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.

Tbf 1400 cals gives you 2x500 meals and a 400cal for breakfast say. You can prepare meals packed with goodness and taste for that. Did we snack as children? I don't think we did, it was breakfast, dinner and tea in my house. It is extremely hard to do it on willpower alone and feel you're going without so we need to change that mindset and think of all the food you can eat, that is healthy, for those same calories. They are quickly eaten up by bars of chocolate etc and that is eye-opening.

I use my fitness pal when my weight starts to creep up. The biggest surprise to me was the amount of calories in pasta, bread and potatoes. I have a biology degree and was still surprised!
To keep these within the daily limit I weighed out 50g of pasta, it's a small portion, less than half of what I'd usually eat. I think we've lost sight of portion size and the trend for oversized plates and bowls doesn't help. I got some of my grandmother's crockery down from the attic and I'm using that so my dinner doesn't look lost.
A small percentage of the population are going to have weight issues due to medical problems/medication. Fat shaming is horrible and shouldn't happen but nor should presenting morbid obesity as a social norm.

It is surprisingly difficult to find anything at all on a pub or restaurant menu that comes in under 500 calories! So you can forget eating out.

@Phineyj

It is surprisingly difficult to find anything at all on a pub or restaurant menu that comes in under 500 calories! So you can forget eating out.

That’s not true either! You order a steak with green veg. You order a chicken dish but hold the sauce. You order a burger but leave the bun, no chips please. You order a fish dish.

Come on people!!!!

Or if you're eating dinner out in a pub, don't have lunch.

Exactly my point littlelatte- I think the government needs to start limiting these companies, what price they charge, and in what size. They need to introduce guidelines on portion sizes for one person, stop these over large pizzas and portions. These massive family deals for cheap prices.

My child's school lunches are mainly healthy I would say but they get a sugary pudding every day. They get biscuits at after school club. Why? They didn't have this before they went to school. There needs to be further overhaul of school lunches do a unhealthy meal and a sugary dessert are not seen as the norm. A healthy lunch and a piece of fruit for pudding is.

I find you can't buy a single chocolate bar anymore, if I want to buy myself a small treat I have to buy a huge family sized one or a multi pack. There needs to be regulations on these companies. But unfortunately I think that will not happen as the government won't want to annoy them, they want the income they bring. So I feel the government want to half heartedly stop obesity but not if it means any consequences to money.

I agree with this concept of what is the norm needing to change. But then, I can eat a packet of hobnobs in one sitting I have a sweet tooth, but I don't do it every week and I substitute that bad choice with good food choices for the rest of the week and being active. It's about balance. I think like most people find it impossible to watch what they eat all of the time. It is ok to have those things just not all the time.

@Shesapunkpunk

The U.K. is in such trouble with regard to obesity. I was recently in Norway and I was honestly the fattest person I saw the whole week (I am size 12/14- but fat not trim) I have also experienced this in Germany, Iceland, Finland and the Netherlands. On the back of my anecdata, I am actually quite concerned.

It’s interesting that you say this - I was in Denmark a few summers ago and felt quite overweight in contrast to all of the women I saw around me.

It made me check out my BMI and I realised after being in relatively good shape throughout my teens and twenties, I had crept up to 28BMI. I lost two and a half stone and have totally changed my habits as a result.

I was still wearing a UK 10-12 and felt relatively slim compared to many of my colleagues. I think the rising weight in the UK has become normal to us and actually, many of us are unaware that we are overweight as a result.

I was active, but I ate far too much. I felt perfectly fit and healthy before I lost the weight, but now I have so much more energy and life about me. I think it’s important to highlight the obesity problem because I can’t have been the only one who was completely unaware that my health was suffering.

On the other had, once you stop following those laws you realise that actually no one else noticed or cares what you do or don’t eat and it isn’t rude after all.

There is nothing wrong with going out for a meal and eating 1000 claories in one sitting, that meal alone won't make you fat, regardless of how much sugar or carbs it contains. It is the content of the other 20 meals you might eat that week and assorted snacks, that will make you put weight on.

The problem is the fallacy of the food pyramid and our perception of carbohydrates as healthy.

This was was a personal agenda that one Dr convinced the American heart association to accept and it's been seen as official nutritional advice by many countries ever since.

People's consumption of saturated fat has reduced (in line with gov advice) but obesity has increased because the advice is wrong.

There are essential fats, there are essential proteins, there are no essential carbohydrates.

fatfiction.movie/

There will always be people who are overweight & obese for a myriad of reasons, what we need to do is move the majority of the population back down the scale to a healthy weight.
Which for the vast majority of us means simply eating less, and healthier food. I'm overweight because I eat & drink too much, so I'm stopping that.
There's reams & reams of healthy diet advice out there, we need to stop making excuses & just get to grips with being healthier. Obviously this doesn't apply in some cases, like the people on this thread who have other health issues to manage. We're not talking about you.

Oh good, another Mumsnet fat shaming thread, it's been a whole five minutes since we had one.

Frankly Boris's plan is a useless and lazy as he is. If it were as simple as eat less and move more people wouldn't be obese. There are far more complex things at play, and anyone who thinks otherwise has the intelligence and critical reasoning of a dump truck.

Numerous studies have come back saying the obesity issue is highly complex, with everything from genetics, our own instincts, to socio-economic status and mental health playing a part. Yet, the same blinkered robots will keep coming out with the same old "eat less, move more you lazy sod". It would be funny if it wasn't so damaging.

I'm interested to see how the new Canadian plan to tackle obesity will play out. They've now listed obesity and a chronic disease and recognized that people will require medical help, be it as little as a tailored nutritional/exercise plans with regular check in's, to surgery to combat, and will require restrictions on the food and diet industries as well so that they aren't able to target vulnerable people.

Of course, and actual science based, empathetic approach will be so much less fun than fat-shaming.

[quote gettingfedupagain]The problem is the fallacy of the food pyramid and our perception of carbohydrates as healthy.

This was was a personal agenda that one Dr convinced the American heart association to accept and it's been seen as official nutritional advice by many countries ever since.

People's consumption of saturated fat has reduced (in line with gov advice) but obesity has increased because the advice is wrong.

There are essential fats, there are essential proteins, there are no essential carbohydrates.

fatfiction.movie/[/quote]
Fuck yes! If the government could actually give correct diet advice then as a society we’d know what to actually eat. Currently guidelines are outdated and dangerous.

Exactly, you balance your other meals to allow for it or you choose the healthier option. I do think cals on a menu would be good, not to shame us but just to stay mindful. I got away with sugar binges for a long time and then suddenly within a year it caught up on me. Now I can't believe the amount of extra calories I was consuming while my activity levels were simultaneously really low. And my sleep was bad, my energy levels were low etc.. The treat is actually eating well, not the junk and that is the secret.

I often think our british weather contributes to why we are the fattest nation in europe.

Ok probably not a main reason but even so.

Most of the time its damp, dreary and rains a lot. Not to mention cold even in in summer quite often so a lot of people turn to food for comfort, they eat the crap and the stodge because they are stuck in the house in front of the telly

I've lost quite a bit of weight the last.2 years by walking aloft and changing my diet but even I struggle on horrible damp uk days and find myself craving the crap

Do you think that lockdown has made a difference here? I've been surprised to see people that I hadn't seen for a few months and find them almost all much larger. And same is true about the beaches.

I wouldn't be surprised if the health benefits of lockdown (people's lives saved from covid now) are undone in the long term by a society-wide shift to the right on the weight curve.

I say this as a genetically thin (at least for now) person who eats a fair amount of crap i.e. someone without a weight problem but who with different genes might well have one. I didn't gain weight in lockdown but I lost almost every bit of muscle tone my body has and now have no bum.

I had no idea these threads cropped up with such frequency, although I guess I can see why as it’s such a complex and important debate.

@LunaNorth you have summed it up brilliantly in my opinion.

It isn’t just about food - although I do believe ‘you can’t outrun a bad diet’.

And the causes and effects of being overweight are as much about mental as physical health.

If I am feeling really depressed about it, it’s the capitalist system versus us worker ants. You could say the same for food, for social media and it’s damaging effects, the climate emergency and on and on.

We need a wholesale change in our approach to health and to fitness. It needs to start on schools - 2 PE lessons a week for primary school kids just isn’t good enough.
Instigating a daily mile has been proven to help kids lose weight, and I’m sure some honest conversations took place about how it made them feel better too. More exercise in schools - doesn’t need to be competitive sport where some will always struggle, but just moving lots every day for the joy of using our bodies properly.

We’ve lost sight of what we are and what constitutes a good life in the face of constant messaging from big business about what a good life and being successful looks like.

God it’s depressing.

Whilst I agree personal responsibility is important, I do believe that it’s now such an entrenched problem that some national action is required. But that requires a form of visionary government that actually gives a shit about it’s population and society.

Until then, let the debate rumble on.

I'm fat. Really fat. It controls my life every single day. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about it. But I am sick of feeling and being treated like everyone is better then me because I am bigger then them. My weight doesn't affect you. You are not more likely to die if you walk past me in the street. I'm the one who has a death sentence on my head, and boy am I aware it's there. Let's be honest, unless you or a family member are overweight, you don't really give a shit about the strangers health do you? You're not pointing out they're fat because you care, you're doing it because you can. It makes you feel better to say "oh my god I'd never do that to myself!"

And yes, some people will say "it affects us all because it costs the NHS more money, which we all pay for." But you know, I'll take my share since I never go to the GP because they never try to solve my issues once they weigh me. And where do we draw the line? The smokers, the drinkers, the extreme sport players are all extra risk and things we do to ourselves. But the fat people are the only burdens on the NHS.

On the odd occasion I have been to the GP to ask for help with my weight they said "join slimming world." When I asked for help with my PCOS they said "go on the pill, oh sorry no you're fat, nothing we can do."

I am aware, so aware, my children could end up like me. It eats me up everyday. I see every little roll that might appear and wonder if I am passing on my death sentence. So yes, some fat people are aware what that means for our children. But you know, we go to the park for a run around and went swimming, and walked to school (before lockdown) but swimming lessons are £15 a week for them both. The football clubs and gymnastics clubs and all the other exercise clubs for children are money too, money I don't have. If the government is so concerned about weight maybe they should stop saying "lose weight" and "get half price McDonald's" on the same day. Maybe instead of just weighing kids at school then doing nothing to follow up, they should make different kinds of exercise more accessible. Allow children to go swimming in lockdown rather then only adult lane swimming! I know it's not the governments job to help people lose weight. But I'd rather they said that then bullshitted that they gave a fuck just like everyone in all the 100s of threads on mumsnet about fat people.

On these threads it's always stated that people who are overweight know they're overweight, and don't need reminding that it's a health issue.

But previous threads on this have proved that's not always the case. There was a recent thread on here, for example, where some extremely overweight people posted photos of themselves saying "look, I'm not fat even though my BMI says I'm obese." It was alarming tbh. I hadn't personally seen that sort of denial in action before.

When being overweight has become so normalised in our society, it's going to take a huge collective effort from Govt, the food industry, the NHS and individuals to reset perceptions. Tinkering around the edges doesn't work.

I don't want to go to a pub and ask for loads of changes to the food - the poor waitresses are stressed enough with all the anti-Covid rules! Plus then the people you're eating with feel criticised. You can save calories the rest of the day/week though, that works. If you're actually wanting to lose weight, you have to have solutions for social eating that don't just involve willpower.

Denmark was a revelation, I spent a month on one of their government departments as a consultant and had lunch in the staff canteen every day. People eat from small plates and 90% of the food was salads and cold fish. The salads were amazing, not a limp lettuce leaf in sight and nor were there hugely calorific dressings. There was pudding but again little dishes. Everyone walked or cycled and Copenhagen was very much set up for this.
I sound obsessed with small plates but I really notice now I've seen it, a bit like buying a new car and seeing the same car everywhere.

But you know, I'll take my share since I never go to the GP because they never try to solve my issues once they weigh me.

There are a couple of studies that show that overweight/obese people are less likely to go to the GP's until things become serious because of the stigma involved and because doctors tend to have their own prejudices about weight and are unlikely to diagnose an overweight patient properly. There are people who have had cancer ignored until it was too late because their doctors kept telling them to go on WW, rather than do their actual job.

I haven't been for a routine check-up or had a pap-smear in years because I'm afraid about what the doctor will say after I've been weighed.

@Fatted

The thing is OP, you can tell someone that being fat is unhealthy until you are blue in the face. I still don't think that would stop people tucking into a domino's.

Food is used just like alcohol and drugs for people with various problems to self medicate. Because it's legal, cheap and easily accessible. Until you get to the root cause of why people over eat and are over weight, then you cannot help them. Just like you can't help an alcoholic who doesn't want to quit.

I'm morbidly obese and agree with this.

I put on six stone in five months when I had a breakdown due to undiagnosed bipolar disorder and childhood trauma.

Studies have shown a very strong link between trauma and obesity. Effectively people use food like alcoholics use booze.

Understanding this is key to any efforts to tackle obesity.

At the moment this is not dealt with at all (because it's complex and expensive).

People (like me) who use food this way are not going to lose weight because people repeat you just need to eat less and move more' over and over. I'm well aware of what I need to do, but it's like telling an alcoholic that they just need to stop drinking and expecting that to work 🤷🏻‍♀️

Either the root causes need to be addressed OR access to food that can be used like a drug needs to be removed (so going back to 1970s with fewer takeaways, ready meals, etc).

The first is seen as too expensive and the latter is seen as 'nanny state' so I don't see this getting any better TBH.

@Heygirlheyboy

Tbf 1400 cals gives you 2x500 meals and a 400cal for breakfast say. You can prepare meals packed with goodness and taste for that. Did we snack as children? I don't think we did, it was breakfast, dinner and tea in my house. It is extremely hard to do it on willpower alone and feel you're going without so we need to change that mindset and think of all the food you can eat, that is healthy, for those same calories. They are quickly eaten up by bars of chocolate etc and that is eye-opening.

Yes, that is true. But that also means no glass of wine, no dessert, no anything except your basic calorie counted meals.

My DH doesn’t put on an ounce and eats a huge amount of food. We no longer eat the same meals because my calorie allowance won’t fit....well yes, it could but it would be minute portions of food.

It’s doable obviously because a lot of us do it but please don’t pretend that it’s easy to do all the time. When fat people try to diet because ‘it’s easy’ they soon become disheartened when they find out that it isn’t.

swimming lessons are £15 a week for them both. The football clubs and gymnastics clubs and all the other exercise clubs for children are money too, money I don't have

I hear you. I can't afford these clubs for my kids either. But we run and walk every day. Exercise is free (unless you want to get into a debate about buying expensive running shoes etc).