Just wondering how someone who receives Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits every month for years due to a MSK injury is able to participate in a ‘Biggest Loser Boot Camp’? —Curious George

This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.

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33 Comments

  1. the biggest loser is a weight loss show.

    Injury and disability is no excuse for obesity.

    Obesity is preventable and is also reversible..

    I suffer chronic pain. I am not obese and i also go through HELL every day doing physio. And that’s AFTER the eight hours i put in at the office.

    This is not an injury. The best the doctors can come up with is that i have major spinal nerve problems. There is no cure.

    Ever break your arm? Ever get burned with an iron? Combine them. That’s what nerve pain feels like.

    Excuses piss me off.

    If you’re obese, you’re gonna die from it eventually. Why not stop bitching about an opportunity to get your life back and start living? Fuck sake..

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  2. Rat them out to CPP George, they’ll have to return some, if not all of the money. – OR – They’re on the show with the full knowledge and blessing of the CPP.

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  5. IF you win the biggest loser contest…doesn’t that automatically mean you lose !
    Because as the designated winner, you’re no longer a loser ~;)

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  6. ——-
    Injury and disability is no excuse for obesity.
    ——-

    And sometimes a loss in mobility, increase in pain, difficulty moving etc is a contributing factor to someone putting weight on.

    ——-
    Obesity is preventable and is also reversible..
    ——-

    Doesn’t mean it’s *easy* though.
    And every person is different.

    ——-
    Ever break your arm? Ever get burned with an iron? Combine them. That’s what nerve pain feels like.
    ——-

    Ever get run over by a fully-packed 18 wheeler?
    I was. Does it matter? Nope.
    But when I pinched a nerve in my neck a year ago it led to me not transferring in an out of my car 10 or so times a day. My core muscles got a bit shitty. This summer I had a muscle spasm in the centre of my back from carrying my bass in it’s gigbag to a music course I was taking. It’s better now, after massage. Shoulder/nerve thing is pretty much better with physio.

    Long story short: because I slept funny one night a year ago, a couple things conspired to mess up my core muscles, a muscle spasm, and so I have put on weight. I’m going to the gym currently and eating more appropriately to stop the downslide.

    Just because I can see the trail leading to be gaining the weight(including my broken back from 20 years ago injury with truck) doesn’t mean I am making excuses.
    You can “for fucks sake” this all you want, and judge people without knowing their medical histories, but PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE, and shit sometimes happens, and they get fat.

    And knowing the root cause of something is not making excuses. I take responsability for the weight I’ve gained over this year. Being judged for it doesn’t help me. I’m judging myself enough for all of us.

    I may be completely off base with my comment, but sometimes I find the “for fucks sake”-ing that goes on here a bit frustrating(and predictable). It’s like we’re playing roles on the internet.
    We’re still all people, blah blah whatever.

    Have a great weekend, Bitches!
    Summit soon?
    P

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  8. Hey Xeno-
    I play with a pick if it really needs it, but I’ve been fingers for 30 years. I can get any tone with my hands, so I don’t need 20 different basses. I have a couple great ones.
    I use to slap in high school/university/pre injury, but the way I sit in the chair, I could never get my thumper hand in the same position, so I gave it up.
    And a bass player I idolize told me “funk is in here(heart), not in your thumb”. So I don’t feel bad about not slapping any more.
    Paul

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  11. A Medical Supply Kit Injury???
    did they accidentally stick themselves with a dirty needle or something?

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  12. @ Wheeliep: I know exactly what you’re talking about. I pinched my sciatics somewhere between S3 to L4. It was so bad that I lost the feeling in my legs and couldn’t walk for a period. It blew out my core muscles to the degree that I’m still working to tighten up again after four years. Still get the spasms occassionally, too, which scares the hell out of me and makes sure that I keep working on re-building muscle strength every day. The weight is getting much better & I’m almost back to pre-injury levels.

    It’s a nasty thing when pain causes you to weep because it just hurt so bad when you sneezed or farted.

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  14. All joking aside Sebastian: I choose to be gay if you’ll date me.
    I’ll suck the chrome off your trailer hitch, then we can take my ill-gotten booty(or rather, my ill-botten goody) and make a bath house tour/UTI infection antibiotics run.

    Just say the word.
    Oh, god.
    Please. Say. It.
    (fapfapfap)

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  16. I may be way off base here but I think Donk’s “hmmm” is her trying to decide if they mean they actually suffer from chronic pain (Ow! Ouch!)or if they suffer from the overwhelming urge to spark up a big ass spliff (chronic – puff puff pass)

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  19. Bummer, Fool Hill. Pain can be so irrational.
    I get phantom pain where my leg *used* to be. And it’s not always like you see an injury, well, there’s the pain. Nerves are “invisible” etc. And it’s hard to describe to an unsympathetic ear, who thinks you should just suck it up.

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  20. I_K, I agree 100% that a person that is perfectly healthy should have no problem overcoming obesity, ie what you say about obesity seems to make sense with an assumption that the obesity is the root problem or condition

    But most of the time, it just isn’t that simple.

    A person that suffers from anxiety sometimes ONLY feels good when they are eating. You think its a walk in the park for them to exercise a little will power and loose the weight?

    A person that suffers from any sort of fatigue related condition( COPD, MS, stroke, diabetes) will sometimes ONLY feel wide awake and alert when they are eating. If you don’t belief me…the next time you are suffering from the afternoon nodds, try eating some sunflower seeds. The sunflower seed have no sugar to wake you up, yet, you will be awake.

    I_K, in short, I think you are smug, ignorant, and closed minded. And, most likely very petty.

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  21. well, if you took all the people on welfare off, you would save a fucking zillion bucks too. but being lazy, and a crook, well, i guess that helps.

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  24. you want pain, try to constantly live with 3 ruptured discs in your back. that happened to me way back when. i even had a thing called,”disc replacement”,done. what they did, was to desolve the origionals with some type of enzyme, then use silicone and teflon, to form new ones. in the 70’s, this was experimental, and volunteers only. took about 5 hours, and 2 days of physio. after a week, it felt great to be able to touch my tos again. but after about ten years, they degraded again, and now i am back to where i was.
    i learned to adjust to the fact of life, that my back was fucked, and would never get better. even if i had more surgery, it would not matter. yes, pain is bad, but sometimes you just have to grin and bear it. i don’t think any of the bitchers here, knew this fact about me, now you do. that is one of the reasons, i started my own business. some things are not that apparent people, and looking at me, you don’t really see it. i learned to control the pain, without meds, and and have done so, for almost 40 years now.

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  26. i have two ruptured discs, the back surgeon said it would be a “salvage” operation and not worthwhile. i go the pain clinic at dmouth general and other than some dos and donts, i prevail

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  27. i had the l3, l4, and l5 disks replaced. at the time it was experimental, and free. now i hear, that it could cost over 25 grand, and not be as effetive much, due to the aging process.
    i had a few good years of relief tho, and not one bit sorry for trying it.some nights before this was done, i actually thought of biting a bullit, really. unless you have this pain, you don’t know the feeling, and i wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. but that chapter of my life is ove, and have learned to effectivly deal with pain of it. it is not as intense as the first time tho, so it is a mixed blessing i guess.
    i just put it out of my mind, and concentrate on something else, hard.

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  28. i know that pain well, suckster. other than childbirth, which i knew would end, it’s the worst pain i’ve ever endured

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  29. The worst pain I’ve ever had was a gallbladder attack.

    And it wasn’t straight up ‘pain’ — it was nausea and… something else.

    Vomiting all the blocked bile helped, but it tore my throat to shreds. At one point I couldn’t even talk.

    In any event, I agree with GV’s post. Injury and illness can affect how much weight and how easily a person can lose it. Even certain medications can put piles of weight on that are a SOB to get rid of.

    Just because you can keep weight off, IK, with your chronic pain, doesn’t mean everyone else can. Sure, some of us are just lazy fucks when it comes to our weight, but some of us do make an effort and just can’t get things down (or even past a certain point).

    And sometimes being lazy is ok too. With the ups and downs I have re: blood sugar/day, I tire so easy that, after being up since 5am, working all day, spending an hour on a bus, etc… I can barely put something together for supper, let alone head off to the gym to work out. I do force myself three times a week and on weekends, but I just find that i”m tired all. the. time. to the point where I honestly don’t think I’ll be giving much of a shit for too much longer.

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  31. If you have chronic pain, obesity is going to make it worse. Fact.

    If you’re obese, your life expectancy goes down as does your getting laid expectancy. Fact.

    If someone is offering you this awesome gift FOR FREE, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it.

    Fact.

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  33. No one said obesity doesn’t make people with illnesses feel worse — what we’re saying is it can be hard TO keep obesity at bay when you have another condition.

    I know of people who are type 2 diabetics — they were on insulin, lost a pile of weight and their diabetes is now diet and exercise-treated. So I understand how losing weight can help, BUT not everyone can maintain a healthy body weight.

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