to think help with losing weight should be based on clinical need not on eligibility for free prescriptions

[finlandstation84]

So My bmi is 38. I have recently bern diagnosed with a condition ehich is likely to need surgery. My gp has advised me thst they may not be happy with my weight. Well neither am I. So I asked for some support with losing weight. I was expecting to be offered regular weigh in with a HCA. Instead I was told by the receptionist that they now do a Slimming World Referral. Even better I thought until I discovered thst I do not qualify as I am not in receipt of free prescriptions. Now I get it is fair to offer to those less abke to psy but it is slso provided for people eith a medical exemption. well both my dh and I have long term conditions which require us to pay for prescriptions. If we had different conitions they would be free and I would be entitled to support losing weight.
Now I do already have a gym membership and I am trying to diet but could really use some extra help. I am an emotional eater and reslly need regiment of a weigh in to help.
Aibu to be upset no support is available when there is a clesr clinical need.

Anyway I do believe I can lose weight on my own. (Just not as quick as I would like) I have lost a few pounds but it is hard doing it without support. When I did Rosemary Conley before he would ask me to pick up a chippy for him on the way home. Dh is the sort who thinks its as simple as eating less. His diet is actually crap compared to mine (no fruit or veg etc) but he is only a normal weight as he skips meals.

The community on My Fitness Pal is very supportive and you can buddy up with others.

The advice on here about taking up jogging etc, when obese is a recipe for strains and ligament etc tears, I was advised to lose two stone before doing anything accept walking, to protect my joints.

Then, as said I cut my budget to afford the gym, but if I was on single person benefit levels, I wouldn't have the budget to play with.

My Fitness Pal and similar forums helped me think more in terms of strength, bone/muscle health and fitness, losing weight and being toned, was a by product of that.

I don't weigh myself, I take my clothes off and look in the mirror, as well as logging my measurements.

You can't do it quickly, that's what keeps people in a yo-yo diet cycle.

Your DHs habits are irrelevant, your body's needs, as a Woman, are different, if you have a goal in mind.

I would recommend trying to lose body fat before you go through the menopause, only because you are still making collagen and your skin will respond better. I've had to have body wraps, use dry brushing (which is good) and moisturise to stop my skin being crepey from weight loss.

he is only a normal weight as he skips meals

I've found 5:2 the easiest way to lose weight and keep it off. Once you lose the fear of being hungry it gets so much easier to lose/not gain weight.

Weight Watchers is £21.45 for a monthly pass. There is a of support online for weight loss; MN, specific forums and facebook etc.

Have you looked at your portion sizes OP?

To maintain a BMI of 38, you are probably eatinga lot more than you need.

Slimming World is a good way to lose weight, but it works best if you mainly cook from scratch and only eat tiny amounts of junk. If you are currently spending money on junk food and drink, the money saved easily pays for the membership. There are loads of cheap SW friendly meals that can be made cheaply with eggs, pulses, seasonal veg etc.

Would Paul Mckenna help? You can buy the book and hynosis CD for a few quid and you just have to follow his 3 simple rules:

Eat only when hungry and stop when just full, not stuffed.

Eat slowly and concentrate on eating - don't eat mindlessly.

Eat what you want, not what you think you should eat. If you follow it, it works because it stops the good/bad foods mentality and emotional eating.

And do you both have prepayment cards for prescriptions? No-one has to pay more than £10 per month for prescriptions - if you have regular medication this usually works out cheapest.

I think it might be helpful if you clarified to yourself exactly the nature of the support you feel you need. Your posts are a bit confusing - you have gym membership but tend to go swimming for example. Is that because the pool is at the gym? You want the pressure of a regular weigh in - well most gyms will do that for you, but you seem to want a nurse to do that.

You say maybe you are, maybe you aren't an emotional eater - you want a goal and deadline, which other EEs on the thread have suggested is counter-productive, but then you say that the deaths of your family members sabotaged your weight loss attempts - that's an EE response.

Counselling may well help you, hypnotherapy may also help you change your habits. You need to get past the excuses somehow, or make peace with yourself and see what happens wrt the possibility of surgery.

Does your gym have a weight loss club? If not, have a look at joining Pure Gym instead of your current one. They do a 6 week weight loss course which is a bit like Rosemary Conley in that you do exercise as well as the talking! They don't have a creche though, but it's so cheap compared to other gyms, e.g. £14.99 a month compared to £102 for David Lloyd. You pay extra for the weight loss course, but it's about £20 for 6 weeks I think.

I know where you are coming from. You need extra help for something, but another obstacle has been put down instead. You can go over it, and find a way to pay, or round it with an alternative. It IS tough to make time for yourself when you have dc, so i get why youre reluctant to give up the gym.

Here are my thoughts in no particular order:

In my book about childrens food, it says it is better to think about intake over a week than a day. So if you have a bad day, then it is just one day and you have another 6 to do something with.

There are lots of apps for hypnotherapy which may also help. Ive reduced nail biting with one. Also books.

Could you get a job at a gym.

Does your employer offer a discount at a gym.

There is lotd of support on mn on the weight loss boards.

I have heard good things about 5:2 and also low carbing.

Could you get maybe one or 2 sesdions eith a personal trainer, as motivation and support.

Feel free to use or ignore as you see fit. Just trying to get you to see that there are ways round it. Good luck OP.

Your health and the operation you need should be the motivation for losing weight. If that isn't then there is not much more that anyone else can do to motivate you.
The responsibility for losing weight is yours but it sounds like you want someone else to do it for you rather than just support you.
There are bound to be ways you can adjust your budget to enable you to be able to afford the Slimming world fee.
It does sound like you look for an excuse for any suggestion or solution so you need to look at why you do this? If it is a fear of failure then you need to face that and not look for someone too blame.

to !!!

Thank you for further replies. Swimming and aqua etc is part of my membership. It is just additional support I was after but I will just use alternative options. Maybe going to sw for a couple of weeks to get pack may help as a friend has lost 4 stone on sw. I fully know I have to do it myself. Sadly I am virtually menopausal so sadly that ship has sailed.

Actually just recalculated and bmi is nearer 37 now so going right way. Anyway off to gym fr a swim session. It is one exercise that I know is safe and I enjoy it.

I wasn't aware gym did weigh ins. Will ask when I go there.

I hear you but think you are wrong. The NHS does a terrible job with weight management because they just don't have the resources to do it. The fact they pay for SW for low income people is shocking to me.

If I were you I would keep the gym membership and take a good look at your diet. Write down everything you eat for 2 days and see if there is a pattern. If you are an emotional eater go to the charity overeaterers anonymous plus ask your GP for a referral.

Losing weight has to come from within and losing 2lb a week is good. Losing more means you are losing water and/or muscle which isn't good. What helps me is eliminating snacks and making sure I have tonnes of veg.

I absolutely think the nhs should pay for people to follow slimming world if they request it. It is much cheaper than hiring dieticians who can only see about 20 people a week - the cost to the nhs of hiring a dietician once you've paid their salary/pension/room costs/hr costs will be about £45k.

It's much cheaper to pay slimming world a fiver when there's 30/40 people in a class. It's just more efficient financially whether you agree with the slimming world diet or not.

I think everyone who asks should get a voucher for it.

Being judgemental about overweight has been proved counter-productive, because over-eating is often due to stress or emotional issues.
Each additional challenge, like arranging childcare or juggling limited money, can make losing weight seem more difficult.
If it was an easy solution to "eat less, move more" we wouldn't have an obesity problem.

It would save the NHS money to fund weight loss for someone, before their health problems really mount up.
However, people would need to join such programs voluntarily, not be pressured into it.

Most folk lose better with some friendly support and encouragement, rl or online.

I suggest you first ask at the gym if they can suggest an eating and exercise plan. Some gyms are very helpful, others less so.
They might do weigh-ins, also monitor body fat % and cardio-vascular fitness.

There is also a good weightloss section on Mumsnet, for additional online support. That is free
You are welcome to join our friendly 5:2 / IF Thread #57 for non-judgy support and advice.
Or if you prefer low carb, I'm sure BIWI would welcome you too.

If you joined slimming world and paid £5 pw from your own pocket would you not save that at least by eating sensibly? choc, cakes, crisps, cola, pasta, wine, etc just a thought OP.

I have a,prescription exemption cert for thyroid disease. Our incomes are very high and I should pay for all other prescriptions. My DD has recently been refused accessible help through CAHMS and they told me me to find a counsellor off the internet. I didn't of course but I had to read the riot act at my GP surgery with a senior partner who helped us out. Lucky I can spare £60 pw.

The NHS needs to sort out its priorities and slimming world shouldn't be one of them when one looks at the evidence of whether the weight stays,off in the longer term. It is, however probably cheaper to buy in the service from amateur franchises than to provide it clinically with the help of local dietician dieticians/health teams in a measured and holistic way.

But at this sorry point in the history of the NHS slimming over mental health. Sorry, but no - I'm not happy about funding your gym so you get a break from your child. Do a swap with a friend. It's free and it's sociable. That's what I did.

I do Slimming World, I went to about 4 complete meetings in total, then I used to just go to the weigh and pay bit (took my DD aged 3 if need be), here the meetings take hours as they are very busy and everyone gets to speak. I haven't been to anything since about May and I am still following it, weighing at home, everyone says I look great, I have lost 2 dress sizes and 2 stone. I rarely feel hungry nor feel like I am on a diet these days, I have just adapted a different way to eat. I just had a huge spag bol for lunch, free of Syns.

Some magazines offer free membership, then its £4.95 a month. At most its £20 to join.

Sorry about your dd ripen I am very happy to pay for my own gym membership that you. If slimming world or hca led clinics etc were not available due to funding than fine. I was judt upset that having asked for help I was told yes you can have sw. Only to later discover I don't qualify. Anyway just swam 1/2 mile so feeling a bit less stressed.

Still can't type. Thank you just

Do you mesn £4.95 a week horsey?

I have a,prescription exemption cert for thyroid disease. Our incomes are very high and I should pay for all other prescriptions.

Do you think that you should pay for all prescriptions?

I think if you weigh it against the cost to the nhs of the obesity 'crisis' and the predicted future demand if we continue to grow and age the same that fiver a week is going to look incredibly cheap very soon.

I have a medical exemption certificate.

I, also, have a very painful, complex, severe physical disability. Well, I have several but they all amount to the same thing and that is I can't do a great deal for myself and I'm swiftly losing my independence.

My GP and hospital consultants are very concerned as DH works 50 miles away, DS1 is away in the army and DS2 has recently left for uni so I was referred for some adaptations and care. I can't get any. Nothing at all. We have to pay for all of it.

So, I'm sorry I don't think anyone should be having slimming world paid for by the NHS.

think if you weigh grin it against the cost to the nhs of the obesity 'crisis' and the predicted future demand if we continue to grow and age the same that fiver a week is going to look incredibly cheap very soon.

Or people could just take responsibility for their own health.

Ww and sw are designed to make people fail and keep coming back. If it really worked they would be out of a job.

The number of people that say "I'm doing ww/sw again"