To not be surprised the NHS is in trouble…

[Itmakesnosensetome]

We’re on holiday in Tenerife. We’re in a pretty nice hotel, fairly pricey so quite a lot of wealthy retired people . Pretty much every single person is very overweight or obese. I don’t mean a bit of a tum and hips- I’m talking huge, hard bellies on the men and massive women. there has always been overweight people but this feels unbelievable. There are some Spanish, Norwegian and Swedish people and none of them are fat - how can the NHS cope with this problem?

Of course there was obesity back then - I could reel off a list of friends/family/acquaintances/neighbours were obese in say the 70s/80s/90s.

I'd need a time machine to compare then and now, but tbh to say there was NO obesity, is simply untrue. There was more homebaking ergo lots of sugar consumption. People actually ate sugar sandwiches - that was a thing (ick). There were huge home-cooked dinners and sumptuous puddings, and plenty of fried food.

Fat people probably did die younger. Everyone knows that people eat more than they need to - the issue surely is why, and how can you help people to make more healthy choices - because in spite of all that is being done, it ain't working!

Of course a heavier person reading a pompous thread like this is going to exchange that bar of chocolate they were about to eat, and seek out a lettuce leaf....

Typo - not just meant for healthy people.

Obesity costs the NHS a massive £6 billion annually and this is set to rise to over £9.7 billion each year by 2050

Exactly - what to do about it is another issue, but facts are facts and I always find it odd that smokers are slammed for what they cost the NHS but not the obese (not a smoker for context)

Hope you've got your hard hat on though, OP; even to mention of obesity never ends well on here, and plenty will be along to insist people have said things which they've not said at all

I doubt very much it's "celebrating" obesity; it's just not judging, shaming and villifying people for the 'crime' of not managing their weight!

Obesity costs the tax payer and puts a massive strain on the NHS. There is a massive lack of personal responsibility and people downplay the seriousness.

My father was obese for most of his life. He had a heart bypass and developed diabetes due to his weight and diet. He then refused to manage his diet and was in and out of hospital with skin and feet issues. He then had another massive heart attack and died. He always spoke about his weight as if it wasn't something he could control.

Dacadactyl unworkable. Most of the COPD patients I see for example are smokers. They simply wouldn't pay for their inhalers, BP meds, anticoagulants, ulcer dressings etc etc, and would land up in hospital in days with serious complications. In their thousands.
And that's just one group.

How do you know the men's bellies are hard OP?

Enjoy your holiday and the single lettuce leaf you eat from the Buffet

Actually OP I agree with you that obesity is a big part of the NHS financial problem. As is alcohol and drug abuse though obviously other factors are at play too.

I am 42 and when I was 20 I was being fat was unusual now lots of people are. I particularly notice it in the school grounds as there is a lot of parents under 35 who are very fat. They will literally not walk their child to school even if they live 5 minutes walk away and it takes longer to drive and park. I also notice nursery kids eating chocolate biscuits and packets of crisps at 8.40 am in the queue. The lack of personal responsibility for their health, weight and lifestyle choices are very obvious to see. I have also noticed far more fat kids than I used to see. I don't mean a little tubby but obese.

Obesity is a health crisis. The writing has been on the wall for years

Some people will have health issues that cause weight gain. That's a tough place to be. No judgement from me

Many people would benefit from eating less / better, drinking less and exercising more

I would support a yearly health MOT for all adults. Routine testing would pick up some health issues before they become problematic

100% correct, my fiancé is a hip and knee surgeon, people are not willing to change their lifestyle but expect surgeons to perform miracles with a new hip or knee replacement.

TwoStepsAhead34
"Not defensive, but it's such a narrow minded thinking that every fat person lives in docs offices and leeches off NHS. 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Whilst obesity IS a problem, so are the hypochondriacs."

But you are being defensive and somewhat in denial, you may not have needed a Dr since 2018 but if you continue to remain obese it's only a matter of time, then you'll be a huge (excuse the pun!) drain on the NHS as being obese is highly likely to cause multiple illnesses and diseases.

@ImNotHereToMakeFriends is obesity one of the main reasons for hip / knee replacement? I've sometimes wondered about that. it makes sense that carrying extra weight puts pressure on joints

Of course there was obesity back then - I could reel off a list of friends/family/acquaintances/neighbours were obese in say the 70s/80s/90s.

really? Thinking as hard as I can back to my childhood in the 80s, I can think of two obese people in my parents' generation, none in my grandparents ', and I don't think I ever met a really fat child.

Yes sorry I didn’t mention the link, but that is exactly it! The pressure on the joints.

The stats in hip replacements show how much the NHS has changed what it offers since created too.

How many of us will expect a new hip or knee in next few decades

on googling it’s pretty high

The statistics make it clear. In 2017, the number of primary hip and knee replacement surgeries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland totalled 91,698 and 102,177 respectively, based on numbers submitted to the National Joint Registry.

According to projected figures from a 2015 study published in the Osteoarthritis and Cartilage journal, the NHS will need to perform an estimated 439,097 hip replacements and 1.2 million knee replacements by 2035 to keep the population in England and Wales mobile and pain free.

It's the fat around your organs and the inflammation which is harmful. You can't suck that out.

Queen Victoria was rather a chunk I believe.

I have a dodgy knee from aerobics, one of my friends needed a hip because of damage done by dancing. Obviously I know some weight related ones too but as with most things there are more than one answer.
I think people living longer is a reason for increased worn out joints as well.

HoboHotel, I had overweight family members, and as I said I could list plenty of obese people from childhood! There were obese children too - granted, probably a lot fewer than now - but I recall one girl whom the teacher called a barrel and laughed at her.

Celebrate the English Pear.

I actually don't disagree that obesity is a huge (haha) problem - it is.

But it isn't being addressed correctly - shouting at people and shaming them to eat less, well if that worked, we wouldn't have a problem!

People are being misdiagnosed, denied access to treatment etc because the stigma attached to 'fat' or 'obese' is so fucking entrenched even within the medical profession, that we're thought of as BAD people who brought this upon themselves due to their inherent idle greediness and lack of willpower.

My DCM was dx after TWO YEARS of pushing and pushing for help. Thats two years of wheezing, struggling to sleep, coughing if I lay down, an enlarged heart on xray, swollen ankles - despite weight loss and exercise (my first indicator that something was wrong was my decreasing ability to exercise. I went from skiing, climbing, horse riding, hillwalking, walking my dogs miles each day to struggling with my own stairs) - before someone referred me to a rheumatologist and treated my hypothyroidism... and then the rheumatologist discovered my heart defect literally by accident whilst trying to figure out why treating the thyroid wasn't fixing the issues.

My sister has the same heart problem, it is in fact genetic. She was dx in 2 weeks from first onset of symptoms. She is not fat.

If we could ditch the idea that all weight issues are soley down to people being lazy greedy fuckers, update the science (which is REALLY out of date, and/or involves studies on tiny groups) we could change so much and save the NHS a huge amount of money.

@CarPoor "Do you desire to be fat?
How many times do you look at yourself in the mirror and go "god I wish I had more cellulite", give me a spare tire, bingo wings yes!"

^This!!

I don't know any overweight or obese people who actually want to be big. I think a lot of them struggle with being villified for their size, and that does nothing for their motivation. There has to be some underlying reason why someone is unable to help themselves with their weight? I don't think it's at all the case that people don't care?

The culture of taking no responsibility for one's health is not sustainable. You're not wrong OP.

My idea would be that they don't get treated in hospital then either. And then they'd die. But i think people would change their ways if these measures were rolled out wholesale.

Of course though, this would cause moral and ethical issues for doctors and the medical profession may not get behind such draconian measures.

I whole heartedly agree and I note that people aren't engaging with my post or yours because they don't fit with their prejudices

I whole heartedly agree and I note that people aren't engaging with my post or yours because they don't fit with their prejudices