To agree with Katie Hopkins?

[UnacceptableWidge]

I know, I know!!
Turned on Radio2, initially had no idea who it was and found myself nodding along to every word.

As a 'fatty' myself I had to agree with all she said. I did this to myself. I like food, especially junk food waaay too much. I hate exercise a lot. Nobody to blame but me.

The horror of agreeing with her may, possibly, finally force me to get off my arse and do something about it though I will never in RL admit that she has made me wake up and realise this is all on me

All I would add, as clearly she cannot be completely right and understanding life in anyone else's shoes, that her circumstance is different to mine.

My weight crept on gradually over the years.
My mindset has never been to actively put weight on with the intention of losing it again, I simply developed bad habits over a long time.

Bigchoc You are right about KH's manner and people automatically being turned off. No matter how good a message, if it's delivered unpleasantly, then that is what people tend to hear - the rotten delivery and not the content of the message.

There's nothing new in KH's message - nothing revelatory. Her 'experiment' is pants - it doesn't mimic a real life situation. Her very basic, pedestrian and non original ideas about weight loss are just fine - for robots.

Babycham It's not about avoidance of personal responsibility, but about the obstacles in the way of putting it into practice. It can be hard to ignore your environment and the temptations that lie within. Ask anyone who's put on a few pounds at Christmas - a time when people tend to eat more food simply because it's available and staring them in the face.

I'm slim but I have a tendency to compulsively eat when I'm upset or want to distract myself from problems - when I smoked I would do the same thing with cigarettes. I nail bite, have for for 34 years, can't give up.

KH has a compulsion to be attention seeking and wield power over others by causing them to be upset. That's her addiction and if she can give that up it'd be equivalent to what many overweight people would gave to go through to be able to lose weight.

She seems to be finding this impossible.

I don't think it's reasonable to completely ignore the environmental factors that encourage obesity, and say that it's entirely down to personal responsibility.

Yes, people are responsible for what they eat. But it's an awful lot easier to eat fattening food than it was a few decades ago.

Look at the smoking analogy - smoking's also bad for health, and smokers are also responsible for choosing to smoke.

However, advertising of smoking is heavily restricted (banned I think?). Age restrictions on buying cigarettes have been raised. Increasing amounts of tax have been put on cigarettes, making them more expensive for people to buy. Cigarettes are increasingly not displayed publicly in shops that sell them. Places where you can legally smoke have been restricted. There's extensive public health advertising campaigns about the dangers of smoking. Help for smokers who want to stop is advertised in GP surgeries as available on the NHS. All things that are helping to reduce smoking in the UK, despite smoking being an individual choice and the individual's ultimate responsibility.

In contrast, junk food is regularly advertised on various media. Eating junk food, or having fattening snacks, is portrayed as normal. No extra taxes on fattening food beyond the normal VAT rates. It's placed in eye catching locations in shops and next to tills, and special money saving offers on junk food and snacks are common. Children's portions of meals in fast food restaurants can be sold with free toys, which is bound to make these meals more attractive to children. Junk food's all over the place, and often more accessible than healthier options.

Yes, in the end, people choose what to eat. But there's a lot that could be done that would make it easier for people to make healthy eating choices.

I watched the bit where walked into the changing room with only an awful bra and knickers and asked some Rugby players for their opinions on her body.

I bet she was gutted when they said she'd look better with another stone in weight on her. I expect she thought they'd all be fawning over her and telling how gorgeous she is.

Sad deluded witch she is. I'd rather be fat and happy than ugly bullying harpy that she is.

Sorry, Goldenkelpie, but I couldn't disagree more. It infuriates me when
people blame government/industry etc for the crap that's available in our shops. You don't have to buy processed, synthetic shite; that's the point of consumer capitalism, you get the choice.

I've just done my shopping for the week; fruit, veg, meat, pulses. The only ready-made items are tins of soup to take to work for lunch when the lettuce has either gone off or been used up at the end of the week. I don't think I'm particularly saintly or even unusual for cooking fairly basic food from scratch. I'm not immune to advertising. Certainly, I'm exposed to the same marketing rubbish as everybody else. So what's different? I make the choice not to buy ready-made rubbish. I'm also going to the the gym this afternoon. Again, my choice to do that instead of shopping/television/eating.

I've never been overweight, but if there had been junk and fast food outlets lining the streets when I grew up, I'd be spherical now. I didn't have the emotional intelligence as a child to limit treat food.

Also, I was turfed outside to play for hours and we roamed miles. No electronic toys and only 3 (boring) TV channels, so little reason to stay indoors.

It really is the obesogenic environment, to which some folk are more genetically vulnerable than others.
But discussing how to correct this environment wouldn't make a lucrative TV program.

I happen to enjoy vigorous exercise and building muscle. Many folk don't; doesn't mean I'm more disciplined, doing something I like and they hate.

I am over weight and I have no one to blame but myself, I am not massively over weight but I have a poor diet and know I need to change it.

There are people who are naturally thin, however much I diet I will never have the figure of my sister who doesnt diet just the way life is.

I agree some people are overweight due to far bigger issues than just food but we as a country are also in denial about our weight and the problems it causes.

Although people obviously have to take responsibility for themselves our culture doesn't help. Everything is focused around eating and eating "junk" food.

Go to the cinema - eat sweets
Go shopping - get a coffee and cake
Watch a sporting event - sit and eat and drink

The list goes on pretty much every social activity we do involves eating and drinking on the whole so it's no wonder that people end up overeating.

'I hate you fat people for making me do this' REALLY??? no katie blame your producers and your greed for cash for doing it YABU to think that every person who is overweight is just plain lazy and greedy! i would NOT make a sweeping generalisation such as this vile KH has...Karma is a wonderful thing maybe someone will judge KH one day when she is having a seizure (she suffers from Epilepsy) and ignore her thinking she's drunk! I'm sorry to come over as cruel but my children lost their father in 2013 due to health issues caused by weight...his reasons for seeking comfort in food were very deep rooted (as for most 'addicts) ...on Monday we have ch5 screening 'Benefits-too fat to work' if this hate crime was against ANY other 'minority' there would be hell to pay but if you're overweight HEY! open season for superior,smug,bullying....give me a break! .

Babycham Have you ever put on weight at e.g. at Christmas, on holiday, or any other time when lifestyle factors might shift from the norm? Has your weight remained the same (barring obvious life events such as pregancy) throughout your adult life?

sirzy it's actually really easy to do all those things without the food and drink. They're just habits and they can be easily broken if you decide to do it.

I think it's a bit too simplistic to keep blaming the food industry for obesity, although it can play a part.

In my experience it's more to do with portion size and constant snacking, than the actual quality of food.

Nearly all the overweight people I know, and who I'm close enough to, to be aware of their eating habits, eat much more than the slimmer people I know and far more often.

There was an interesting thread a while back that compared the eating/exercise habits of slimmer people to overweight people.

The constant theme seemed to be that the slimmer people ate smaller portions, didn't snack much and rarely drove cars.

But the point was our society normalises those things so so many people just do it without thinking.

Sorry, I should have added that I was someone who always did those things. I decided not to anymore. I never eat outside of my home unless it's a proper meal at a proper meal time.

sirzy yes ,we have to 'think' about our eating patterns, rather than eating mindlessly. That's because there is a surplus of food available now. Common sense really.

That's so true fatlazymummy I'm always saying this but I lost 3 stone just changing habits with Paul Mckenna. I'm not on commission; to anyone on this thread who has problems please think about it. I always ate healthily. But ONLY lost my weight when I changed the WAY, WHY and WHERE I ate.

It's true, this is where personal responsibility comes into play.

Just because the cinema sells food and sweets, doesn't mean we have to buy them. If anything, refusing to do it breaks the cycle for the next generation.

When I was growing up in the 70s, there used to be an interval halfway through the film. There would be ice cream sellers who would sell little pots of ice cream/ice lollies and we really looked forward to that.

Fast forward to now and many kids will have eaten a McDonalds before the film starts, and during the film they'll be eating popcorn/Nachos with cheese/sweets and a fizzy drink in a cup that resembles a bucket.

We normally eat lunch/dinner before we leave the house and bring a small pack of sweets and a drink.

That's more than enough and it also saves a bloody fortune!

Not so sure that it's "easy" to break habits. Possible, yes.

Easy? Not so much, especially if they're habits you've been doing most of your life.

It's worth the effort though, particularly for the next generation.

There are so many parents who wouldn't dream of leaving the house without snacks for their kids, just to keep them quiet and occupied so they're being taught to comfort eat/boredom eat from a very early age.

Shadow That's why I mentioned PaulMackenna because he supports you emotionally and physically.

Why do you think it's hard shadow? How about prebooking the cinema tickets and not taking any money or cards out with you? That means that you can't buy anything to eat.(same with any leisure activity). Keep on doing it, and you will get used to not eating or drinking in the pictures or wherever.
It does take a bit of mental effort, and a bit of pre planning ,but it isn't that difficult really.
I do realise some people grow up in 'overweight' families, and they may not know any better about snacking or portion control, but I think most people who are parents now didn't. Unfortunately many children nowadays are growing up with that pattern of behaviour.

That's what I was going to say fatlazy or make them pay for the snax with their pocket money but only if they are actually hungry.

I'm supposed to be working just now. DH is out with the DC, I have no excuse but I know I'm going to have a bit more chocolate and then walk to a cafe for a coffee. Nothing to do with me needing to eat but all about me having difficulty facing up to what I have to get done today. This stems from being worried about messing it up so am avoiding with food.

And Mumsnet.

Thus breaking primary new year's resolution