To think this article on Obesity makes some bold assumptions :o

[ChoochiWoo]

[http://news.sky.com/story/1423364/nhs-buckling-under-strain-of-obesity-crisisttp://news.sky.com/story/1423364/nhs-buckling-under-strain-of-obesity-crisis] Im not saying the entire article is bad or innacurate I went in expecting.a well though out article on how obesity treatment costs the nhs, statistics etc..but parts like this excerpt in particular. .... obesity, people who are obese will also have a poorer quality of life. Exercise tolerance, sexual health, confidence and self-esteem are low. Depression is more common in people who have a weight problem and they struggle to socialise. Were not what I expected or indeed anyone should Im overweight and strangely enough nor a hive of STIs nor a recluse , I don't think these generalisations are helpful Or accurate. AIBU to think this article was intended to be provocative??

Sorry it got all jumbled wish there was an edit button

Not sure about the sexual health one but the others are all certainly well known to correlate with obesity. Just because they aren't issues you have doesn't mean that there isn't a link.

clicky link here for you Choochi.

I think the OP's objection is to the fact some of it is stated as certainty, not correlation

"In addition to the medical conditions associated with obesity, people who are obese will also have a poorer quality of life. Exercise tolerance, sexual health, confidence and self-esteem are low. "

The use of the word "will" rather than "may" or "can" is quite significant.

Thanks yvette ...yy the Sexual Health thing is odd, its the lack of may do and the it will tone.

Apparently I'm obese Op but afaik I'm not a burden to the NHS, don't suffer with sexual ill health or any of the other issues mentioned either. I know I may be the exception rather than the rule but I feel somewhat scapegoated by this stereotype of larger people. YANBU.

Nail on the head statistically challenged.

It doesn't mention STIs

I would assume sexual health refers to issues such as erectile dysfunction that are linked to obesity.

I was depressed long before I was obese
I actually said, to DH earlier, "Even if I was thin, I would still be bloody unhappy" - my weight has nothing to do with it.
Fat people are just the next in line to blame. It was drinkers, then smokers, and it's illegal to harass gay people, so they pick on the fat people. You cannot shout racial or homophobic or religiously intolerant abuse at someone anymore, it's illegal, but "you fat cow" and similar are seen as hilarious...
Just think, if everyone in the country stopped drinking alcohol, stopped smoking, and only ate organic fresh fruit and veg, and exercised regularly, and took all their vitamins, and drank only pure mountain spring water - we'd all still die, the hospitals would still be full, and then who would they blame?
Fat people, and smokers, and drinkers, and people who do extreme sports, and people who reproduce, and people with genetic disposition to various diseases pay their NI and/or health insurance, and because of the way the NHS is set up, they are just as entitled to care as anyone else would be.
If they refuse to treat smokers/drinkers/the obese are they going to refund all their NI contributions too? and take all the tax from cigarettes and alcohol? You know, the billions a year that pour into the government coffers unremarked. The one tax source they can increase at will because complainants are told "tough shit - quit if you don't like it"
And what is all the fucking obsession with this mystic "Quality of Life"? people are happiest when bloody left alone to get on with their lives, and not fucking preached at by the bloody politicians in desperate need of a pre-election soundbite or the media anxious about sales figures.
For every article or blog or tv show clip giving one view, you can always find one with the opposing view, and all the bombardment does is make everyone feel totally bloody inadequate.
Take for example breast vs bottle, or working/stay home or any of the other debates that make mothers hate themselves - how many of us have, at some point, been made to feel bad/wrong/small because we were "Doing It Wrong" ?
It's the same with everything - Dawn French is "bubbly" and "larger than life", Susan Boyle is the butt of constant "ugly" jokes, Nicole Richie is "worryingly thin", Victoria Beckham lives on lettuce, and some vapid model with a newborn is "back in her bikini body" and who gives a flying FUCK?
It is so not important, and nobody, but nobody should ever be made to feel like they have less worth than anyone else because of any aspect of their physical appearance and/or ability.
(Sorry, got a bit carried away there just having "one of those days")

Carried away or not Pom I thought yours was an excellent post. I agree with everything you've said and I just wish - really bloody wish - everyone cold just stop honing in on perceived negatives and using those to hurl abuse. It's so boring.

"sexual health" is a euphemism for not being able to get an erection, not STD's... which is correlated with obesity.

I agree they're not necessarily helpful, but the correlations do exist.

I agree we should not be being rude to each other. It's never helpful and doesn't make anyone's life easier.

However it would also be unreasonable not to advice people of the risks their choices (not quite the word because of course it's never as simple as that is it) are associated with, wouldn't it? If there was a serial killer murdering all people wearing blue jumpers in Birmingham, I'd really like to know so I could choose whether or not to wear a blue jumper. Of course I'd expect the police to be trying to catch the killer, but I prefer to be equipped to make my own choices.

Of course not everyone is obese, just as not everyone who smokes, drinks or doesn't cross the road carefully suffers ill health because of it. But information without prejudice could save lives?

I certainly do not tell people just to quit smoking (health care professional). I ask if they want help, and tell them where to find it. Some people are offended by this, most are not. I think I am typical of my peers in my approach to this, and I take the same approach to any alterable risk factors, I hope.

Fat shaming is shit, real, and doesn't help many, if any, people lose weight and become more healthy in a sustained way though, I agree.

Obesity is straining the NHS as is having an ageing population and our nations drinking culture with drunken idiots clogging up A&E. Our NHS can no longer function in this state in a world with increasing medical costs due to new and improved medical care available there comes a point where we have to help ourselves.

Obesity related problems costs the NHS a lot but it is also a problem every individual can solve before it gets to the point of needing some sort of medical attention. Yes every individual is different some will find it easier but it is possible for everyone and burying our heads in the sand does no one any favours.

Also op the sexual health comment is related to erections which can be affected by weight.

How much is cause and effect? Surely plenty of obese people become obese due to illness/injury/depression rather than the other way round.

Ironically for me I was not obese until I had depression and had to take ADs which made me pile in the weight. I'm now really struggling to lose it

Well firstly I wouldn't necessarily expect a well thought out article from that particular news source. They are not renowned for their medical or scientific accuracy.
Their language is unfortunate. Being overweight doesn't automatically lead to the issues given. But it does make it more likely.
I didn't get the sti bit either. Increased risk of erectile dysfunction and conception issues yes.
Sorry, probably not very helpful.
The media does not, in my opinion, present weight, in all its shapes and forms , well or fairly.

Love how it takes into account the many people who become obese after becoming disabled (so already having a poorer quality of life, depressed and a 'burden' on the nhs)

Oh wait. No it doesnt.

And ps, first basic rule of science - correlation does not prove causation.

Exactly BeyondDoesBootcamp. And "obese" is a very broad range so to say that people who are obese will have x, y and z (rather than are more prone to x, y and z) is just rubbish writing frankly.

YANBU they should not state as a fact with no qualifiers that fat people will be depressed, have low self esteem etc.

I would also have taken the sexual health in the same way as you, to mean STIs. If they want to be mealy-mouthed about erections then "loss of sexual function" is far more accurate ditto if they meant reproductive issues they could have said that. All my life when people have talked about sexual health they've been talking about safe sex and STI avoidance - so I read it as you did, that fat poeple will have a host of STIs, presumably because their low self esteem means that they are more likely to have unsafe sex with multiple partners.

So yes very shitly worded article. No point people saying "oh they mean X" well if they mean X then they need to say X not something else it's a news story on a media outlet for god's sake.

Poorly written article but one which makes a very important point, which is that our health system won't be able to cope with the increase in diseases like diabetes.

I see a future of aggressive fat-shaming. People will start to feel very resentful that so much money is being spent treating preventable diseases.

There's only one small paragraph that ppl object to? 46 words out of 503 words (yes I counted). I wouldn't say that makes the whole piece poorly written. It's not fat shaming.

Fat shaming is the future tho if the nhs is struggling or going to be, as much as is predicted

Agree with minifingers - particularly the second point

Well yes but it's one small paragraph that says fat people WILL have low self-esteem & sexual health problems! Which is clearly a lie.

So, yes pretty shoddy.

Mini fingers you could say that about every alcoholic, smoker, addict, sufferer of anorexia people with STI's etc ..like i said i dont disagree with statistics but its badly written