in the world. Percentage aside, we have a serious problem here in America and I see it every day with the children I attend. It astonishes me that some of you would take to attacking ‘bradleybeagle’ for comments about ‘fat Americans’. Fat may be considered a harsh word, but I honestly believe that it’s time for a harsh wakeup. All I hear are excuses from my patiens, their parents and finger pointing tactics they employ.
It’s time to stop the excuses, stop the finger pointing and stop the attacking of those who (sometimes harshly) bring the realities of this epidemic to light. If you are offended that someone speaks out against ‘fat Americans’ then start the change and prove that person wrong.
Also, do any of you care that much about a random person’s comments that you are willing to ‘blow up’ at each other? Are each of you that insecure? Amazing.
Also, on this article. Although I personally would not recommend Madonna’s diet to any of my patients; each person’s body is different and requires specially configured diets and with her lifestyle and level of fitness I can understand this style of diet. Oh and 3oz of chicken breast with 1/2 cup of tomatoes and 1/2 cup of cucumbers is actually a very healthy lunch. That I would recommend…moderation.
Please educate yourselves on this matter before making, what I would consider, ignorant comments. I commend ‘bradleybeagle’ for standing up for what he/she believes in.
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Children, please!
while I don’t agree with the majority of Bradley’s rants I do understand his/her point of view. We, as a culture, have embraced laziness and shunned personal responsibility. Think about it: would there even be a diet industry (and would this article have been printed) if we weren’t constantly looking for some easy, quick cheap fix? Our portion sizes are disgusting, our food is over-processed, but we as a culture don’t seem too inclined to do much to change it but complain about it. Regardless of whether Madonna’s “diet” is healthy or not is completely arbitrary. We wouldn’t know what healthy was if it bit us in the ass!
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Whoever this chick on here is who says obese people disgust her…that’s the most agressive thing that’s been said on here. Obesity is a disease just like alcoholism, drug addiction, and even cancer. It’s predetermined in our genes on if we’re going to have high metabolism and burn everything we eat or if our body will hold onto every ounce of fat we take in. It can take twice as much exercise or more to burn a single calorie than someone with a normal working metabolism. Plus you have the people who use food as a coping mechanism-they are compared as the opposites to annorexia. Just like drug users and alcoholics. So anyone who turns to food for comfort disgusts you, than you must have no tolerance for anyone who drinks, does drugs, pukes up their dinner,ect…. Why, you’re a saint!
By the way-I’m in perfect shape…but I’m not going to judge anyone else’s choice-you never know what anybody is going through. I’ve seen firsthand how much pain someone is in who works out every day, eats healthy low-fat small portions of food, and does everything right for a month….to not loose one pound.
So get off your high horse and learn to spell ‘obese’ before you start spewing your hateful words. It makes a better impact on your point when you can spell. -
ohh so sorry that out of the many times that i wrote OBESE i spelled it wrong twice, ever heard of a typo? and yes i find alcoholism drug addiction disgusting. And if you are going to put it in the same category as those two then
what is clear is that obesity is a huge health problem just like alcoholism and drugs but society seems to think obesity is ok where as the others are not, when was the last time you saw an obese person being court ordered to rehab? or arrested for being fat in public?it seems that people are missing the point that obesity is a huge epidemic in america, fine if your happy being fat, but maybe obese people should think of the family members that they hurt by being that way, Ever hear of
* Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes
* Cardiovascular disease
* Stroke
* Hypertension
* hypothyroidism
* Dyslipidemia
* Hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance
* Congestive heart failure
* Angina pectoris
* Cholecystitis
* Cholelithiasis
* Osteoarthritis
* Gout
* Fatty liver disease
* Sleep apnea and other respiratory problems
* Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
* Fertility complications
* Pregnancy complications
* Psychological disorders
* Uric acid nephrolithiasis (kidney stones)
* Stress urinary incontinence
* Cancer of the kidney, endometrium, breast, colon and rectum, esophagus, prostate and gall bladder
* Deathhttp://www.obesityinamerica.org/complications.html
that’s why i find obesity disgusting!!! Just look at what it does to the human body!!!!!
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Finally, I come to the bottom and this entire thread of comments has redeemed itself with Dr. McMichaels.
Although Bradley is kind of offputting in his presentation, we all know he’s right. In this great nation we live in, we’re given all the luxury in the world to eat what we want, when, where, with whom, while celebrating whatever holiday, religion, or other fanatical thing we choose. Everything is a choice. You can choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle or you can choose to live a healthy one.
Yes, there are a few exceptions of disease or disability, but that’s such a slim portion of the population. I’m pretty sure everytime I go to Disneyland (the HAPPIEST place on Earth), there is a morbidly obese man or woman riding on their little chair carts headed straight for the ice cream shop. They take up half the room with their vehicle and here’s the thing (you’re gonna get offended) I don’t feel sorry for them at all. Maybe if they WALKED around the happiest place on Earth, instead of scooted or had someone push them, maybe I’d be okay with them buying the incredibly unhealthy, yet remarkably delicious ice cream cone. It’s a treat. Go for it.
I don’t understand why people are getting so enraged at this guy for telling the truth. Americans have a completely different scale of large and proportional. It’s whatever’s right for you and your body. I’m 5′6″ and by the charts, I should be what? 125-140? I met with a nutritionist and got a complete evaluation and because of my frame and other stuff, she said she’d prefer me to be between 110-115 and I could stretch it to 120, but more than that would be overweight.
Seriously, all this guy is saying is that if you’re not obese, you won’t get offended by calling Americans, as a collective whole, fat. You would notice that a fairly healthy woman would wear between a size 4 and an 8, why is our national average a size 14? I’m incredibly skinny, I get that… but I eat like it’s nobody’s business. I LOVE food. I love eating it. I love cooking it. I love to smell it. There’s nothing wrong with ANY kind of food.
Get serious, people…… Just eat a little bit less. Go walk a couple more blocks. You don’t have to analyze everything thing you put into your body. Eat until the first sign that you’re full…. Stop there. We gorge ourselves way too much.
And would everyone just calm the eff down? It’s one guy’s opinion and I’m starting to think that he might be right. But I’ll add another option. You either: a. are fat, b. are obese, c. care about someone that’s bigger and you don’t do anything to help them, or d. are someone that got hugged 5 too many times growing up. Bully for you.
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I’m sorry, I have to comment on Biotch’s post up there….
You classify obesity as a disease. Something one is predispositioned to be/have. So, if I know that I have cancer cells in my body and it starts killing me, I’m gonna do something to stop it. If I’m a drug addict, you’ll take the needle away from me if you can, or at the very least, tell me that my lifestyle isn’t healthy. No… at the VERY least, just think my lifestyle isn’t healthy. If I was an alcoholic, my liver would be paying for it, people would tell me to stop. Not in one of these situations do friends and family (that are healthy) say ‘Oh, it’s okay. It’s how you were born. You had those genes from the start, so don’t do anything to stop it. Since you born that way, just live it up. Shoot the heroin. Drink 3 cases of beer tonight. No big deal.’
No. That doesn’t happen. Why? Because apparently we have to tiptoe around the obese people, when it’s apparently just the same as having cancer. YES! It’s unhealthy. You’re supposed to take steps toward living a healthy lifestyle instead of being defeated with an excuse that says it’s okay to eat yourself to death.
You find me one obese person that has, throughout their life, eaten moderately and exercised. You give me reason to believe that this situation is the norm and I’ll back off. Until then…. try another excuse.
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bradleybeagle:
If you want to make some helpful points on here and help anyone, try not to start off insulting them and tell them they disgust you.
Obesity does cause health problems, just like most of anything else we do, eating the wrong foods and alot of them is bad for us…DUH, it’s not rocket science. But what you’re not getting is many people are born with chemical inconsistancies in their brain that create addiction. They feed themselves, if they don’t do that-than it’s smoking, or exercising themselves to death, or starving themselves, or doing cocaine, or pulling thier hair out, or cutting themselves…..
The human race in general is a huge vat of self hatred or low self esteem. It’s a vicious cycle. If you eat too much because you’re depressed or you’ve had something happen to you in your past that you can’t face, then you feed the pain with your addictive choice….then everything and everyone around you says you’re pathetic…then you do it more because you feel like you’re a failure. Making the comments your making only fuels their pain more. Support and acceptance is the key to help anyone with any problem.
Maybe you need to face your problem-your need to talk to people as a group and make them feel that they disgust you even before you know the person they are. -
Backster:
You’re right about grouping obesity with cancer-they aren’t the same. They are both classified as a disease but not even in the same ballpark.
I just want to provide some compassion to people who are overweight and combat the disgusting comment. That’s hardcore to feel disgust from someone you don’t even know as a person. I feel disgust from the guy that locked up his daughter for 24 yrs or racism…not from someone’s clothing size. Especially when you don’t know where they came from. -
biotch: its not their clothing size that disgusts me its their inability to take responsibility for their own actions and the results that occur from it.
I am thankful that there are people out there who see my point, and to the rest of you who cant seem to grasp it, i give up. Its like taking a cookie from a fat kid, it’s just not going to happen!!!
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Wow. You are a mean little girl.
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Madonna’s diet is not adequate for her body, her age, or her level of physical activity. I understand that she has an aversion to ever being fat but her diet combined with her exercise regimen is more closely in tune with an exercise anorexic and shows that the woman has some serious control issues.
That aside, America has an obesity problem for the same reason we have a debt problem, energy crisis and education problem. We have become a nation of self gratification heedless of the consequences.
Everyone wants to make everything someone else’s problem.
me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, now, now, now.
You can reduce portions, put PE back in the classroom, ban transfat, the whole nine yards but until people start taking responsibility for their own health and that of their children, not a damn thing is going to change.
P.S. Pacific Islanders tend to be overweight because in their culture, big is the ideal, not skinny models.
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BradleyBeagle, for someone who is college educated, you seem to know very little about poverty in America.
It’s great that you have access to healthful food and a safe place to exercise. It’s great that your schools had money to allocate to gym and playground equipment, and that they were located in a safe area for you to spend time outside. You are incredibly lucky that you had access to adults who could make sure that you were safe while enjoying these things.
I work in an urban area with poor children. Most of them don’t have the luxuries that you apparently have/had. My clients don’t have a safe place to spend time outdoors. They don’t have the money to buy nutritious food, and they don’t have anyplace to buy it even if they did due to the lack of stores that carry fresh fruits and vegetables. They go home to empty apartments because their parents work 12 to 16 hours a day in order to provide them with food. Their parents then don’t have time to cook food not to mention the lack of access to healthful food, so they default into cheap, easy, and available (ramen/Big Mac/pizza).
Yes, America has an obesity problem. However, your comments about fat people being lazy or lacking personal responsibility ignores the reality that being overweight/obese has a high correlation with being lower middle to lower class.
So yes, people need to exercise and eat healthfully, but all of the blame cannot be laid at the feet of the parents. Schools should be offering nutritious breakfast/lunch/snacks along with adequate time for students to run and play. Stores need to offer nutritionally dense food at reasonable prices. The government needs to be willing to subsidize gym memberships for people trying to stay healthy who don’t have the money. Restaurants need to start posting nutrition facts in plain sight (like they’re required to do in NYC). People often make poor choices out of lack of knowledge or lack of availability.
And before I get called fat, I am a curvy woman who is within “normal” limits according to my doctor. I am a normal woman who loves food, and I am lucky enough to have access healthful food and safe places to exercise outdoors.
And as a “normal” woman (whatever that means), I think it’s irresponsible for any magazine to post an exercise/nutrition regimen that is so extreme. 800 calories is below starvation rations for the average woman, and coupled with the exercise I would consider this diet dangerous.
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You know, I was going to keep the debate going - but I don’t have a doctor I’d feel comfortable enough asking to post on my celebrity gossip site.
Wow. That’s all… just wow.
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1) The more the government subsidizes, the less money I have in my paycheck and the less I have to spend in the produce aisle.
2) Parenting is hard and it takes more work to make a decent buck than ever but that’s no excuse for lazy parenting.
3) Womans’ Day and Family circle are 1.99 a monthly issue and each of them have at least 15 or so healthy and inexpensive menus in them.
4) Restaurants lie. Even the ones who post their nutritional value lie. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that less prep = better for you and salty + greasy and bigger than your head = bad for you.
5) A half hour a day of dancing while cleaning = exercise. You don’t need a park or a jogging path or a playground. Just turn up the radio and have a good time with your kid.
6) What city do you live in that there isn’t a park, playground, sidewalk, etc nearby where a kid can play. I lived in Brooklyn as a child and I played outside in front of my apartments. On rainy days, I played in the hall.
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Elle: i don’t understand how you can say that being poor makes people fat. infact i grew up in a poor family but i still was able to eat healthy, rice is very inexpensive, so are vegetable when you grow them yourself. furthermore to say parents don’t have time to cook healthy food is insane, both of my parents worked 15 hr days and i was taught at a very young age to cook for myself and my siblings.
Also my my last account a dinner of pasta, rice and veg is allot cheaper than pizza. it is far more inexpensive to buy ingredients to make healthy dinners than purchasing unhealthy premade dinners.
Also to assume that i am able to exercise because of money is just dumb. I get my exercise by walking, and doing crunches and other home exercises. i never set foot in the university gym. Simply im saying that you don’t have to have a gym to be fit, it seems like you’re using economic shortcomings as a reason to be unfit. Considering more poor people do not have cars and must get around the old fashion way by foot or bike, they would be more fit. furthermore when was the last time you saw a obese homeless person?
And about government subsidizes, hell no, to much of my hard earned money goes to taxes to pay for obesity related illnesses now you’re telling me i have to help pay for them joining a gym, i cant even afford to do that, when am i going to get help from the government? i guess what i should do is pop out a kid i can’t afford and get the government to help me.
yet again more excuses for living an unhealthy lifestyle, obese people need to own up and take responsibility for what they are, instead of creating a multitude of excuses.
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Wow. 69 comments, count ‘em. That’s the most I’ve ever counted here. Guess we really are over-obsessing about our food, whether gluttonous or anorexic (that’s you 500cal/day).
Not to many real working folk out there have 2 hours to spare for exercise. I hope Madonna’s kids get to exercise with her, otherwise I’d wonder when they see mommy. I leave the house at 7:30A and get home at 8PM. So I hope the skinnies out there don’t get too holier than thou about this. -
Okay, I’ve tried to post once, and it seems to have deleted.
Basically, I stand by my original comment.
Headache:
1)Yes, my solutions will cost money. However, I feel like it’s between paying now to prevent obesity and paying for the effects.
2)Nobody says parenting is easy, but I have an issue with punishing the kids for their parents shortcomings and poverty. If we had better education (nutrition, job training, all kinds), we could help to stop the cycle of poverty.
3)To create the recipes, you need access to the ingredients. Which is difficult if you are relying on a corner store that has limited to no fruits and vegetables.
4)I have an issue with secret bad food. A lot of people don’t know what they’re doing in ordering. Salads are often less healthy than burgers. I know that having the information would help me to make good choices on the (rare) occasion that I eat out.
5)That’s a good idea. I think that variety would help keep people exercising, but I have no issue with encouraging people to work with what they have.
6)Detroit. I’ve heard Brooklyn is nice
I’m guessing the neighborhood you grew up in wasn’t crime-ridden. We have parks here, but playing outdoors in many areas is unsafe.I’m not arguing that people should take no personal responsibility, but obesity in America (and elsewhere I’m assuming) is a complex issue. There are a variety of factors that need to be considered, and there’s more than enough blame to go around.
BradleyBeagle
I don’t really know what to say. From the posts I’ve read, it sounds like you’ve got a pretty set idea, and arguing with you isn’t going to fix anything. I still disagree with you, but I don’t really see the point in continuing a debate with you. -
I can’t possibly fathom being somewhere in my mind that makes it ok for me to sit down and tell a group of people they are disgusting to me for any reason. I am just who I am, and I have no reason to judge them. I have no idea where they came from.
What gives you the right to be disgusted by someone you don’t know or even try to know? Maybe you’re not obese, but take a look at yourself and ask yourself how it’s ok to you to speak the way you do about people you’ve never met. I have obese friends and several are that way because of childhood tramas like sexual abuse, or even low metabolism. These two women are the most amazing people I know. Filled with lots of love and wouldn’t bat an eye to help me or anyone. So you get on here and write that they disgust you-because they are overweight. You can’t figure out why so many people take offense to your comments because in between your crappy statements, you threw in some medical facts. But does that really make you right in your feelings of disgust?
Looks to me like you don’t want to be helpful to anyone-just get here and be hateful. That’s sad. -
What you guys just don’t seem to realize is that Madonna is FAT!!! She is just so fat that she has to resort to extreme measures to get rid of all that disgusting blubber.
UGH! I’m just completely disgusted that a public figure who has a perfectly acceptable figure would diet at all.
Whatever.
geronimo:
Anee:
Codzilla:
bradleybeagle:
Cici:
michelle:
CandyKay:
AC:
Syko:
iheartlasagne:
KateNonymous:
Bellatrix:
Bodhi:
Mairead:
Scott F.:
delilah:
velvet elvis:
breederina:
Lilly-Anna:
journey:
happyfatty:
retro-actress:
ff:
HS:
RC:
CaLi:
Mich R:
Julia:
Bernie:
Murknas:
Dr. McMichaels:
Because I say So:
Domesticated Biotch:
Backster:
headache:
Elle:
Trashaddict:
Amber:
The stupidity. 1200 cals a day is the minimum required for your body to keep functioning effectively, and that’s even if you’re just lying in bed! Pure unadulterated stupidity.
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