Michael Buerk. Is obesity a disease?

Miepl I am fairly average height and to loose weight whilst being physically active I need to take in 1100-1200 daily. 1500 would put weight on me if I was immobile. And would be what I would eat to maintain weight if active.

Nonnie. I don't know how many times I have to say this but some woman can't convert so need to take T3 along with the T4 for levels to be optimal. However, T3 is not easily accessed in the UK.

And without the T3 the pt will still be symptomatic despite having a 'good' TSH level.

The concentration camp analogy was one that was used 50 odd years ago by my parent's generation as a rule. I've not heard it for years. Disappointing to hear it on here

There are of course many reasons for being overweight; health conditions can pile on the pounds and so can being immobile due to ill health. That said, I too feel quite disturbed by the fat families waddling about . Huge mothers with red faced overweight children puffing alongside them are a common sight. I worked in a school and some of the excuses were so inventive; two children were so fat that they couldn't sit on the floor at assembly and needed chairs - imagine how that made them feel, and their very fat mother blamed it on hereditary factors, 'glands' and other reasons, but stood at the bus stop for a half mile journey to and from school while her offspring ate snacks. Such a sensitive subject too as it looks like cruel criticism if anything is said, but what is the fate of children who spend their whole childhood overweight?

I agree, Rosina. It's terribly sad to see children getting overweight due to poor eating choices by parents. Which is what it boils down to. In most cases. I knew a family, parents, 2 boys and 2 girls. Dad was skinny and Mum wasn't Boys were skinny, girls weren't . Not sure what is going on there

I used to take my daughter to swimming classes with my friend and her child. She was worried that her child was overweight and she didn't know why. As we were getting the children ready after the swim, this child was presented with a bag of Monster Munch and a fizzy drink. My child got nothing!

Obesity is a symptom not a disease, It is symptomatic of several conditions.
1. Hypothyroidism
2. Genetic predisposition to accumulate fat in certain areas e.g.buttock, or thighs.
3. Family culture of overeating learned in childhood.
4. Poverty which often causes a) lack of choices b) comfort eating.

The recent obesity epidemic is caused by poverty, linked with family culture of overeating that's unsuited to present day physical inactivity.

Wow what a post. We all have solutions as to why so many people are overweight. The biggest problem is food that makes us fat is usually not good for us. Food manufacturers put sugar into everything! I remember when yogurt was first being promoted in this country and my mum had never heard of it. The milkman delivered a free yogurt to all the families that had milk delivered as part of a promotion. We all found it very tart. Now they are full of sugar as we are so addicted to it that when it’s removed from foods we don’t like it. Sugar companies are a massive money making business and thrive on our addiction. Our lives are so different from when I was young in the fifties. We never had mod cons, heating, not many had cars or central heating. All calorie burners. I was always slim until I hit the menopause and my body fought against losing weight with a vengeance. Luckily I fall in the safe range but I do have to focus on what I eat and before I think about having that delicious piece of cake I have to ask is it really worth it? Being overweight has become normal from all sections of society. As us women have far less testosterone than men we are always at a disadvantage when trying to lose weight and if we did then mankind would very soon run out. Fattening food tends to be high calorie low nutrient and cheap as well as tasting better than a lettuce leaf!

Can anyone remember how many fat children there were in their class at school?

In my case there was one. Her family was also overweight. Maybe it was hereditary, maybe they all stuffed themselves with cakes and sweets but there weren't that many

How many overweight children are there in schools these days??

It can't all be down to genetics.

MOnica, I was thinking the same. Some of the comments have reminded me of how things were in the 70s. Consultants would blithely state this calorie/weight thing. However now we're more aware and accept that it's just not that simple.

I'm not overweight either!

The fat children problem IMO comes down to as I have said before, fat looking "normal".

In a group of children these days, the one who is all elbows and knees looks comparatively scrawney, but we ALL looked like that in our youth.

A normal/average looking child today may well be overweight, but doesnt look over weight in comparison with their peers.

School uniform waistbands are HUGE these days it can be hard to get a good fit for a healthy weight child.

"Normal" isnt a useful gauge any more

Consultants would blithely state this calorie/weight thing. However now we're more aware and accept that it's just not that simple.

Sometimes it is that simple. But Consultants arent allowed to state it bluntly, even if they believe it to be so in a particular case.

To all those opinionated, judgemental folk out there who find it easier to pin labels on people than try to understand underlying factors that may be involved.
I was a size 12 for years, then had a total hysterectomy, resulting in an average weight gain of 5kgs a year with no change in eating habits or lifestyle.
Now in my 70's with Fibromyalgia, including joint pain, depression and chronic fatigue, I have become a compulsive overeater.
Food is my comfort blanket, even though my intellect tells me one thing, my emotions say quite another and so it's a vicious cycle - I eat because I'm depressed and I'm depressed because I eat and am overweight. And perhaps as suggested by Buerk I will oblige by shortening my life as a result of my compulsion!

I wasn't a scrawny kid and nor were any of my brothers or sister. We were well fed as kids and very muscular, we're a family of mesomorphs, great makes you strong and fit and healthy. Even when I'm unable to move without help I'm still really muscular, even though I've been told repeatedly my muscles will waste away due to not using them. I have to say there's absolutely no sign of that at all. I'm overweight because I have to eat to live and really do eat a minimal amount but can't burn any of it off but I'm by no means grossly overweight and I'm still perfectly in proportion, I certainly don't have a massive gut or arse just generally overweight but extremely well distributed. I've certainly never done anything to limit my life expectancy but I have an incurable auto immune condition and that will certainly kill me in the end, how soon is anyone's guess.

Meiple long time since I looked at how many calories a day we should have to lose weight and don't know if you are M o F but I think it used to be 1200 for F and 1500 for M. If you are not active obviously it needs to be less. I have to go down to 800 to lose weight.

FlexibleFriend you and your brothers probably WOULD look like the skinny ones (comparatively) if you were transported into a group of kids today!

There is a direct and simple relationship: calories in calories out.

The appropriate word is 'sometimes', notanan2.

I'd go so far as to say most times.

But we have to accept that we're more sophisticated now and we have to accept that some drugs, a few medical conditions and genes, (not 100% on that one) can affect weight which no amount of calorie counting can help.

Also As FlexibleFriend has pointed out just what are the wheelchair bound to do?

I have chronic pain and can't cycle any more. I'm lucky that I haven't put any weight on due to decreased exercise but my diet hasn't changed. Why's that? And yes, I do know what I'm eating.

I could have got away with 1500 in my 20s and lost weight but not now.

Alexa, we've been though all this.

Most of the time, I will agree, people are eating too much and not moving about enough

But there are some people, enough to show concern for, that a restriction of calories will not result in weight loss.

minnie and I will say it again, that analogy was used by an Endocrinologist to me about 15 years ago. The emphasis should not be on the camp but the fact that not eating means you lose weight. Please don't do the hung up on the holocaust thing, it is nothing to do with that. Can you give me a better well known example of a group of people who starved to death?

So, whether you are depressed, have a 'condition', cannot exercise or whatever, you will lose weight if you eat less and better. It really is that simple. You cannot get a quart into a pint pot, it does not expand like your body.

No we'd look fit and healthy if transported into a bunch of kids today. My two sons are both mesomorphs and at 30 and 38 are slim and muscular but dwarf some of their friends in both height and build. Some young men today are skinny beyond belief and I'm so glad my sons aren't like that, you see their skinny little legs in skin tight jeans and I was bigger than that as a 10 year old and my youngest son as a 12 year old had bigger feet than his dad taking an adult size 12 then again his dad is 6'6" so never likely to produce a midget. We ain't all built the same.

I am struggling to lose weight and have hypothyroidism. I also take another medication which is well known to lead to putting on weight. Thanks to this thread, I've learnt something and I think I'll pay the doctor a visit to see what they say.

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is the gut biome, the bacteria we all have in our intestines. There's been some interesting research about that.

Your endocrinologist sounds rather rude and patronising then!

If you ever get another saying that do point out that the hypo would have killed them due to no thyroid replacement hormone and therefore myxoedema and certain death would have followed.

I'm pleased to say that endos are far more with it these days. They are aware that is is sometimes not as simple as 'eat less, move more.'

IMV there are some, a few in the great scheme of things, who have medical reasons for their weight gain.
The rest have a long-standing habit eating foods which are less nutritious and healthy and overeating.
Snacking at all times of the day, eating while watching tv or gaming, drinking lots of beer and eschewing exercise.
It has little to do with metabolism and more to do with making unhealthy choices and being lazy.
If you want to lose weight you have to have willpower and I see no reason to excuse overweight and obese people, who do nothing to change their habits but expect the NHS and social services to foot the bill for ops and special equipment in their homes.

Hi SueDonim, I'll just post a link you might find interesting. It goes on for an hour but the first 10 minutes are very informative.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ziACR_lvNI

What an awful thread, full of opinionated bigots. Many causes for obesity, including poverty! I have been on a diet for most of my life, rarely eat anything containing sugar and minimal carbs yet still obese. To all of you - walk a mile in my shoes!