Michael Buerk. Is obesity a disease?

I've never had a sweet tooth so avoiding sugar is easy for me but DH is just the opposite even though he admits that after losing just over a stone he 'gets it.'

I'd like to ask those of you who have a sweet tooth, What are the effects when you give up sweet things? Is it lack of energy, feeling grumpy, craving??

How long does it last?

DH compensates by eating more fruit - lots more. He'll open a pack of grapes while I'm still unpacking the shopping!!

In the past I had to hide things or they'd be gone. Glacé cherries would never make it to the cake for instance.

If we go out for a meal and the waiter brings the desert menu he looks at me in hope.

DH, I mean, not the waiter!!

Hetty I think you have made a good point, life is not fair. That being so we have to accept it and eat according to which cards we have been dealt if we don't want to get fat. I accept that I have no choice but to eat a lot less and a lot more sensibly than others if I don't want to get more and more overweight.

Merlot I think if you go a couple of weeks without any sweet things your tastes change. Looking back to when I was a teenager I drank tea with 2 spoons of sugar, when I stopped I could smell sugar in tea and it was horrible! Hope that helps.

Gagajo I really admire your tenacity and drive so obviously you are not 'weak'. I presume MB meant weak in relation to food though, and since you say you are fat, to what do you attribute this? (Not meaning to be nasty - just curious)

I remember giving up sugar in tea when I was about 15. All done for the body beautiful. I don't get why folk find giving up sugar so hard though.

humptydumpty

'since you say you are fat, to what do you attribute this? (Not meaning to be nasty - just curious)'. No problem!

I AM fat. Fat is JUST an adjective to denote how much, well, fat, I carry! I don't have an issue with being called fat. I DO have an issue with people making assumptions about me because I'm fat, when I meet NONE of the assumptions they make. I'm not lazy. I'm not weak. I don't think I'm better than anyone else but I'm certainly not lesser because of it either.

To be honest, I wish I'd never started dieting. When I was 18 and thought I was fat, I had an 18 inch waist. My old dresses (very pretty, early '80's ball gowns and formal wear) have TINY waists. My daughter, at 18 and slim couldn't get them on! Every time I dieted, I lost weight, but each time it went back on plus a little more.

Add to that my body size / shape (boob size too) is exactly like that of my paternal grandmother. I'm SO like her physically and mentally. Think Nora Batty (minus the baggy stockings).

Exercise only works in the VERY short term. If you're active, your body gets used to being active and adjusts. My step limit is down at the moment, I admit, summer hols, but my daily target was previously 20,000 steps and I reached it without going out of my way. Life of a teacher I guess. Backwards and forwards through the school. Up and downstairs to different departments all day long. Plus the gym 3 times a week, baring parents evenings / meetings.

I'm not sure MB did mean just in relation to food. The general assumption is that fat people are lazy, make poor choices, don't THINK about what they put in their mouths or their levels of exercise. Fat has come to have VERY negative connotations unfortunately, rather than JUST being a description of size.

In addition, those that make those judgements, frankly have no room to talk. They may be slim, but here's betting they are not so superior in other areas.

Judge not, frankly. No one is perfect and my body is none of nobody else's business, anymore than your body is mine.

Merlotgran No! Me neither. Can't IMAGINE why anyone wants sugar in tea? Yuck!

A friend of my daughters went on a diet. To lost the first stone, ALL she did was stop having her usual FOUR sugars in coffee. That isn't a drink! It's a dessert!

Imo people often think they get more exercise than they do. I have a friend who was very big and has lost some of her weight by various methods. Unfortunately she thinks walking is part of it but, in my experience, she ambles and I don't think that does much to help. I read that, rather than doing x number of steps a day we get more benefit from 2 x 20 minutes of walking so fast you cannot talk at the same time twice a week.

I am as guilty of fooling myself as other people but deep down I know that if I put in more than I use it can only add to my girth. If I eat less than I use my girth will reduce. Hard for those of us who need to eat less but it is true

Imo people often think they get more exercise than they do As you said Nonnie, YOUR opinion. If you apply it only to yourself, fine. Why feel the need to pass opinion on others?

Why do any of us post on there Gagalo if not to pass on our opinions? I'm as entitled to mine as anyone else! Have you been given permission to decide which opinions should be shared and which not? Why so sensitive? It wasn't directed at you but if you feel it applies so be it.

Sorry Gagalo. However I find unwelcome ideas and opinions are useful .

Nanaand Grampy, not liking sugar is a bit of a struggle for me but I think I am winning overall , even including quite a lot of backsliding incidents.

Error! I mean "sorry, IGilles-----------"

How rude some people are. It's so spiteful the way women are about weight.

Each to their own, your size is not a measure of your worth, your health or how attractive you are. It certainly has nothing to do with being weak.

Can you imagine men carrying on like this?

Food isn't just calories, its memories, comfort, habit and so much more.

Lessismore, neither is a broken leg a measure of your worth but it's good to get advice on how to make it better.

Only if you ask for it.

It's a nasty cultural misogyny.

A broken leg is a medical injury, which doesn't usually lead to inappropriate and uneccessary self loathing.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Beware telling a fat person what they may or may not eat!

Alexa I think many of us backslide and good for you for recognising it. I used to be very careful at work and at home then eat whatever I liked when we went out. It worked for me. Now I'm retired I have to be careful about what is in the house which I might go to when I'm in a weak mood.

Less I'm glad you recognise being rude is nasty but it works both ways. If someone posts on a thread they shouldn't expect a pat on the head from everyone, they have opened themselves up to hear things they may not like. Perhaps you have seen the post which criticised me for putting my opinion on here? No apology though from Gagjo for suggesting I have no right to post it.

I've been on GN for a long time and learnt that there are some people who can insult, make false interpretations of other's post and just be thoroughly nasty but do they apologise? Very rarely.

Lessismore wrote:"A broken leg is a medical injury, which doesn't usually lead to inappropriate and uneccessary self loathing."

True and that makes obesity one of the several symptoms or conditions that are unhealthy and also carry unwanted body image and social stigma.

No it doesn't at all. Many people are entirely happy with their image. Probably better if they avoid sanctimonious bitching from skinny women though.

Alex there is a difference though, it is unlikely that the broken leg was caused by the person who has it. True about the social stigma but should we just pat people on the head and say it is fine to be overweight or obese? Social stigma seems to have contributed to people stopping smoking. I think it is helpful that those with this issue hear what they can do about it if they want to change. If not, that is of course, up to them but it seems silly to accuse those who are not fat of being 'bitchy' when they are simply stating their opinion. I cannot imagine being happy about being very overweight if I knew it was bad for my health.

Less I don't think I have seen any "sanctimonious bitching from skinny women though." Examples please? I have seen a lot of advice and opinions but any 'bitching' seems to have come from people who are not skinny.

Like many people on this thread and elsewhere on GN I'm a life-long dieter. Usual story - lose weight, gain it back, different diets and so on, over the decades. Genetically I'm a short apple, as is my sister and as was my mother and grandmother, and have hypothyroidism.

I'm currently slim, after hard-core dieting for the past five or so months. It's been such hard bloody work - a few meals out and you gain 3 pounds, then those 3 pounds take weeks to get off.

Now I have two choices, to stay as I am by sticking to a reasonable diet, or letting it creep back up which, as we all know, is so easy to do. Apart from serious mobility issues & those few people who have an underlying medical condition, anyone can lose weight if you stick to the diet! We all know it.

Keeping it off is a different matter.

I didn't say the bitching was on this forum or on this thread.

Each to their own. Being thin does not denote strength of character in my very humble opinion.

Here is a nice quote for anybody who cares.

“what I saw as the negative effect on women’s minds of such mundane “tracking” activities as calorie counting, I had sensed that the reason so many tasks women are expected to do in society involve this kind of thinking (e.g. scanning, list making, judging themselves critically, “measuring up”) had something to do with the suppressive effect this kind of thinking has on other, bolder kinds of intellectual or emotional leaps.”
― Naomi Wolf, Vagina: Revised and Updated

Nonnie, in real life I don't advise anyone or comment about weight or other health matters unless they ask me.

On an internet forum it's okay to have an opinion and say what it is. I agree with you it's helpful to get advice from people who are interested in losing weight. Everybody can scroll down whenever they are not interested.

Nonni, as you say, you can post your opinion as you wish. As can I. Go ahead and judge whoever you like (including your friend, it seems) but don't expect apologies when your 'opinion' is challenged. You can't have your cake and eat it.

If you think time 'in post' gives you the right to be rude unchallenged, I'm afraid life isnt like that.