My weight makes me more vulnerable than both of my health conditions?!

[Moriasroses]

Okay, so I’m 35.

My BMI is 38 I have asthma and I have rheumatoid arthritis.

I saw a post on here yesterday and someone had posted a link to a Covid risk calculator.

I done it several times and my risk is lower at a lower weight.

So even at my current weight, with no health conditions I would be at more risk than if I was skinner with my health conditions.

This doesn’t seem right. Does it?!

@Bluntness100

I don’t understand the pic op, it’s side on and half your body, if you want people to comment it needs to be full body and front on.

@Bluntness100

It doesn’t need to be anything.

I don’t need to post or prove anything.

Just really getting frustrating the amount of people who say they’re a bigger size and weigh less.

I’ve posted my weight, my height, my BMI, and now a picture, why would I need to lie about my size. 🤦🏻‍♀️

@vonny63

Ashamed? No I'm not. I am fat, I know I'm fat. I see it everytime I catch my reflection

So because that’s how you see yourself, that makes it okay to refer to others that way?

I’m going to report this thread.

It’s awful, it’s turned into shaming a new vulnerable mother.

@Moriasroses I was speaking generally, not implying anything else.

I sort of agree @Dandylioness1.

People tell themselves that overweight or obese people are "fair game" and bring it on themselves.

I've been overweight, underweight and everything in between. (Currently in between). But there is something about overweight people which make some people irrational and viscous. If you look into the history of "fat phobia" (yes, academics write about it), it's actually a really interesting subject.

This goes beyond saying it is unhealthy to be very obese obviously btw.

Vicious not viscous!!!

@Chesneyhawkes1 - sooooo much judgement here.

Medical conditions aside - there's no reason for it.

We are social beings. We are massively influenced by the behaviour of those around us. We are influenced by the food environment, which is increasingly biased towards highly palatable but nutritionally poor food.

We also live in a society which has chosen an ideal shape, and people who are a perfectly healthy weight feel they have to lose weight. Dieting actually promotes weight gain in the long run and is the biggest risk factor for developing disordered eating.

And everyone seems to have an excuse or a reason why they have ended up that way

A reason is not an excuse. Less judgement, more compassion, please.

It doesn't happen overnight and is a conscious decision to let it happen to you.

No, no it isn’t. People can see it happening, but that doesn’t mean they are choosing the weight gain. Chances are, they feel helpless, ashamed and hopeless. And people judging them makes it worse, not better.

I've put on weight in various stages throughout my life. But I get to a point where enough is enough and do something about it.

Good for you - you are one of the lucky ones. Most people are not so fortunate.

Just because you can control your weight without adverse effects doesn’t mean everybody can.

@PuzzledObserver it's certainly not luck. It's hard work and making conscious choices to eat well and exercise.

No luck involved

The other strange thing is, ime, some of the loudest fat bashers, themselves end up quite fat. Condemning people for gaining weight is no insurance against you gaining some yourself. How many weight loss threads start; "I've never had a problem with my weight. Now I've hit menopause / had to go on medication / am depressed / since I split with my partner etc etc etc...I just can't seem to keep the weight off"? There but for the grace of God and all that.

So, yes, compassion is key and some people on here have conveniently forgotten that the op has RA and PND I think.

OP I am 5ft 4 and 14.5 stone and also a size 16 so I believe you. I have lymphoedema so my weight problem is not just a lifestyle choice (rolls eyes) and my torso is slimmer than you might expect if you just see my weight. I carry it all on my bum, thighs and legs.

This thread is nasty. Just remember, you can choose to lose weight in the future if you wish; they will probably always be judgemental twazzocks.

This thread is nasty. Just remember, you can choose to lose weight in the future if you wish; they will probably always be judgemental twazzocks.

Harsh but fair...you can't change being an unpleasant twunt can you? Maybe some people ought to try though. Just an idea.

@Moriasroses

Please remember that while your weight is significant in respect of your Covid risk, it has absolutely zero relevance to your worth as a human being.

You’ve had a really tough time, I’m sorry that’s been compounded by some emotionally deaf posters.

Op, I didn’t suggest you post a pic, I simply commented it seemed a bit pointless that’s all. 🤷‍♀️

We all know that being overweight comes with health risks.

We’re all responsible for our own health and we should take it seriously, of course we should.

But it’s so concerning that people can compare themselves to a new mum suffering with PND.

I don’t know how anyone can judge and compare their own weight (pointing out that they are the same height with multiple children but weigh much less) to a new mother suffering with a serious mental health condition.
One who has openly said that weight gain has come from emotional eating as a result of the PND.

Posters talking about people should shield for their weight issues, others saying it will burden the tax payers.
It’s just awful. Absolutely awful.

I know we don’t know the circumstances as to why a lot of people are overweight / obese.
But we do know the OP’s and yet people are still happy to judge and in my opinion bully.

In relation to covid, you can only do the best you can. Often these threads seem to imply that if you just tried harder to diet you could easily be at BMI 25 by Christmas. It takes aaages to lose weight healthily, and theres a risk of gall bladder problems if you crash diet.

And I’m pretty sure age is the overwhelming risk factor for covid deaths. If BMI was the highest risk factor, why are morbidly obese people not number 1 on the vaccine priority list? You know, to protect the nhs from all these millions of BMI 40 people clogging up and overwhelming ICU’s?

You don't look very fat on that photo but I'm fat and can find photos where I look slim (ish).
At the end of the day you are only kidding yourself. I know because I do it too.

This thread is nasty. Just remember, you can choose to lose weight in the future if you wish; they will probably always be judgemental twazzocks.

Agreed.

@PuzzledObserver it's certainly not luck. It's hard work and making conscious choices to eat well and exercise.

No luck involved

What you’re missing is that the majority of obese people do the same hard work and make the same conscious choices, but it either doesn’t work for them, or the effort is so great they can’t maintain it, and they lose control. The luck is in the fact that your makeup is such that this hasn’t happened to you. You are the outlier, most people’s experience is different.

I, for example, over the course of my life have lost:

1 stone - more times than I can count
2 stone - probably at least 20 times
3.5 stone - three times
4 stone - three times
6 stone - once
7.5 stone - once

That’s a huge amount of effort, and a huge amount of self-loathing when it all went to shit. And I venture to suggest that my experience of rebound weight gain is a lot more common than yours.

That’s could be why, as pp have noted, many medical professionals have given up raising weight with their patients, unless the patient raises it first. They know how uncommon long term maintenance of weight loss is. They can see how upset patients get. Maybe they don’t want to torture them further by nagging them to try just one more time to do something they have already tried so hard at for so long.

[quote PuzzledObserver]@Moriasroses

Please remember that while your weight is significant in respect of your Covid risk, it has absolutely zero relevance to your worth as a human being.

You’ve had a really tough time, I’m sorry that’s been compounded by some emotionally deaf posters.

[/quote]
Absolutely. I'm really disappointed (although not surprised) that this thread turned into a shitshow, because it's not only unwarranted, it's also completely counter to the actual discussions of health issues and risks associated with obesity, which are a medical discussion and not the time or place to be accusing someone of lying about their dress size. How open to advice or guidance will the OP be after this? Shameful.

chesneyhawkes1 I completely disagree with you. Luck has a lot to do with it-an individual’s build, where they hold their weight, mental health, what job they do, where they live, parental messages, socio-economic status, difficult or traumatic upbringing etc etc.

Yes weight is something that we can have an element of control over but we don’t all set off from the same start line.

Anyway op, I’m sorry you have had so much crap on this thread. I do agree with your original point that it is surprising that weight is a bigger risk factor than your health conditions. Even the scientists have been surprised by the emerging evidence.

Ah OP, I’m sorry there have been so many dickheads on this thread. Looks like it’s easier to learn what dress size matches what weight than it is basic manners and compassion.

There’s some quite sensible posts on here about the risks of COVID going up with weight.

And then there’s the people who are telling OP that they are 8 stone and still feel too big 🙄

OP I see some more recent posters have been quite nasty, which is really mean and unfair to you. But for the first few pages I don't think anyone was attacking you - you just seemed to get quite defensive? You said you were surprised that weight played a larger role in covid risk than your health conditions (I would have been surprised at this too) - people confirmed this and explained reasons why this is the case. I felt these made perfect sense and I've learned something new from these posts. But you seemed to interpret these explanations of the Covid risk as attacks or judgement against you? I don't think anyone was blaming you or shaming you for your weight - they were just saying that yes weight is indeed such a significant risk factor for covid. Your reactions did make it feel like you wanted people to say the risk calculator must have been wrong, rather than explain why it calculates the impact of obesity the way it does.

Gorgeous dress, btw! I'm sure you look really lovely.

That's because keywords like 'weight' and 'obesity' send up a goddamn bat signal for all those posters who carry a large cut and paste catalogue of their own eating hang-ups and fat shaming soundbites to liberally apply regardless of relevance to the thread.

RA the main risk is if you are on immunosuppressants and even then it's only certain ones. RA itself is not seen as a risk factor.
I have severe RA and am on immunosuppressants both DMARDs and Biologics and although they make me higher risk than average it's not as big a risk as age or high bmi.
It was initially a worry for me as DH is a frontline dr working on Covid wards however as they have learnt more it seems it's not as big a risk factor as initially thought.