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Original poster

The number overweight people at swimming today

588 replies

pingu2209 · 19/02/2013 18:40

I went swimming today with my 3 children. I am not exagerating to say that well over half the children and teenagers were overweight; some were seriously obese.

It really was noticable. Girls as well as boys. Anything from age 4 to 14.

Okay - at least they were exercising but I was really shocked.

OP posts:
Queenbean · 10/06/2016 08:08

Because I do not believe that most people are of the standard of doing butterfly to burn 1000 calories an hour. Especially not those who are overweight and / or unfit. People massively overestimate the number of calories burnt in most exercise sessions let alone a swim.

Egosumgism · 10/06/2016 08:34

but can they run for an hour queenbee?

KERALA1 · 10/06/2016 08:49

The inverse of that is the frightening number of calories in innocuous food. A woman on one of those Davina McCall programmes nearly cried when told to work off the cheese she had just eaten she literally had to run up a steep hill. It's so so easy to get fat.

Queenbean · 10/06/2016 08:59

When did I say they could run for an hour?! Confused

Calorie for calorie running is higher. Or interval training even better.

Swimming is good for core strength but not for calorie burning.

lljkk · 10/06/2016 11:48

It looks like person who woke the zombie wanted to discuss this topic again (because they are a large person themselves).

It's not a thread about individuals. A world full of diverse sizes I wouldn't think about. But it's shocking when you look around and so many people are 3+ stone overweight... Last night I was at the pool for a lanes session open to kids... showering with my own teenager, opposite us were 3 very plump girls. So glad they are trying to be fit. So :( :( they are so large already, at what... age 14? Lane session was followed by a water aerobics class with about 40 women in it... at least 35 of whom were very overweight.

I actually felt like a freak afterwards for not being heavy.

AddictedToCoYo · 10/06/2016 12:49

Yes Kerala I think it's dangerous to allow people to think they can eat what they want within reason if only they would get off their backsides and do some exercise. The amount of strenuous exercise required to burn off anything remotely 'balanced' (ie. a meal that includes foods from all the food groups but it the 'correct' ratios according to the BMA, which is a load of bollocks and there's nothing balanced about it, but anyway...) high calorie meal or food choice is quite an eye opener.

You can and should do some moderate exercise and move around more, of course, we all should. But in the end if you have a significant amount of weight to lose the only guaranteed way to do it at a reasonable rate is to dramatically change your eating habits and ideally to cut back on your carbs.

The trouble with exercise is realistically you can only burn off the thing you just ate, so it's fine for maintaining a healthy weight but less effective at changing the state of being overweight. You have to do an awful lot of very strenuous exercise before you start to burn stored body fat, unless you are starving yourself or eating a very carefully managed diet with few carbs.

For an overweight person exercise will help you tone up, it might make you feel more energetic and more confident, but unless you are eating very differently as well then exercise alone will make much difference to your being overweight.

snowgirl29 · 10/06/2016 13:09

thefitfatty I entirely agree. It is why I am against products marketed as low fat - often having a bucketload of sugar in them to compensate for the loss of fat. Confused

Zaurak · 10/06/2016 13:38

What will really help all those overweight people is being judged when they're swimming ... Oh wait ...

KERALA1 · 10/06/2016 13:50

Read the recent thread Zaurak. Its moved beyond that.

Actually just read a book set in the near future (The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver in case anyones interested). Very good - one of the scenarios is that the majority of people are obese, that is the new normal. We are heading that way for sure.

The problem is the related health issues and whether our socialised healthcare system will cope if say half of us are significantly above the weight we should be.

UptownFunk00 · 10/06/2016 14:03

Oh no you poor thing OP.

Did it traumatise you?

Here is a hot cocoa to steady the nerves Brew

UptownFunk00 · 10/06/2016 14:04

But yy low fat normally means high sugar and that's not good for you.

Gottagetmoving · 10/06/2016 14:17

Amazed that some posters still insist on posting attacking or sarcastic remarks about OPs post and subsequent posts by claiming she was judging fat people.
Can you not understand what you are reading?
If she said she saw lots of people wearing red coats...is that judging?

She saw lots of fat people. 40 years ago she wouldn't have seen hardly any. It's ok to make that observation and its worrying so many people will suffer health problems because we are becoming obese in alarming numbers.
Stop ignoring it and claiming anyone who says 'fat' is judging.

TFletchersWife · 10/06/2016 14:22

Judging "fat" people in a gym/pool is like judging sick people in a hospital.

Why would you judge these people when you have concrete, visible evidence that they are actively trying to lose weight.

Absolute twat

minifingerz · 10/06/2016 14:37

"judging "fat" people in a gym/pool is like judging sick people in a hospital.

Why would you judge these people when you have concrete, visible evidence that they are actively trying to lose weight."

Nonsense!

Last time I went swimming I left straight afterwards and ate two bags of crisps. I went swimming for a bit of recreation. I find swimming makes me hungry so I tend to eat mucho crap after I go. I suspect lots of other people also do this judging by the brisk business the snack machine in the leisure centre lobby was doing.

Also - the OP didn't 'judge'. She noticed and has commented on the number of very overweight people - something that is more obvious when you are in a place where you can see people unclothed. She didn't say 'I saw loads of disgusting fat people swimming. Why can't they show some self discipline?' There was NO judging.

Are you overweight? I am. Why do you read judgement and offence into the OP when I don't?

minifingerz · 10/06/2016 14:41

"Amazed that some posters still insist on posting attacking or sarcastic remarks about OPs post and subsequent posts by claiming she was judging fat people."

Some people think that noticing and commenting on overweight (in a general sense) is offensive and attacking even when it's clearly not targeted at an individual.

Maybe because they believe that simply being overweight is morally and aesthetically offensive - hence even referring to it in a general comment involves judgement.

Gottagetmoving · 10/06/2016 15:44

Some people think that noticing and commenting on overweight (in a general sense) is offensive and attacking even when it's clearly not targeted at an individual

'Some' people as too easily offended and need to grow up
It is perfectly possible to notice that someone is fat without judging them for being fat
Why do these offended people think no one should notice? They love it when someone notices they have lost weight and expect praise....Perhaps people should say' I never knew you were fat in the first place' ?? Because God forbid they ever notice.

BrianBlowsBubbles · 10/06/2016 17:40

OP - I agree with you. I am overweight and have been my entire adult life. My children are not overweight. I work with children and am shocked at how overweight some of them are. If they were that desperately underweight we would be addressing their parents or involving social services etc about neglect but I feel quite strongly that parents who allow their children to become extremely overweight (especially in primary school where they alone have control over the child's food) are also committing neglect or certainly woefully bad parenting. But of course, we are not 'allowed' to say so. Despite the fact they are setting their child up for a life time of weight issues and associated health problems (diabetes, heart, dental etc).

Being 'fat' is such an emotional issue (as so many people on here have demonstrated) that we have lost sight of the fact that it is just not healthy. If a child had rotting teeth or as I mentioned earlier was drastically underweight or had lice-filled, matted hair we would do something. If a parent is feeding them a vastly excessive amount of food (or junk food) we do nothing for fear of offending the (usually in my experience) overweight
parent. It is a very sad and very worrying situation.

mizuzu · 10/06/2016 17:44

This is a zombie thread but it is still mean and I believe some people feel this way, I have seen in the gym people snare at overweight people, obviously they are coming to the gym to better themselves its not all muscle heads who go gym.
I really don't understand people who pay so much attention to others bodies or features, how is it affecting your life?

KERALA1 · 10/06/2016 18:44

Exactly Brian. What makes it everyones issue is how the situation you describe is so common it is now almost normal. Most classes IME have at least one or two seriously overweight children in them. No child was that large in my primary school in the early 80s - not one.

ArgyMargy · 10/06/2016 18:54

KERALA1 we are already in a situation where overweight is normal, as 2/3 of adults are overweight. However there are signs that the rise in obesity is slowing down so hopefully we won't get as far as a majority of people being obese.

KERALA1 · 10/06/2016 18:59

Right so the real issue is that people are "mean" and in a gym some people stare at overweight people rather than the fact that a third of 10-11 year olds and over a fifth of 4-5 year olds are overweight or obese according to the 2015/16 National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Right.

roarfeckingroar · 10/06/2016 19:07

I find it hard to understand why people (health reasons aside) allow themselves to get so overweight. I am naturally quite slim but if I ever put on a few pounds I cut down and move more. I genuinely cannot comprehend how people let themselves get so large, unless their parents allowed them to become fat children, one of the reasons I hate to see overweight kids.

BUT. Do I actually notice let alone comment on other people's weight, especially when they are exercising? No. Not even slightly. None of my fecking business how others live and choose to be; but I do judge a little when I see children allowed to become obese.

PlymouthMaid1 · 10/06/2016 19:22

I dont think the OP was judging. I am a bit overweight myself but that didn't stop me being surprised by how many really fat people I saw on recent visit to a nearby town. We are a very fat nation these days and sadly it is being normalised.

Ricksheadtilt · 10/06/2016 19:28

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Sparklingbrook · 10/06/2016 19:36

Why is anyone responding to the OP? Confused They posted this over 3 years ago.