Larger

[stefanovic]

Can't use the 3 letter word any more, because it's a derogatory term.
I see so many larger people about today and it seems quite normal.
People of my age will remember a time when the rich were larger than the poor, now it's likely to be the other way around.
I'm told that as I cannot put on and retain weight I'm likely to have a high metabolism.
Well, not lucky me because I was bullied out of school and never finished my formal education.
Appreciate some opinions on this as the obesity crisis seems to be getting even worse.

 

[Paperboy]

Metabolism plays little to do with being slim or overweight.

It's simple calories, consume too many calories you put weight on.

 

[Bdill93]

When healthy food costs as much as unhealthy food the problem will sort itself.

Until then, it'll only get worse.

 

[jim8flog]

I was born just before sugar rationing ended and my brother well before that, there is a big difference in our 'natural' size I often believe excess size starts as baby.

I also put it down to the fact that my mum went 'sugar crazy' and you should have seen the amount of sugar we were allowed to eat as a child, 2 dessert spoonful on our serials and 2 spoonfuls of treacle on our porridge masses of sugar laden cakes.

My weight ever since has bounced around like a YoYo ever since.

I also believe some people are naturally slim no matter what they eat, I had a mate who would eat his own Chinese meal and then go around and finish off what everybody else had left and he stayed around 10 stone all the time I knew him.

 

[Orikoru]

When healthy food costs as much as unhealthy food the problem will sort itself.

Until then, it'll only get worse.

Agree with this. You can get a burger and chips for probably 3 quid at McDonald's, yet there's a chain in London called Tossed that effectively sells pots of salad for 8 and 9 quid a go. It's daft.

I feel that I'm overweight, really I just have a fat belly and the rest of me is normal. Typical of any male in my age range who likes a takeaway and does a bit of sports but probably not enough active working out. I don't mind anyone who's fat but happy and doesn't moan about it. I don't like people who moan about being fat but won't do anything about it, because it's pretty clear what you need to do. I don't moan about being fat but I moan about being too lazy to do the exercise for it.

The media is completely unhelpful as well. In attempt to stamp out fat-shaming, they've gone to the other extreme and too often try to claim that being fat is healthy when we know it isn't. I don't know why they can't just take the middle ground and stay there.

 

[stefanovic]

I was born just before sugar rationing ended and my brother well before that, there is a big difference in our 'natural' size I often believe excess size starts as baby.

I do eat and drink a lot of sugar and it makes no difference to me. Only my dentist doesn't like me to.

I also believe some people are naturally slim no matter what they eat, I had a mate who would eat his own Chinese meal and then go around and finish off what everybody else had left and he stayed around 10 stone all the time I knew him.

My next door neighbour told me her weight and height. 5'2" and 16 stones.
All I could say was if calories in are higher than calories out you are likely to put on weight.
There may be genetic factors.
The diet of cookery programs we have every night on the BBC seem to have made things worse.
Fast food is bad food in my opinion.
Studies show that exercise does not take weight off you in the long term, as do commercial diets.
Maybe the answer is to ration food like they did after WW2. Few people were overweight then.

 

[jim8flog]

One of the biggest things I notice is when I go out for meal is the size of the meal put in front of you.

Things like chips - enough for 2-3 times the amount compared to when I was in my 20s
Steaks 4 or 6 oz was the usual back then 8 oz has now become the smallest size

The other thing I notice a lot is tin size. It used to be 500 grammes and enough for two people or two servings it is now 380 - 400 grammes, half a tin not quite enough so I end up eating the whole tinful in one sitting.

 

[ColchesterFC]

I think it's a range of factors, including time, education and exercise.

Time - Thirty or forty years ago it was fairly normal for one parent to work (usually dad) and the other to stay at home (usually mum) which meant that mum had time to cook a proper meal in the evening. Now with both parents out at work, in a large number of cases, it's far easier and more convenient to come home and chuck chicken nuggets/fish fingers/pizza in the oven than to cook a homemade meal after a full day at work.

Education - Eating healthily doesn't actually have to be that expensive. When I'm home I've started shopping with local suppliers and supporting my local fruit and veg shop. I can get a bag of veg, salad and fruit that will last 2 adults and 2 kids a week for around £20 depending on what I get that week, and it's likely to be even cheaper in the supermarket. It's far cheaper to make lasagne/spag bol/curry from the raw ingredients than it is to buy ready meals of the same things. And if you've got freezer space then it's even better as you can make in bulk and freeze it for homemade ready meals on nights that you're busy.

Exercise - Again thirty or forty years ago people weren't sitting in front of computer games for hours on end and were outside being active. As a kid we'd walk or cycle for hours messing about with our mates. School runs are now largely done by car rather than on foot, which could be another symptom of lack of time as parents have to drop off and then get to work.

The simple truth is that if you put more calories into your mouth than you burn off you will be overweight.

 

[stefanovic]

The simple truth is that if you put more calories into your mouth than you burn off you will be overweight.

A big factor, but if you prefer chocolate fudge cake to boring fruit and veg then everyone who does should gain weight.
Not true. I prefer anything chocolate and cannot gain weight.

Lines from a Woody Allen film:
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy… precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.

(Cardiac arrests are less healthy though.)

If we don't do anything about this very soon then our health system will collapse completely.

 

[Voyager EMH]

A brother became type 1 diabetic when he was 12 and I was 9.
We learned together all about food types, calorie content etc.
I pretty much had the same diet as him growing up and would never stuff my face with cakes, biscuits, chocs, sweets etc in front of him.
So both of us have remained in fairly good shape all our lives and make good food choices as part of normal behaviour for us.
I have never thought of "healthy" or "unhealthy" food. If its edible, I can eat it.
Its merely a matter of what and how much.

"Everyone is always on a diet - everything that you eat and drink - that's your diet." That's what I've been telling people over the years.

You are what you eat.

 

[WGCRider]

chuck chicken nuggets/fish fingers/pizza in the oven than to cook a homemade meal after a full day at work.
.

This is the correct answer. The number of people exercising hasn't increased or decreased, neither has the people with "high metabolism" or sugar. What has changed is the amount of processed food we eat - take aways, ready meals etc.

 

[Voyager EMH]

This is the correct answer. The number of people exercising hasn't increased or decreased, neither has the people with "high metabolism" or sugar. What has changed is the amount of processed food we eat - take aways, ready meals etc.

You can exclude me from the "we".
Don't eat take-aways or ready meals.

 

[cliveb]

I am convinced that the way your body "idles" is a massive factor.
I don't do much exercise (apart from golf), and tend to eat pretty much what I like. My BMI is around 23.
My wife eats considerably less than me (and is more careful about what she eats), does about the same amount of exercise, and has a BMI around 28.
If you watch us when we're at rest, I'm a constant fidget, whereas she tends to just sit still. I think it's the constant background movement that burns the extra calories.

 

[Alan Clifford]

The main cause of my fatness is red wine. Not the wine itself though. Too much red wine makes me hungry so I have cheese sandwiches just before going to bed.

 

[Voyager EMH]

The main cause of my fatness is red wine. Not the wine itself though. Too much red wine makes me hungry so I have cheese sandwiches just before going to bed.

Don't go to bed after drinking red wine.
You're welcome.

 

[Pin-seeker]

the latest gossip is that Bellingham is going to cost someone £150m

 

[Lord Tyrion]

the latest gossip is that Bellingham is going to cost someone £150m

Will that encourage people to eat pies and sit on a sofa?

 

[Crazyface]

I've had the unhappy duty of having to go through a and e of late. Christ the size of people in there. (And the amount). Lord please keep me safe.

 

[ExRabbit]

The number of said people of all ages using mobility scooters is definitely increasing in my town.

I find it very sad to walk round there these days.

I've lost half a stone since we got our puppy in October, walking twice a day.

And I haven't played golf this winter, so it looks like shorter and more often is better than just once or twice a week - in my case anyway.

 

[Voyager EMH]

The number of said people of all ages using mobility scooters is definitely increasing in my town.

I find it very sad to walk round there these days.

I've lost half a stone since we got our puppy in October, walking twice a day.

And I haven't played golf this winter, so it looks like shorter and more often is better than just once or twice a week - in my case anyway.

Spot on.
Daily routine of reasonable intake and output is what everyone needs.