Five years ago I was preparing for a marathon and got down to 185, which my MD told me was a perfect weight for my bone structure. In training, I lost a lot of upper body muscle. My mother, my neighbor, my secretary, and just about anyone I knew told me that I looked like I was “terminally ill” or that I had “escaped from a concentration camp.”

(When my secretary told me I was “skinny,” I told her that that was the “same thing as me telling you you’re fat.” She is no longer my secretary.)

In the U.S., to have a healthy weight — to be fit — is to appear not only undernourished, but unhealthy.

Unfortunately, the first heart attack symptom in 50+ percent of cases is that of irrevocably keeling over. So, the usual male approach to medicine of “wait and see” can be dramatically counterproductive.

The good news for Outback megamorphs is that the Flying Doctor Service is heavily subsidized by the government and various corporations. Hence they’re not likely to be browbeaten into buying two tickets by a zealous Qantas agent.

In the meantime, let’s applaud all the previous pilots who dutifully did their weight & balance calculations!

I could understand the Flying Doctor Service having larger planes because of the population increase, although you would think that population increases in the outback areas would result in more local medical facilities anyhow, but people getting larger? It’s sad…

I just got back to Florida from 2 weeks in England and it was strange to see how many people are now grossly overweight compared to a few years ago. Lack of exercise, being glued to large screen tv’s, computers and game consoles is partly to blame, but as well it’s the amount of processed food that people are eating.

I used to think that I was fat in England, whereas over here in the USA I am a comfortable normal weight. It was somewhat comforting to see that in the UK too I am now not looking as overweight as I once was.