Michael Buerk. Is obesity a disease?

Sorry about your lack of MA. I have bronze lifesaving, Grade 6 piano and CSE Maths grade 4.
I am also a bit fat.

IGilles, there are a lot of very judgemental people here. But there are also a lot of nice people.

Alexa I do not have sugar, and my helpings are not large, I do not have MA ?
I have Multiple Sclerosis, and this is why I cannot walk very well.
If this is how understanding people are on this site, I guess it is not for me.

Dear me, that's terrible.
What about changing body shape and size?
Thin person, admirable, strong willed.
Larger person, weak, lazy.

Key word being weak.

Lessismore

What has an MA to do with being overweight? Whatever overweight is anyway?

I feel inferior to you Gagalo. Truly . Nonetheless I cannot help having opinions and I do have a little experience too.

A lot of judgement on here. It's almost as if those who judge want to be able to feel superior.

I don't buy junk food or have it in the house. So much so, this is why my daughter learned to bake, because it was the only way she'd get cake or biscuits!

Dinner tonight was salmon with steamed asparagus. Homemade broccoli soup to start,

But by all means have me down as a cheese and chocolate (don't like them) chomping hog.

I'm fat, not weak. I escaped a violent marriage. Put myself thru uni as a single parent. Earned and paid my MA by working 3 jobs, including a night job as a single parent. Have taught in HARD inner city schools as well as living and working, as a single woman on 3 continents. Definitely NOT weak.

Whoa, smaller helpings, who ever would have thought of that?

Gilles, I recommend smaller helpings and /or stop liking sugar.

I am obese, I have MS and cannot walk far, so am in a wheelchair most of the time when I go out.
I do not snack all day like a lot of you say, I cook fresh food almost everyday, and do not eat sweet food very often, maybe a dessert once or twice week.
Like they say you cannot see all disabilities, so maybe many of you are too quick to judge.

Less why are you comparing? I agree it is wrong which is why I haven't

@wildswan.

I agree with most of what you say; however I am coming round to the thinking that obestity IS a disease in itself (or becomes a disease in itself due to overeating) and closely linked to other disorders such as diabetes.

I don't think anyone can deny that obesity is caused by overeating with other sociological/ lifestyle/perhaps medical issues factored in.

Around 80% of people with T2 diabetes are overweight.

To be overweight, you only need a BMI of 25+.

To be obese, you need a BMI of 30+.

That's not particularly heavy. I bet most of us on this thread have BMIs of 25+, putting us into the "overweight" category at best.

Most of the people I know in my age group (particularly women) would probably be in the 30+ category, and in total denial about their weight as overweight has become so normalised.

We all need to wake up.

Obesity is not a "disease". Obesity is a fast way to develop many diseases. Obesity is (in 90% of cases) a lifestyle choice. Obesity costs the NHS billions of £ annually. Obesity is responsible for multiple quack remedies, thousands of useless articles in magazines, pointless conversations and thousands of back injuries for healthcare staff.

We have had threads on the forum encouraging people to attend breast screening clinics etc. Yet obesity is now the second biggest preventable cause of cancer - and we are not supposed to tell people they are too fat because it might hurt their feelings.

Will now duck behind sofa.

Witzend-your post made me laugh. I worked with an overweight chap who used to say how little he ate. In his bottom desk drawer he kept slabs of fruit cake and cheese and we were all amused to see him bending down and coming up, cheeks bulging, chewing! Bet he didn’t tell his doc about going for a pint-or two-every day after work either!
On Sunday was talking to (well listening to!) an overweight lady reciting her latest health problems-she “enjoys poor health”-while she was steadily munching on Bourbons! She was obviously in complete denial about the link between her problems and her health.

For God's sake, those poor souls who came out alive do not need to be compared to us.

It is totally not right.

minnie yes, you are behaving arrogantly, especially about the Holocaust, because you say I was wrong but refuse to tell me what is wrong with saying those people lost weight because they were starved. It takes a kind person to explain rather than attack.

You said it hadn't popped up on active which was factually incorrect. If you had said it hadn't popped up on your phone that would have been a different matter.

You are not alone in refusing to admit when you are wrong and thinking that attacking the person you have wronged will make them look bad instead of you. If that is your way so be it. I always apologise when I have inadvertently made a mistake. Perhaps it was not inadvertent?

You can continue to twist what I say and attack me, that is your prerogative but please do not expect me to sit back and let you.

Just because the thread has been on active all the time on your phone/laptop does not mean that it's active on mine!!
Do you honestly believe that's how it works?

I have no interest in talking to you Nonnie. Mainly because I've just scrolled back and seen that you are still defending your vile analogy with the Holocaust.

You've been told this is not the place but you continue.

And I'm the arrogant one?

minnie I thought that would get a response!

This thread has been on active all the time.

I didn't expect you to apologise, just gave you the opportunity to do so after wrongly saying "Nonnie. Stop it. You don't know what you're talking about." and "Please stop talking about something you know little about". When clearly I do!

You have no idea of what my situation is so have no right to assume"like the majority, functioning reasonably well on your medication which is great news". Your arrogance beggars belief.

At no point have I said your information on T3/T4 was inaccurate, read my posts. I have consistently said that if one reduces one's intake enough one will lose weight. That is a fact. I never said it would be easy, I didn't make any assumptions about your situation and I have never said that a condition doesn't make a difference. You are too quick to jump to conclusions and attack.

I do sometimes wonder, though, when overweight people insist that they eat healthily/not very much.

Before I was married, I was in a flatshare with 2 nurses, both not exactly fat, but def. not slim, either. Whenever they were making meals when I was there (not all the time) it was, 'Oh, just a bit of lettuce for me,' etc.

However I came home unexpectedly one lunchtime when they were both off - and found them tucking into a huge roast dinner with loads of roast potatoes, Yorkshire pud, etc., and a big pudding and cream ready for afterwards.

Don't get me wrong - I honestly couldn't have given a toss what they did or didn't eat - but they both went hot pink with guilt at being 'caught' tucking in!
Bit of a revelation TBH. Until then I'd genuinely believed that they lived off salads.

And I shall not answer any more of your judgmental and incorrect comments on this thread.

People have posted extremely sad cases of why they find it so hard to lose weight and you are ignoring their plight and sounding just like Katie Hopkins.

You've not driven me away. I am just not into wasting my time.

Nonnie. You have not driven me away. I hadn't seen your comment I'm afraid and seeing as this thread hadn't popped up on active I forgot all about it.

May I ask just what on earth you not having a thyroid has to do with the type of pt I am discussing?

I assume you are, like the majority, functioning reasonably well on your medication which is great news.

I am certainly not going to apologise to you because it's nothing to do with what I am talking about.

I've tried to explain. I have also posted a very informative clip about this exact problem but you won't listen.

I am not going to point it out to you again. But do carry on telling everyone how right you are. Even when you're not. It doesn't matter to me.

I think you've summed it up oldg

It is what it is though, innit? If your body needs x number of calories, that's what you've got to work with.

I'm not convinced about the post menopausal woman thing either, however I've noticed that most women in that age group seem to be pretty overweight and not just carrying an extra bit of belly round the middle.

Maybe it's down to less activity, less muscle tone, overeating or just complacency. It's definitely a thing where I live.