Overweight Brits abroad

[Artyfart]

I know this will upset people but it’s time to face facts and I’m talking about myself here too. Just got back from second holiday abroad this year when once again it was painfully noticeable how overweight British people are compared to our European neighbours. We stand out a mile! Every time I saw someone fat I’d wait for it and…. British accent. We look a state and it’s time to do something about it. No wonder the NHS is on its knees. I came back more determined than ever to lose weight.

The principle is the same though.

Yes, obese people can exercise in water because the water holds you up to an extent. We are all supposed to do some weight bearing exercise though and this is difficult or impossible for some obese people as you admit yourself.

@Mustardseed86 it's a hormone. Research into the impact of other hormones, is already well known such as
'The interaction between ghrelin and leptin, a hormone that regulates satiety and energy regulation over the longer term, was discovered less than 20 years ago in 20044. Since then, leptin resistancee
Trusted Sourcee_
has been found to exist in people with obesity, making them less sensitive to its appetite-quelling effects.'

It's not though, because being fat permanently alters your metabolism. Your body will always be aiming to get back to it. Plus the psychological element and the sheer size of the challenge (no pun intended).

Weight bearing exercise isn’t good for people with dodgy knees apart from walking. I have non weight related dodgy knees.

Yikes a 78 year old still hiking and dieting to stay that size. I hope she is eating a balanced diet.

My BFF's mum is a size 8 dieting queen. She screwed up her three daughters, ditto my mum who was always on the diet pills until she developed diabetes.
I quit dieting when she died but as up thread I had started a twenty year journey on steroid treatment.
@MysteryPop s posts have encouraged me and I'm off for a show round at a gym this Friday.
I believe a lot of overweight people would benefit from counselling, I did. I'm a work in progress.
We have no chance of horror pictures on UPF. They won't allow it on alcohol and that claims more lives and ruins families. To much tax revenue there.

Just hopping back on, I won't rejoin the wider conversation but just wanted to say good luck at the gym @Matchinglipsandfingertips ! I don't think about shedding pounds in there; I think about getting stronger and building energy and stamina, releasing endorphins and staving off osteoporosis in later life, building muscle and bone health. It feels positive, not punitive and it's great for mental health!

Where did you get that my mum diets? We are Asian. Not Japanese, but think Yoko Ono in terms of build and height. She eats a balanced diet, all cooked from scratch, with very little UPF. Asians are not supposed to be a size 16.

@MotherofGorgons l don't think anyone is supposed to be size 16 but far too many of us are.

Basically those who believe that fat people just lack discipline and motivation are on the wrong side of history.
Every year there is more and more evidence to suggest that weight gain and finding it difficult to lose weight is largely hormonal. If we accept the impact of hormones on so many different health conditions (pregnancy, menopause) why do we imagine that hormones don't contribute to how difficult people find losing weight.
This does not absolve obese people of responsibility. It's just an acknowledgment that some people will find it harder to lose and harder to keep weight off.
I have been around size 16 for nearly twenty years. I have been bigger and two years ago I got down to a 12 (just). To achieve this I had to cut my calories to around 800 calories and work out five days a week. I walked two miles a day.
Obviously this was not sustainable and as soon as I began eating more than one meal a day then it came straight back on.
Prior to this I had tried every diet, lifestyle change and exercise regime under the sun. Some worked a bit but it was so difficult for me as I just feel hungry all the time. All my memories are food related, my favourite holidays are largely relating to food. I have a food addiction.
There is very little help from the NHS, especially aimed at people who don't know anything about nutrition or health. I can count on one hand the amount of McDonald's I've had, less than five takeaways a year, I love good food, bread, olives, cheese, fish, fresh seasonal vegetables. I love Indian food and I'm a good cook. The NHS is nearly all revolving around reducing sugar and salt and eating more fruit and vegetables. It's not nearly individualised enough.

@MotherofGorgons my apologies I thought you said she works hard at it. By 78 I wouldn't want to work hard at anything! My poor father gave up dieting at 80, smoking at 50. Ill health still got him in the end. My family are all in access of 6ft some nearly 7 foot. To be a size 8 would not suit our genetics either. I once dieted to be a size 8 at 25. A colleague had said I couldn't be that size with my 'big bones'. She'd get a mouthful these days.

There have been a few rude people on here but to be honest I think the debate could be useful. My DS works for a government department and they do pick up MN data.

You are right, I did say that @Matchinglipsandfingertips. She does work hard in terms of gentle exercise and not overdoing the sugar and carbs. But she eats plenty of veg, fruit and protein. Doesnt drink but she never has.

I hear you on not wanting to work at staying fit by 78, but I am not so keen on the alternative either.

@Violinist64 I agree people now are time poor. Lengthy commutes to work plus delays mean people arent getting home till late

Signing on at the Job Centre back in the 2000s i was told to look for work a two/three hour commute away.

@x2boys, he wasn’t rude, just a very old man stating a fact (in Swedish) as he saw it, to his own daughter. I wasn’t present at the time and even if I had been, I’m not fat.

TBH North Devon does have rather more than its fair share of very overweight people.

What about the scruffy comment? I've never seen any Brit look scruffy on an hotel restaurant. Whatever their size or age everyone looks clean and smart.

Exposing their very large upper arms is one thing - but to see those big arms plastered in cheap tattoos makes it look so much worse. I can't say I have seen this trend in any other nationality apart from British women.

Tattoos are actually very expensive. To cover your arm like that probably costs £1k or more.

I didn't think it was offensive, it's just a statement of how it is in Japan and the poster's experience of that. I thought her post was very interesting and it's important to understand cultural distinctions, not just the UK's failing 'model'.

more like 2k for a full sleeve

I can believe it. So "cheap tattoos" isn't right, is it!

I can't say I have seen this trend in any other nationality apart from British women.

ive seen it on Dutch and German woman

well, I guess cheap when used as a pejorative differs from cheap when it means inexpensive, Dolly Parton's 'It costs me a lot of money to look this cheap' springs to mind😁

I live in a southern European holiday destination and there's a very obvious difference - not just Brits though, Americans and Dutch seem to be even bigger. Not always very overweight, a lot just look so unhealthy. It's obviously to do with the rubbish food we think is normal in some countries and the fact that being large has also been normalised by advertising.

Of course on MN you're told that every last one of them no doubt has a disorder that can't be helped, so we have to be "body positive" and pretend it's healthy to be overweight and to not look after yourself. But this isn't doing anyone any favours.

What upsets me is the very overweight influencers on Insta posting videos of themselves. Yes their hair and makeup is the best but some of them are so overweight it’s unhealthy which will end up costing the NHS a fortune. And whilst most people can cope with being overweight when they are young when we get older it’s a different gig. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to promote it.

Wish it's was fat people who put the all stress on the nhs in the future yes