To say screw you society, I just had a baby and I'm going to be fat!

[confusedgypsychick]

Actually to say screw you media, mom and all the women who tell me how "easy" it was to loose the weight after the baby. Grrrrrr.

Or

OK - firstly, the idea that you shouldn't put on much weight during pregnancy is bizarre. I put on 2.5 stone with DD and lost it all within 8 weeks so I can't imagine much of it wasn't intended to be there.

Secondly - posters who are claiming the cost to society by people being overweight is the same as the cost of obesity are just being daft. There is societal pressure on people to be thin but actually, people who are slightly overweight have excellent health outcomes.

DialMavis - I just don't know the answer to your question and I was discussing it with a young doctor the other day in a social setting. I think there must be more to learn about this. The medical profession insists that people who say they put on weight easily are just kidding themselves when they say they don't eat that much, and that metabolism isn't much of a factor. All I can tell you is I ate like a horse in my last pregnancy, and in this one, and after DD was born and I was breastfeeding I mainlined cake and still struggled to keep the weight on. I actually gave that as an example but he was so young (the doctor) he got a bit uncomfortable when I started talking about breastfeeding

Longtailjosie, that is an interesting article. Although on reading it I'm not sure that I have drawn the same conclusion as you that they have excellent health outcomes, just that the slightly overweight partcipants who were tracked with health surveys lived longest. I think the researcher's hypothesised explanation for this
"One possibility is that screening and treatment have eased many problems associated with being overweight, such as high cholesterol and blood pressure" is interesting.
As I said down thread I have recently had to do a fair amount of study on this subject and the World Health Organisation are currently saying that overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of diseases. I am presuming that they are basing that statement on good scientific evidence (maybe I am wrong to put my faith in them though). The nice thing with good research though is that as it accumulates then opinions can change accordingly.

I certainly haven't said that the cost to society of being overweight is the same as the cost of obesity .

Slubber - I would like to check out that programme, thanks. I do agree that there is a lot of tempting junk food out there and companies like to get people hooked, but I like to think it's the responsibility of the individual to look after their health and not just the nanny state. After all, if you smoke, drink and eat hamburgers all day and suffer an early demise at 50 due to your choices, it would be naive to think the state would be bothered.

Hippo. - you really need to watch this series. It might make you open your mind or at least consider things in a very different way, it's fascinating and very distressing actually.