Note: £1 = $1.5



Family who are 'too fat to work' say £22,000 worth of benefits is not enough

Quote :

"A family of four with a combined weight of 1,162 lbs say they are "too fat to work" and need more than the £22,000 they currently receive in benefits. Philip Chawner, 53, and his 57-year-old wife Audrey weigh 336 lbs. Their daughter Emma, 19, weighs 238 lbs, while her older sister Samantha, 21, weighs 252 lbs. The family from Blackburn claim £22,508 a year in benefits, equivalent to the take-home pay from a £30,000 salary. The Chawners, haven't worked in 11 years, claim their weight is a hereditary condition and the money they receive is insufficient to live on. Mr Chawner said: "What we get barely covers the bills and puts food on the table. It's not our fault we can't work. We deserve more." The family claim to spend £50 a week on food and consume 3,000 calories each a day. The recommended maximum intake is 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men. "We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner," Mrs Chawner told Closer magazine. "All that healthy food, like fruit and veg, is too expensive. We're fat because it's in our genes. Our whole family is overweight," she added. Each week, Mr and Mrs Chawner, who have been married for 23 years, receive £177 in income support and incapacity benefit. Mrs Chawner is paid an extra £330-a-month disability allowance for epilepsy and asthma, both a result of being overweight. Mr Chawner gets £71 a month after developing Type 2 diabetes because of his size. He was on a waiting list for a gastric band last year, but a heart condition made the operation unsuitable. Their daughter Samantha receives £84 in Jobseekers' Allowance each fortnight while Emma, who is training to be a hairdresser, gets £58 every two weeks under a hardship fund for low-income students. Emma, said: "I'm a student and don't have time to exercise" she said "We all want to lose weight to stop the abuse we get in the street, but we don't know how.""

What do you guys think?

I can sympathize with them because their condition is hereditary. However, why do they consume 3,000 calories a day?

Anyway, that's sorta immaterial. (not fully immaterial, because if they consumed 2,000 calories each, they might drop several tens of lbs, and then they wouldn't have the obesity reason [excuse actually, see below] any more)

I have definitely seen 250 lb cashiers at supermarkets. Why can't they do that?

Phone operators? Doesn't matter how much they weigh. Too fat to work? Yeah maybe if you are 500 lbs, but not 250-300 lbs.

Something smells fishy whaley.

4/16/2009 3:27:43 PM

It's not their fault that british food is delicious.

4/16/2009 3:30:20 PM

So because they're fat, other people have to pay for it?

4/16/2009 3:32:43 PM

I don't have even the tiniest bit of sympathy for any of them.

They should have sympathy for the poor souls to have to foot all of their bills because they won't work and take advantage of the system.

4/16/2009 3:33:17 PM

Quote :

"We're fat because it's in our genes"

this is the only reason

4/16/2009 3:33:48 PM

There are much fatter people that work with me than these wastes of skin.

fuck them, if they won't work, they can starve.

4/16/2009 3:41:52 PM

This article brings the funny

Quote :

""We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner," Mrs Chawner told Closer magazine. "All that healthy food, like fruit and veg, is too expensive"

what the hell is a bacon buttie anyway?

Quote :

"Emma, said: "I'm a student and don't have time to exercise" she said "We all want to lose weight to stop the abuse we get in the street, but we don't know how."""

lomfl

4/16/2009 3:43:15 PM

Fuck these fat fucks. People far larger than them work with no complaints. These people are just freeloaders, plain and simple. My mother-in-law is bigger than most of them and she worked for years with no problem, and the only reason she doesn't work now is because she's crazy. It has nothing to do with her weight.

[Edited on April 16, 2009 at 3:47 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2009 3:46:54 PM

this doesn't belong in the lounge

move to chit chat so we can mock the stupid fat people

4/16/2009 3:47:08 PM

Pound for pound, they're making $19.37 pounds per pound.

4/16/2009 3:48:23 PM

I love the URL:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5004431/Family-who-are-too-fat-to-work-say-22000-worth-of-benefits-is-not-enough.html



But yeah, about the sympathy, that only referred to their physical health (if it truly is genetic), not to the fact that they can't don't want to work.

As I said, you will find many 250-300 lb people in the public, working. So, what's so special about them?

And they should take inspiration from her: (15 yo chick used to eat 13,000 calories a day and weigh 462 lbs, has lost 168 lbs in 7 months... 5.5 lbs/week!!!)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5146778/Britains-fattest-teenager-loses-12-stone-in-seven-months..html

Britain's fattest teenager loses 168 lbs in seven months.

Quote :

"Georgia Davis, who last year weighed 462 lbs aged 15, had been warned in August by doctors that her size was killing her, telling her to lose 20 stone or die. Later that month she left her home in Aberdare, south Wales, for North Carolina in the USA after being given a special scholarship to the world's leading "weight loss academy", Wellspring Academy. And seven months on, she is now a size 24 rather than a 38, weighing 21 stone. Georgia, now 16, said: "This proves I'm no longer the fattest teenager in Britain. "I never dreamed I'd get this far so quickly." She added: "I've wasted enough of my youth being overweight. "Now it's time to look forward to the rest of my life." She told The Sun that she no longer struggles with the Type Two diabetes she was diagnosed with as well hip and back pain. She continued: "I haven't just changed physically - my personality is different too. "I'm a lot more sociable and happy and my confidence has really grown. I can't believe how active I've become." Last August it was reported that in a single day Georgia would typically eat processed ready-meals, several sandwiches, multi-packs of peanuts and crisps, sausages, pasties, chips, chocolate and cheese, while drinking litres of Coke or pints of milk. It added up to more than 13,000 calories a day. The average 15-year-old girl only needs 2,000 calories a day. When she first arrived at the school, her food intake was controlled, meaning she was only allowed to eat 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, all low-fat health food. She was also encouraged to get fit, by walking 10,000 steps every day. As she began to retrain her metabolism, her calorie limits were gradually eased. The school, based in the Blue Ridge Mountains, employs highly-trained psychologists to discover the emotional reasons behind students' obesity. Each pupil is assigned a behavioural coach who helps discover the nature of their disorder. Georgia believes she originally turned to food because she was stuck indoors all day helping her mother Lesley, who has had two heart attacks and lives with a painful bone condition. She said: "It made me feel sad, depressed and shy, which is partly why I turned to food for comfort. I love my mum more than anything in the world and I liked helping her. But there was nothing else in my life.""

4/16/2009 3:50:35 PM

Quote :

"move to chit chat so we can mock the stupid fat people"

MODS, I don't mind

Quote :

"$19.37 pounds"

4/16/2009 3:54:41 PM

This has to be an onion article.

Fuckin' fat people.

4/16/2009 4:00:07 PM

i don't think anyone on tww has as many chins as that girl on the right has. her neck is like eating her face.

4/16/2009 4:03:52 PM

They can get jobs at the circus.
Cut them off.

4/16/2009 4:08:30 PM

i've seen plenty of fatter people who work

if they can't afford the food, don't eat so fucking much. lose some weight.

i really hope this is a joke. i want to strangle those people so bad...but i know i couldn't get my hands around their necks or through all the blubber to get anywhere near their tracheas.

yeah, cut them off. they'll drop weight quick and be able to work again.

[Edited on April 16, 2009 at 4:11 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2009 4:11:30 PM

Something just dawned on me.

On those daughters, at the weights listed in the article, they're either like 4'6, the article has listed a lower weight, or all that weight gain has been very, very recent, and rapid.

Say you're 5'4 and weigh 300. Your face still doesn't balloon up like that Diseases like Cushing's can result in a lot of accumulation around the face, but treatment for cushing's is pretty straightforward.

And I'm gonna weigh in on the hereditary bit: I've got a genuine hereditary endocrine disorder that isn't fully understood, with limited treatment options. That doesn't stop me from trying (and sometimes succeeding) at losing weight It's also not the reason for my obesity And that is why I hate fat people who play the helpless card. They assume everyone else is stupid enough for them to snow.

[Edited on April 16, 2009 at 4:24 PM. Reason : qsd]

4/16/2009 4:22:55 PM

Quote :

""We're fat because it's in our genes""

so did the parents of the mother and father never work, or did they have skinny to moderate sized parents who just both happened to be carriers for this mysterious hereditary fatness disorder (MHFD)

4/16/2009 4:31:46 PM

Quote :

"There are much fatter people that work with me than these wastes of skin. fuck them, if they won't work, they can starve."

4/16/2009 4:33:06 PM

seriously. there's no way the girls only weigh ~250.

if i can go to school at 300lbs, you can work at that much.

and while i find bacon to be tasty, i have a feeling that if they just cut bacon out of their daily diet that they might see a change. christ.

4/16/2009 4:33:08 PM

i knew when i saw the thread title that £ was going to be involved

this type of the thing is the reason that the sun set on the british empire

4/16/2009 4:35:04 PM

look, i'm a hefty fellow, but hell if I use that as an excuse to not do anything or work to support my family.


these people disgust me.

[Edited on April 16, 2009 at 4:40 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2009 4:37:56 PM

see, those people aren't even "big boned"... there ARE people who are large, but back it up with a good amount of muscle mass.

these people are just rolls of blubber. blubber doesn't weight much compared to muscle.

4/16/2009 4:40:04 PM

[old]


and i want to know what this mhfd is, too

4/16/2009 4:53:38 PM

If they can stand, they can work. Proof positive in the pic.

4/16/2009 4:53:39 PM

Maybe just Maybe people that b.c of Heredity are to obese to work should not be allowed to reproduce thus propraganding a future generation of obese, worthless, societal leeches.

You want your welfare check fine but you better tie your tubes if this is a so called heredity disease.

4/16/2009 5:02:35 PM

The dad doesn't look helplessly fat to me, he could definitely work most jobs.

4/16/2009 5:11:13 PM

Quote :

"It's not their fault that british food is delicious."

FTMFW



but seriously, fat people are peopletwo.

[Edited on April 16, 2009 at 5:40 PM. Reason : .]

4/16/2009 5:32:54 PM

the two girls faces look like the face of that kid that Billy Madison squished when he said he couldn't wait to go to hike school

4/16/2009 5:39:41 PM

and this is a bacon buttie:

4/16/2009 5:43:01 PM

familes like this make me hate people and want to vote Sarah Palin into office.

4/16/2009 5:44:27 PM

nothing should ever make you that desperate

4/16/2009 5:45:53 PM

this shit pisses me off. if they can stand up and get dressed to take that picture you can't tell me they can't get a job at a gas station or something like that.

people like this are the scum of the system

4/16/2009 5:52:20 PM

Quote :

"If they can stand, they can work. Proof positive in the pic."

I find it extremely hard to believe that a 238 lb. woman or a 336 lb. man are "too fat to work", unless they're like 4'8" or something, which does not seem to be the case from the picture. The father doesn't even look enormous, though maybe his shirt is hiding it. Though I do wonder if they messed up the numbers or something. Both of those girls look heavier than the mother. I can't see her as 336.

But any of them could work. Maybe they can't stand for long periods of time without pain...maybe they can't walk long distances or do very physical jobs...but there is *nothing* that prevents those people from a wide variety of jobs.

Plus the calories thing...maybe if they cut back a bit, say even 500 calories a day each, they'd save a little money and lose a little weight. Then they could afford to start eating a little better and lose a little more weight, and the cycle continues...perhaps they could even *gasp* get a job! Because, true, a family of four adults is going to have trouble eating well, covering their bills, keeping a roof over their head, and getting themselves around on $33k/year, no doubt. But I'm sure with a little effort they could find something cheap that's not quite so unhealthy as "bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner." Try frozen vegetables, hell try canned ones. I mean damn.

I'm not exactly slim or fit, so maybe I'm being a bit hypocritical, but I weigh less than any of them at least.

4/16/2009 5:56:19 PM

4/16/2009 5:59:23 PM

I'm sure these people are dying to get their hands on some "fruit and veg"

4/16/2009 6:35:05 PM

i hate fat people

4/16/2009 6:46:10 PM

This makes me proud to be an American. We have some fat fucks, but they work goddamnit.

4/16/2009 6:49:08 PM

^ Now that's very illogical and misplaced, coming from you. You can't profile based on one case. And I am sure there are many many cases like that in the US, as there apparently are in the UK.

4/16/2009 6:51:12 PM

Ah, I'm not sure the US government is so quick to bail people out for being a fatass, as it were.

I mean, for sure, there's ways they could mooch off of the system, but not how these folks are doing it.

The type two diabetes part pisses me off. The goddamn people that get that disease and bitch about having it because they're fat and that make no effort to fight it off and correct the disease deserve to lose every year of life their poor choices have cost them. It's such a goddamn easy thing to prevent if you just sit down and realize that you really do not enjoy suffering such a massive loss in quality of life just so you can eat a bunch of shitty food every day.

4/16/2009 6:56:16 PM

Quote :

"There are much fatter people that work with me than these wastes of skin. fuck them, if they won't work, they can starve."

4/16/2009 6:59:27 PM

gray hair, blue shirt

= the Donald?

4/16/2009 7:01:15 PM

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/16/should-overweight-passengers-pay-for-2-seats-on-airplanes/

Quote :

"bese passengers might soon have to buy two tickets to fly on United Airlines. The company says “for the comfort and well-being” of all their customers, they have a new policy for passengers who: - Can’t fit into a single seat - Can’t properly buckle the seat belt using an extender - Can’t put the seat’s armrests down when seated If there are extra seats available, the passenger will be moved next to an empty seat at no charge. But if the flight is full, they either have to buy an upgrade to business or first class where the seats are bigger or change to another flight and buy a second seat. United says they decided to adopt the policy after getting more than 700 complaints last year from passengers who didn’t have a comfortable flight because the person next to them quote “infringed on their seat.”"

Looks like the McFat family will not be flying anywhere anytime soon unless they can chalk up 8 air plane tickets.

About time they adopted this policy. I could not imagine spending my 5.5 hour flight from Charlotte to LAX wedged between two fat fucks rolling into my seat.

Quote :

"I do not think this is fair at all, The airlines should make those seats fit more of the current “normal sizes” There are 64% of us considered “obese” and I will not fly that airline ever again if this is to be thier policy. I don’t like sitting next to someone bad breath or who smell like a brewery either but I bet they won’t quit selling drinks! Our airlines are all jerks and so are the airports maybe if 64% of us who are obese should be catered to by a new airline and then they can all take a flying leap out one of thier rather tiny windows too! that airline would be successful you can be sure. You can see the clothing designers are beginning to work with us,our money spends the same whether obese or thin."

Some dumb bitch named Liz responded with this gem. Sorry Liz but my brewery breath does not physically prevent you from occupying your seat and I would love to see your statistic regarding 64% of america being obese. Overweight maybe and very possibly; obese i don't think so.

We do not want your lard ass on an airplane anyway. I am sure if the airlines would adapt to the free market in making bigger seats if they decided they were losing to much business b.c their seats are to small to accommodate fatties.

4/16/2009 7:05:35 PM

Quote :

"Now that's very illogical and misplaced, coming from you."

I was being facetious.

4/16/2009 7:07:25 PM

Quote :

"I can sympathize with them because their condition is hereditary"

there is a genetic "link", however, it has been in our gene pool for many years and we have never had obesity rates like this. this is an environmental problem, not a genetic one. look at what they eat!

iirc, the study on the FTO (obesity) gene found that people who had it were less than 10 lbs heavier than their counterparts who didn't have the gene.

obese people cost us too much money. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-01-22-obesity_x.htm


[Edited on April 16, 2009 at 7:45 PM. Reason : !]

4/16/2009 7:34:35 PM

Yeah, I'm not sure if I buy the whole "hereditary obesity" bit. I believe that these people would lose weight if they started exercising three times a week and limited their calorie intake to say, 2500. The problem is, they're all fat, so they're all enabling each other.

4/16/2009 7:38:52 PM

^ Enabling being the key issue.

Fat parents usually tend to have fat kids following them around. That's what I tend to notice when I'm out and about, anyway.

4/16/2009 7:50:52 PM

delicious british food = indian food

4/16/2009 8:02:04 PM

Holy hell I want one of these right now. The "hereditary obesity" thing is ridiculous. If you consume more calories than you expend you are going to gain weight. Period. That's it. Some people have innately higher metabolisms, but all that means is that people with slower metabolisms don't need to eat as much.

4/16/2009 8:27:44 PM

fat gene/genetics = excuse

4/16/2009 8:30:27 PM