Is Being Fat A Personal Choice?

Its not so much about choosing to lose weight, its about choosing not to gain it in the first place. While it may not be easy to lose weight once its gained, not overeating, and choosing more nutritious, less calorie dense foods is much easier.
This poll is getting at what the nature of "choice" is, given that many food choices are made based on economic, cultural, taste and convenience reasons. Do poor people have a choice not to eat off the Dollar Menu? For the most part, yes. If they were so poor as to need to eat that food for sustenance, they wouldn't be eating enough extra to gain extra weight in the first place.

I agree with Tom. also go see Food Inc, we subsidize corn and now corn syrup is in most everything and this also makes junk food cheaper than good food. how about subsidizing food that is nutritious.

I think that in America, in the majority, we have a choice to eat healthier, to exercise, to ignore the advertising that is so rampant. As Americans we are taught to be consumers, to consume beyond our basic need. Do we need to drink soda pop? No, yet so many of us make it part of our daily consumption habits. Do we need to consume more than 1500 calories per day? No, not unless (1) we work on a farm doing manual labor, (2) have a metabolic disorder, or (3) work out at the gym rigorously and religiously. Do we need to eat foods loaded with HFCS and processed sugars, with every flavor modified and manipulated, so that it barely tastes as it should? Definitely not! As Americans, we are regularly driven by our impulses and desires, not our basic needs as beings in a functioning, healthy society. As Americans, we are driven to laziness, driving is mandatory to get to many places, which contributes to our high percentage of obesity. As Mike commented, nutritious foods should be subsidized to make it more available to all.

I believe obesity is linked to mental health - depression is widespread in the US and in many cases it is directly related to obesity.

For adults, I think it's a personal choice to eat bad food and choose not to grow your own healthy food to offset the high prices of grocery store produce. For children who are fat, I don't believe they have control. They don't cook the dinners, buy the groceries or pick the restaurants. Have you seen the kids' menu at restaurants? Everything is breaded or deep fried and have no color other than golden brown + red ketchup.