... that a healthy lifestyle and body can be easily maintained, it is not true that everyone can afford to give it the effort that many people do. My wife and I enjoy walks several times weekly when there's not two feet of snow on the ground and when it's not -30C outside.

However, we live in a small town without the benefit of a "designer" gym with all the trappings. About the only thing we can really afford to do on our limited income, besides our walks, is to play racquetball or swim.

We cannot, for instance, afford a gym membership in Edmonton and then the gas required to visit it regularly. We cannot afford the "low carb," "fat-free," or "healthy" foods all the time. We tried it one month and our grocery bill doubled, because, let's face it, healthy food is expensive.

We do eat well, though, most of the time. We eat our share of veggies and we try to avoid deep frying everything, but hey man, sometimes, you gotta have a burger and some poutine. If you don't, then you're not really living.

The thing is that neither I nor my wife are "obese." We haven't "let ourselves go" either. However, we're not going to live in the poor house or face not paying the rent because we want a healthier lifestyle. When we get the money and the motivation to lose our extra pounds, then we will. Until then, we're pretty damned happy with the way we are.


Now, for my personal opinion on this whole thread. I have been mostly just watching the interplay between members and, for the most part, staying out of things. However, it seems to me that a lot of this thread is purely about vanity.

Vanity is humanity's worst sin. It's insididous and, in my opinion, can be quite revolting. Odd, isn't it? How something that's supposed to be attractive can be so repugnant.

I have a strong dislike for those people that insist on having the "perfect body" or the "perfect face" or even the "perfect pair of breasts." The thing is that your perfect body is the one you work on yourself, without spending five figures a year trying to sculpt it. The perfect face is the one you were given. The perfect pair of breasts is not the one which you went out and bought.

Being fat doesn't mean being ugly. To be very blunt, I find skinny people to be terribly unattractive. I cannot stand looking at some of the pictures posted in these threads and seeing a 90 pound waif with her ribs and hipbones poking out with an obvious fake rack that border on the triple E size. I mean, come on. Get real.

I'd rather see a 150 pound model with wide hips, a narrow waist and large (or not) natural breasts. The ones that couldn't give a shit about cosmetic enhancements and how many hours they're in the gym.

I think the media has set an unattainable standard for beauty today. Fifteen year old girls are going out and getting breast implants because they want to be more like the people they see on TV. Well, a fifteen year old doesn't need implants, they need to grow them on their own and see where they stop. At least give the bump on their chest a chance to mature.

This is the sort of tripe that the vain, media-induced, fashion mongering society of today has brought about. I can guarantee that the youth of America would benefit by seeing models of regular size, rather than size 0 twigs with little water baloons sewn into their chests.

We're teaching our kids to be vain, shallow, worthless little narcissists by preaching to them the values of todays' society. Those of you that believe you have to "look perfect" and have the "perfect mate" are buying right into it.