This Obesity Thing

Hunger is hormonaly driven and the stomach is the largest hormone producing organ in the body
People who have gastric band surgery don’t lose weight because they can’t eat any more or stop absorbing nutrients
It’s because their hormone levels drop off over night infancy their type 2 diabetes is also cured straight away

In that respect it’s a medical condition like alcoholism or any other addiction

Also the deny smokers NHS treatment camp are ignoring the fact that they are net contributors to the system thanks to all the tax they pay

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

I have lost 14kg in 12 weeks on 3 meals a day and no snacking

Breakfast porridge with a nana in and skimmed milk or 2 poached eggs on toast

Lunch One sarnie ,chicken salad,or tuna even a bacon roll but nothing with it

Evening meal last night jacket spud with tuna often rice or pasta .I just cut down the portion size and eat the same as the family .

Rarely drink now ,the odd scotch at home diet coke in the pub no take away and no pizza or crisps

normalizing fatness.

This is the problem. Shops sell clothes up to 6XL, politically correct teachers, doctors etc tell us we cannot use “fat” as a negative, TV shows feature grossly overweight people who make other fatties seem “normal”.

If you can’t get clothes to fit, you get called “fatty” and you don’t see loads of people worse than you, there’s the incentive to do something about it if you aren’t motivated by health benefits. A bit of stick if carrot isn’t working.

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?

So from the begining for the first 15yrs of your life you only know one way- you are already probably heading towards being very fat. So you are struggling psychologically with self esteem etc. You sink into habit.

For instance I have a strong desire and comfort in such foods as Liver and Carnation milk. Thats because I had it as a child and feel comfortable eating it. If I was brought up on fish and chips for three dinner meals a week- don’t you think it’d be very hard to avoid eating them? Of course it’d be hard.

Liver and carnation?

Well there goes my breakfast

Food of Gods 8)

That Gooseberry pie, corn beef hash and Dixons ice cream.

Oh yum yum.

Still lots of excuses.
Don’t want to be fat? Take control of what you eat. It’s so easy yet people still blame outside factors because that’s easier than not having that donut.
I don’t have a problem with people who are happy eating what they like and being a bit overweight, it’s those that desire to lose weight but blame external factors and not themselves when they can’t I have no sympathy for.

I’m 5’2″ & weigh 9stone 7lb at last count.
I don’t drive, cycle everywhere and work standing up in a fairly physical job. I’ve logged 200 miles & over 13’000ft of ascent on the road bike since Jan 1st.
That’s the good bit. The bad bit is that i am lazy, i like to eat junk (crisps & chocolate/chocolate biscuits) but i hardly ever touch fizzy drinks. My weight is kept in check by a physical job and regular cycling – but thats because i enjoy cycling, not because i do it as a form or exercise. If, like the majority of the modern working population, i drove to work, sat on my backside in an office all day then drove home i too would be overweight. Although my job doesn’t pay as much as most office based jobs i suppose i’m lucky in that my health (so far) is better than the average.
Its modern life thats killing us.

For instance I have a strong desire and comfort in such foods as Liver and Carnation milk

what? no Fava Beans?

It’s because kids aren’t allowed to bully the fat kids at school anymore 😉

IanW – Member
Change came first with education; there’s sugar in fruit juice

What the deuce?! You’ll be telling me there’s fat in butter next 😯

I don’t drive, cycle everywhere and work standing up in a fairly physical job. I’ve logged 200 miles & over 13’000ft of ascent on the road bike since Jan 1st.
That’s the good bit. The bad bit is that i am lazy

In my expert medical opinion you’re knackered, not lazy. I suggest as much rest and high calorie food as possible.

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

Mines pretty similar to yours apart from potato/rice. And I have half water half milk in porridge. I basically just try to avoid sugar and loads of carbs and try to get at least 80g protein a day (mfp says I should be aiming for 120g but that’s a bit ambitious I reckon). I’m currently eating a bit more than maintenance to try and put muscle on but its really not hard to eat at a deficit at around 1600-1800 calories.

Great now I’m starving 😀

MrSmith – Member
Still lots of excuses.
Don’t want to be fat? Take control of what you eat. It’s so easy yet people still blame outside factors because that’s easier than not having that donut.
I don’t have a problem with people who are happy eating what they like and being a bit overweight, it’s those that desire to lose weight but blame external factors and not themselves when they can’t I have no sympathy for

I can only assume you are either young or ill informed or perhaps both.

Wrong dietary advice

In the early 1980’s, public health advice changed from “carbs are fattening” to “base your meals on carbs” and “avoid (saturated) fat”. This U-Turn in dietary advice has had catastrophic consequences. It is no coincidence that obesity has gone up ten fold since diet advice was changed.

Rusty Shackleford – Member
IanW – Member
Change came first with education; there’s sugar in fruit juice
What the deuce?! You’ll be telling me there’s fat in butter next

Obviously not common knowledge though is it, as well as being such a witty sage you must be smarter than the average dude.

I’m fast coming to the conclusion that a couple of generations are essentially screwed, except for a small number of people on the margins who will respond positively to public health messages or dire warnings from their GPs.

The obesity epidemic is now so prevalent it is self-perpetuating, with overweight body image now reinforced as normal in young adulthood, and a virtually intractable cycle of depressive illness and the resultant apathy in older people.

My view is that the state almost has to take over the nutrition and exercise of the under-15s – give them heavily subsidised breakfast, lunch and dinner if necessary and greatly increase the amount of exercise in the curriculum. Then perhaps we can save them from the malign influence of their parents and peers.

I was incredibly lucky to find a way to motivate myself to exercise in my mid-30s. A pair of my old trousers arrived in the garage for rags this weekend – eight inches bigger waist than my current ones. The weird thing was, I had no real idea just how big I’d got.

My view is that the state almost has to take over the nutrition and exercise of the under-15s – give them heavily subsidised breakfast, lunch and dinner if necessary and greatly increase the amount of exercise in the curriculum. Then perhaps we can save them from the malign influence of their parents and peers.

I doubt that would do much. We live in the most fabulously wealthy society the world has ever seen. Food so cheap that the poorest can be as fat and suffer from the ailments exclusive to the super-rich of only a couple of generations ago.

Is it even worth worrying about?

In my teens/early twenties i was skinny – seriously skinny, with a waist of <24″ and weighed about 7.5 stone. In my mid twenties i started drinking more often, from thursday evening til sunday evening. Basically i would blow my wages on booze then spend what was left on cheap food til thursday night and the cycle goes on. Looking at pics of myself from back then i piled the weight on, right little fat faced git. When i was around 32 i discovered cycling and the weight started to slowly drop. It’s only in the last five yrs since i stopped doing the re-enactments (with the associated heavy drinking) and riding more that my weight has stabilised. Whilst my actual weight hasn’t gone down too much its muscle rather than flab nowadays. I still think i need to lose some weight but MsD is horrified by that idea.

I can only assume you are either young or ill informed or perhaps both

Old enough to remember there only being 2 fat kids in my year at school (what’s the percentage now?)
Informed enough to understand what the small print on a food label means, make basic healthy lifestyle choices and be 6ft and less than 70kg all my life.

I can only assume you either lack self control or are a corpulent face stuffer or perhaps both.
There is a slight chance you are a ‘feeder’.

Is it even worth worrying about?

Of course. Even if I bring up my kids to be healthy, and they do the same for theirs, their economic prospects and their healthcare system will be crippled by the cost of a huge number of people in their 40s,50s and 60s with obesity-related illnesses such as type II diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

As a former chubster – 5’9″ and over 17 stone, I can speak with some experience. For me it came down to a realisation that I didn’t want to look like that, and a small health scare. I wanted to be around for my kids.

Bought a bike, and started riding short distances. Being a competitive person I bought a bike computer and tried to beat my best average speeds and longest rides. At the same time, started to cut out the crap (crisps every day) and the weight just fell off.

Now sub 12 stone and running around 1 hr 35 min half marathons. Fitter than I’ve been for 25 years. Sadly it does come down mostly to self control in terms of eating, combined with some gentle (and increasingly harder) exercise.

I’ve kept a pair of size 42 inch waist trousers to keep me motivated. 12 inches bigger than current trousers.

Of course. Even if I bring up my kids to be healthy, and they do the same for theirs, their economic prospects and their healthcare system will be crippled by the cost of a huge number of people in their 40s,50s and 60s with obesity-related illnesses such as type II diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

I’ll rephrase it. You can’t do anything about it so there’s no point worrying.

Predictable arseholes are predictable.

You’re probably right, certainly I think for the current generation of adults. I still hold a flicker of hope for today’s kids, which fades every time I see a muffin-top on a 13-year-old or a kid being stuffed with a burger and fries.

Weight/obesity threads are a great way of finding out who all the ***** on the forum are.

Has it been mentioned yet that it looks as if obesity is levelling off? Which makes sense if you think about it:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/obesity_its_worse_than_we_thought_bullshit/

IanW – Member
Obviously not common knowledge though is it, as well as being such a witty sage you must be smarter than the average dude.

Well, it’s clearly printed on the product label, so one doesn’t have to be smarter than the average dude to figure it out.

Perhaps those that can’t be arsed are slowly being eliminated from the gene pool. Darwin…he was a scamp, eh!

Well, it’s clearly printed on the product label, so one doesn’t have to be smarter than the average dude to figure it out.

It’s “natural” sugar and “there’s no fat” and “fat is bad”.

Perhaps those that can’t be arsed are slowly being eliminated from the gene pool. Darwin…he was a scamp, eh!

You don’t understand how ill health through obesity, or evolution, works.

My view is that the state almost has to take over the nutrition and exercise of the under-15s

Hmm well look what happened when Jamie Olive got schools to provide healthy food – some parents passed fast food over to their kids.

So yeah it’s an education thing but need to somehow get the parents to instill good habits into their kids at a young age. Must admit I have arguments with my wife for being more lax with our 3 year old than I’d choose to be but he’s very active and in healthy shape so try not to make too big a deal out of it. He’ll always do plenty of exercise with us so that’s half the battle.

Weight/obesity threads are a great way of finding out who all the ***** on the forum are.

These an * in blimps

Rusty Shackleford – Member
IanW – Member
Obviously not common knowledge though is it, as well as being such a witty sage you must be smarter than the average dude.
Well, it’s clearly printed on the product label, so one doesn’t have to be smarter than the average dude to figure it out.

Perhaps those that can’t be arsed are slowly being eliminated from the gene pool. Darwin…he was a scamp, eh!
Are you suggesting that orange juice is good for you or your weight?

These an * in blimps

You’re assuming that everyone who disagrees with your “toughen up sweetie” approach is fat. You are wrong.

Has it been mentioned yet that it looks as if obesity is levelling off? Which makes sense if you think about it:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/obesity_its_worse_than_we_thought_bullshit/

Quite curious about the author of that piece, Rob Lyons. He has a lot of pieces which are very supportive of the food industry, and vitriolic about any moves to inhibit their ability to serve up what they want to the public. May well be genuinely held views, of course.

Graphs showing short-term trends may be helpful in evaluating long-term predictions (2050 levels), but I’m not convinced.

miketually – Member
Weight/obesity threads are a great way of finding out who all the ***** on the forum are.

What word for “fatty” triggered the swear filter there?

What word for “fatty” triggered the swear filter there?

Well done on proving his point so succinctly, ‘legend’.

You’re assuming that everyone who disagrees with your “toughen up sweetie” approach is fat. You are wrong.

? I think it’s you who is doing the assuming.

MrSmith – Member
I can only assume you are either young or ill informed or perhaps both
Old enough to remember there only being 2 fat kids in my year at school (what’s the percentage now?)
Informed enough to understand what the small print on a food label means, make basic healthy lifestyle choices and be 6ft and less than 70kg all my life.

I can only assume you either lack self control or are a corpulent face stuffer or perhaps both.
There is a slight chance you are a ‘feeder

Wrong again Mr Smith. 72.5 Kg and 5 10. I race road, cyclo cross and train 3000-5000 miles a year. I’m informed enough to know that if a product needs a food label you shouldn’t be eating it. That does not mean I look down at the majority of the population that are getting more and more over weight. It is a huge issue, there has been poor government advice and there are massive industries in food, dieting and gyms that are very happy with the way things are.

What word for “fatty” triggered the swear filter there?

Guess again.

Looking at the sides being taken here won’t show you who is overweight, it just reveals attitudes.

MrSmith plays the part of an utter tosser with great aplomb yet again. Bravo!