The Houston Chronicle has an interesting story today. One year ago, Patrick Deuel weighed just over 1,000 pounds. He was so large and so ill that he could not leave his house. When the ambulance arrived, they had to cut a hole in his house to get him to the hospital.
Well, it’s a year later, and Patrick now weighs in at 499…a remarkable achievement for anyone–losing over 1/2 of your weight. It has been over twenty years since he weighed less than 500 pounds.

“Life,” he says, “is infinitely better.”

It’s not a big surprise to think that he is much happier now. He is mobile and much healthier. Sure, he has some more weight to lose, but his life his livable.
I don’t intend to demean his hard work, but the article continued:

When Deuel arrived at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., he welcomed the spotlight, determined to prove he was no Guinness Book footnote but a man with a message: Obese people suffer because the health care system and insurance companies don’t do enough to help them.

Let’s be honest. Obese people do not suffer because of the health care system. Nor do they suffer because of insurance companies. They suffer because they eat way too much. They get fat; they lose their mobility. Sure, there may be better ways to help them, but at the end of the day, the fault lies solely at the feet of the person who is irresponsible with their eating habits. And the reporter (Sharon Cohen) does the world a great disservice by throwing in her personal soapbox about the state of the healthcare system. Boo.
Good luck Patrick…keep up the good work.