Being overweight is a underlying condition

[Oakmaiden]

I had totally missed this.

If you have a BMI above 40 then you are considered to be at high risk and should self isolate for 12 weeks.

Anyone know why?

zonkin regular check ups for people not on any medication and without health conditions are pretty uncommon especially in under 40s.

I dont think I went to the GP once between the ages of 19 and 30. I went to a stand alone clinic near work for contraception because they were open late evening on a drop in basis (London).

Until I had my first baby I think Id only seen a GP once in my adult life.

chocoholico eventually, but not necessarily while young.

High chance of multiple problems afyer 10 years in that weight range, but someone in their 20s or 30s might not see any health conditions needing treatment especially if they're fairly active and a non smoker.

That is obese, not overweight. You are getting older and it is getting harder to loose weight. Menopause is a difficult period, which sooner or later every woman faces. At this time, the genitals are exhausted, and many systems stop working properly. Despite the fact that this is a standard physiological state of women in menopause, each lady experiences it differently. So please, don't be obese and listen to menopausecoach.com/

SheriGoddart85 "the genitals are exhausted" are you sure that's what you mean?

I just thank god I finally decided that I was worth the effort, and worth taking care of, this time last year and have gone from a bmi of 39 to a muscled and toned 30 in time for this crisis.

I was out of breath just walking up the stairs slowly, would keep DH awake with my snoring, had high blood pressure (only diagnosed as it was taken when I finally went to the GP for my horribly swollen ankles), very painful cracked feet which bled and was in constant pain from degenerative disc disease in my back. I was also undiagnosed hypothyroid for many years and thoroughly depressed although I wouldn’t have accepted I was.

The change in just losing 4 stone is immense. My 30 minute brisk walk circuiting my estate this morning was way too easy and I’m going to have to do it twice from now on. I’m missing the gym so much which is unbelievable.

I would urge anyone who is morbidly obese to start valuing yourself more right now, you are kidding yourself if you think you are healthy, get a gentle fitness video on and lose the junk from your diet. It won’t help you straight away but use this crisis as a wake up call and by the end of this year you will have massively improved your health.

It doesn't really matter how you got to a BMI of 40+ just that if you got Covid you would struggle breathing.
If you needed to be ventilated you chances get slimmer,if you got the respiratory syndrome we couldn't turn you prone as it wouldn't help.
This is not fat shaming,people are where they are .

My medical records say “BMI 40*+ morbidly obese”. But I’ve lost weight since then (and that measurement was taken after a meal with coat and shoes on). So my true BMI is now less than 40. No idea if that means I’m at higher risk or not

No text received though. I think high BMI’s are currently advised to stringently follow social distancing, but are not in the 12 week self isolation group.

Someone with that much body fat would have a real strain on their organs, including lungs. They also probably have unknown conditions due to that.

A reason to lose weight if any!

I'm sorry, I know this is a serious thread, but as a menopausal woman I can't help giggling at the idea that 'my genitals are exhausted'!

My bmi is 26 but I’m a size 8, my husbands bmi is 27 but is skinny and very athletic (pre coronavirus he played football 3x a week and went on subsidiary runs/bike rides most weeks)

We’re healthy! Obviously bmi 40 is different, but some athletes have bmis closer to 30, I do think it’s a crude measurement and should be combined with body fat percentage for a true reflection on health

I was just thinking yesterday how shattered my vagina felt

My bmi is around 40. Point blank, I have been in denial. Yes, I've had an awful decade, going through a divorce, job changes etc.

I've used these situations to console myself, to maintain a comfortable discomfort. I can't justify it any more.

It didn't cross my mind that I would be more vulnerable, given that I have no underlying conditions. I've been fortunate to keep fairly well physically (mentally is another story)

This is it. I can't do this to myself any more. Nor to my children who depend on me. Nor to my family and friends who worry.

Where I once felt shame and disgust at myself, I feel hopeful and optimistic that I CAN do something. I AM worth the effort.

I'm willing to bet that my mental health and my overall mentality will improve and all around me will be the better for it.

(Only speaking for myself here, others may disagree...)

I think high BMI’s are currently advised to stringently follow social distancing, but are not in the 12 week self isolation group.

That's what I was trying to understand. I'm not in the UK and here they don't mention BMI as a risk factor so I'm trying to figure out how scared I should be.

My BMI is 49 because I have an eating disorder and can't control eating until I feel sick. I've spent half my life in therapy but nothing helped. The consensus of my my medical team is that it's anxiety induced as my anxiety is off the scale. Problem is that the anxiety is part of being autistic and is nigh on impossible to fix. They've helped me to reduce it to the point where I don't constantly think about suicide, but it's never going to be any where near normal. :(

I've got a high BMI (not 40 but about 35) and cant socially distance properly due to work. I work in adult social care and 30% of the team have already decided to self isolate as soon as it was announced we didn't need a doctor's note (strangely enough the same people who manage to have "probably flu" and "probably noro virus" every single year plus numerous other shorter bursts of sick leave due to "really bad colds" and headaches and pulled muscles - none of them high risk aside from all being smokers - sick leave doesn't get monitored here the same way as in the UK and its apparently discrimination to question why the same people are off "sick" every other month). We get tested for covid straight away here and the team members who are off have all tested negative but are inexplicably all still signed off!

I digress. I have to work or the residents will die like those residents in Spanish care homes.

OK, thats a bit too dramatic and egotistical

Somebody has to though! My slim, gym bunny collegues are apparently too fragile so I need to keep going.

Our houae is over four floors and so is the one where I work and I can walk up 4 flights of stairs in one go as easily as my slightly younger, slim smoker colleagues and I can keep walking longer on days out - I suspect a high BMI holds me back the same amount as smoking holds back someone with a healthy BMI. I can walk briskly over uneven terrain for an hour but not as briskly as my sporty teens - still not being able to keep up with teens probably true of many slimmer people my age!

However I had actually decided before the corona pandemic that for my children's sake I need to lose the weight. In my mid-late 40s now I'm starting to suspect Im seeing signs of the strain the weight causes in so dar fairly subtle ways, but I have to address it.

Its hard atm as I'm bloody tired due to increased late and night shifts plus home schooling.

John Campbell has some interesting stats relating to UK patients in ICU and BMI.

That video is interesting. At first it's quite terrifying because it says that 71.7% of people admitted to ICU were overweight. So naturally those who are overweight are very scared.

But my husband is a scientist and knows how to crunch numbers properly. He said that government figures say that 64.3% of the population are overweight, with a similar split to the figures in the video. So the number in ICU is only slightly higher than what you would expect to see. So yes there is a higher risk but a small higher risk not a terrifying high higher risk.

Of course though, everyone is at risk so anything we can do to reduce that is good.

A couple of things that are helping me at the moment, minimising shopping trips. Only going to a supermarket once a week and not being allowed just to pop to the shop for extras. It also helps that all chippys, KFC’s, McDonalds are shut. Also (like everyone) I am super stressed so keeping busy, decorating, cleaning, gardening meaning I am moving more.

Why is it that we mix up over weight with morbidly obese?
BMI of 40+is a bit different to overweight(and I appreciate that there are concerns if you are near that).
But,with the best will in the world if you have very high BMI the virus is here now.Carry on dieting but realise that you are not more at risk of getting the virus but if you get more than mild symptoms it's going to be hard.
Take care all of you.

I've just done some calcs over on another thread. I compared the England stats for obesity with the coronavirus admissions.

General population

34% Normal/Underweight
36% Overweight
29% Obese/Morbidly Obese

Coronavirus admissions

28% BMI < 25
32% BMI 25-30 (overweight)
40% BMI 30-40 (obese)

So there is a shift, but I also notice that BMI tends to increase with age, so that might also factor into it? And other possible correlations (poverty tends to increase BMI, put crudely) are also not accounted for.