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.

@Newgirls

Receptacle - wow judgey! So all ‘fattys’ are single mothers etc? You don’t know a single wealthy overweight person? Charming.

Yes because that's exactly what she said 🙄🙄

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Not all carbs are equal though. You could eat green veg and a limited amount of fruit (although berries are low ish carb). Or you could eat cake and chips. Both groups are carb but obviously green veg and strawberries won't make you fat. I think it's okay to eat potatoes and other higher carb veg but for me I can't do that everyday and still lose weight. Maybe people who didn't mess up their way of eating in the first place, can.

Cake and chips have a very high proportion of fat too. Most foods labelled as ‘pumped full of sugar’ are also full of fat but it’s always the sugar that’s demonised.

FlankerMum I know what you are talking about.

I was relatively skinny , just moving to the upper end of normal bmi. Waist was increasing though.

Sadly serious exercise is no longer an option for me. I ended up with a totally wacky urge to eat all the damn time but never felt satisfied or well. My weight was going up. I had reduced my dinner portions. Then I'd feel hungry again before bed and have some oatcakes. I certainly wasn't eating a junk food or high fat diet. But there were a lot of carbs.

Looked into the insulin connection and adjusted to lower carb veg, upped fat and meat and tried intermittent fasting (simply the fancy way of saying eat your breakfast late , dinner early and stop snacking) did it strictly for a week then loosely ever since and it reset something.

It's not just about controlling the number of calories in. The composition of even what passes for a healthy diet can be wrong for the individual. I only found out in my 50s. I can see how people don't believe it though.

I don't see what more can be done.

People are aware that eating too much / the wrong sort of food makes you put on weight.

People are aware that weighing too much has an adverse effect on your health.

People know these things, but it doesn't stop them.

Izzy30 - Nope, before being diagnosed as diabetic I was gaining weight pretty fast for me. I’ve never through my life had to diet beyond limiting chocolate and sweets for a few weeks. I’m 53 years old with 2 children. Alarmed, I cut calories and went to a twice weekly aerobics class. Ate ‘healthy’ carbs - whole meal, baked beans and jacket potato (lol). Weight continued to increase, particularly around my middle.
Since going low carb I eat far more calories as I don’t restrict fat.

Baked beans - carbs do make me ill! They spike my insulin and raise my blood sugars, making me susceptible to many health problems. My body and deranged metabolism is intolerant of them! Because of my change in way of eating, I have lowered my insulin resistance though and can now tolerate more grams per day.

Clear the decks - well done you!

I was a young girl when I started to put on weight. I grew up in poverty and it stemmed from that. My diet was high in carbs and sugar and there was very little nutrition. I was a little girl. You don't dotch that bad doet over night.

I maintained my weight when I was a teenager and into my 20s at a UK size 16. I got a job that I liked in my mid 20s. Over the years, the weight piled on. It was a mixture of a bad diet, liquid calories from energy drinks, and some poor food choices. I definitely made changes from my youth but I still had some bad habits.

I can remember a work week where is work 85 hours. Another work day where I got ready in the morning and I put on a pad because I was on my period. It was 9 o clock at night by the time I was finished work. Not once all day did I get a chance to go to the toilet. It was half 9 at night when I was at home changing the pad that I put on at 7.30 that morning. Tell me how I am supposed find the time to walk and exercise 17 stone of fat? Some people might have the impression I watch TV and might sya just stop watching tv and exercise instead. I don't have time for TV.

I have an aunt who is also over weight or obese. She is tall but carries it well. She has a similar schedule to me. She's up at 5.30 am every morning and on the road by 7am. She's not home until 8pm sometimes later.

Theres so many people living in a slaves world.

It was only very recently that I managed to lose some weight because of the lockdown. I finally found the time to look after myself. I started cleaning eating like for breakfast I would have eggs or salmon with vegetables but realistically who had time for that every morning? I started to walk more and I lost 2 stone in weight. I was only able to do that because I got more of a work life balance.

Receptacle - wow judgey! So all ‘fattys’ are single mothers etc? You don’t know a single wealthy overweight person? Charming.

@Newgirls Um ... What? What do you not understand about Receptacle's post that you just made shit up? I think it's pretty clear, but maybe if you say what you're struggling to comprehend from that very clear post, I'm sure we can help you.

Theres a lot of people on this thread making excuses for their unhealthy choices. I think the real issue is that our society/culture does not encourage personal responsibility.

My facebook local group is the perfect example - people outraged cos the council haven't picked up litter and dog shit etc.

We live in a ridiculously entitled society where people point the finger at the people giving us choices, rather than using our intelligence to choose well.

Those choices are loaded. They are not free and equal. We are biologically predisposed to wanting the type of food which is made cheap and easily available by industries with vested interests in keeping us fat and dependent. The govt gives lip service to fighting obesity but actually does very little of real value. I don't think people are 'making excuses', more that they are giving reasons for why they struggle.

And I do think people have a right to expect the council to clean the streets - we pay council tax, so are entitled to the service paid for.
Of course it would be better if people cleared up their own mess, but in the absence of them doing so, the rest of the population shouldn't have to live in their filth while paying the council!

I dont think we should be waiting for the government to save us. We know the good choices but would rather take the easy ones.

@LittleHootie Have you read the thread?

The government can't save us as individuals but it could pay some attention to improving Public health via its policies.

Why the issue?

Perhaps people have made the valid choice to enjoy what they eat and have a shorter life expectancy. The alternative is hardly desirable. Live longer to end up neglected in a care home suffering from dementia, resented by younger people as a burden due to pension and social care costs.

People can't win. Eat junk food or smoke and you're A Bad Person. Don't smoke a live a long healthy life and you're an Expensive Burden.

Food is only one part of it. There’s also finances - Working long hours mean you might not have time or motivation to do more than grab the easiest thing. There’s working in sedentary jobs, nowhere to enjoyable exercise, alcohol, mental health, time and motivation.

Maybe the bigger question is why our society sets us up to be overweight as not everyone will have the same cause behind that gain.

Having moved abroad, I look back at the UK and can see the following issues:

• there’s no longer a culture of cooking from scratch, and lots of pre-prepared food is more calorie dense than home cooked food.
• long working hours mean there’s less time for exercise and that people are both tired and stressed. The effect is that people eat to overcome the tiredness and reward themselves with snacks and treats to de-stress. Also, less inclination to cook from scratch (see above).
• outside of bigger cities public transport is pretty poor and cycling/ walking to work less common than elsewhere Europe. This reduces the opportunities for exercise as part of normal daily life.
• for a small bit not insignificant group of people, NHS waiting lists and ongoing treatment exacerbate weight gain, for example through reducing mobility or being on the wrong meds. Waiting lists where I live are much, much shorter.

Nobody should judge others for their weight, but we can consider the systemic factors affecting the population as a whole.

The thing is @SheepandCow its not like people are eating crap and having an amazing but short life as a result. Diabetes and mobility issues in your 20s and 30s is an appalling trend. When I see 8 year old kids going the same way as their parents I feel sorry for them. I dont think "oh well at least they'll not live to have dementia and be a burden that way"

I think it's hard to debate this as people are so defensive. It's a system problem with a lot of factors and there has to be a joined up answer. Different people have different drivers causes and options. Like cancer there should be a range of pathways.

Sabotaging comments like "cutting out a whole food group causes disordered eating" "diets don't work" are just unhelpful. What does work? - peer support? Lifestyle support? Cooking lessons? Regulation of food industry?

Also researchers are still bickering about whether low carb or low fat or other diet is "the one" and what actually works for long term weight loss. There is no effective cure being delivered for obesity. This is a scandal. But nobody funds research that will make us consume fewer drugs or profitable processed food its like smoking was.

I shouldn't be overweight. I'm intelligent, good at cooking, well off with opportunities to exercise. I'm horribly stressed with bad sleep and a very long working day in a sedentary job. And was crap at sport at school (yea 35 years ago). Probably I need some life coaching.

Also it's so hard to find non fattening food outside the home/when travelling. It should not be a needle in a haystack. There should be a light option just like vegetarian option in every single outlet.

@NotMeNoNo you're absolutely right, these threads always result in a bun fight (scuse the pun) but it's easy to understand why some people become defensive when you read posts from posters that are so full of vitriol at someone, because they're overweight. It seems like all bets are off and 'fatties are fair game'. I've been overweight and I was probably defensive about it myself, partly because I hated myself and partly because some other people just didn't think I mattered because I was fat.

I made a friend at an exercise class who had ignored me for the first year I went to the class. I just thought she was shy etc. We became quite good friends until she told me that she stays away from fat people because they 'disgust' her and she could never have been friends with me when I was fat. She told me this as if she was doing me a favour by befriending me now that I was no longer fat. I don't even think she's that unusual, some people seem to be so repulsed by someone who is fat that they decide that they're stupid, weak, selfish - all things I've seen people overweight described as.

It's such an emotive subject all round isn't it.

[quote WhatamessIgotinto]@NotMeNoNo you're absolutely right, these threads always result in a bun fight (scuse the pun) but it's easy to understand why some people become defensive when you read posts from posters that are so full of vitriol at someone, because they're overweight. It seems like all bets are off and 'fatties are fair game'. I've been overweight and I was probably defensive about it myself, partly because I hated myself and partly because some other people just didn't think I mattered because I was fat.

I made a friend at an exercise class who had ignored me for the first year I went to the class. I just thought she was shy etc. We became quite good friends until she told me that she stays away from fat people because they 'disgust' her and she could never have been friends with me when I was fat. She told me this as if she was doing me a favour by befriending me now that I was no longer fat. I don't even think she's that unusual, some people seem to be so repulsed by someone who is fat that they decide that they're stupid, weak, selfish - all things I've seen people overweight described as.

It's such an emotive subject all round isn't it.[/quote]
That's awful - I'm glad you ditched her! No-one needs friends like that.

Here’s a short article with a very simple message from a respected food author/journalist - stop eating ultra processed food.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/health/our-underlying-epidemic-is-chronic-junk-diets-its-time-to-eat-real-food/647463.article

This would go a long way for most people, surely.

And I know long hours is an issue. But does it really take longer to make an omelette with mushroom and salad (for example) than go for a dinger?

This would go a long way for most people, surely.

Only if take the food manufacturers/conglomerates to task to reduce the amount of shit they stuff in their foods, and workplaces to give people the time they need to cook proper food.

Otherwise you're still throwing it back on the individual to have the mental/physical willpower to not eat something it.

It's like telling a crack addict to quit being addicted to crack that they have to consume just enough crack everyday to stay alive, but not overconsume, while surrounding them with high grade crack.

My God I made a lot of typos in that.

That is sad to hear NotMeNoNo.

I have to confess at all the gyms I have been a member of the general attitude towards an overweight person walking into the room is 'fair play, you are actively doing something about it'.