This Obesity Thing

Discipline, self restraint and a bit of self respect would help many people. They are lazy of mind as well as physically idle.

I can totally see how it would be easily to mentally get stuck in a rut. The only way out though is to take ownership and do something about it.

Which is slightly harder than doing nothing about it but not exactly difficult if you can be bothered to think about what you eat.
Today I did some freebie work for a charity that helps people with pancreatic cancer. Met some sufferers who were going to be photographed/filmed as part of an ad campaign. Pancreatic cancer survival rates have not changed for 40 years.
Those sufferers have my sympathy, people who are fat through overeating don’t.

Pretty much what NZCol said (apart from the ginger bit)

Imagine being so useless you were incapable of doing anything about your problems?

Are you similarly unsympathetic towards people who are say, so depressed they kill themselves?

In England, most people are overweight or obese. This includes 61.9% of adults and 28% of children aged between 2 and 15.

^ from gov.co.uk website

If people are genuinely ill through no reason of their own doing then yes they have my sympathy.
Shoved cake down your hole and sat on your fat arse? No. Same goes for drinking/smoking to an early grave.

If people are genuinely ill through no reason of their own doing then yes they have my sympathy.
Shoved cake down your hole and sat on your fat arse? No. Same goes for drinking/smoking to an early grave.

BUT 60% ( and growing) of the population are not just going to “wake up and smell the roses” Unless there is some decisive action around education and legislation the problem will continue to get worse. Whether you like it or not there is a food and drinks industry looking to profit and providing proper healthy food is way down their agenda.

Sorry I didn’t realise it was a thyroid/genetic/psychological/other condition* that made you a bloater.

*delete as appropriate

Yes, a thyroid condition can make you a bloater even if it is treated.

I have very little self control with food and can easily polish off most of a tub of pringles/family sized bag of crisps/packet of biscuits/tub of ben and jerry’s.

I can manage NOT to buy them in the first place.

Fat people can lose serious weight if they have the desire as we see from those slimmer of the year awards, most don’t really care when it comes down to it. Every and then there’s a story in the papers about someone who saw their holiday photos, or whatever, and felt so ashamed that they sorted themselves out.

I had a mate who was very overweight in my student days. One summer got a job on a building site, came back in great shape. Gotta want to do it.

The point is that if 60% are overweight, then overweight is the norm. Perceptions change. People tell me I’m too thin, my BMI is 24, so I’m actually just the right side of oveweight.

This is why showing 27stone people on these news reports is unhelpful, show someone who’s 6ft and 16 stone as an example of obesity, would be an eyeopener to many I think.

Also, if the problem is 60% of pop and rising, then its systematic and not individual, no amount of preaching personal responsibility is going to help.

The point is that if 60% are overweight, then overweight is the norm. Perceptions change. People tell me I’m too thin, my BMI is 24, so I’m actually just the right side of oveweight.

This is why showing 27stone people on these news reports is unhelpful, show someone who’s 6ft and 16 stone as an example of obesity, would be an eyeopener to many I think.

Also, if the problem is 60% of pop and rising, then its systematic and not individual, no amount of preaching personal responsibility is going to help.

Spot on.

Discipline, self restraint and a bit of self respect would help many people. They are lazy of mind as well as physically idle.

+1

The Olympics cost how much? Have we as a nation actually changed any bad habits? Was it good value for money?

It’s only the chunkards that have bad habits ain’t it?

It’s only the chunkards that have bad habits ain’t it?

Not seen many chubster crack addicts

Some real eloquent intellectuals about tonight.

The Olympics cost how much? Have we as a nation actually changed any bad habits? Was it good value for money?

Was one of the best things we have done. Worth every penny and plenty of sports have benefited.
But if you look at the research on weight loss in 2013 Weight loss

60% prioritised exercise over dietary changes. 49% tried to cut back on fatty foods, 48% went for smaller portions and 48% tried to cut back on sugar. (A number of people obviously tried more than one technique). The food industry message of “eat what you want and get off your lazy backside”, sadly appears to be having an impact.

I don’t think we will every change it, blaming food is an easy way out. You can still buy fruit and veg and make a healthy meal in 15 minutes. I’m amazed to hear people saying things like “it takes too long to cook stuff”, no it takes EFFORT to cook stuff but you can bang together a healthy meal in less than 15 minutes no problem.
Yes it is much easier to buy convenience foods but there has to be a balance and some education to that effect IN KIDS will help. Changing attitudes is one large part of it.
[/quote]Are you similarly unsympathetic towards people who are say, so depressed they kill themselves?

I’m sympathetic to a point, to hear that 60% of the population are overweight means that there will be a small percentage that have significant problems – be them medical or mental, that inhibit the ability to get out of the position. The rest are in a position to take some responsibility and make some change – irrespective of social standing.

Not seen many chubster crack addicts

The weirdest Breaking Bad episode idea just went through my head

Of course, genetics means that some of you will indulge yourselves just as much, if not more, as others, but by chance remain outside the 60%.

I suspect that number is actually quite a lot. I know very very few people who show much restraint in what they eat. Most people who are skinny are congenitally so. Most people in my sedentary line of work are slightly chubby. Not obese though.

And let’s not overlook the fact that carrying a bit of fat and being sedentary won’t make you overweight, but if you do a lot of exercise the extra muscle might. If the figure of 60% is using the BMI scale, it’s notoriously bollocks.

All sorted.

Nope, still a ****.

BMI is good enough at population level. Muscly rugby players wrongly classified as obese are offset by spindly limbed fat bellied high body fat but healthy bmi types.

Nope, still a ****.

😆

I blame diet cola, fat folks drink gallons of the stuff!

Can some of these wonderful skinny people on this thread post up their food diaries please?

I’m glad to see that everyone has a really good understanding of obesity. You don’t have a **** clue. Live the life and then understand.

If it was so easy the country would be full of people the “normal” size.

This thread shows the sort of short sighted bigotry that obese people have to face on a daily basis.

lol. I completely agree with everything MrSmith has posted in this thread which is pretty unusual! I used to be morbidly obese/xxl (sometimes xxxl) and am now a size small. Basically incredibly fat people, or at least those who aren’t even trying, are sickening to me and I’m not even over exaggerating.

Are you a **** as well?

Ah.. Those who aren’t even trying. That is a fair point. There probably are lots of obese people who aren’t trying and blaming everything else as an excuse. But that certainly does not apply to 60% of the population. And banging on and on about the morbidly obese denialists does nothing at all to help the debate for the 60%. Furthermore it smacks of sport, and not the good kind.

Would anyone of you people with all the answers care to explain why I am so hungry currently?

Lot of butthurt blimps in this thread.

How hard are people trying to loose weight? How about not becoming a bloater in the first place?

Wanna loose it? Get on the road bike and do steady 100k three times a week and have a salad after and nothing else until the next day. Done.

I think anyone who’s overweight or smokes should be refused NHS treatment for related illnesses.

I used to be morbidly obese/xxl (sometimes xxxl) and am now a size small. Basically incredibly fat people, or at least those who aren’t even trying, are sickening to me and I’m not even over exaggerating.

Ha ha. Sounds like someone still has some personal issues to deal with. 😆

Are you a **** as well?

Maybe. Laziness and greediness are just traits I don’t desire in people I want to be around.

no it takes EFFORT to cook stuff but you can bang together a healthy meal in less than 15

My default can’t be bothered meal is salad, takes around 3 minutes and even less skill.

Has anyone mentioned their ‘inner chimp’ yet?

Even by STW standards this is a pretty ill informed debate and I am amazed at how many people really lack any comprehension of the problem and more importantly a solution.
Just telling 60% of the population to sort themselves out doesn’t work.
There is a WHO report that the Times has uncovered that recommends “free sugars” represent a max of 5% of total energy intake. Have you any idea how hard the sugar industry will try to suppress this type of information?

Maybe. Laziness and greediness are just traits I don’t desire in people I want to be around.

Although in some respects I can empathise with this viewpoint, but it’s hardly ******* helpful is it? And does nothing to address the causality of such behaviour. Greed and laziness are deeply entrenched elements of human behaviour, they’ve been their far longer than this “obesity epidemic”, the shift that’s occurred with regards to “greed and laziness” is that our ability to indulge is enabled.

My BMI is (after a predictable Christmas blip) bang on, and I usually manage 12-17hrs of solid exercise per week mainly consisting of Fell Running or Turbo Training. On the face of it that doesn’t suggest I’m lazy and greedy. But I am, few things are more gloriously satisfying as lounging around on the sofa eating crisps until I’m nauseous. The behaviour is there, it’s there in pretty much everyone I know to varying degrees. The food industry doesn’t generate this initial behaviour, although it certainly exploits it, and almost certainly exacerbates the problem with poor (addictive) nutrition.

Whatever the solution is to rising obesity, it’s something that needs to work with human behaviour. Probably involving a big dose of food industry regulation and education from a young age to shift the cultural dynamics before lifelong patterns form.

And the last thing that solution will be, is sneering abuse.

And did I see the fasting diet getting criticised on the news this morning?

Obese people are often lost before they start then its a massive struggle as its all theyve ever known. All I knew as a kid was on the go/out dawn till dusk and veg forced down my throat.

Watching 24hrs in A&E this week a 2yr old girl was eating a 4bar kitkat AND a bag of crisps. I’d never give even a quarter of that to our 3yr old..

Is that that 2yr ols fault? No.

Maybe all her life she’ll struggle with weight issues and on the backfoot.

This is why showing 27stone people on these news reports is unhelpful, show someone who’s 6ft and 16 stone as an example of obesity, would be an eyeopener to many I think.

^^ This is a very important point constantly parading super morbidly obese people on T.V as entertainment dressed as documentary, is having the effect of making the 60% of people who are obese, think they are not doing too bad and normalizing fatness.

Those blaming the individual for being fat are of coarse correct in one sense, but are missing the much greater problem, that we are doing something fundamentally wrong as a society, and it will be everyone’s problem at some point, whether you are fat or thin.

Obesity isn’t a mental issue, when the 27 stone 27 year old (or any other young obese person) was being overfed as a youngster was that a mental issue for the kid?

@ 183 and 85k I am no whippet but that’s an improvement on the 110k I was this time last year.

Change came first with education; there’s sugar in yoghurt, fruit juice, and just about everything labeled as low fat. After a while sugar tastes quite bad. Every meal doesn’t need to include bread and potatoes and being a bit hungry is OK.

As per earlier post I’m neither blaming individuals or their environment entirely, to eat when it’s there is a human condition preyed upon by companies and there shiny young marketeers.

Similarly, taking the easy physical option in a human characteristic the world has evolved to satisfy, so much so that it actually make it difficult for those who do have the will power to move( hence the cyclist/motorist clash).

Annoyingly for a forum spat, there’s no one thing to blame but the unlikeliness of changing the human condition suggests the best way to fix it would be regulate food manufactures and make getting around under your own steam/playing outside safe options.