Fat (topic du jour)

I can’t honestly say that I overeat or eat the ‘wrong’ food. Yet I’ve put on about a stone since retirement and find myself borderline diabetic, borderline high cholesterol, borderline high BP, and yes I walk about 8000 steps a day. Genetics? I’m now trying low carbs as suggested by Urmstongran.

Forgot to add the number 5 - while exercise is beneficial to health & wellbeing generally, it's not especially helpful in losing weight. Music to my ears.

I find the whole subject fascinating and horrifying in equal measure. There is SO much misinformation that people have to get around to lose weight effectively.
I decided in 2020 that I'd had enough of being overweight. The link between obesity and increased risk of dying from coronavirus gave me the final push. I lost 24kilos and have kept it off.
These are the things I learned:

1. Eating the right foods is key: high protein, good amounts of healthy fats, small amounts of complex carbs. NO sugar or highly processed foods. No snacking between meals.

2. Once I got the hang of it, I didn't count calories.

3. Body mass index is misleading: people with a lot of muscle tend to have higher BMIs

4. Sugar is the enemy to health, NOT fats. Biggest myth ever perpetrated

Im a big believer in will power, if my pants are a big tight that is it immediately, I eat salad, salad and salad, if I snack, its fruit or nuts. My will power is very strong, 1 of my friends is less so. She's tried this diet and that diet, the words will power just don't penetrate into her mind.

I was always around nine stone till I hit menopause, now I’m probably twelve.
I did every diet known to man with very little success so I decided to ditch the diets and the scales, and see what happened.
Well I didn’t lose weight, but I didn’t gain weight, I would like to be slimmer, and am trying to lose a bit for health reasons, but I don’t think I’m going to be very successful.
Im not convinced by the article though, everyone I know who is seriously overweight has a lot of associated health issues.

I read the article and many more like it struggling with weight all my life. I am starting an NHS recommended regime called Second Nature next week which I hope we get me on the right path to deal with several associated issues.

I’m eating super healthily on my low carb diet as recommended by an NHS senior dietician in a diabetes prevention class. Four weeks in and I’ve lost half a stone. I’m more than phase, especially as I’m never hungry! She suggested only eating whole foods ‘that your grandmother would recognise!’. No packets of crisps, I don’t bake so no bought cakes or packets of biscuits (preservatives in them), no chocolate, I’ve also kick started all this with no alcohol this past fortnight. My motivation is high. I don’t want to develop diabetes and be on metformin or gliclizide, doing thumb pricks etc. I’ve 3x as much to lose so it’s early days I realise. But I’m fed up too of being fat.

An interesting article though gagaJo!
I think what I’m trying to say (in my usual rambling style!) is that health issues can impact with weight gain. It puts strain on the joints - back, hips and knees for some people - and our hearts are the size of a fist big or small and so in a fat person our hearts have to pump harder to send blood to our extremities. This can exacerbate hypertension. Plus as explained to me recently a viscerally fat belly presses up inside against the lungs making a fat person more breathless when walking.

All in all, it ought not to be ignored. Even though I took my eye off the ball these last 3 years, it’s time now for me to address these issues.

Metabolic health is one aspect of health. No matter how you dress it up, our joints were not made to carry excessive weight and being obese for decades will almost certainly result in osteoarthritis of knees and hips. Obesity is also associated with a variety of cancers, as well as other conditions like PCOS. Of course slim people can be unhealthy but that doesn’t mean overweight people are healthier.

Very depressing. I was hoping there might be an answer at the end.

I shall run that article past my uni lecturer/researcher DD whose subject area is obesity, diet and exercise.

I haven't read the article yet, but your first section raises the question of, how do you know what your weight is meant to be? It looks rather debateable to me. Are some people naturally fatter than others? If you've eaten your way through childhood, taken very little exercise and weigh,say, 17 stone at age, say, 15, is that going to be the weight you're stuck with for the rest of your life? Or, is that the weight that nature intended you to be?

Your 'diet' is what you consume daily so to say it 'doesn't work' simple means you have chosen the wrong types or amounts for bodily health. I eat three good meals a day but don't snack and don't add to it with sweet fatty foods. I don't gain weight, but to lose weight I'd obviously have to eat a little less. Getting the right balance and satisfying your hunger have to be done with care.

Very, very interesting…….thanks Gagajo