To think that the Obesity Epidemic is Exagerated and there IS no so-called epidemic.

[luvmetelly]

It's been on the news all morning about Obesity..

Where are all these morbidly obese people? I was out all morning, on a very busy high street and I came across only two people who I would class as obese.
Where do they get their facts and figures from?

Well, just because you may not see many obese people in your average day doesn't mean it isn't an issue. The data suggesting it is would be collected from health information so hopefully more accurate than individual anecdotal experience. As another poster noted, it varies and of course is related to socio-economic factors. The USA has a huge obesity problem, but I hardly ever saw anyone even overweight when I lived in Los Angeles. Not surprisingly it is the poorest southern states that have the real obesity problems.

Lljkk - surely by its nature farming, gathering, walking to the well burns calories in a way driving to your office, sitting at your computer, driving home, eating a ready meal and watching corrie doesn't.

There has just been the largest body of research done on fat around organs etc and people that were overweight, but active scored better than those that were thin, but didn't do enough exercise and ate badly.

Didn't this only apply to those in the 'overweight' category i.e those with a BMI between 25 and 29? Above 30 and you were at risk of premature death regardless of lifestyle or other metabolic factors. Unless we are reading different papers.

I still have clothes from when i was a teenager.
I think hipster clothes allow for larger waists my tight waist would have kept me thin.
Also worry over anorexia seems to have scared everyone.
People used to want to be thin.
I still weigh my 8and half stone 5'4. I have risen to 9and half and back down. But even 9m pg i was only just over bmi 25 which is amazing.

I have realised my frame and height i oniy need 1500 cals not the 2000 quoted.

Its really about how determined you are to be thin.

Interesting about waist sizes as mine is prob at least 28

You need to be pretty dedicated to push the bmi chart because of muscle Agreed and that excuse is trotted out pretty regularly even for stocky children to excuse why they're significantly over a healthy BMI.

The head of metabolic medicine at Charing Cross (so I'd like to think he knows a thing or two about weight issues!) once told me that the only people he'd met over a normal BMI who really didn;t have a "fat" issue were professional rugby players or bodybuilders/weightlifters. To be fiar he did conceded it was beyond the realms of possibility that very dedicated amateur athletes could get the same results he just hadn't seen it.

He also commented (by the by) that sometimes BMI has an effect whether its fat or muscle that causes it. For example your risk of heart disease is normal if your BMI is high due to muscle but the risk to your joints is the same as someone with the same BMI due to fat as its the weight strain thats the problem not the reason for it.