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.

I have a medical condition that affords me free prescriptions for all meds. I only need one drug for my condition although a recently developed one is related and due to the failure to diagnose the first for five years. However our annual income puts us into the top 1%. I do not see the logic. Happy to pay more tax if it is spent wisely. Slimming world does not to me appear wise. Slimming world could easily be funded by savings made by nit eating too much.

"Just go for a bloody walk and not eat as much!"

Well, yesterday I walked 5 miles, did a tabata class at the gym, ate a sensibly portioned high-protein diet.. and yet when I woke up this morning I was still fat!!!

Where did I go wrong, oh great diet guru?

Expecting miracles from one day?

Repeat that for a few years and then come back.

I'd like to see more funds put into talking therapies to help address the reasons why some people overeat. Over eating and binge eating can be an eating disorder. I am not saying it is for everyone but there should be access to help for those who do have eating disorders. Mental health is a disgrace in this country though, so I shan't be holding my breath.

Ah, I see, Lemith, you're saying that instead of just 'eating less and moving more'; I need to change my entire lifestyle and the habits I've accumulated over 20+ years of adult life, unlearn my taste for sweet and fatty foods, and then keep this up pretty much every day for the rest of my life, even after I've reached target weight?

Gosh, that sounds much harder than Happfeet2911 made it seem. How odd.

FWIW, I am a big fan of preventative medicine and I think the lack of support for weight loss in the NHS is short-termism at its worst. And the flaws in the Change4life advice have been well covered elsewhere on MN.

Studies show that even motivations that seem tiny can encourage people to give up smoking/lose weight - how about if people had to pay their own SW membership but the NHS refunded it if they got to a healthy weight? Still a problem if you are short of cash upfront, but better than nothing.

That's not what I said. You can't unlearn wanting fatty and sugary food, that's just not possible. But you can only eat healthy fats and sugars that are not refined and contain nutrients. I make cheesecake with cashews, dates and coconut oil. Its contains a lot of good stuff and is much harder to overeat on.

MFP is great motivation and entirely free of charge.

To be honest lemith that cheesecake doesn't sound very nice.

There are lots of ways to reach a healthy weight. I eat well most of the time and don't feel guilty when I occasionally eat a piece of proper full fat cheese cake. Banning certain foods in my experience usually leads to wanting to eat them more.

Well your entitled to your opinion. Cashews and dates are delicious for 99% of people.

To be honest lemith that cheesecake doesn't sound very nice.

What doesn't sound nice about it?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding how it is made-my friend on a health kick served me something similar which she called "cheesecake" and it was a purée of dates, nuts and coconut oil chilled and sliced. Not a cheesecake and not very nice. I assumed that was what lemith meant but I'm happy to be corrected.

If lemith's is a proper cheesecake with actual soft cheese in it and some sort of sweetener (sugar or honey) then I apologise for the unhappy coincidence with the bad date based "cheesecake" from last week.

Everyone loves my cheesecake.

www.mynewroots.org/site/2011/01/raw-cashew-dreamcake-2/

The mashed up coconut/date/nut thing sounds like Nakd bars, which are quite nice. They are nothing like cheesecake thought obviously. Why pretend it is something it is not?

It's not necessary to entirely avoid sweet and/or fatty foods in order to maintain a healthy weight, just have them as a minor part of your overall food intake.

I find it's good to remember the 80/20 rule - it's what you do most of the time that counts.

One day of healthy eating and high activity won't outweigh a lifetime of overeating, likewise, people don't get fat from overeating once or twice.

If the weight creeps on gradually over time, it is most likely that it will take time to come off. And then to keep it off, you have to continue to eat to maintain, not gain. It's no good thinking 'I'm thin, I can eat what I like now' if that means eating more than your body burns.

For most people, food and drink consumed has more impact on weight than how much they move. It takes a lot of activity to burn off hundreds of excess calories every day.

But 'everyday' activity can count more than formal exercise. A person who is active at work and walks or cycles to get around probably burns more calories than someone with a desk job who drives everywhere but does a few half arsed gym sessions a week

That cheesecake does look nice and I expect that it will be nice, but it is also very calorific and contribute to weight gain just like too much of any food.

I agree with worktolive - that's not a cheesecake. I was expecting a cheesecake from my friend and I was disappointed with that date thing. I was obviously polite and ate what I was give but if you're calling it a cheesecake it really should contain cheese.

I haven't read all the thread as plenty of the comments on me annoyed me..

Actually the lack of compassion for overweight people is very sad

The NHS support drug addiction/ smoking all we could say self inflicted... All these we could say are self inflicted.

If not eating too much was just so easy no one would be overweight. Obesity does cost the NHS a lot of money. Anything that can reduce that has to be helpful.

Yab u if you dont qualify you dont qualify we cant expect free stuff just because... does your gymn not run a weightloss programme they could do a weigh in for you ?

I do like the sound of the cashew base, but find it odd that the recipe doesn't even mention that there is no cheese in the 'cheesecake'

They don't advertise a weight loss program and didn't make it into gym side yesterday. Anyway my "helpful husband" took me out for lunch today to the least diet friendly restaurant going and I happily swapped chips for salad and passed on the cocktail so I will take on board the helful recommendations and let everything else go.

Oh OP, could you not have said, "no thank you" to him? It's not down to other people to police your eating for you. Which is increasingly how your posts read, it's someone else's job, the NHS, the slimming world group, your DH...

You mention your sister having the other exteme of eating disorder. Perhaps looking at it this way, would putting her in a programme where her food choices are made for her and she's bullied into eating enough until she's reached her target weight then just sent off into the world, problem solve as she's no longer underweight, be seen as a long term solution? If you would think that curing her of undereating is more than just short term getting her to her perfect weight, then perhaps you need to stop the mentality that your problems could be fixed if someone would just make you moniter your eating until you'd lost the excess.

Unless you can find a way to deal with why you over eat, even though you know full well how to eat, then SW being paid for you would only work unitl they stopped paying for it (when you reached your target weight).

ask for help dealing with the why. You know the how. (and stop making your food choices someone else's responsibility)

I love this restaurant too so it wasn't a hardship. I just commrnted to show that I was able to make sensible choices and still have a nice meal.
you fo have a point though. Because no why was my sister cured. She eats only very limited foods. Go out for a meal is a nightmare. In my case I think I just need to remove the stress, tired and boredom. I can be good all day when busy but my weak time is the evenings when I am tired.

I find post work mindless eating really hard too.

Things that have helped:
Doing a meal plan so I know what I/dh should be cooking and having ingredients in the house
Batch cooking healthy meals (or sauces) then freezing them so all that needs to be done is cooking fresh rice/pasta/salad/vegetables and a bit of reheating.
Cleaning my teeth after my last meal so I'm less likely to snack (!) which really works for me.
We've also started getting a veg box delivered so we always have fresh fruit and veg in the house.

finlandstation if you can afford to pay for a gym membership then I don't see why you should get help with Slimming World. Services like that need to be kept for people who can't afford it because they are spending their money on keeping a roof over their heads and paying bills like gas and electricity rather than spending it on luxuries like gym membership.

As an alternative to Slimming World why not go to the gym more often and then you won't need Slimming World.

I get that the gym is a luxury stripy and that I would not have started this thread if I had been told that we do a voucher scheme for sw for those on low incomes. I would think fair enough. But I was told no we don't do weight mgmt at the surgery anymore but you can have 12 weeks sw instead. Only to be later told you can only get it if you get free prescriptions which fair enough most on free prescriptions have low incomes but not all.
My gym is also council run and incredibly cheap and includes creche (preschool equivalent as dd missed out on nursery by 1 day and will be 3 years 4 months before she starts nursery) Plus I can also take dc swimming for free with the membership.

purple I was thinking of maybe trying an 8 hour diet thing purple where you eat all your meals in an 8 hour period and eating sensibly and healthily too. Will weigh myself at Boots weekly as my scales are inaccurate.
Thanks again