Most horrifying facts about obesity?

[Colourmix]

I’m obese and looking for something to really shock me into losing the weight. I know that it’s unhealthy and it can cause stroke and diabetes, but they all feel like distant far off issues and it just feels like it’s far too much work to lose weight with my mobility issues.

Does anyone know any gruesome, horrifying facts about obesity and the effect that it has on the body? We all know that fat = bad but I don’t think it’s discussed in detail nearly enough. It’s far too easy to just bury my head in the sand and convince myself that I’ve got years and years before it happens to me.

@Colourmix

I assume you're young based on you saying that a stroke and diabetes feel like distant/far off issues. Young people can have strokes and young people can develop Type 2 diabetes.

An ex-colleague, overweight/obese, mid 30's had a life changing stroke.

Neighbour (now dead) had Type 2 diabetes and had to have both of his legs amputated due to poor management of his condition. He wasn't old when he developed Type 2. He was obese.

A relative has lost her sight due to Type 2 diabetes (obese/not old).

Current colleague - Type 2 Diabetes and problems with multiple joints is currently waiting for x 2 knee replacement. She can't walk unaided. She is not old hence major wait times for the surgery as apparently the NHS don't like to replace joints when a person is too young (I don't know if this is fact, just based on what she told me). She takes heavy duty medication to try and control the pain and this is not without significant side effects.

At 14st you're not that heavy (assuming you're average height of course), so it's positive that you're giving weight loss some consideration and asking for 'scare stories' because the older you get, your metabolism may slow down, your weight will go up and it could be harder to lose weight by which time the threat of obesity related illnesses could be your reality.

Have a look on the weight loss board when you're ready to embark on your weight loss journey. Good luck.

Also, I know this thread wasn't so much about weight loss advice but the one thing that helped me with losing a bit of weight as well as more sensible choices was also intermittent fasting- only black coffee until about 12pm. I can't do it now as on a lot of medication as going through chemotherapy and I need to eat first thing but I will go back to it once treatment is over.

My mum and dad are obese and 78 and 73. I still find it weird that they're still alive. Not massively mobile but get out and about. They're obviously lucky but I've started to tell them some home truths about dropping dead with the state of their diets. They're past it now tho, can't imagine it's easy to change at that age

I echo the poster who asks whether you’ve had a health check recently OP. It only took one conversation with my doctor where I was pre diabetic, my thyroid was shot and I was in the obese weight category at risk of heart disease. On top of that I was depressed, had constant neck & back problems and always focused on negatives, which was unlike me. The doctor shared where these issues can lead and asked what exercise I enjoyed doing. I was very open and said I can’t really stand exercise other than walking and occasionally swimming with the kids for fun. So the Gp said “Swimming? Amazing all round exercise”.

A year later I’ve made new swimming friends, have lost over 3 stone (4 total) and get such a kick from swimming it’s like a drug. I feel vitalised, positive and ALIVE again. I’m back to focusing on positives, depression gone, no longer pre diabetic, normal weight, stronger, fitter and I have SO much more energy for the kids. Lane swimming changed my life!…. I started out doing 40 lengths in an hour and would now be unhappy if I don’t reach 90.

It’s not about being scared into doing something about your weight, it’s truly understanding what a negative impact weight has on you long term. It literally affects everything. And I’m happy for overweight people who say that’s fine for you but my levels are good and I’m happy and healthy. That’s lovely! But that’s not the case for the majority - carrying too much weight is bad for you long term and that’s proven.

I wish you well.

More people die of obesity than of drugs, smoking and alcohol out together.

Read Professor Taylor’s book about diabetes risk and the sssociated health issues - eye issues, issues with feet. It is called Life without diabetes. Really eye opening and specifically focused on the risks of being say 10-15kg overweight

Yeah. I've never smoked but I remember my mum being horrified in the 90s when they went up to £3.60 a pack.

Cheapest on Morrisons website is £9.50 for 20.

A Mars bar and 500ml coke is £2.24 a day. Over £800 a year on empty calories. Don't think about the (plentiful and chronic) complications of obesity as we're programmed not to worry about things that are that far ahead. Think about the 'cost' to your health/wallet today, this month, this year. Don't write a food diary, write a warts and all health diary and price up those calories. See immediately the effect your obesity is having on you NOW, not in 20,30 years.

Also really inspiring as it gives a plan to get back to a healthier weight and the massive benefits that come with that. Once you’ve read about the fat in your pancreas it’s very sobering. My dp used it to help him lose weight

The number of people on here who say they've been shouted at, looked at, commented on, generally fat-shamed for being overweight/obese is awful. That alone would be enough to want me to lose weight. Wrong as it is, most people do care what others think.

Over the past 4 years I have moved from being a ‘normal’ weight to being considered obese. This is not as much of a weight gain as people may think, about 40 pounds (3 stone). Obviously my eating patterns are the main cause, related are anxiety issues and meds that cause weight gain. But no excuses, mainly me. Here are some things I’ve noticed:

• My whole body often hurts, joints are inflammed due to the extra weight.
• My left foot has developed horrible arthritis and I’m having an operation next week to try to sort it. If I don’t lose weight, it will likely come back
• I cannot do any higher impact exercise now. Too painful.
• I often have GERD
• My kidney function has declined considerably. Yes I’ve had it tested. It’s not really reversible and my doctor said ‘we’ll need to keep an eye on it’. The best I can hope for is it does not get worse. Basically I’m facing kidney failure if I don’t lose weight.
• Unsurprising my cholesterol is high which as of yet has not impacted my heart.
• I think I smell bad sometimes. I take showers every day and at the end of the day, I’m like GROSS.

i’m taking positive steps to lose weight now. I am quite determined. My kidneys potentially failing freaked me out and I’m tired of feeling gross. I never had a weight problem my whole life before this and I have a lot more empathy for overweight people now. It is simply very hard to lose weight and slow. I’ve lost a grand total of 3 pounds in two weeks. But I figure it took 4 years to put on and might take that long to lose.

I also agree with monitoring the cost of things - we were appalled to realise we were spending over £200 per month on takeaways during lockdown.

However this was a weekly treat so easy for us to cut back. However so much food is nice, unhealthy but cheap so it's difficult for some people to use this as motivation.

Is this really going to help OP? This post doesn’t feel healthy to me, I feel like it’ll probably just end you up in a vortex of terror and self loathing and create the opposite effect to what you actually want.

I am 48, recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and my knees have started to hurt over the last few weeks. Finding this thread horrifying but important

Not quite what you asked for, but have you watched Michael Moseley’s “Eat, fast, live longer”? (Available on You Tube)? I rewatch that whenever I need a boot up the bottom health wise and it’s fascinating too about the positive effects of low carb diets on the brain. It’s not a fad either - the NHS actually recommend it…

A symptom of dementia is weight loss - but I suspect that the extremely obese don't get old enough to suffer from dementia it is an old people's disease.
I am 70 and I feel you must be young otherwise your knees, hips, feet would be really suffering from carrying all that excesss weight. Mine are creaky and achey without extra weight (or just a bit...)

Not a health fact but quality of life fact. We went on a long weekend away to a holiday park in the summer with friends who are obese. The amount of things they couldn’t do with their child was really sad. No playing in the sea, games on the beach, climbing over rocks to go rockpooling, etc. all they could manage was a slow walk down to the beach and sit.
was just really sad that they were all missing out on simple pleasures of life.

When I was very overweight I started experiencing urinary incontinence and regular UTIs. Not a huge amount, just tiny leaks if I'd run, sneeze, laugh or hadn't been to the toilet in a while. I was having to change my underwear a couple of times a day, go to the toilet a few times during a cinema trip or wear pads if I was going on a long drive. It would regularly come with irritation and that constant feeling of needing to pee you get with a UTI. I thought it was a post birth thing we're told is common in women, even though I was nearly 5 years post-partum when it started.

Then I lost the weight and it stopped. I can jump on a trampoline for literal hours (DS's trampoline got me through lockdowns) and not have even the tiniest leak even though I drink about a litre of water an hour while jumping. It was the weight that was causing the incontinence and infections. I had no idea. I didn't lose weight to stop leaking urine, I'd just accepted that as part of womanhood. But OMG am I glad that it's gone.

I have joint pain from fibromyalgia. When I lost two and a half stone the pain almost halved. Still in pain but MUCH more manageable.

Anyway there was an absolutely chilling stat on it which was once you become obese and reach a certain BMI (possibly a BMI of over 40) studies had shown the chances of you actually managing to lose the excess weight to get down to a healthy BMI were incredibly small.

I would love to see the actual research that supports this ?

@Fraaahnces yours is the post I've saved from this thread, thank you.

Good luck OP x

Obesity is a complex disease OP. There will be psychological and physiological reasons behind your weight gain. Shaming you or shaming yourself isn’t the way to lose weight. To build up your self worth and self esteem is.

www.healthline.com/health-news/obese-people-have-slim-chance-of-obtaining-normal-body-weight-071615

www.cbc.ca/news/health/obesity-research-confirms-long-term-weight-loss-almost-impossible-1.2663585

www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/there-are-real-and-difficult-biological-reasons-why-its-hard-to-lose-weight/2018/01/05/53bbf9d8-ea54-11e7-9f92-10a2203f6c8d_story.html

I say this as someone who is overweight still. It's because of the sweatiness and especially where there are folds. Ive cleaned obese people for care work and the is stuff in the folds that slim people never get.

My child fell badly in a park and I couldn’t run to her because I am obese, I had to walk towards her, she needed A&E and i feel such shame and guilt about those minutes of her lying on the ground screaming while I slowly shuffled my way to her.

I agree.
On one hand I think it’s wonderful when for example you see women just enjoying themselves in summer, not feeling ashamed to go swimming or wear bright, colourful clothes.

On the other hand I notice how it’s mostly young and pretty overweight women being shown as examples of how you can be a larger size and still healthy by the body positivity movement.

My mum has been clinically obese for a big part of her life and sadly I could see how it was progressively affecting her health.
She had bad problems with her knees since her forties and could barely walk by the time she had knee surgery in her mid sixties.

Since the surgery her knees haven’t been an issue anymore, but she is just so used to her sedentary, passive lifestyle now she doesn’t seem to be able to break out of it. From time to time she would try to lose weight, but it seems near impossible now 😥