To think I'm overweight (refused access to an NHS funded diet program + pic included)

[user1485442361]

I used to be a svelte size 10. Put on weight after having my Son. My main issue is my stomach. It sticks out. I think this is because I have a small waist so the fat has a smaller area to cover (if that makes sense). In the morning it can look pretty flat but by the evening after I've eaten a meal it does stick out in tight clothes.

Anyway, I don't know what I weigh. But I have always considered myself considerably overweight. At least two stone overweight. I am 5ft7 and should be no more than 11 stone and around 10stone to me a very healthy weight. I suspect I'm about 13 stone. People do often tell me I am fine the way I am but my parents tell me I need to lose two stone.

Anyway, signed up for an NHS funded diet programme. I arrive and they tell me my BMI is not high enough to qualify. You have to be at least two stone overweight. But I am sure I am I said. They didn't even weigh me and said I was too slim to join.

I've just signed up to slimming world but I'm really annoyed. I know I should be flattered but I really wanted to go on the course and do genuinely think I'm overweight by around two stone and should have been allowed participate. I have struggled to lose the baby weight but I know I have to make an effort. AIBU?

Sorry for the poor quality of pics. I'm not in my own home and took them just now. They're not designed to be in any way flattering. I want genuine opinions and I'm ready for them!

MESSAGE FROM MNHQ - IMAGES REMOVED AFTER PRIVACY CONCERNS

I'm not as old as 30!!!!!

Yeah because 30 is reaalllllyyyy old

I walk every day. At least 2 miles and I do eat very healthily.

That is not exercise!

You need to get your heart rate up to about 165 and keep it there for about 20-30 minutes, ideally every day.

Come on OP, take some responsibility for yourself. Don't expect the NHS to do it for you.

Laughing at the conversation you had with NHS slimming group:
OP: "Hi, I'm overweight and I'd like to join"
NHS "OK, how much do you weigh?"
OP: "I haven't weighed myself"

YABVVVU

Have you not seen all of the media about the NHS crisis?

Do you really think the priority for NHS funds should be helping people who can afford to pay for slimming world lose a little bit of weight?

I can't believe you had the cheek to try and sign up to be honest. Very entitled behaviour IMO and I'm hardly ever this blunt but I'm beyond shocked.

Yes, this thread is odd.

OP, there will be some kind of criteria based on hard facts that allow access to that program, so, say, BMI >28 or something and if you don't meet that, well, you don't get in, whether you yourself think you are over weight or not.

Your GP/PN can weigh you if you really, really have no other access to scales (?local chemist shop, ?gym, ?swimming pool foyer).

When did you have your baby?

I think you could do with having a RL conversation about your weight/body image/change of body shape postnatally. Or book in to a yoga/pilates class - concentrating on improving your posture and core strength will transform your shape, overweight or not.

I can't believe that instead of guiding and encouraging someone, posters are making fun of her lack of knowledge about fitness and nutrition.

How the hell is that helping anyone?

You think you're overweight so you went EXCITEDLY to a friends to weigh yourself?????

You don't look that overweight to me. If the NHS helped everyone who was just very slightly overweight, it would collapse.

Horrified by the expectation the NHS should fund a weight loss course for someone who is only a stone or even two overweight!

OP you just look a little chubby and need to tone up. Most people get a bit of tummy after babies. DO SOME EXERCISE! (Not just going for a walk)

Please don't use the NHS they need the money for more important health problems!

I am about 20 stone, and am probably at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but have never been offered any support to lose weight by any GP I have ever seen.

Like @CherrySkull, I find it offensive that the OP thinks she should get NHS support when she has a figure I would die for.

Oh, and I worked for the NHS for years too - it doesn't entitle me to whatever I want from it now. Resources are scarce, and if the group gave a place to the OP, it might have to deny it to someone like me, who really needs it.

Our local NHS group is BMI over 40. You are nowhere near that

I would be a bit cross to think the hugely cash-strapped NHS would be paying diet classes for you to lose a stone or two. Get your purse out and pay for diet club yourself like the rest of us who are just a little chubby round the middle!

With regards to people being "overweight" scale weight and BMI is pretty much BS. If you feel good, look good, clothes fit well then all good. If not then go for daily walks and eat a bit better (not necessarily less) Dieting and obsessing over a number is not good mentally or physically long term.

Fgs not being unkind op but this almost smacks of being 13 and telling everyone you're fat just to hear them tell you how you're not!
The NHS are so stretched and you want to take resources meant as a measure to combat very real threats to health that having a high Bmi entails? YABU it's not for people with a bit of a tum.
FYI I'm a proper fatty and have woken up and smelled the coffee and am working hard eating right and exercising for my health. It's not a difficult concept.
You don't need medical intervention!

In fairness mambono, the op asked if she was being unreasonable to want to join an NHS slimming group. She did not ask for advice on fitness and nutrition. There are a few weight loss boards on here though op so plenty of places you could get that advice.

I agree with those who say you have a muscle tone problem relating to childbirth and perhaps a little weight, but you are not a high risk group to the NHS.

In fact, you may be surprised to learn that in terms of risk of mortality over a given period, you are in a lower risk group if you are slightly overweight than if you are normal or underweight. There is some evidence that being slightly overweight, but not obese is actually better in terms of long-term outcomes.

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/05/10/overweight-people-less-likely-to-die-early-than-the-slim-study-s/

So, the NHS really has no interest in you, in terms of improving your health, as you are not gaining weight as well.

Plus, I really think if you are walking a lot in the day, and already exercising, and already aware of where you are going wrong in terms of slightly overdoing the calories, then this is very fixable on your own.

longdiling good point. I obviously agree about the NHS not being able to help someone slightly overweight when they cannot fund life saving treatment of course.

I also think that we are losing view of what a healthy and slim body looks like. I really don't want to be mean to the OP, but she looks overweight to me. Saying other people looks worst doesn't mean she looks ok herself. I am really not trying to abuse her here. It's wrong to tell someone that they are healthy when they are not.

I don't think you look overweight. You have a bit of a pot belly, but your posture is bad, so that may be why you look that way. What's that exercise that's supposed to be good for that, pilates? Maybe you can find free lessons online?

OP you are a complete lunatic. You have really cheered me up, though. Love the image of you rushing to your friend's to weigh yourself only to find she hasn't got a weighing scale. Didn't you think of checking that before you set off?

Hmm... looking at you I reckon your bmi is 26/27. Your stomach is sticking out, I'm guessing because your stomach muscles have split at the top during pregnancy (normal) and have not returned back to place. The only fix for that is cosmetic surgery I'm afraid.

You are nowhere near obese enough to need slimming work vouchers on the NHS. YABU.

You think you are overweight , your belly isn't as flat as you would like it to be, and you want to do something about it. Ok, so why don't you just do some exercises to improve muscle tone, eat healthily, join a gym or take up jogging/cycling or something - all or any of these things will help and leave much needed NHS resources available for others.

You live in an area which has an NHS funded diet programme?? More than I do! And IMHO you are do not look remotely overweight, just need to tone up a bit. Which means exercise I'm afraid.

Weird thread. 🍰🍩🍪

Does your local leisure centre have scales? Does Slimmer's world have group meetings where they weigh you? There has to be a way to find out what you weigh.

If you really want to get serious about losing weight I would invest in a cheap set of scales, you'd need to track your weight regularly anyway since just looking in the mirror is a highly unreliable method to track your weight.

Mambono if the OP's BMI is 27, as has been suggested (I think it is probably lower as she is a good height) then she would be in the optimum category for living longest.

It's a plain fact of life that women put on weight and get a tummy (due to muscle stretching in pregnancy and childbirth) after having a baby, except a lucky few. The OP looks healthy and fine weight-wise to me, or at least nothing that a few weeks of cutting back on the sweets/upping the walking/slacking off the snacks wouldn't solve. This isn't actually a medical problem as in detrimental to her health, it's one about how she wants her body to look (not wanting sticky out tummy) and we don't have to pay for that.