Great John vs Big John

How fat are we?

I came across this article that seems to offer some direction to the answer.

"T'he obese now represent the most populous group of people in the U.S.,' points out Bruno Kordic, marketing and sales director for the Great John Toilet Co., which is based in Monterrey, Mexico. 'If they ever organized, they could elect their own president every time.'"

Bill Richardson has hope.

"A survey by Novation found that over the last three years 80% of hospitals are treating more obese patients (called bariatric patients in medical terminology) than ever; 40% have altered their procedures to accommodate the needs of obese patients, and 17% have remodeled their facilities to accommodate obese patients...

One frequent remodeling feature relates to commodes. More hospitals are switching to floor-mounted commodes, which can accommodate heavier individuals.

'Wall-mounted commodes can accommodate patients and visitors up to about 250 lb.,' Wise explains. 'If someone who is heavier than that uses these commodes, they may come off the wall.'"

Timber!

Oops.

"One hospital that has remodeled is Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee.

'When we remodeled and built new rooms for bariatric patients, part of the remodeling involved replacing wallmounted toilet fixtures with floormounted fixtures,' says Lynne Mueller, R.N., clinical materials resource manager.

All the toilets are a little farther away from the wall than the wall-mounted toilets for additional comfort. The primary reason for shifting to floormounted was not comfort, though.

'The main reason was that some of the wall-mounted toilets were coming off the wall due to frequent use by heavier people, including patients, family members and staff,' Mueller notes."

To paraphrase Tennyson's Charge of the Heavy Brigade, "half a ton, half a ton, half a ton onward."

"For facilities that don't want to shift from wall-to floor-mounted toilets to accommodate obese people, there is another option. Bar Industries manufactures a metal toilet support that fits under wall-mounted toilets, providing support to the floor for up to 1,000 lb."

These mega-loos are not just for institutions.

You can even own the home game.

"Miles Allen, owner of Ray Allen Plumbing in Tyler, Texas, reports that he has a number of obese customers who, when they sit on the toilet, end up falling the last 6 in. or so.

'With that type of mass and acceleration, they're hitting that toilet with more than just their body weight — for some people, maybe up to 1,000 lb. of pressure,' he points out.

As a result, Allen has had to replace several toilets because of impact fractures. He is considering the idea of replacing some of these toilets with stainless steel prison-model toilets."

"Prison-model toilets."

Here's a pretty picture.

"That's just one problem Allen faces. He has a 500-lb. customer whose midsection is very large. When he is sitting on the commode, he can't get his hand within 12 in. of his groin area, which ends up hanging over the front of the toilet by 6 to 7 in."

And a solution.

A toilet that:

"...is also built stronger, he adds, to reduce the potential for breakage, using a reinforced structure (ceramic tested to 2,000 lb.). The toilet features additional anchorage points and reinforced steel hinges."

For perspective, 2000 lbs. is about 9 times the weight of an elephant at birth.

Here's a better solution.

Lose weight.