Obesity

It's a major problem in some of the town's near me, Ashington is the capital of obesity in Northumberland (based on observation rather than fact). It's not rocket science when you see their shopping baskets in the supermarket.

A woman at work is obese. One of her favourite lunches, now cut back on, was a giant pot noodle with a maxi bag of crisps scrunched and sprinkled on top 😱. I was saw her have that 4 days on the trot.

To be fair, that sounds like a great lunch!
 
I think that societal normalisation has played a huge part. All this "its ok to be big just so long as you love yourself" Gok Wan nonsense. No its not, its going to kill you at an early age.
My good mate's little sister ballooned after leaving school from being around 8 or 9 stone to 23! Yep, 23 and every step of the way their mum (influenced by countless TV "advisors") kept telling her "big is beautiful", "more of you to love" and such platitudes. Yeah, right up until a heart attack at the age of 25 caused by clogged arteries. Thankfully she pulled through and had a band fitted and is now around 10 stone. She works hard at it but as she says, its better than an early grave.
 
"It's ok to be hungry!"

Simple yet wise words I heard from a doctor on tv talking about weight issues, really stuck with me. Seems people get one hunger pang and think 'I must eat now' so snack.

It is hard to understand why people end up really obese but if you eat only 300 calories more than you need every day I guess it will creep up on you over months and years. Becomes a viscious cycle of you move less and eat more etc.

Key is not to go there in the first place, once you do it's a tough tough road back.
 
i love those sayings like......
"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"
"Little pickers wear bigger knickers"
Any other gems ?

"No Fat Chicks" ?


Being a smidge over my peak fighting weight :eek: I find the easiest way to pile on the pounds is alcohol. Sure the junk food doesn't help either but its wine, cider/beer etc that'll really do it in no time
 
"No Fat Chicks" ?


Being a smidge over my peak fighting weight :eek: I find the easiest way to pile on the pounds is alcohol. Sure the junk food doesn't help either but its wine, cider/beer etc that'll really do it in no time


Chocolate for me. Just who the hell decided to make giant boxes of Malteesers?????????
 
Obesity is an issue that's here to stay. Portion sizes have increased, people are less socially active in terms of participating in sports or exercise despite gym memberships and numbers of gyms being higher than ever. In some cases it's cheaper option to buy and eat crap than healthy but not all cases it quite easy to eat a balanced diet on a budget.

Yes there are a lot more overweight and obese but we need to also educate people from a young age now on how to be healthy, live healthy and make the most of their bodies for longevity as well as just combating it before it's to late. A lot of obesity comes down to bad relationships food and creating a vicious circle.

We live in an age of FAD diets and quick fixes, kids need to understand Carbs don't make you fat, you can still eat them and be healthy, that sometimes a little of what you want even if it's junk isn't bad but to much is.

With my profession the biggest bug bear I have with medical professions and BMI stats is We also need to teach a better understanding of body composition, I had to have a full medical recently for something I was doing working with the NHS, I had to have height, weight and composition measurements done with the occupational health people. Had that done then got called in for a meeting with the OH nurse who sat me down and said sorry to break it to you Mr Wolf your BMI is far to high and you need to look at losing weight as you're clinically obese!! I had a 20 minute chat with the lady about my body and the fact my my composition test came up as 12% body fat which at my age is classed as elite athlete levels, she still despite this tried telling me she can see that I'm in good shape but I'm still clinically obese, I had to describe to her how BMR (basal metabolic rate) works instead of using BMI as a standard because I am nowhere near average height and if I were to be same body composition at my supposed BMI perfect level I'd be malnourished. It was at this point in our chat she asked what I was there for and I advised I'm the new NHS referall PT and Strength and conditioning coach being used to rehab patients and work with people eating disorders did she get how I knew so much about why what she was telling me was crap.

In theory she is right you can be in shape and classed as obese, you can also be carrying a bit of timber and quite fit, what she couldn't understand is how you don't have to be in the exact places on a chart for a statistic to actually be healthy. Which brings me back to my long winded point obesity and healthy lifestyle is all about education from a young age and that includes parents no longer being lazy, tell the kids to put down the controller and get them out in a field, play football, rounders, tag anything that gets them active early in life so that as they grow they know what it's like to be healthy and make it part of their lifestyle.
 
i love those sayings like......
"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"
"Little pickers wear bigger knickers"
Any other gems ?

"I have a very slow metabolism".
"Yeah, but you've got a bloody fast pie arm".


"Cameras always put a few pounds on me".
"Well stop eating cameras".


"Hey Slime, you've gone bald"
"Yeah, but you've got fat".
"You can't call me fat, that's offensive".
"Okay, you've got easier to see".


I think the solution for 95% of obese people is quite straight forward.
Eat 15% less, exercise 15% more and see how you get on.
I'm not saying it's easy ..................... I'm just saying it's not complicated.
 
It's also cheaper and easier to eat badly.... Go to Iceland or similar and you can buy 100 burgers/nuggets/fish fingers etc for £1-£2 but to buy a pre made salad for a single meal is £3-£6

It's a minefield for people.
 
I just think its tragic when you see a very large todler/junior. That poor child is shafted from the very start. I'm not sure if I'd class it as child abuse or child neglect
 
It's also cheaper and easier to eat badly.... Go to Iceland or similar and you can buy 100 burgers/nuggets/fish fingers etc for £1-£2 but to buy a pre made salad for a single meal is £3-£6

It's a minefield for people.

Maybe a pre-made salad but fresh salad ingredients are pennies, just slice/chop/grate and away you go
 
I find it interesting that the thin malnourished get pity and understanding. No-one feels the need to abuse them or tell them to just eat a Mars bar. On the other hand there's cart-blanche to abuse the large malnourished. It's their fault. They're weak. They get standard response of "just eat less".

On both extremes, by the time you get to life limiting levels it's a mental issue as much as a physical one.

(And for the sake of full disclosure - I'm definitely one of the big ones :()
 
To me the problem stems from the lack of education in schools about the types of food and the exercise needed to burn foods.

Also, in the UK it’s cheaper to eat shite if it’s on the go instead of healthy. Reduce or scrap tax / vat on any healthy foods and load the lost tax on the crap. The saving to the NHS cost would out weigh any losses and also relieve pressures on the NHS

For the record so it’s not stated that I’m judgemental, I’m a chubby bugger. My statement comes from someone first hand who dropped two stone through healthy eating two years ago, the frustrating thing was a salad on the bounce could be three times the cost of junk!
 
"I have a very slow metabolism".
"Yeah, but you've got a bloody fast pie arm".


"Cameras always put a few pounds on me".
"Well stop eating cameras".


"Hey Slime, you've gone bald"
"Yeah, but you've got fat".
"You can't call me fat, that's offensive".
"Okay, you've got easier to see".


I think the solution for 95% of obese people is quite straight forward.
Eat 15% less, exercise 15% more and see how you get on.
I'm not saying it's easy ..................... I'm just saying it's not complicated.
I'm short for my weight.
 
Portion control, quality of food and exercise. Too many people claim they've got no time to exercise, yet can do 5-6 hours a week on their phones and tv/computer.

Agree with Wolf about the demonisation of Carbs - they as with fats and protein are macro-nutrients vital to upkeep of the human body. Took me years to get the missus off 'fat-free' foods, now battling the Carb free rubbish.

Also it's attitudes towards being healthy - it's too expensive, it's not fun, I don't have time, it's too hard, I've got work/kids/blah blah blah - All this says is to me is you're weak, weak in the mind and body.
 
It takes self-discipline, will-power and hard work to stay in shape and not put weight on, especially with all the temptations seemingly everywhere.

Generally we've become a society who'd rather take the easy road and have little self discipline or work ethic. End result is a bunch of idle fatsos :eek:
 
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