In thinking the govts new obesity strategy is

[laptopdancer]

well, a bit pants?

My mum used to cook beef to destruction - it would shrink to about half its size, fair enough, but never to 70%!)

Thzumbzombie - go to the shops, have a look at the packaging. Believe or don't believe, it is written in black and white. Admittedly brown rice is about the same calorific value as meat but pasta is much higher. I have checked every type of meat, pasta rice and potato I have in the house, plus several other websites - meat is not as calorific as you seem to think just because it is mostly protein and fat (and as grimma says water).

I think I'd like to get £50 a week for each child I have who isn't overweight. That way, if dd were overweight, I could stop feeding her and save money that way while getting my hand-out and earning money that way.

If the nanny state backed off then everyone would find it easier to take responsibility for themselves; constant nannying only encourages lack of thought and effort.

Politicians, leave me alone.

And again, it still doesn't alter my basic point about the difficulty in separating out the 'good' from the 'bad', not that it is advisable to label any food in that way.

Having struggled as a teen with people calling me anorexic it was mainly by obese women or those close to it. They tended to middle class busy bodies who were unable to say no to a cream cake. These obese women were not mentally ill, just lazy, greedy and lacked self control.

I never had a weight problem until I met my now DH. I was always 'normal' weight (according to BMI charts). DH makes food that is very high in fat and would plate huge portions. I ate it all up for around 6 months. One day my trousers wouldn't do up. I weighed myself and found I had gained 40lbs. I quickly made changes to lose the weight. DH has never changed his diet and is now more than 250lbs. He lacks self control, is lazy about exercise, greedy when it comes to potion size and deludes himself when it comes to making choices. He is obese and it isn't a mental illness.

After having DD I still have some weight to lose. Yes I am watching my diet like a hawk and calorie counting to ensure I don't get any bigger.

It is not as easy though for many people. the Mr Want2b probably doesn't look too great at 250 lbs whch is nearly 18 stone but I bet he wishes he were 11 stone. he's carrying the weight of a slim woman around with him.

There is no simple answer which is why there is so much money to be made in this sector (business tip for anyone woman setting up a new business, you cannopt go very wrong with a diet product in terms of gaining customers)

Thzumbzombie -actually could you give me evidence:

that NO WAY that carbs have more calories, gram for gram, than meat does!!

He is 6'3" so should be 190lbs but his dr has said anything at 200 or below is fine.

It wasn't easy for me to lose 40lbs - I ran 3 miles everyday for 9 months, watched what I ate and drank no alcohol. DH won't even walk the dog, drinks soda or 'juice drink' instead of water and makes his egg with bacon fat because it tastes better. I lost 30lbs in the week after giving birth to DD (was water and baby) but the last 10lbs are still on me. I am trying to lose the weight and I will eventually get there. I have 8lbs to go to get to my prepregnancy weight (which will still see me as overweight).

Oh and don't get me started on diet products.... I audited a company here in the US that makes slimming products. Their target market are those who are overweight, not obese. I was speaking to the marketing director and she said that research carried out shows that once people reach a certain size they give up trying to lose weight through diet, exercise or diet products.

No actually I can't because I will admit to having made the basic schoolgirl error of forgetting the water constituent, or that it could be so high. So feel free to ignore everything else I said as well.

WantbSupermum, I've been a size 10 all my life. Actually a size 8 up to my late 20's. I'm now 45 and a couple of stone overweight - a big size 14.

I'm not lazy or greedy. I'm knackered and stressed (partly because of having a special needs ds), and eat too much because of this. Like many women in their 40's I also have an underactive thyroid.

If it was easy as just saying 'no' then the diet industry wouldn't exist. It's clearly not easy, otherwise we wouldn't have so many fat people - and fat people from all walks of life.