Talking about weight and covid

[Iamsososoexcited]

In the 44-53 age group, 73% of people in the UK are overweight to obese. This is a government statistic according to the House of Commons library.

Does anyone else think this is massively concerning?

This awful virus arrived a year ago. It has a disproportionate effect on people who are overweight and obese.

People are washing hands, wearing masks, keeping their distance, isolating with families to stay safe. Why aren’t people losing weight to stay safe as well?

I don’t understand. It is like being told there is a course of action you can take (losing weight) that will drastically improve your chances of surviving this terrible virus, and yet people are not doing it?

Please help me understand?

@onlyreadingneverposting8

Some people are! My Dad is 77 and covid shook him into losing weight that had crept back on. He lost 2stone in the first lockdown.

That’s great, good for him!

It certainly made me take a look at my weight and health too and I’m now a healthy BMI for the first time in quite a number of years; I have lost 3.5 stone and I hope to lose another stone. Lockdown has forced me to exercise (it’s my only time I get to myself!) and I’m now running 30-40k per week and it really helps me to cope. It’s taken me a decade and a global pandemic to get round to it though!

Because it's fucking hard. I'm about 1.5st overweight.

I also suffer depression, anxiety and nerve pain which I take amitriptyline for, this is known to make people gain weight.

I also have a rare skeletal genetic issue which makes exercise hard.

I'm not saying there's a one size fits all to overweight and I admit I could do more but there's so much more to trying to lose weight.

@Iamsososoexcited

Being overweight is a massive risk factor with covid.

Pre covid it appears that people believed they can have a bad diet but you will only get diabetes in old age, so why worry in your youth. In the same way no worried about lung cancer when smoking cigarettes aged 21.

This virus has accelerated that link; if you are overweight now you will be more seriously ill with Covid now. Right now.

Everyone is giving up so much, freedoms, friendships and families. But they are not giving up excess food which would have a massive positive effect.

I’m sorry but it simply isn’t true that “if you are overweight now you will be more seriously ill with Covid now. Right now.”

You have an increased risk of being seriously ill and hospitalised. An increased risk.

You will not definitely be seriously ill if you have a higher BMI.

Yes there is a link and increased risk. But it isn’t a given that people will get seriously ill. Plenty of earlier threads on this subject have featured people with raised BMis who had it mildly.

It’s a complex issue and scaremongering helps no one.

Most people haven’t been in the right headspace to think “I better put my comforts to one side and completely retrain my brain how I think about food/drink/exercise”.
Glad it’s so simple for you OP.

I'm a pragmatist. I'm still fat, but pretty fit and active and lost 3 stone (but gained half a stone back over December) since June. I also gave up smoking, exercise loads and do between 80-100k steps a week. I'm trying to set a good example and show people that even someone like me who loves food (and loves to cook and bake), has a job (albeit 3 days a week), three kids and decent sized house to clean can do it. I wish my family and friends would see that breathing out of your arse just from going up a flight of stairs is not a good sign.

I lost 24lbs last year, I’d only just entered obese and I’m a low weight now. Covid did spur me on to reach my goal for the first time ever and I discovered a lot for exercise. I do think people need to take the weight link more seriously, and we know it’s not just Covid that puts pressure on the NHS. Even if it’s a small amount of weight loss it will all help. I want to be around as long as possible and I have health issues so feel so much better

@Dentistlakes Congratulations! That is amazing. I totally support and admire what you have done. Other people don’t seem to see cause and effect. I don’t get why.

It took me 1 year (of pretty miserable,fairly controlled diet ) to lose 11 kgs and I was still overweight.

If you saw me during that year or after you'd just see that I'm fat, but not the effort that went in to be that size. Oh just another lazy,greedy fatty not bothered and not doing everything.

It's not ohhh, I'm swapping to broccoli and there you go, in less than a year everyone is a size 12 and under.

Well op I spend all my time looking after 3x elderly parents and my kids, one with SN. And grab food quickly. I spend all my time looking after others, not myself and almost never have time to do exercise. Plus, menopause kindly stacked weight on me. So hope this clears that query up for you. At least if I die or covid, I won’t have to have people judging me for my weight anymore.

In any case, the link is between cholesterol and corona. Not weight and corona. So since cholesterol often follows weight, that’s why people say it’s weight and corona.

How is being overweight measured? Just curious. Is it bmi?

But that aside, you must be able to see by the fact that there are so many millions of us fatties that losing weight isn’t as simple as you seem to think.

Many people are losing weight. Sadly, it takes a long time to do.

People get overweight for a variety of reasons. You are expecting them to not just address those reasons and stop putting on weight, but to also lose weight.

I'm 50 ish, have hypothyroid, fibromyalgia and a lifetime of stress which has led to bad eating patterns.

It will take more than a year to reverse that.

Because some people have very complex relationships with food. It's not as easy as saying just lose the weight! If it was we'd all be slim, no one actually wants to be overweight.

I don’t think as much has been made about the weight link as should have been tbh. In my local papers there’s loads of news stories about young people with no underlying conditions dying. They all have photos and they are all hugely overweight.

Yet the paper can’t say it because it might offend. I’ve been obese myself and really struggled with my weight and I don’t know what the answer is.

I would love the pandemic to have meant that I could have loads of leisure time outside. Unfortunately it’s increased my caring burden.

Maybe you can put some cause and effect stuff together.

It’s almost like saying oh you’re so poor, just get a good job.

No matter what people say.
There is a link between weight and covid severity.
Every person I see in the news who died young and the family are shocked because the person had no underlying conditions has been very overweight.
Last year when covid started there were threads on here about losing weight but I didnt bother because I thought I'd probably get covid soon and there was no point.
But it's been nearly a year and over that time I could have lost a significant amount of weight.
Ive started last month. And already doing well. I just hope to continue it and wish I had started earlier.

I think the fact people are so defensive over being overweight doesn’t help either. Lockdown is hard, but I’ve found exercise has been amazing for my mental health. And that’s YouTube exercise so no need to leave the house, no cost.

Honestly OP let's face it, a decent chunk of people are fuck stupid. Some of them are thin, some are fat. Thus it ever was.

[quote Iamsososoexcited]@Dentistlakes Congratulations! That is amazing. I totally support and admire what you have done. Other people don’t seem to see cause and effect. I don’t get why.[/quote]
Thanks, it’s taken since late May last year, but I feel so much better.

For me, it’s helped to have some control with so much going on, but I know people do react differently and just don’t have the headspace I run some cases the time to concentrate on themselves. It’s a very complex issue and so different for everyone.

[quote Iamsososoexcited]@Franticbutterfly that’s what I see too.[/quote]
@Iamsososoexcited

So you work on a red covid ward too?

I often think the same. You see on the news about a person who has died with no underlying health conditions, but no one mentions the fact they're obese! Yes there are factors involved, but if losing weight reduces your risk of dying, then I don't understand why people don't use that as the kick up the arse they need.

Lost 3 stone between March 2020-october 2020
Which bought me to bmi 26.5
Now 20 weeks pregnant though