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General health

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Original poster

1 in 4 of the UK population is obese.

55 replies

Posey · 17/03/2006 17:42

Apparently we're the fattest country in Europe. Can't see it myself, certainly not noticed it round here or a lot of the places I've visited. What do you think? It really surprised me.

OP posts:

notasheep · 17/03/2006 21:34

Chapsmum-hold on a minute,I am not obese!

Chapsmum · 17/03/2006 21:49

sorry notasheep, didn't mean to imply that you were, but what I'm saying is that clinical obesity and the side effects it causes are not just restricted to hugely overweight people. skinny people who eat high fat diets are at risk of heart disease and diabeties etc as well.
Also what I was saying was that some people do have clinical reasons for being over weight, thyroid probs etc. plus 'normal' people can have a hard time keeping the weight off as they can be genetically pre disposed to being overweight.

notasheep · 17/03/2006 22:25

Agree there.Thin is not always healthy,somewhere in the middle prob better.

joash · 17/03/2006 22:39

I am clinically obese!!!
I do not eat sweet stuff (apart from the two packs of haribo that I have had this year). I can't eat cakes and biscuits or ready made meals or such due to a severe nut allergy. I live on fresh fruit and veg. If I have meat - I eat skinless chicken, I cook very healthily, have no medical condition to explain my weight, have not touched sugar since I was 11 (32 years ago), only ever use skimmed milk (for 20 years), do not drink or even like sweet drinks - I drink loads of water. I walk miles on a daily basis - the least being around six miles a day depending on what I have on that day, I swim at least three times a week, spend all my time at work on my feet running around like the proverbial fly. I most definately am not poor and have not been for around 25 years.
Recently had a full, very long medical and passed absolutely everything with flying colours - 100% ... so someone tell me why I have never met anyone with a BMI as high as mine.

expatinscotland · 17/03/2006 22:40

i dunno what i weigh. i don't own a scale. but i know i don't like it.

will start walking to and from work when i go back after mat leave.

expatinscotland · 17/03/2006 22:41

i'm naturally on the slender side, however.

Blu · 17/03/2006 22:44

Last time I weighed myself and then looked it up against height etc, I discovered that I am classified as obese. Now, I am not claiming a sylph-like figure, but at a size 14 and 5'7" I think the 'obese' threshold is set quite low.

joash · 17/03/2006 22:47

There has been some backlash over the past decade about the use of the BMI scale, aparently there is some beleif in a persons shape being the best indicator of whether or not they are at risk from their weight. Not sure which it is, but I think it was along the lines of; a woman who has all the waight around her stomach is much more at risk of problems than someone with a large bum, etc ... as I said I can't remember it exactly.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 17/03/2006 22:49

My dh is obese according to the charts - yet managed to run the London Marathon in just over 3 and a half hours. He runs 5 miles most days and is definitely fitter than my friend's hubby - he's positively slim yet drinks 6 pints a night and smokes 20 a day.

Fat doesn't necessarily mean unfit.

moondog · 17/03/2006 22:59

Joash,if as you say you are large,why do you think that is??
Even though you're eating well,are you eating too much??

joash · 17/03/2006 23:02

Nope - I have kept a food diary for two years now. I have even participated in a project run by my previous GP which involved spending time away at a clinic eating whatever they gave us (three other people were there too). We all ate between 900 and 1400 calories a day depending on what we were given. Any diet for a person my size recommends eating no less than 1500 calories per day to lose weight.

joash · 17/03/2006 23:04

I don't have a clue why I am like this. I have my food served an a small plate, the same size as my three year old grandson and don't eat it all. I have come to accept that this is the way I am - it ain't gonna change and I suppose that as long as I am healthy - I shouldn't worry.

moondog · 17/03/2006 23:05

God no,was not suggesting it is a problem!
I know from your posts that you are a woman who enjoys life to the max!
You go girl!

RachD · 17/03/2006 23:10

I understand joash's post.
MY dh is clinically obese.
But even I don't think he eats enough to warrant his weight.
When you watch, Gillian McKeith, you think to yourself , its no surprise that they are that big.
But my dh is not like that.
And being big has such a stigma - "you have no self control "
It is not always the case.

joash · 17/03/2006 23:14

Bloody hell woman...I didn't think that your were insinuating anything. I have no problem with anyone asking me questions. What does annoy me, is the assumptions that people make. I went into a local bakers last month to buy DH and DS some sort of cake (can't even remember what it was now). Ds was with me and I asked him if he was sure he had picked the right sort for his dad - the woman behind the counter looked me up and down and sneered; does it matter what sort you have. Not catching on immediately, I replied that as I don't eat the stuff and rarely buy it, I have no idea whether my DH liked it or not. TO which she actually laughed out loud and said "YOU'RE telling me that you don't eat cake!!" then I clicked and sneered back at her...no but I am currently in the process of working undercover for a major TV company investigating whether fat people are discriminated against in bakeries. Bought DH's cakes and left.

Pees me off thought that people look at me and automatically assume that I stuff my face with sweete, crisps or buns or whatever. Then there's the other sort of people (mainly everyone else) who spend months getting to know me before I ever get invited to go around to their houses, to parties or even just to out somewhere. Once they realise that I am not going to eat their children and am really just a normal, if not rather large person - they're fine. the surprising thing is ... this generally only applies to women. Get on fabulously with men!!!

Speaking of enjoying life to the max - I'm off to wake DH up now by putting a smile on his face

RachD · 17/03/2006 23:17

OH joash, i understand - and that is on behalf of dh.

joash · 17/03/2006 23:22

Thanks RachD. Can I ask...do people automatically assume that your DH is married to someone who is also obese?
The amount of people who are expecting a very large, fat man to be meeting me is unbeleivable. We even play silly games to wind new people up. He's walked into a pub and I've bet some of the people I'm with that I can pick up the next good looking guy who walks in the door - they have never failed to point DH out and I have taken their money from them before telling them the truth serves 'em right for making assumptions.

RachD · 17/03/2006 23:31

Joash, I am pretty small - I mean 5' 2".
Size about 14.
But dh is 21 stone.
I KNOW that people think he is a big fat ??? that has no discipline - but that is not the case.
Isn't it sad that people make assumptions about you, before they've even met you ?
Is that what we are supposed to accept, " as the way it is", these days ?

joash · 17/03/2006 23:36

I thought you were 'small' from what you were saying. I'm five 4 and weigh more than your DH. My DH is over 6 foot and about 11 stone (nice and muscley, but not too much) - which I assume is about right for him. Often think we must look like a very odd couple when we're together... And yes - People can be such bigotted 'arses' (excuse the language). As long as we're all happy eh?
Off to bed now anyway
take Care X

Chandra · 17/03/2006 23:47

I have a very slow metabolism, I can say I eat far less than most people I know (and certainly more healthy tahnks to DS's multiple allergies) and still...I'm fat, though, I'm fat for MEditerranean standards, for the people of my race I'm pretty average, we tend to have wider hips so no way you can loose those curves...

Dior · 17/03/2006 23:58

joash - have you been checked out by a doctor for thyroid etc? It seems impossible to weigh more than 20 stones but not eat much. I'm not questioning you in what you say, but it seems really odd. As you no doubt know, you can only gain weight if you take in more calories than your body needs a day. You need to eat 3,500 calories a week, over and above your body's needs, in order to gain a pound.

Have you ever kept a record of everything you put in your mouth (ooh er!) to calculate the actual calories? Sometimes this can be a surprise when you actually work it out. Otherwise there must be a medical reason surely?

I have read this back, and it sounds like I am being harsh...it is not meant that way, I am just genuinely interested, as an ex WW Leader. You would have stumped me if you were one ofmy members

Patttsy · 18/03/2006 07:34

Depends where you buy your mar bar from:)

I think weight is a financial issue. If you shop in Lindl or Aldi, higher fat food costs less as the brands are less well known.

It would be nice to have gym membership subsidised! It is not how much is consumed but whether the extra calories are burnt off.

Filyjonk · 18/03/2006 07:49

Joash, you sound exactly like my mum. She is also clinically obese, eats soooooo healthily (she is virtually vegan), tiny portions etc. Exercises plenty-she's up at her allotment every weekend, for a start!

Like you she lives life to the full, but tbh I've seen how dispiriting it can be for her. I think what gets her down most is that the clothes she wants are not really avalible, and if they are they are tailored to flatter thinner people IYKWIM-they do fit her but look wrong.

The only thing it might be is that she has, from lierally decades ago, a history of crash dieting.

Chapsmum · 18/03/2006 08:58

Pattsy, I dont necessarily agree with that! Lindl have cheaper fruit and veg than asda. But it is easier for a working family to use processed high salt high fat food than to spen time cooking. (Before you jump on me, I appreciate that some parents do go to a lot of effort to cook healthy and nutricious meals, but lets face it some dont and there kids are overweight, suprise suprise!)

joash · 18/03/2006 12:49

Hi Dior - I've been checked for everything - I don't put on any weight nor lose it. According to the doc's, there is no reason for my size - other than a predisposition to it. My great grandmother was exactly the same.

and Filyjonk - I have a history of silly diets, But gave all that up when I got to the size I am (about 15 years ago). Apparently, there is research out there that clearly shows that for each pound a peson loses by dieting, once they start regaining weight - they replace each pound lost with at least three pound.

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