To think my weight is no ones buisness but my own

[portolodn]

I'm obese and happy with it but other people seem to have an issue with it. I've, stupidly, confided in a few people that I've been warned that I have a high blood sugar level and my doctor has said I'm classified as having prediabetes. But I'm very happy with my life and my body. Other people are now dropping huge suggestions on things I should change and stop doing. Surely it's my choice what I do with my life and people should just worry about themselves?

spot on Rebecca weve seen the pissed up idiots abusing staff as well. Our dd has to have an operation and has been warned her weight could cause probs with anaesthetic

The pissed people at a&e with a broken bone don't really cost that much. The obese, smokers and alcoholics do though.

Free health service encourages people to not take responsibility and we have one of the worst performing health services in the developed world.

Would you still be happy with your weight and pre-diabetic condition if you had to pay for all of your healthcare instead of having the NHS pick up the bill?

My sister has T2 diabetes. She has been overweight nearly all of her adult life (size 24) and developed diabetes as a result of her lifestyle. She eats far more than I do and never holds back when it comes to cake, cream teas etc. I never criticize her as she is an intelligent adult, but I feel sad that her health is deteriorating as a result. She is already developing foot problems, but I just bite my tongue.

One of my friends is a doctor who specialises in diabetes. She told me that 70% of T2 diabetes sufferers would be symptom free if they took control of their weight. She also told me that when some of her patients have a lightbulb moment and change their lifestyle it is usually too late, and the (irreversible) damage is done.

I know MrsDV and I completely understand where you are coming from. I felt exactly the same as you and intellectually still don't like it. However I only went because I got a free 12 weeks due to my BMI, and have quite enjoyed it and was fed up of not sticking to anything!They are the same as any diet. They work if you stick to it. The weekly meetings are basically a replacement for willpower.

@Ta1kinPeace - I've extrapolated that from the data using total population of the UK and total people living with type two diabetes. 62% of people in the UK are overweight or obese. Around 80% of people with type two diabetes are overweight or obese.

Yes, there is very clearly a link between weight and type two diabetes, but it is NOT true to say that the sole cause of type two diabetes is obesity as a pp did. Not everyone with type two is fat and not everyone who is fat will get type two (the vast majority won't).

In the OPs case she is both obese and at high risk of developing type two diabetes so she would do well to minimise her risk by losing weight if she doesn't want to develop type two.

I really dislike SM/WW etc and have been pretty clear about that on several threads

Could I ask why?

You can follow Sofie Hagen on facebook. She has lots of body positive stuff going on.

I am obese and happy with it. I wasn't always obese. In fact for most of my life I was hovering between being underweight and a normal weight.
I was also yoyo dieting between age 15 (when I actually started to like food for the first time in my life) and age 25.

When I was still thin I constantly worried about either getting fat or looking fat. I weight myself every morning and the number on the scale determined how good I felt that day. One day I decided I was done with the worrying and ate whatever I felt like. I gained a lot of weight, but actually felt happier than being thin because I no longer worried about what other people thought.

For certain things it's easier being thin, such as buying clothes and flying economy. Other than that it doesn't make much of a difference. Some people make nasty comments and I am fairly certain that one potential landlord turned me down for an appartment because of how I looked. I can run and bike and skate and still do all those things. I was never very fast or strong and weight has made no difference there.

I am getting older now and notice that my body will not take so kindly toward abuse as it did when I was younger, both at my thinnest and my fattest. I can't drink as much without getting a hangover and not getting enough sleep impacts me much more than it used it. I have starting seriously cutting sugar from my diet for the past two months. Am I losing weight? Not really, but I have noticed that I am far less bloaty and I feel better, I sleep better and can get more excercise in. So as far as I am concerned it's a win, win, win all alround. Plus, a high intake of sugar is the real diabetes risk, whether fat or thin.

As with regards to the smoking, it was a genuine question, since I have never smoked myself, but I did grow up around people who smoked a lot. Both my grandfathers did, in cafes and restaurants people always smoked, at most of my jobs people smoked (unless there was a fire hazard) and parents of friends smoked. I often came home with my clothes and hair smelling of sigarette smoke. I realize this has changed a lot.

I really dislike SM/WW etc and have been pretty clear about that on several threads

Could I ask why?

Because their main focus is profit.

If they truly cared about weight loss they'd give their 'formulas' secrets out for free.

letitsnow did you bother to read the thread at all? Because that's not what I said.

A huge percentage of NHS is taken up by people eating crap and no exercise, it causes so many health issues. I've seen some shocking denials on mn, but that takes the biscuit

No it doesn't. The figures are on this thread.

My grandfather was lean and he had t2. Laura Ingalls and her sisters had diabetes - and they would have led much more active lives and eaten far less in the way of processed foods than we do now. So yes it definitely happens.

However it's also clear that being overweight is a big risk factor. My (dr google!) view is that if you have the genetic predisposition to it, it may or may not get you - but obesity is far more likely to flick the switch.

The free healthcare is an interesting point as apparently about 1/3 of Americans - so literally millions of people - have t2 to one degree or another, and lots of them won't have free healthcare. In fact there are some heartbreaking stories about t1 diabetics who can't afford insulin in the states. So it can't be that free healthcare takes away all responsibility. Although as I said, people should be aware of what we get for free here, and try not to abuse it!

I think the problem is that junk food satisfies a craving, is highly addictive and easily obtained - people are able to be ostriches about it. That's probably not helped in turn by the fact that t2 is symptom free for years so people don't know or can ignore it. Only when there are unpleasant symptoms do people notice and by then it's often too late.

It's fucking shit and hard to have to control what you eat forever. Eg I am going to a client lunch today at a fabulous Italian. All the pasta and risotto dishes and wonderful pizzas. And I have to resist them all (they do this forbidden rice (as in black rice, not as in forbidden to me, even though it is !) with mozzarella and avocado and chilli that is just out of this world. But I'll be looking at grilled salmon and greens, possibly with some courgette fries as a "treat". That's not easy, esp when you think it's for life, and esp when everyone else is happily chowing down on everything you like.

Word, Rebecca.

It is really hard to watch what you eat. Sometimes you don't even know what's in it, that's why people with nut allergies need to carry an epi-pen. Try as they might, at some point they will come in contact with food that my kill them on the spot.

Plus, food that is not very nutrious and is filled with empty calories, is often cheaper and easier to obtain. I know that when I was a broke college student, I ate some horrible crap, just because it was more affordable than fresh fruit and vegetables. I have heard it said that poverty also contributes to diabetes and obesity.

Although it's not medically accurate, I try to think of it as a sort of food intolerance - my body doesn't cope very well with carbs. And it doesn't really care whether those carbs come in the form of whole grain rice or chocolate (in fact the chocolate has less of an effect on my blood sugar, prob due to the fat!).

But why why why can't diabetes be in relation to broccoli or sprouts or something?!

Because their main focus is profit.

If they truly cared about weight loss they'd give their 'formulas' secrets out for free.

Well, that's just business. It's a bit like saying that if I truly cared about your accounts and tax return, I'd do them for free. I do care. I will do a good job but, if you don't pay me, then how do I pay my bills?

A huge percentage of NHS is taken up by people eating crap and no exercise, it causes so many health issues
Exactly this. I realise that modern living makes it very easy to eat crap and be sedentary, but us human animals are meant to move quite a bit (not sit on our arses most of the day), and eat nutrient dense foods rather than an abundence of high sugar snacks. That abusing our bodies for decades is likely to catch up on us.

It's hard but far more personal responsibility is needed, yet we seem to be developing into a society where a huge number of people look for things to blame rather than see it as their own issues to deal with. Labelling themselves as a victim is more comfortable and easy to deal with than admitting to themselves that they simply have a poor attitude to their own health. It's someone else's fault and someone else (eg the NHS) will sort it out.

I would like to see the statistics for the amount of people who weigh 7 stone who have high blood sugar and pre diabetes.

Oh they exist all right. My Dad was skinny as a rake his entire life and died of Type 2. His Dad was more or less the same. My sister was nowhere near overweight and was told she had pre-diabetes, mind you she has reversed that by cutting out sugar entirely and did look about 7 stone . . . she has relaxed it a bit now and is about 8½ stone now.

There is no secret formula to any weight loss programme though. It's based on reducing your calorie intake and moving more. All of them are. The only 'secret' is that you have to stick to it. Going to groups is just motivation some people need to stick to it. It's all very well telling people to read blogs and books and to do low carb. If you cant stick to it you won't lose weight, or you'll put it all back on when you go back to your old eating habits. Its shit but its also the boring reality.

Also:

I have Type II diabetes, all the women in my family develop it later on in life although I got it earlier unfortunately, despite following a good diet and lifestyle etc. We are also full figured - again not for lack of trying to lose weight, genetically in my family we are heavy set. Imagine my surprise (not) when everyone harped on about weight loss despite me saying i was trying my best (really was too) and even a dietician agreed I was in fact trying my best diet wise and also doing the exercise because it won't work otherwise...

...and yet my weight remained the same and I had tests for various stuff to make sure nothing weird was going on behind the scenes, and everything aside from the type II was normal. Fast forward a bit and I was going through an INCREDIBLY stressful time and i wasn't really doing so well and didn't think i was going to make it - when you're so mentally unwell due to CPTSD and more that you don't even know what day it is, your body starts to react in peculiar ways. During this unwell period I dropped 25KG.

25KG without even trying and yes, more tests were carried out to make sure nothing insidious was going on. Turns out stress eating away at you mentally can eat away at your body too. So when I was summoned for my bi-annual diabetic review after bloods being drawn, I kind of expected them to tell me I could reduce my meds because of weight loss, as they always promise and harp on about if you lose weight.

So imagine my surprise AGAIN, when in fact my medication had to stay the same despite losing 25KG. I was fucking SMUG to put it mildly, and made no apologies about it.

Who knew that weight loss isn't always the answer?

(I am speaking only for myself here, weight loss might be the answer for some folks, but apparently not for me).

Folks telling the OP to stop being selfish - maybe they are, but there are many different ways to abuse your body that aren't related to being obese, and out of all of them, being fat is the biggest crime for everything.

I know balloon The same happened in my family. None of them have a BMI over probably 35. But that's the 20% of people who have it have a strong genetic predisposition. If you are clearly overweight its an obvious solution if you confide in people about your health issues. None of my family are morbidly obese because we'd probably be dead before we got there. It's not all about body confidence. If children are getting type 2 diabetes as they are now, by the time they are 40 they will be very ill indeed.

Well, that's just business

Well yes you're quite right. It IS just a business. Which is what I've said. Which is why I dont support them. They're a business doing jt under the guise of healthy eating, members would be wise to reinvest their membership fees into buying fruit and veg and walking a little more. That way it's more sustainable.

I think the weight and the insulin resistance are a bit back to front in some people. In other words, you are overweight precisely because of excess insulin. Makes it much harder to lose weight. And it's always in the wrong places like round your waist.

I am sure this is why I weigh more than friends despite eating less 🙈

The pissed people at a&e with a broken bone don't really cost that much.

Bollocks. They most certainly do.

www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/alcohol-statistics

None of them have a BMI over probably 35

19-25 is within healthy range.
26-29 is overweight
30-39 is considered obese
40 -> is morbidly obese