Obesity is not a choice

Whist people can and do eat what they want, rightly so, I don't think it's for the NHS to pick up the pieces for what is preventable diseases.

Ridicule has and does continue to work, it's now not PC to do so however. For me it's easy, if you want to eat a specific amount of calories increase your work done to match(or better) then you won't be overweight. I do think food manufacturers have a big hand in this, they make the food both unhealthy, eg include HF Corn syrup, and increasingly moreish with the food scientists helping there..

All diets are junk, eat less calories and do more is all you need to know. As with all things there will be some people that, no matter what you do, will not be able to change.
 
It calls for changes in language to reduce stigma, such as saying "a person with obesity" rather than an "obese person".
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More authoritarian rubbish seeking to control how people speak. If people don't feel ashamed then they're less likely to take action to become more healthy, sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind.

One in four UK adults obese is shocking. The thing with the authoritarians is they want to take away the motivations for fat people to lose weight (being called fat becomes a hate crime, fat people treated like models etc) but then because the overweight people have no reason to lose weight they then seek to control the food we ALL consume.
 
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hominid said:
All diets are junk, eat less calories and do more is all you need to know. As with all things there will be some people that, no matter what you do, will not be able to change.
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But it isn't that simple, eat your 2000 calories a day from just sugar cubes and see how you get on, you will feel terrible, hungry, and be well on your way to diabetes.

GI, empty calories, vitamin and mineral interactions, these are all real things, simplifying it down to calories in vs calories out just leads to more people failing when they try to diet.
 
cheesyboy said:
Lol

Secret cabal of fatties controlling our foodstuffs :D
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He didn't say that fat people were doing it though. I'm not going to vouch for the theory that this is all part of a conspiracy, but it is true that the net result of assuming that people can't control themselves will be greater controls over food, e.g. the sugar tax.

ttaskmaster said:
What, like how ridiculing the gays for being gay worked?
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You're not really suggesting that being gay and being obese are the same, are you?
 
ttaskmaster said:
Nope.
I used to be just like that, albeit 4500 calories every day for years and years. Never went to the gym or anything like that. At my absolute heaviest, I weighed 9st. I was told I should be at least 11, for my age/height. All the old fogies said that would change one day...
Then I hit a rough financial patch and dropped from 3 meals to one, and quit smoking... Within a couple of years I was 14 ******* stone, and having to listen to all these skinny kids bragging about how they can eat anything and never put on an ounce of weight.

It's neither psychological nor genetic. It's just you stuffing your face and getting fat. You know what you're eating will make you fat, but you eat it anyway because you're hungry. The upside is, I do have better willpower in that respect, so while I'm the old fogey shedding my weight while telling the kids their lifestyles won't last, they are indeed getting fat.


What, like how ridiculing the gays for being gay worked?
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How come you put on weight yet you ate less if I read that correct?
 
How many fat people here or know fat people that live on fast food or surgery drinks?

I'm going to say zero..... It's a myth, it's more media hyperbole.

I just eat too much normal, good food and do too little excercise....

I know basic physics..
 
jsmoke said:
How come you put on weight yet you ate less if I read that correct?
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appetite suppressang effect of smoking - no ? I thought you said you are/were a smoker too in the sports threads ?

They announced this morning 7% of the UK are now vaping - have not seen if that has a similar effect to genuine cigarettes and that is why folks are doing it -
but given the health concerns with vaping too - seems the government should react.

then because the overweight people have no reason to lose weight they then seek to control the food we ALL consume.
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if it solves the problem then why not .. what 'good' foodstuffs would we be deprived of.
 
Efour said:
How many fat people here or know fat people that live on fast food or surgery drinks?

I'm going to say zero..... It's a myth, it's more media hyperbole.

I just eat too much normal, good food and do too little excercise....

I know basic physics..
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It's not a myth, we've cracked down on the MiL's poor diet of soda, cakes, etc and no exercise. She got diagnosed with pre-diabetes, so we've moved her on to sugar free drinks, jellies, low carb chocolate, and healthier eating for actual meals (sandwiches were a go-to for her). No exercise added as she is late 60s and lazy, but funnily enough she is losing weight.

The larger people in my office are always snacking on chocolates or crisps, then thinking a salad for lunch will balance it out.
 
I got absolutely flamed once for saying "bring on the homer Simpsons" when they said obesity can be classed as a disability.

That is pretty much the same response I'd give now for this article.

'Not a choice' - #### off!
 
I feel for kids growing up with obese parents, they don't have much choice what they eat and their parents are likely to impart the same poor diet choices on them. Over the weekend I was in a supermarket queue behind a very overweight woman and her overweight son and the amount of chocolate, crisps, cakes, biscuits, sweets and ready meals they had in their shopping was crazy. I have less sympathy for obese adults, they have the independence and finances to live healthy lives, but many choose not to.

The government needs to take steps to educate people about the serious dangers of being overweight, impose greater taxes on fast food and supermarket-bought foods that are high in sugar and saturated fats and put more emphasis on sport and exercise in school. Being overweight is most definitely a choice and is easily avoidable, but it's not something we can just leave to the population to sort out themselves. Heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, several forms of cancer, osteoarthritis, gout, asthma, etc are all caused by or linked to obesity, and with the NHS under enough strain already with our ageing population, it can't take the additional strain.
 
If I do next to no exercise but I eat healthy, cut out sweets and beer I lose weight. Also feel OK.

If I do exercise but continue to drink beer and eat sweets while eating healthy I lose weight. Feel great doing this.

If I do exercise, eat crap and all the other bad things I put on weight - I turn into a balloon if I then cut down on exercise. I feel crap.

That's all I need to know about the relationship between food, exercise and weight. I know there's more to it, but these experiences and experiments always come back to 'more in than more out equals fatty bum time.' Because of this, I find hard not to judge if a fatty gets up and starts preaching that it isn't their fault. It is, and the only way it isn't is if they are tied down and force fed.
 
dirtybeatfreak said:
No, he is suggesting ridiculing someone for their flaws and/or problems doesn't work. Not advocating making people feel like crap, are you?

(edit: NOT suggesting being gay is a flaw or problem lol)
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The fact that you felt the need to add in that edit suggests that you understand the point that I was making and are therefore being disingenuous. To clarify - you could only draw the comparison with gay people if you felt that being gay was a flaw or problem in the same way that being fat was. If people feel like crap when confronting the truth about themselves then that's not my problem.

cheesyboy said:
If that were so, surely there would be no fat people? They've almost all experienced some form of ridicule and shame.
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Only if ridicule was a 100% effective deterrent, which of course it's not.

ttaskmaster said:
Depends... which one would trigger you more? :p
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I don't get triggered, but I do like to correct people on faulty logic.

ttaskmaster said:
He is indeed.... and not suggesting that being gay is a flaw, just that ridiculing people doesn't work.
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See above my comments regarding ridicule and the obesity / homosexuality comparison. It's pretty obvious that some people will avoid doing certain things because they'll be ridiculed for it. To deny that is either more disingenuousness or indicative of a lack of understanding of a very fundamental human behavioural trait.
 
It is a choice. KFC recently abandoned their healthy fried chicken menu because after years of trying, people were choosing not to buy them. So why produce a product nobody wants? Fair play to KFC as a business but it just highlights that it is in fact a choice nationwide.
 
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