The number overweight people at swimming today

[pingu2209]

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.

I certainly don't see any more overweight children then I did when I was at school.There were a few then as there are now.

The last time I went swimming most of the kids looked a normal size to me.

Who's business is it then? I don't think it is enough to say that it is only the parent's business because clearly the parents are not doing enough or have lack of educuation to know why their child is so very overweight. There may be a few with health issues, but there is no way that health issues are covering all the children who are overweight.

Rooney, food with ready made packets and jars can very easily have lots and lots of spoonfuls of sugar and salt, which if made from scratch, would not include the salt and food. Jars from Lloyd Grossman for example are full of sugar and salt and fat.

Our taste buds are used to highly sugared and salted food, they then crave the salt and sugar. So if we are feeding children that kind of food from a very young age, then that is what they want to eat.

It is very hard, I work so I want to give my children food that is quick and easy. However, normally this goes hand in hand with processed food.

What a fucking lovely op post NOT

I teach at a very expensive school US and I cannot think of one overweight child. However, I used to teach in a very poor and deprived area and the difference was huge. These things in children tend to be linked to poverty - not news surely? - and so perhaps if you visited a different area your perceptions may be very different.

HorseDNA, I take your point and apologise to the OP. I shouldn't have used the words 'people like you' it was knee-jerk and unnecessary.

What I should have said was that I won't put on a swimsuit because of my fear that people will have the same reaction that the OP did.

I think the confusion between the adult/child weight thing has arisen because the title states 'overweight people' whereas the OP does actually only discuss children and teenagers in her post.

I think it's the title of the thread that feels like a judgement of overweight people like myself. I guess seeing that is a bit like your worst fears about what others really think about your weight being realised.

And perhaps the fact that people think it's fine to treat the subject with such disdain is not helping the wider issue which is what the op is worried about -attitudes could be considered to be as much part of the issue as other issues surrounding the problem.

Their weight is none of our business.
But it is. The NHS is straining under the extra pressure due to our nation's obesity problems. Heart diease and diabetes drain the resources of the NHS, and they are preventable if people stop eating too much. Not comparable at all to someone being black or disabled. Those are not choices. Over eating, whilst a complex issue, is a choice.
We'd all be happily up in arms if a parent got their child drunk. We are already up in arms if a parent smacks a child. But to over feed and under exercise a child, to the point where their health and opportunities for the future are seriously jeopardised is still socially permissable. It's still taboo to criticise. It shouldn't be. It's wrong to let children get obese. It's as bad for their health long term as it would be to let them drink beer.

How do you know that the parents of these kids are not doing enough, they can't really win can they?

The children were spending their time doing a healthy activity and they get gawked at and a thread on Mumsnet started about them.

I live on a council estate.My grandchildrens school is on a council estate, hardly leafy suburbia.

That was to, countykitten.

Hopefully they didnt see you staring at them and wont be put off going swimming again.

The science is showing, although it is early days, that whilst under activity is an issue, the real issue for society getting bigger is what/how much they are eating. Especially WHAT they are eating.

I could swim non stop for an hour and not burn off 3500 calories. 3500 calories =1lb. Therefore, it is how many calories we eat that is the major factor in our weight.

However, if we don't eat much in volume but what we eat is very high in calories, we can very easily put on the weight.

Well US perhaps your council estate is not in a very deprived area?

I think you are nitpicking tbh - the obesity issue in children exists and it is a bit silly of you to refute it on the grounds that you have seen very few overweight kids yourself.

It is indeed very worrying op. I am a bit shocked as to how quickly we seem to have become one of the most overweight nations in the world. I've got a sneaky feeling that for the adults it is years of "dieting" (ironically!) that has led to this incessant weight gain but for children it is obviously something to do with lack of exercise/outdoors activity and the easy availability of junk food and our new snacking culture.

I think the op could have worded it better - but childhood obesity is on the up, you cant deny that.

It is a concern as these are the young adults that will be admited to hospital with heart disease, diabetes, cancer and much more. It is a problem to the point where some of our borough school nurse will send a letter home stating that the child is obese. Which will utimatly be a drain on our NHS funds- sorry but its true.

Cheap,sugar laden,fatty foods are too easily available for low income familys that need to be educated on healthy eating - thats why the goverment are campaining it now.

Free range, healthy,organic food is more expensive than the cheap shite low income familys can afford. But then there are mac donalds, kfc, take aways galore - buying a chippy tea can be cheaper than buying and preparing a healthy low fat meal.

Over weight adults exercising is an amazing, tough comendable thing to do. I see it every day.

BUT parents have a duty of care to make sure there child does not get to this point. Thats why the schools are getting involved.

Education is the way forward on this. Yes there will be some people, thin as a rake but eats like a horse, over weight but eats like a pixi OR have a medical condition but the truth ismostly if the child is over weight its because they are eating too many calories than they are burning off.

Dont stick your heads in the sand people. We should be looking after our future.

That's true pingu, but we build muscle through exercise and greater muscle mass = greater calorie/fat burn. Neither exercise or diet alone is the solution.

I do agree though that we are in a situation where it is often hard to tell exactly what you are eating, unless you either only eat home-cooked food or are able to do all the calculations necessary to convert the nutritional information on food packaging.

Another factor is that highly processed food, full of palm oil, sugar and corn syrup etc is very often cheaper than buying fresh food. So people on limited budgets simply cannot afford to eat as healthily as they would like.

Cross posted with similar points to rodandtheemu.

It's quite localised I think. I work as a supply teacher and in most of the schools in one area I teach there are hardly any children who are overweight, none who are obese. Occasionally I travel further to a less affluent area ad come across more chubby overweight children, and more children who look pasty and unwell.

Walking through town where I live, you wouldn't think there was an obesity epidemic.

Yes I agree overmydeadbody.

yep, there are overweight people... and underweight people - both are unhealthy... yawn.

Your OP was not one which was trying to open a discussion about childhood obesity. You made an observation which came across really badly and to some, appeared as thought you were making a value judgment. It was extremely insensitive given that weight is an extremely sensitive topic.

Science is great isn't it? but it has very few answers on how to get healthy food
into these children on a daily basis.

We could put nothing but garden salads and tofu in front of them every day but it would do very little to benefit them if they are not eating it. Yes, some of these children would rather and do starve.

Healthy daily activities are the best way to change their all round attitude towards personal health and can lead to better eating.

We can pull out all the scientific facts we want but we are talking about children here and it's not as easy as "This is what works, full stop".

It is worrying.

It is one thing to be an overweight adult. Chances are that you weren't always that way, and you will have the discipline to manage to get it off eventually.

An overweight or obese child is another. Children who have weight problems, I mean long term, for years, are in real trouble. They haven't yet got discipline about eating. They are surrounded by sugary foods marketed at them. Parents have to engage in this and actively manage what their kids eat.

Growing up overweight it is much much harder to lose it as you get older. It places a strain on children as they grow, from their bones to their heart. Obese child? Good chance of showing signs of heart disease. Fat doesn't suddenly get dangerous when you turn 18. The other thing is, that the evidence is beginning to suggest your body learns a weight it wants to be at, and will take in food to maintain that weight. If you are heavy when young, then your learned weight is going to be heavier, and you are going to spend years struggling on diets trying to get to a healthy weight, when your own body is fighting you.

agreed over

Good that they're doing some exercise then OP?