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??

I self harmed as a teen following a date rape. This turned to eating as i believed if fat nobody would want to date or rape me (in my head). I still have that self hatred to this day ... I lost weight, bad break up and beaten up in my twenties and put it and more back on. Had a wonderful 16 year relationship with love of my life who dumped me last year - guess what - piled it all on and more .... I'm fat so nobody will like me so nobody can hurt me.
I am a teacher, I have never really used NHS apart from the odd broken bone until recently (gynea Pro s). Would love to just eat less and exercise more but I am a single mum, work full time and am eternally broke trying to keep a roof over my head.
It is not fun being me.

piece that sounds awful I'm so sorry for what you have been through Is there anything you feel might help people in your situation?

I was doing really well until my break up. Trying hard now to get back on track. I guess I just posted to give a different perspective - I am certainly not a lazy person, I work really hard and pay my way. Some people just see the fat and not the person - if anyone 'fat bashes' me I eat some more, it's totally psychological.
Funnily enough despite my obesity none of my pupils (pretty average secondary) have ever said anything derogatory ... Although the staff have to the kids (and the kids have told the staff that they are wrong).
So far bashers think .... I am fat because I have suffered a lifetime of trauma since being rated as a teen and no amount of love and counselling ever stops me reaching for that chocolate when life deals me a blow, as if I am fat nobody can love me enough to ever hurt me again .....

I'm so sorry for what you've been through. Please be reassured that contrary to what it often looks like on here most people wouldn't judge you or make assumptions about you. I hope in time your life becomes wonderful and you can be happy

Pieceofpurplesky thank you for your honesty.
I absolutely believe that no good can come of fat shaming. I know about addiction and compulsion. I have never had an addiction to food, or a compulsion to overeat, but I understand that need , to quell feelings and comfort yourself.
Add to that the fact that many foods are actually designed to.get you addicted, and its unsurprising people fall foul of them.

What happens if there is a cause and effect but in fact it is the other way round? Is being fat a symptom of a number of conditions? Now that would set the cat among the pigeons!

gnomedeplume we already know that. Weight gain is a symptom of some medical conditions, eg cushings syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome ,plus certain medications but medical conditions aren't usually the cause.

fatlazymummy but who is this 'we'? Reading this thread a number of people have said that their weight problems came after their other problems.

It is such a difficult topic to discuss, but it does need discussing as we are leading to a generation that will have shorter life expectancy than the previous. When I have been overweight in the past it has been emotionally linked and very similar to self harming. I have no answers but burying our heads in the sand does nothing for children who are obese.

I just wonder why people are more obese now than they were 20 years ago? There is more information than ever about nutrition. Everyone knows about keeping carbs to a minimum etc.

There is more information than ever about nutrition. Everyone knows about keeping carbs to a minimum etc.

There is a huge volume of information, but there is also a lot of contradictory information, and a lot of outright nonsense. I think saying "everyone knows about keeping carbs to a minimum" is seriously stretching it too - many popular diets are high carb. Including (unless they've changed it recently) the NHS advice.

Because it is cheaper and easier to eat shit than eat healthy food in bulk, and people are busier now.Its turned into a bit of a statistic bash when my issue was with the innacurrate, provocative way the article was written, standing up and calling out badly written fat shaming articles doesn't mean you're blind to the problem at large.

You don't have to keep carbs to a minimum to lose weight or to control it. That simply isn't cost effective for a lot of people, or even what they want to eat. I'd probably starve on a low carb diet.
I see your point, choochiwoo,some parts of it could have been written better, but I don't see any fat bashing.
And yes I am.overweight and was seriously obese a few years ago. I don't take medical facts as a personal insult though.

Sorry gnomedeplume .By we, I meant these are established medical facts.
It is true that some people do eat more when they are depressed, but that doesn't really make obesity a symptom as such. It's well known that some people are emotional eaters and it's important for them to have support. (This was covered on a tv programme a few weeks ago).

Adding on to my last post, I'd personally like to see more emphasis on encouraging people to increase their activity levels, because that can be so beneficial for health (mental as well as physical) rather than just weight.

keeping carbs to a minimum won't make you thin. (any more than fat makes you fat) Look carefully at any low-carb diet; it just involves eating less.

not eating more than you burn off keeps weight stable.

way too much diet babble being peddled. That's the internet and cynical marketing for you.

How much overeating is a form of self-medicating? Sugar is well known as a pain reliever.

If someone presented themselves to their doctor in pain with a codeine habit the doctor will address the underlying cause of the pain.

Present yourself at the doctor complaining of pain and overweight then the assumption will be that the pain is being caused by being overweight and the underlying cause of the pain will be ignored.

Its turned into a bit of a statistic bash

Sorry about that! Exaggerated statistics are frequently used as a reason to justify fat-bashing (or smoker-bashing, drinker-bashing etc.) so it is relevant to your OP and IMO it's important to point it out when it happens.

I totally agree with you about the 'people who are obese will also have a poorer quality of life' paragraph.

There are two ways weight gain can be caused by MH issues - one is comfort eating / self medicating / generally disordered relationship with food, the other is weight gain caused by prescription medications. The first - IMO they got the causality the wrong way round and said obesity leads to poor self-esteem (maybe a two-way street). The second - prescription drugs - was conspicuous by its absence.