Michael Buerk. Is obesity a disease?

Miss A, I am sure you are neither a cow nor greedy. Perhaps you don't have the time or energy to prepare food and grab whatever you can. Perhaps you just like the comfort and familiarity of the biscuit barrel or whatever?

notonan......not really? there is a set point, I have 3 or 4 different ones.

Some very judgemental and smug people here. Chew on that.

I hope we can work towards helping people to help themselves Maybe I can help you.....stop obsessing over 6 lbs.

If you ignore 6lbs it becomes 12lbs then 18lbs then 24lbs...

If it was easy, I would have managed it myself, Pamela.

Maybe for some it is, but not for me, not with my condition, which is being a greedy cow.

be thin, be fat , be what you like, but thin people are not morally superior.

I eat starter sized portions, I eat very little bread.

I hope we can work towards helping people to help themselves Maybe I can help you.....stop obsessing over 6 lbs.

Pamela there is a huge difference between admitting it is hard and blaming it on some other 'reason'. People need to understand that they are the only ones who can do something about it and patting them on the head and saying 'its your condition' doesn't do them any favours. If you care about someone you want them to be healthy. I hope we can work towards helping people to help themselves.

Barmey I often just order a starter as that is enough for me.

Thanks Nonnie, I’ll come back now ? .
Now it’s only MissAdventure and Iaam6 that think I think it’s easy !

Blimey, women and food.....a ghastly combination.

I have only small portions. When I am away in SE where they seem to serve huge portions I have a real problem. I eat until I feel just full, anything else is left. So then I have the owner/cook coming out saying "you no like" and pointing to what I have left. I have tried and tried for smaller portions but it just doesn't get through.

I think in Cambodia they serve such huge portions because of the starvation period they went through with Pol Pot and now they have food and boy do they eat. They could get a gold medal in eating and you don't see many fat people. Its what they eat and the work they do. A lesson to be learnt

NO! Pamela not at all, it is envy! I wish I had your willpower!

MissAdventure is spot on.

Think I’ll just be quiet.?

Nonnie, Methinks I hear a note of sarcasm there? Did I say it was easy?
I hoped to get over the fact that it isn’t easy, it has to be practised over and over till it sinks in.

Read the first line again. We are not lucky, lots of people have to try very hard to stay at a healthy weight. Lots of us manage it though.

It’s easy to eat too much, to be ignorant about food and it’s relationship with ones own body.
There Is a problem with too much information being out there. It can be very confusing but at the end of the day a small sedentary woman can’t consume as many calories as her taller more active friend no matter what what the recommended average daily intake should be. The NHS site says 2000 but then goes on to qualify that total by stating that figure depends on various factors.

I could say the same about alcohol.
I have absolutely no problem not drinking, I never feel deprived, it wouldn't cross my mind.
I suppose those who drink should just get their heads in the right place. (In other words, easier said than done!)

Good for you Pamela. You have great will power which we should emulate. Wish I found it that easy, I don't but I still work at it and will lose the 6 lbs which the BMI chart says I am overweight. Actually I will try to lose more than that despite being one of those with a 'condition'.

I find it very strange that overweight people seem to think we (slimmish folk) are lucky.
We just say no thank you. We eat small portions. We are on a diet for life too.
We could be bigger, in fact some of us have been but now we aren’t.
It’s all in the head (and gut). I think one of the differences between those who can or can’t control their intake is their attitude to food. I never feel deprived by refusing food or walking past the naughty treats in the supermarket. Get your brain in the right place and it’s easier.

I cannot understand why anyone would think I would say something I thought was disrespectful about the holocaust. Why would I deliberately do that? Why am I being told it is wrong but no one will tell me why? Is it me or is it something in the minds of those who disapprove? I genuinely want to know what is wrong with referring to the starvation in the camps.

I've probably lost the equivalent of 3 people over my lifetime, and put the weight back on.

Its not that it doesn't work, its that I'm a big (pardon the pun) fan of food, and find it hard to resist, so I gradually start overeating again.

Grampy has actually just lost 4 stone at SW so I can confirm if you do it , and do it right , it works. But it’s not a diet it’s a choice for life .

You don't seem to be able to understand the significance of your glib words., Nonnie. They're shocking and you keep repeating them.

I'll go along with Lessismore and assume maybe you're unwell.

I do agree that the vast majority of overweight people eat too much and don't move enough.

Which is very simplistic but usually the case. As has been said there are people with medical conditions and medications which make weight loss nigh on impossible.

But we do have a problem, However I'm not keen on Michael Burke's remedy either.

Great if it suits you merlot, honestly well done. I can't be on a diet for the life. To quote Susi Orbach " for every diet there is a binge".
If I hadn't started dieting 47 years ago, I wouldn't be the size I am now.

if WW and SW " worked" they'd be out of business. Everybody would be slim

They do work for a lot of people though. For many people, myself included, adult life is one long diet if you want to keep your weight under control. It takes a lot of effort and self discipline.

When people say, 'I tried and it didn't work' I can't help wondering if they tried hard enough.

If at first you don't succeed......and all that.

I understand some people have to take medication and have limited mobility but that doesn't apply to all obese people.

Nonnie, you are way out of line and I wonder if you are feeling well?

Gagajo, if WW and SW " worked" they'd be out of business. Everybody would be slim.

I have been to these clubs many many times and have ended up at my biggest ever. I don't know what the answer is really.

Minnie you can keep attacking as a thin person who doesn't understand but you still haven't explained what is wrong with saying that those poor people were starved into becoming thin. I have no idea why you want to attack me over saying something rational and reminding people of one of the greatest tragedies in history. Pretending it didn't happen is simply wrong.

Nonnie. Give up. Stop digging. It's an appalling analogy.