Main causes of obesity

I think .Gigolo Aunt is not trying to make anyone feel bad, just being realistic. It's quite common to blame excess weight on heavy bones and muscles. I've only ever met one person who is a fitness instructor that I would call heavy due to muscle.


If you feel good then that's what matters. If your body is telling you that its struggling then help it out.

Nicki wrote: »

It's perfectly possible to be overweight but active, just as it is possible to be slim and unfit.

It's not unreasonable to say that a woman of 5'2" who wears a size 16 in clothes and weighes 13 stones is carrying too much weight around her internal organs for the good of her health.

BMI on its own is not always a great measure of whether someone is overweight, and rugby players are a good example of where it doesn't always work. But combined with hip/waist ratio, and an eyeballing of how a person looks, it is generally quite a good guide, which is why it is still used so extensively.

To be honest the circumstances where someone has a BMI of over 30 but is not clinically overweight will be the exception rather than the rule, however much we all like to cling on to the excuse it is a poor guide once our own tips over 25

From my own perspective I tend to look slimmer than my actual weight, but if my BMI is over 25, I do notice knock on effects on my health (and fertility when I was younger). So although aesthetically I didn't necessarily look particularly fat with a BMI around 26 or 27, my health was not as good as when it is a more reasonable 23/24.

I don't disagree with what you're saying, but .ga questioned devils, with a :eek: - and a "something doesn't add up about your description of yourself and what you do"...I appreciate there are some trolls out there (OP, for example), but I don't see why devils would post such a thing, if it wasn't true. It's not like it was an inflammatory post, like most trolls do. Devils may actually enjoy and be happy at her size, and why not?

As someone who has been at both ends of the spectrum weight wise, I have already put my neck on the line by saying I don't agree with the calories in/out equation - from a physics point of view, I conceded it may make sense - but not from an actual real life point of view. I shall also go as far as saying that I don't actually believe weight loss is the panacea it is made out to be. So many people are 'fat shamed' into feeling like they have to lose weight, by doctors etc, but the fact is, there is no 'cure' for obesity...if calorie counting, weight watchers, slimming world, cambridge etc etc REALLY worked, the obesity epidemic would have been wiped out years ago.

I am currently following an 'Intuitive Eating' approach. Listening to when my body tells me I am physically hungry and stopping when it is satiated, not uncomfortable. This is the ONLY way left for me, because I have 'dieted' so many times. I have done them all. I have spent hours feeling ravenous and lightheaded, but not being able to do anything because I have no points or syns left. Is that honestly healthy??

I AM obese, with a large BMI for those who are counting. I have had those body fat tests done privately and there is no sign of fatty liver disease, although I appreciate that may just be a matter of time. I have spent most of my adult life feeling like my body needed to be something it isn't..and where has that got me?? Fatter than ever, with a history of borderline anorexia and binge eating disorder. And an ill body to boot, which hasn't helped.

I REALLY wish focus would be taken off 'recommending' or 'advising' people lose weight, because all it does is breed feelings of failure, and not being good enough, instead of actually providing a solution.

And before anyone says 'you just need to do this, this and this', it really ISN'T that simple...if it was, there would be no need at all for any posts like this. Maybe the people who are 'failing' at losing weight aren't actually failing at all, maybe it is the weight loss regime or diet that is failing them.

So many people are 'fat shamed' into feeling like they have to lose weight, by doctors etc, but the fact is, there is no 'cure' for obesity...if calorie counting, weight watchers, slimming world, cambridge etc etc REALLY worked, the obesity epidemic would have been wiped out years ago.

But we do 100% know how to fix the problem. Its that most people just don't have the discipline to execute it. Its quite tricky and requires organisation and planning and the rest.

I REALLY wish focus would be taken off 'recommending' or 'advising' people lose weight, because all it does is breed feelings of failure, and not being good enough, instead of actually providing a solution.

Thing is being overweight is the cause of a lot of health problems. Does it mean that because one person is overweight they will be unwell? No. What it does mean is that for the majority being overweight is a problem that increases the probability of getting certain diseases. When you take a large group of people it seems wise to reduce it.

I think the problem is the way in which it is done maybe and not the fact that it is done.

And before anyone says 'you just need to do this, this and this', it really ISN'T that simple

I can't just read this and not point out for the majority of people there is a very straightforward way that is backed by over 100 years of scientific reseach on metabolism. We have know for a long time how to manipulate weight and it is simple. The hard part is the execution!

I think *some* thin people feel superior in some way and like to tell obese people what to do and where they are going wrong. I think it makes them feel better about themselves. Criticize the obese person for not moving, and then when they do move laugh at them.

I think lots of people are impressed with the effort. Im always sad when I see people at the gym in January and then they disappear. I like that they are trying. I honestly feel most decent people will be supportive of that.

As for the health benefits of being thin - I again think its more complicated than than. Just because you are thin does not mean you are healthy and won't get ill.

Right but it doesn't work for individual cases. It works for the majority. You have take averages you can't base a conclusion for yourself of one person. So one thin person may not be more healthy but the majority will be. There are many scientific studies on things like cancer, diabetes where body weight comes into it.


If you want to lose weight then we know how to do it. Something that works for 99% of people. What we don't know is how well you are prepared to execute it.

Anoneemoose wrote: »

So many people are 'fat shamed' into feeling like they have to lose weight, by doctors etc, but the fact is, there is no 'cure' for obesity...if calorie counting, weight watchers, slimming world, cambridge etc etc REALLY worked, the obesity epidemic would have been wiped out years ago.

A few years ago when I quit smoking, the advisor at the doctors clinic made me really angry when she said she had never smoked. I couldn't understand how someone who had never had the addiction could effectively understand or support someone going through the motions of quitting. She said she had similar with her weight and had yo-yo-ed with trying to keep her weight down/go on diets.


Whilst I didn't understand the comparison then, I understand it now. There is a cure for both smoking and obesity but it is up to the individual to grab it and use it. You've just got to want it enough.