Surprised at numbers of overweight adults - surely more needs to be done?

[OrangeSunset]

Fully prepared for this to be fairly controversial but here goes.

We’re on holiday in the South West. I am honestly shocked at the numbers of overweight adults on the beach today. I’d say at least 50% were overweight, across all age ranges. Really it was more like 70%. DH and I are ok but being harsh I’d say we could/should each lose 5kg and be more lean. It’s just miserable and I was shocked - even more so when you see overweight kids too as we all know that sets them up for a lifetime of weight issues.

I’m not sure what my point is, other than to say that Boris cutting some adverts just isn’t good enough. The prevalence of shit food is condemning people to an unhealthy life with medical issues and challenges that us as humans just shouldn’t be subjecting ourselves to.

How do we break this cycle? Anyone who points it is out is seen as judgemental but it’s gone beyond the point of individual choice surely - it doesn’t work and is ruining people’s lives and perpetuating the cycle.

Hamster- I disagree. I don't think it's the eating out that is necessary the problem. Low income families probably don't eat out at all and unfortunately statistically they are most likely to be overweight. It is what people are eating at home and when out and about.

In my eyes the problem is how readily available it is, it's in gyms, swimming pools, clothes shops, petrol stations etc. Cafes and sandwich shops sell rubbish instead of healthy salads and sandwiches. The government need to stop companies being able to sell in so many places, they need to put guidelines on the amounts being sold and on portion sizes. It's so easy just to crab some chocolate or crisps as you shop now. If it wasn't there this habit of mindlessly buying it would stop and people's behaviour would change where by instead of having chocolate/crisps for lunch they have fruit instead. It would become the norm and stay the norm. Same with having chips and burger etc for lunch at the local cafe/shop/ fast food place. If people had to make a special trip to get these things then they wouldn't do it so often.

I think those ready made ingredient packs should be sent at a reduced price to families most in need with the recipe cards. So they learn what is a good portion size, what ingredients to use and have recipes for healthy food. They are then more likely to go and buy those ingredients themselves and make the meal themselves because it's easy and they know what to buy.

Yanbu.
I live in a SW London bubble, everyone who lives here is priveledged to be at least middle class, moderately wealthy etc so has access to good food, gym memberships, professional jobs etc. When I go to where I'm from i am genuinely shocked as it's such a contrast.

I am slim but need to tone up. I have a sweet tooth which I struggle against daily and I do this by denying myself from eating everything sweet thing I see. I’ll allow myself one sweet thing. I think nowadays people don’t deny themselves things which they want but know is bad for them . This is not limited to food. We have a ‘ I want it now’ mindset in society. It’s a lot about willpower. There also needs to be greater more easily accessible education taught about eating and making healthy choices because so many foods have hidden salt, sugar and saturated fats. The traffic light system is great and I use it all the time when buying food for my whole family. It’s a lifestyle and mindset overhaul and devoting time to yourself to do it.

I certainly agree that many people, not just fat ones, could do more to help the NHS. But as matter of principle, it's not right to deprive one group of people, who are the way they are for many complex reasons, from accessing help that they need. I don't think they are taking the piss when they want help for health conditions exacerbated by obesity. They just need help. Part of that help is in assisting them to lose weight healthily and sustainably. Already they cannot have some operations if they are too heavy to have that operation safely. Some may lose the weight at that point because they desperately need the operation, but others won't. Which indicates they need more than threats of treatment withdrawal.
To me it feels the same as telling a rugby player that the NHS won't fix their busted leg because they chose to play rugby, or telling someone in a car accident that it was their decision to go a bit too fast and therefore it's their own fault they crashed, so can't have NHS treatment.
It's really important that healthcare isn't linked to moral judgement on who deserves it or not.

You don’t put it back on if you don’t diet but overhaul your eating habits long term,.

Lost 2 stone at end of 2019 it’s staying off. I eat differently now and exercise- new normal.

Now I know what I know I won’t go back.

People have said that when you actually look at our Western lifestyle, and how far it is from what humans first evolved into, it's a miracle that anyone is a normal weight at all! We are literally surrounded by food, that we can access at any time, we don't have to do (relatively!) that much work to get it, a lot of it tastes delicious and has stuff in it that can be addictive. And, as a PP said, we are now in a society where our government is subsidising us to go out and eat as patriotic duty! Add to that that lots of people now do relatively little exercise, drive everywhere, spend a lot of the day sitting down. It's just not how humans were designed to live.

I don't know what the answer is now, we seem to have gone to far, I don't know how we come back from it?!

People don't get fat just because they are greedy. There are all sorts of complicated reasons behind it, in addition to the fact that this highly addictive fat/sugar combination of food is everywhere

There are 54,835,826 adults in the UK, 33,998,212 are overweight, 13,708,956 of that number are obese. For a minority underlying health conditions, physical or psychological make weight control exceptionally difficult. For the rest it is crap lifestyle choices. Calorie dense nutritionally poor food is not the only stuff supermarkets sell, you don't have to buy that fast food, drink too much alcohol or do zero exercise.

MsTSwift but such a lifestyle overhaul is really hard and it is very easy to slip in to eating junk and not exercising.

I've had a "lifestyle overhaul" many times. It lasts a few months usually.

I'm very knowledgeable about what constitutes a healthy diet, how to exercise, how much I need to eat. I'm an excellent cook of all sorts of food, including very healthy stuff it isn't lack of education or knowledge that it the issue. It is the doing it that I find hard - stopping eating when I'm full, not choosing to order a takeaway, only eating one biscuit instead of the whole pack etc. We don't buy crap in, but we do over eat, eat beyond being full and order in crap.

It is 'normal' to consume things that aren't really food. Of course they're food literally but it is now normalised to eat ice cream chocolate refined breadstuffs cake biscuits crisps and creamy artificial gooey stuff dips.
I feel lucky that this stuff hasn't ever been 'normal' to me, of course I'll enjoy the taste of it now and again. But now and again is okay. For a lot of people it is usual to fill their bodies with crap, society almost dicates it

With those numbers people clearly need help to make good choices. Help that must come in numerous forms. Including NHS. I think the food industry and the easy availability of addictive 'food' should be the first area to be overhauled. It's easy to say that people don't have to buy it, but it's constantly under our noses. Even in our own homes, we can be minding our own business and the TV shows adverts all the time for McDonalds and KFC and food delivery companies and sweets. That's got to stop. It's like telling an alcoholic to give up drinking but then putting bottles of scotch on the till at the newsagents or in clothes shops and on TV everyday. People need to eat, so it's not like we can go cold turkey, we have to learn and be helped to eat well. And we are constantly fighting the urge to eat the fat/sugar that human bodies crave.
For some reason, some people can eat well without struggle but those numbers shoe that a hell of lot can't.
I would also remove sweet vending machines from schools and leisure centres and shopping centres, restrict where those things can be sold - food shops only. I don't want to see bags of haribo when buying a t shirt in Peacocks etc.

It is self medication and an addiction for many, it is extremely difficult to stop. Allen Carr's book is worth a read!

Diceroll Have you read the thread? The number people who've come on here and said "While I lost 2 stone 6 months ago and kept it off, so obviously it IS just about willpower" is ridiculous. Happily oblivious to what long term weight loss actually means, and the struggles they will face.

As for me, after suffering from anorexia for almost 2 decades, I can assure you, losing weight isn't something I struggle to do.

I do 16 / 8 in the week and don’t snack. Eat what I like at weekends. Daily hours cardio now a habit like showering. Maintaining BMI 21 since February. I was BMI 27 last October. Seems to work for me but if it makes you happy to be a doom monger and predict I will balloon into obesity go right ahead but it’s unlikely.

I think it's a bit of everything. The 'I want it NOW' culture, combined with the lack of self control and the easy availabilty and cheapness of bad foods; the fact that a lot of people's work/life balance is out of whack, driving everywhere etc etc. It's just come as a perfect storm on the current generations.

It's a bit like Whack A Mole. As fast as you come up with a solution to one problem, there's another in its place. The human body wants to be fat and is designed to be fat evolutionarily, to sustain itself. The fact that it can now BE fat, we can't quite escape.

I went from a 16 to an 8 in the past. Put it all back on and I swore that would never happen. It really is hard to maintain forever. Which is why we need society to help us.
I lost mine by eating 1200 calories per day for about a year, but I didn't really change my attitude to food or the type of food I ate. I still ate carbs and chocolate, so long as it was in my calorie allowance. So I never broke that 'addiction' to sugar/fat combination.
My diet now is basically meat, fish, low carb veg and limited fruit, with a limited amount of dairy and fat. I'm hoping this breaks the sugar cravings, but early days. I know I will have to be careful forever and that's really hard.

What’s harder for me is I was naturally slim so have had the utter privilege of not even thinking about food or weighing myself for 45 years! Shock of life when routine medical showed my BMI as 27! In my head I was “the slim one” have the opposite of body dysmorphia I think I look a lot slimmer than I really do..Am properly slim now though (was size 14 now 10) and motivated to remain so as feel and look much better

Seems to work for me but if it makes you happy to be a doom monger and predict I will balloon into obesity go right ahead but it’s unlikely.

Nobody's saying that that there isn't anyone who loses weight long-term, but the statistics very much support the doom-mongers. If you're one of the rare exceptions, genuine congratulations.

I read an interesting thing recently about latent food intolerances, cravings and being overweight. Apparently almost 20% of people probably have some kind of food intolerance, which most will never identify. Continually eating foods to which you're intolerant can mess with your digestion, hormone levels etc and often makes you crave those foods and also gain lots of weight.

NHS - yes some have issues that make weight issues complex. But I think we know that’s not it for most of us. Not poverty either for many. In countries without affluence they don’t have an obesity issue.

Sports injuries - actually I think over 18s should pay for self inflicted sports injuries and many do. But this is a thread about obesity.

Sports injuries - actually I think over 18s should pay for self inflicted sports injuries and many do

Many sports injuries are caused by playing team games in which someone else has crashed into you.

I bet over the course of their life, the average sports player is using fewer NHS services as they are more likely to be fit and healthy for longer. Runners in old age are 7 times less likely to suffer from dementia for example

Regardless my consultant was very happy to do an ACL reconstruction for me in his words to enable me to get back out and maintain my fitness.

Reading this thread, it’s clear that there are huge differences of opinion re what a healthy diet constitutes. During the 80s and 90s people were encouraged to eat high carb low fat. Now that’s been reversed. People saying that exercise is the key, yet evidence also suggests that it only accounts for 10% of weight loss. I can absolutely see why some people are confused and struggle to lose weight, then think sod it and give up.

I wonder if it’s different for different people too; a good friend of mine keeps her weight down through Slimming World, eating tons of pasta and toast. If I did that (PCOS) I’d balloon, yet I can eat loads of cheese and nuts and not gain pounds from it.

Sports injuries - actually I think over 18s should pay for self inflicted sports injuries and many do.

I had a few hospital visits in my 20s for various stitches and breaks when playing rugby. I also reckon the lifetime health benefits and lower risk profile of regular NHS use later in life by participating regularly in sports and exercise outweigh the occasional cost of injuries.

What’s harder for me is I was naturally slim so have had the utter privilege of not even thinking about food or weighing myself for 45 years! Shock of life when routine medical showed my BMI as 27! In my head I was “the slim one” have the opposite of body dysmorphia I think I look a lot slimmer than I really am

That's me. It wasn't until I almost 30 that I became even remotely overweight. It isn't an issue I had previous. I went from BMI 21/22 to 27 in a year. It's now 8 years and I have lost and regained the weight 3 times.

• What’s harder for me is I was naturally slim so have had the utter privilege of not even thinking about food or weighing myself for 45 years! Shock of life when routine medical showed my BMI as 27! In my head I was “the slim one” have the opposite of body dysmorphia I think I look a lot slimmer than I really am

That's me. It wasn't until I almost 30 that I became even remotely overweight. It isn't an issue I had previous. I went from BMI 21/22 to 27 in a year. It's now 8 years and I have lost and regained the weight 3 times.*

Missed the bit that relates to below! This is so true, I have always been underweight, at times worryingly so. I hit BMI 24 which for me is unknown, seeing a pair of my trousers hanging off a friend who I saw as the same size as me made me wake up before things went too far.

Why don’t YOU look out for yourself and if YOU think YOU should lose some weight then YOU do that for YOU. Are you bored or something?