… here we go, a chance to contribute our informed (ahem) views to the Guardian work. Or just to see where the debate leads

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/reality-check/2014/feb/26/why–overweight

… actually re-reading it looks like the opportunity to play has passed. Pehaps the Guardian (or similar) should do a longer exercise/mediate a debate

I’m not fat, I’m big boned.

I’m fat because I eat too much. Live with it.

I’m fat because this year winter has turned me into a fair weather rider and I just haven’t been arsed to ride much of late.

I am not fat I am festively plump (still).

because people consume more energy than they use.
because they eat shit food
because there are 2 huge industries that rely on fat people – the bad food industry and the fad diet industry.

Im fat because 3 broken arms in 2 years does that to you 🙁

Whats more depressing is I can no longer even ride the turbo, I’ve not even got the fitness to do more than 25min!

I seriously can’t understand how anyone this fat can be happy.

I’m not fat.

Tinas

I think it does depend on what motivates you and your recollections of past fitness. Several bad years moved me from 32″ at the tum to 38″. My fault I swelled up.

I don’t like my current size but a happy marriage and two fantastic children make me more happy than the lard makes me unhappy. My boys are getting bigger and faster and that’s my motivation to drop the pounds which involves a degree of pain and dealing with exercise not always being pleasurable (and it is horrid some times when you know how fit you were).

I’m not fat either. But that’s because I appear to be one of them addicted to exercise people at the moment.

5’2″, 9 stone 8lb and 28″ waist. Is that fat?
I don’t ‘feel’ fat but definitely not as fit as i should be.

Because playing out requires safety equipment and being in is so dull we eat ourselves to death.

i blame shift work, i am so **** after work that i just cant be bothered to make/cook anything remotely healthy.
i didnt feel this way when i worked dayshift all the time, it started about 2-3 months after i started shift work.
sick of it, but cant get away from it, mortgage etc.

Its odd though how quickly your perceptions change. Theres a handfull of ‘big boned’ guys in the office, a lot that are visibly obese*, and a handfull are ‘how do you walk’ fat (the group most likely to tell you exercise is bad for you when your arm is broken).

Now I perceive the ‘big boned’ to be normal, whereas before I ballooned I just thought a significant number were fat.

*which nicely illustrates the point. Id put myself in the big boned grouping, Im not ‘fat’ despite having almost 30% bodyfat! I think it would be quite easy for a lot of people to shrug it off ckaimimg to have a rugby players build, or tell people they have the same bmi as Chris Hoy, or think ‘well I’m not as fat as that person, so I’m not obese’. When in reality you are.

Obesity is somehow linked to tattoos. If someone can find the link we could rid our shores of this disease.

In my case it’s simple…

I eat way too much ,
And don’t do enough exercise

Put the 2 together and I have ballooned over the last year or so
I could blame a few instances of ill health over that time,
Appendicitis, proper flu, viral asthma attack and torn intra costal muscles on both sides of my rib cage
And in a way they have not helped but the truth is I could do more but have got out of the habit of riding.
There is however a plan in place to change all that so fingers crossed

Injury just got taken off the excuses list!
[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AUUVfPy0UgI[/video]

I’m fat because I love beer and eat too much crap, takeaways are sooo nice though!!

And, i don’t do enough exercise. I used to do a very physical job but now I sit at a desk all day!

It’s weird, cos i had no problem giving up smoking but i can’t stop eating too much….

As above, no excuses. I eat too much and exercise too little.

18 months of work stress, divorce and suddenly getting back into smoking has led to me going from 11st of lean six packed race bunny..to a mahooosivly fat knacker..I have now given up on training and shall slowly slide into a world of cake and will have more chins than the hong kong telephone directory…

I’m not fat, just under height for my weight

I struggle with long sentences but 2500 cal is a lot unless you are pretty active: meeting the govt recommended 30 mins walk or whatever isn’t going to do it.

My japanese scales recommend 1800 cal per day, and I’m a lot bigger than average. Mind you that’s probably just a made up number too (though they are a fancy toy that claims to estimate fat and muscle).

I struggle with long sentences

chuckle

I know who I blame for ruthlessly exploiting my wilful aversion to salad, love of beige coloured, pastry based loveliness, and total and utter lack of willpower

These guys used to help me out, but we’ve become estranged of late…

thisisnotaspoon – Member
Im fat because 3 broken arms in 2 years does that to you

?

I’m not fat, but if i was, it would be everyone elses fault

because there are 2 3 huge industries that rely on fat people – the bad food industry, the fad diet industry and the pharmaceutical industry

Ok, so big pharma’ doesn’t rely on the obese like the other two, but they have a helluva vested interest.

peoples idea of what it is to be active or sedentary has been misaligned by a society built on making things physically easier, essentially because we’ve evolved to do so (conserving energy is something we once had to do to survive).
This way of life is now so normalised we don’t even consider it in these discussions.

Therefore surveys are of little value. The once or twice a week gym go’er will consider themselves active, fit even. But in actual terms can still be sedentary; they’ll spend 14 hours a day sat on their backside in the car, in the office or at home.

I work from home. I’m a 15 stone, 5′ 8″ male, on the bmi scale I’m obese. To just prevent weight gain I eat 1500 calories a day (except on Saturdays), walk the dog and do 10 mins of callisthenics twice a day, and run 2-3 miles on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. I’m neither gaining or losing at that activity level, why? Because pretty much the rest of the time I’m sat in front of a computer or in bed.

In my opinion the shift required to arrest the growing number of obese people is unrealistic without a much more fundamental look, and ultimately change, in the way we live, work, and think.

I’m not fat, never have been and am the same weight and build that I was twenty years ago. I don’t eat too much, don’t eat crap, take plenty exercise and drink plenty of beer.

Keva – Member
I’m not fat, never have been and am the same weight and build that I was twenty years ago. I don’t eat too much, don’t eat crap, take plenty exercise and drink plenty of beer.

POSTED 1 MINUTE AGO # REPORT-POST
But what about carbs or the peleo diet do you eat brown bread… well done you made it.

I’ve been known to eat entire packs of biscuits, cakes and share packs of sweets. I also like wine and beer. I sometimes top my chilli and chips with a pizza slice.

I’m 1.79m tall and 67kg. My 32″ waist jeans are getting a bit baggy, and I’ll need to put another hole in my belt soon.

I’m not fat, never have been and am the same weight and build that I was twenty years ago. I don’t eat too much, don’t eat crap, take plenty exercise and drink plenty of beer.

And you don’t know how lucky you are 🙂

I’ve just gorged on sausage rolls left over from lunch with erstwhile business secratery Vince Cable. So from now on I can officially hold the government responsible for my expanding waistline 😀