to be annoyed that I have to pay for gym membership whilst others don't?

[Aworryingtrend]

I know I need to don my hard hat but I really am about this.

I have just joined my local council-run gym to try and tone up and lose weight. This is costing £23 a month which whilst not a huge amount to some people is a fairly significant amount to DH & I.

AIBU to annoyed that whilst I have to pay for the privelige of using the gym and pool, others can attend completely free under the NHS exercise referral scheme or by being in receipt of some benefits?

Fucking hell moondog, you've excelled yourself with that comment

What is the difference between being fat and being overweight? Genuine question by the way. Is there some sort of guideline?

Really?
How so??

Do excess kilos just mysteriously appear and drape themselves over unsuspecting folk?
I can't remember it being taught like that when I did Biology 'o' level.

Moondog you should really open up a little and share your opinions. Don't be shy.

Weight can rise as a result of all sorts of medical and lifestyle factors. A subsidised introduction to structured exercise is a lot more cost effective for the NHS than antidepressant medication, psychiatric care, stents, diabetes monitoring and hospital stays.

You aimed a rather low comment at somebody who has put on weight as a result of cancer surgery / medication.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to peel your head out of your arse long enough to learn that some cancer meds can cause people to pile weight on, i'm sure a fair bit of comfort eating goes alongside that which can be expected. I think i'd turn to the ice cream if my body was ravaged by surgery and I lay awake at night worrying over whether or not i'd see my children grow up......

Pick on somebody else you vile little person

BMI guidelines are
18-25 ideal "old me"
25-30 overweight "me"
30- something obese "fat"
over that morbidly obese "very fat"

I don't eat too much. I have lost nearly all of the weight I put on while taking steroids and being confined to the house. I do very well on that front, thank you, and I'm proud of my achievements.

As I said moondog, I need help with exercise and mobility issues, not weight management. I can swim (or walk) for general fitness. I can't run and I doubt I will ever be able to do that again, but that's fine. I think it's over-rated as exercise for middle-aged women ayway. It's such a huge amount of wear on your knees.

I need specific exercises to enable me to move properly. To not get repeated pains from relatively normal things.

I do try to do these special exercises myself but I know I quickly slip into not doing them properly. That can be ineffective, damaging, or pointless, depending on the errors I make. I simply cannot afford, after so many years unable to earn, to pay for this myself.

Oh I've no issue with 'prescribing' exercise at all. If by doing so, people take it a little more serious ('because the doctor said so') then all well and good and it costs peanuts compared to drugs and operations and counselling (shudder).

The world would be a much better place if most of the Wstern world hurled their remot controls out of the weindow and left their homes to move about a bit.

I do object to victimisation in all forms and people portraying themselves as victims of obesity.

I think even the most limited of us know that excessive weight gain is due mostly to putting too much food into one's mouth.

Do you begrudge all healthcare for overweight people (as it's their own fault) or are you just arbitrarily singling out subsidized exercise?

I didn't turn to ice cream, cheese toastie. I couldn't manage cold .

I found inordinate amount of comfort from chocolate, however, as I contemplated not seeing my pre-school child reach school. That is behind me now, however, and I now, mostly, am a good girl. I was shocked how quickly an eating disorder could develop, and how hard it was to overcome even with self knowledge.

People put on weight for all sorts of reasons Moondog. Yes eating obviously plays a part but often ill-health and mobility issues contribute to the weight gain, which can then exacerbate the health problems.

But moondog, the problems I have are not related to my weight at all. They are mobility problems due to complicated surgery.

And I really do not see myself as any kind of victim. I do think it would be very cost effective for the NHS to fund at least some of my rehabilitation.

Are you still cold sensitive CMMU? My mother has recovered now but still wears about 5 layers. She loves M&S thermal tights.

Not badly. I do feel the cold more than I did before but some of that may be due to the induced early menopause. I always wear gloves at this time of year. But that's only proper for a lady, is it not?

I must go out and do some exercise now, before it gets dark. I'll bring some chips back for moondog.

YABU and um, a bit of a twat really

Thanks, but I'll be at the gym myself.

My mum went the same way CMMU.

She constantly had the heating on, and put on a lot of weight because of the drugs. Not that she could eat much, the huge cancerous growth pressing down on her stomach made it to uncomfortable to eat much, she in fact lived off build up drinks.

Moondog will be pleased to know she didn't live long enough to recieve a 'free' gym pass, nor did she claim a single penny of the state pension she paid into for 40 years

With the exception of people like CMMU, don;t most fat people put on the weight whilst chidlren? yep there's a whole aprenting thing there for sure but it's not all grown adults eating five cakes a day.

DS1 is at a summer scheme run by the lcoal council, a mix of SN kids and NT ones. The kids can either pay £1.5 to make their own lunch as an activity (ds1 will do this, take their own or for £3 the play eladers take them to the chippy.

Huh?

Some of these kids are five! None are older than 12. And many have SN.
I would guess that those kids allowed to do that stand a bigger chance of being large adults, no? And certainly it's good for them to get that weight off.

Gym doesn;t suit everyone; I signed up to the curves thing and whilst it did improve my fotness I foudn the atmosphere and general apprach terrible tbh; much happier doing soemthing like zumba or dancing of any kind. But fot hose a bit of gym might work for, aspart of a limited thing why not given the saving?

I would probably say the contribution method is betetr though (as many describe) becuase I think it's important to act in partnership rather than locum parentis when possible.

ACT

I did a spell working for AMcmillan, fundraising nothing worthy. But a lot of the grants we gave were for ehating and warm clothing, as well as different sized clothing for people whose treatment had caused drops or rises in dress size.

I don't think most people have the iron will t o stick with a gym or stick to it long enough to really get an endorphin rush.

More fun to joing a walking group or a fitness calss andcsocilaise too.

We did some fundraising for macmillan scram, they were great,we kept her at home and did most of the care ourselves. Towards the end she lost a huge amount of weight, but her stomach was huge with the tumour, very distressing.

Macmillan nurses are good yes, they don;t cover everyone though whcih is a shame: it's purely down to whether the PCT asks for one (Macmillan will, or at least would, only take over the first three years funding if PCT put in a commitment to take it on afterwards: pump priming they called it. Excellent scheme.)

The grants get less coverage but are available nationally, and they do other services too like the website. Quite of ten when you work in the third sector you acquire a mental list of charities you wouldn't touch with a bargepole if you had a large pot of money to give away: Macmillan (and HomeStart, the other well-known I worked for ) definitely DID NOT appear on that list!

I got referred for 8 free gym/exercise sessions at the local sports centre and after that joined the gym (costs me £34 a month!!) - have been attending regularly for 2 years now. My sister gets half price membership at her gym as she gets working families tax credit. I dont begrudge her it as her family has substantially less cash than us so she would not be able to afford it otherwise. I would much much rather go to classes/the gym than motivate myself to go for a walk in crap weather (live in scotland!)

I didn't know you could get gym membership through the NHS. I'm going to ask my doctor about it. My house is too small to exercise in and as I get paranoid when outside it would be really cool if I could get into the gym for cheap or free. Thanks, OP