Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 23 24

AIBU?

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:

Report

penelopepissstop · 19/02/2013 18:54

Oh it's OK - I judge you for not being able to spell.
Did you go and stand next to all these fat people to show how good you look OP?

StuntGirl · 19/02/2013 18:55

I can promise you that, as an overweight child and as an overweight adult, I knew when people were staring and judging. I know these attitudes exist, and they make daily life a misery

Absolutely.

Sparklingbrook · 19/02/2013 18:55

I think you were maybe ok to think it but unreasonable to start a thread about it?

pingu2209 · 19/02/2013 18:56

I really really didn't think 'yuck they look horrible', that really wasn't what went through my mind. It was more of a social wake up call. It is a really huge problem for society. It was well over 50% of the children in the pool; and these are the childre who are exercising. How many children are not exercising and are even bigger than the ones in the pool?

OP posts:

pigletmania · 19/02/2013 18:56

Well op you would be complaining if they were sitting on their arses watching Jeremy vile. They can't win can they! Yes at least they are making an effort to,exercise, op yabvvvvvvvvu. Let's see how you look so we can have a good gawp

Tweasels · 19/02/2013 18:56

Ah, another joyful thread.

Not Goady at all.

Overweight people exercising? Well I've heard it all now. How dare they.

YouTheCat · 19/02/2013 18:56

So staring at them and making them feel self-concious is the thing to do then? May be if judgey little buggers hadn't poked fun at me for being very slightly over-weight as a child, I might have not had the massive body image problems I had as an adult?

How about teaching our children to be bloody kind to each other?

MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot · 19/02/2013 18:56

I think the OP is making an observation about how, in general, our children are getting fatter. She isn't pointing the finger at indiviuals and mocking them. There is a difference.

I agree with her, as a society, we have a problem... how it should be addressed I don't know - but the current 'tax on soft drinks' isn't the way. The govt should not be allowed to decide what is and what isn't good for us to run - they can't even run the bloody country, they shouldn't be getting a say in our food shopping.

Anyway, that's a different rant

Oh & FWIW & if it matters - I am seriously overweight and sadly hate wearing a swimming costume because of the judgy pants around, I just don't feel the OP is one of them.

RugBugs · 19/02/2013 18:57

I think OP you would be more shocked had you gone to my local leisure centre today. It was almost deserted at least in term time the local junior school is usually in attendance when we go.

TidyDancer · 19/02/2013 18:57

OP I believe you have been intentionally inflammatory. You have posted this on the most high traffic board, without even asking an AIBU! I am sick of attitudes like yours, you are the reason, as evidenced on this thread, why so many overweight people are too shy to exercise publicly.

To anyone who the OP has upset, I would like to tell you that when I started exercising I weighed nearly 19 stone. No one at my gym or swimming pool stared at me. I started a thread when my overweight friend was scared to come to the gym with me. Have a look here if you want to check it out.

Booyhoo · 19/02/2013 18:57

OP do you comment on the number of over weight people you see in asda or on the bus or in work? why do you feel the need to be shocked at seeing over weight people in a place where excercise is the purpose for being there?

i dont understand the reason for your post really.

KatyTheCleaningLady · 19/02/2013 18:59

I feel a bit bad about Pingu being piled on. I don't think she meant to offend and it is a fact that if you go to a swimming pool in Britain, you may see more jiggling than you would have twenty years ago.

I just hate to think that people are judged for their weight. I really don't think people understand obesity or what to do about it. Why do so few people lose weight and keep it off? It really can't be because they're stupid or lazy. Very, very few people lose weight and keep it off for any length of time. Those who do tend to have extremely hard regimes of diet, exercise, and constant calorie counting. I, for one, couldn't live like that. I seriously doubt that the vast majority of thin people live like that.

slatternlymother · 19/02/2013 18:59

OP but what do you suggest is done about is problem? Because it has been going on for a loooooong time, you know.

EstherRancid · 19/02/2013 19:01

OP, are you reading many of the replies you're getting or just enjoying the fact you've managed to rile so many people?

kerala · 19/02/2013 19:01

I dont read the post in an insulting way OP is stating a fact. Its true - the population now is an entirely different shape to when I was a teenager. A bigger proportion of people are now overweight. It is a problem are we not allowed to comment on it? There are many factors leading to where we are now /marketing/availability of high fat and sugar foods/eating habits. That thread about crisp eating was illuminating.

TuftyFinch · 19/02/2013 19:01

I'm like Katy, I'm 7.5 stone but eat like a horse. I walk a lot but if I did nothing it wouldn't change my weight. It's genes. Pure and simple.
We all know that obesity is on the rise.

slatternlymother · 19/02/2013 19:01

I'm afraid I feel like your OP is a bit like going:

OMG there's this HUGE HUGE problem in Africa; people are starving, what shall we do??

Where have you been?

SuckingDiesel · 19/02/2013 19:02

Tell me, OP, do your wear your judgy pants under your swimming costume? Or over it, superhero style

I'm overweight. I go swimming and to the gym. Thankfully the people around me seem to have more to worry about than my dress size.

kerala · 19/02/2013 19:03

slatternly I dont agree. I think it has got much much worse over the last 10 years or so - it seems the government does too hence all these initiatives and handwringing. It used to be an occasional person was overweight now in some areas it is the norm. Slamming the OP for stating the obvious isn't helpful.

Dawndonna · 19/02/2013 19:03

Pingu My oldest ds had periods of being overweight. It was due to the steriods he needed to keep him alive. So, next time you're shocked because you think it's the fault of the parents, think again.

McPheetStink · 19/02/2013 19:04

Oh dear

Shovel??

I'm going swimming next week with the baby, if you fancy coming to see my fat butt

youmeatsix · 19/02/2013 19:04

do SO many people seriously not go swimming because someone else thinks they are fat? really? i cant feasibly see someone elses's opinion stop me doing something i liked. People are becoming larger, across the age ranges, the OP merely stated she was staggard at how much. SOME people cannot help being over weight, for various reasons, but a lot can help it, so i cant compare that like someone else did, the same as being muslim, disabled or black
I am a recovering anorexic, people had NO qualms voicing their opinion on my weight and how i looked, yet its offensive to say it about fat people?

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Email address

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

pingu2209 · 19/02/2013 19:04

I have no issues with overweight people exercising. I have no issues with overweight children coming to the pool to have fun and not even realise they are also exercising at the same time. That is not what I originally posted for. I am not offended by overweight children being in the pool as so many of you think I am. That is not what I was so shocked by.

I was shocked because 20 years ago if there were 35 children in the pool, perhaps 8 of them would have been overweight, and of those 8 about 2 of them would have been obese.

Today of the 35 children in the pool, around 20 of them were overweight, and of those 20 at least 12 of them were obese.

It was very obvious to me today because I was in a pool and they had hardly any clothes on. Just like adults, children can look a lot less overweight if they have clothes on. With their costumes/trunks on, there was no where to hide the weight.

It is not bad to make a comment that this is a terrible thing for our society. This is really worrying.

OP posts:

Bluelightsandsirens · 19/02/2013 19:07

Pingu you must have known your thread would offend lots of people for very many reasons.

What did you think you would gain from posting?

Theicingontop · 19/02/2013 19:08

Yep, cheers for confirming what I thought people think when they see me at the pool. What a lovely post.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 23 24

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.