The NFL's Obesity Scourge

[BobbyC81]

9 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

The players need to take care of themselves.  As with any other segment of society, some are better at that type of thing than others.

Within months of retiring, Eric Wood went from 305 or whatever his real playing weight was to about 260, where he is now.

 

A lot of these guys are giant, heavy boned, wide framed people who gain weight easily.  They need to watch their diet when they retire.  The lazy ones or weak minded ones don't handle that so well, like many other people. 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember when O-lineman Jeff Saturday retired, lost a lot of weight, and went to TV.  If you didn’t know, you’d never think he was an NFL lineman.

[CoudyBills]

9 hours ago, Shortchaz said:

This is probably an oversimplification, beans and rice are some of the cheapest foods....

 

Average person eats between 3-5 pounds of food a day, you can get fruit and veggies for 1-3$ a pound. 

 

A person can eat healthy for as little as 5$ a day. 

Agreed 

?, I agree man, no one wants that, but it is arguably a public issue.

For a family of 4 that equates to a $600.00 a month food bill.  I would dare say half the US population might find that difficult.  Average household incomes about 54k currently, or roughly 3k bring home a month.  considering the rampant consumerism in this country you have to factor in the $500 auto loan, $200 credit card payment, $1200 for housing, $150 for cell phones, $100 for cable, $350 for gas, $100 into a savings account, $400 for food maybe.  people have their budgets all jacked up.  or they just don't do one.

[Boca BIlls]

5 minutes ago, CoudyBills said:

For a family of 4 that equates to a $600.00 a month food bill.  I would dare say half the US population might find that difficult.  Average household incomes about 54k currently, or roughly 3k bring home a month.  considering the rampant consumerism in this country you have to factor in the $500 auto loan, $200 credit card payment, $1200 for housing, $150 for cell phones, $100 for cable, $350 for gas, $100 into a savings account, $400 for food maybe.  people have their budgets all jacked up.  or they just don't do one.

Shouldn't have a family of 4 if you can't afford it... I hate when people have kids and cant afford it. Then they blame everyone else.

[machine gun kelly]

The answer is simple.  If they want to lose weight they can while they have the $mand NFL Insurance, get a lap band on their stomach which is pretty safe today, shrinks their stomach so they feel full on less food, go to a nutritionist who would work with them to slowly change their habits, and most importantly do a ton of cardio everyday.

 

Choose SPIN classes, hot yoga, whatever and you can lose the weight.  They choose not to do so and most made enough money to take a year off after retirement to get them in adult life shape.  Managed by a doctor to monitor their glucose levels, heart disease, cholesterol, etc. and stop eating to excess.

 

This country is always wanting to blame someone else.  Look at Lorax.  He gained and lost wait between O Line, D Line, LB, ST based on what is needed to have another contract at 36.

 

i know it’s hard to change habits, but it can be done.  Look at how many alcoholics kick it with AA, or smokers with help, and is more addictive than crack.  I commend people who take control of their lives and don’t blame everyone else for their issues.

[BillyWhiteShows]

IMO Obesity is a bit different than CTE.  When you have CTE from helmet-to-helmet blows, you have it for life.  It doesn’t go away.  Same isn’t true for obesity.  

 

There’s steps that ex NFL players can take to prevent it and given the salary most should be able to afford some help.  Same can’t be said for the average American.

[Royale with Cheese]

I'm sorry but it's not the NFL's responsibility to make sure retired players maintain a healthy weight post playing days.

I never played pro ball but played in college and I ate much more to put weight on.  I didn't get fat and I was poor when after I graduated.  It's discipline.

[Beast]

14 hours ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

I know it sucks to hear but it’s why players should only look out for themselves.  These guys are pieces of meat to fans and the teams.  They get rid of them the second they are not valuable.  

 

I will say a know a bunch of former o and d linemen who lost a ton of weight after they were doing playing and skill players who went the opposite way.  But I don’t care how much they make. Nfl (and SeC) players are under paid.

 

If you feel that bad about it donate some of your check to their player fund.

 

That’s life. We are all replacable. I don’t expect my employer to have to take care of me the rest of my life once my usefulness runs out.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2019 by Binghamton Beast

[Sherlock Holmes]

10 hours ago, Shortchaz said:

Even simpler, refined sugar and salt. Eat no added salt or sugar for 2 weeks and try a piece of corn...life changing.

 

the saddest part is people don’t even know the true taste of a ripe piece of fruit. We’ve ruined our sense of taste by adding salt, sugar, and fat to everything. All for the dopamine hit... 

Want real life changing? Try JUST all ripe fruit for 2 weeks then people should try their old diet again?

 

I mean tree ripened fruit.... not that fermented store junk that they try to tell you is ripening.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Sherlock Holmes

[Sherlock Holmes]

10 hours ago, ButchCT said:

Sometimes, it is.  Example, some cases of PCOS.

Of course...doctors can't cure anything nor do they want to. Fix the glands on the person with PCOS and boom it's like a cure suddenly exists.

10 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

So much wrong here...

Sure, for somebody who works in Allopathy I would imagine...?

[Sherlock Holmes]

2 hours ago, formerlyofCtown said:

Being a fat person myself, such issues are usually a matter of self control.

At least you're not in denial.

 

I was too... once I broke out of the victim mentality, and took responsibility for my life it changed everything, not just being morbidly obese.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Sherlock Holmes

[row_33]

when you have deliberately put 150 needless (except to play football) pounds on your body and you have to retire due to injury or being rinsed-out

 

you can't exercise to any level of intensity that would reduce this cargo

[PurpLegacy]

3 hours ago, CoudyBills said:

For a family of 4 that equates to a $600.00 a month food bill.  I would dare say half the US population might find that difficult.  Average household incomes about 54k currently, or roughly 3k bring home a month.  considering the rampant consumerism in this country you have to factor in the $500 auto loan, $200 credit card payment, $1200 for housing, $150 for cell phones, $100 for cable, $350 for gas, $100 into a savings account, $400 for food maybe.  people have their budgets all jacked up.  or they just don't do one.

 

If someone is making $54k annually and has a $500/month auto loan they deserve all the financial hardships they encounter. 

[row_33]

3 hours ago, formerlyofCtown said:

Being a fat person myself, such issues are usually a matter of self control.

 

not when you have torn your knees and honestly cannot exercise

 

 

[Bing Bong]

15 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

 Underpaid??  They are getting paid a ton of money to play a game.  10% of american adults are morbidly obese---thats at lest 37 million people!  Do you know how many of them who have made a million or more in a year?  The answer is zero--none of them.

 

Morbid obesity is a very treatable disease, but as with any such disease, a patient has to seek treatment....and then always be compliant with treating a chronic disease such as this.

Way underpaid. NFL players bring in the most revenue of any league. Doesn't matter if they get paid to flip pancakes. The NFL fan has deemed that to be valuable entertainment worthy of our dollar and advertising revenue. They're the most valuable entertainers in the world, risk their bodies more than most other sports entertainers, and don't get compensated as much as other leagues.

 

Where's all that money going WEO?

[PurpLegacy]

12 hours ago, stony said:

I do.  It's way more expensive buying fresh produce weekly than eating cheap, mass produced products.  

 

It's not more expensive if you consider the negative side effects that will cost you down the road by eating like *****. My gf and I include a wide variety of fresh produce into our weekly diets and spend less than $30 which includes purchasing expensive frozen fruit for smoothies. Cheap, mass-produced high carbohydrates food doesn't fill you up and causes a biological response to continuing eating. My weekly meal preps cost about $1.50 per meal and include a lean protein, whole grain, along with a vegetable. Eating healthy isn't more expensive but it is more difficult b/c it requires planning, budgeting, and self-control. 

[Bing Bong]

33 minutes ago, row_33 said:

when you have deliberately put 150 needless (except to play football) pounds on your body and you have to retire due to injury or being rinsed-out

 

you can't exercise to any level of intensity that would reduce this cargo

The fact that they exercise every day like athletes, and force feed themselves to stay big boys. Says a lot about their genetics. 

 

I imagine guys like Woods really had to pack in food to maintain a C's weight and fight against their natural metabolism, whereas most big boys probably have made it all the way up the NFL ranks because they have the metabolism genes to maintain that weight with relative ease even while practicing football every day. Not hard to imagine what happens when football goes for a lot of these guys. They likely don't have the natural metabolism of the average adult. 

 

It's gotta be harder than what most of the posters are anecdotally saying how to fight obesity. It's still a battle of wills at the end of the day but it's much harder for some than others (in some cases almost impossibly hard)

[row_33]

15 minutes ago, PurpLegacy said:

 

It's not more expensive if you consider the negative side effects that will cost you down the road by eating like *****. My gf and I include a wide variety of fresh produce into our weekly diets and spend less than $30 which includes purchasing expensive frozen fruit for smoothies. Cheap, mass-produced high carbohydrates food doesn't fill you up and causes a biological response to continuing eating. My weekly meal preps cost about $1.50 per meal and include a lean protein, whole grain, along with a vegetable. Eating healthy isn't more expensive but it is more difficult b/c it requires planning, budgeting, and self-control. 

 

 

in the food courts of the financial district it's at least $15 for a decent fast food lunch

 

 

 

[Bing Bong]

5 hours ago, JohnnyGold said:

In my opinion, a lot of the problems that players face post-retirement could be solved by the lotto winner question: annuity or lump sum?

If, out of the next CBA, teams agreed that they would only hand out "lifetime contracts" it would be good for EVERYONE--league included. 

You're describing a pension. They get enough to live by very comfortably after 55. But sure, the NFL could mandate more of the compensation from contracts is contributed to a pension plan to smooth out income for those who don't know any better.

 

The old pensions (which I assume this article is touching on.. players in the 70s and earlier, SUCKED). But they're much better now, more along the lines of what you describe. How long you play and how much you are paid determines the size of the pension without any salary contribution. And contracts can be drawn up to add contributions to an annuity to the pension. But I don't think anybody wants to be forced to turn their contract into an annuity. But a stronger pension essentially does just that.

5 hours ago, JohnnyGold said:

And the owners should want to do this. Not because of morality, but because of economics. A, they would get to hold on to their money for decades longer, so all gains on it would be theirs--some of the contracts would pay for themselves just by market returns over their lifetime. So it's a win/win situation financially for players and teams (and I think the owners would have to pay the money into a trust that they couldn't withdraw from but which payed dividends out, but as for who would control how that money was invested--who knows). On top of that, B, I predict you would see much better health-related outcome measures for players after their playing days ended, because income streams are guaranteed. They can coach youth football, work in schools, be charitable in the communities where they played, join the country club and learn how to golf because they can afford to be a member there when they're 45--basically, the little things in life that give us all purpose that you can't access if you're a former athlete because you're broke and have no saleable skills, and you're ego is destroyed because you used to be the BMOC, now you're a failure. 

Companies and the NFL are absolutely incentivized economically to give out lump sums rather than managing pensions. The cost to manage annuities and pension plans are extremely complicated and expensive. That's why I get paid to do just that.. and at the end of the day you're just turning one form of compensation to another more costly administrative form for jackwagons like me.. mandated by the government.. to get credentialed and professionally determine liabilities on an annual basis to constantly make sure the NFL coffers can pay liabilities. 

 

But companies are phasing out pension plans for 401Ks as a form of retirement for that exact same reason. They're putting the "power [to manage retirement money] in the employee's hands and out of the employer's [astronomical cost of administrating retirement plans] hands"

 

Code for: They're giving you the responsibility cause it's a pain in the *** for them so they'll spin it as giving you control, not responsibility.

 

Pensions and annuities are way better for employees than a lump sum, but lump sums are easier.. economically way better for employers. They don't have a cost of administration.

Edited January 18, 2019 by BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P

[Mr. WEO]

26 minutes ago, BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P said:

Way underpaid. NFL players bring in the most revenue of any league. Doesn't matter if they get paid to flip pancakes. The NFL fan has deemed that to be valuable entertainment worthy of our dollar and advertising revenue. They're the most valuable entertainers in the world, risk their bodies more than most other sports entertainers, and don't get compensated as much as other leagues.

 

Where's all that money going WEO?

 

Obviously, individually, they aren't the most valuable entertainers or we wouldn't be having this conversation. 

 

Hmm were does the extra money (profit) go in a private corporation?  Why are you even asking this?

 

You know the players get the majority of the teams revenue, by contract.  If you have a beef with how much they get paid, the problem is that some of them get paid many times more than others.  Let them share their revenue with each other.  There's plenty of money, they should share it , no?

 

Anyway, none of this has anything to do with morbid obesity---their status as former NFL players has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to successfully treat this treatable disease.  The pancake flipper can succeed at treating his morbid obesity as well as the NFL player....and without all that financial wherewithal.

[Bing Bong]

9 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

There's plenty of money, they should share it , no?

I'm saying maybe the owners should share it, not the players dividing up the smaller slice of the larger pie they created over other leagues. Any ordinary profession that received the same earnings per revenue generated would.. find a new profession or riot lol.

 

But whatever, I agree, they certainly make more than enough money to manage obesity. Money's not a problem for this subject.

Edited January 18, 2019 by BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P