payment from nhs for diet class

Emmzi

aliasojo wrote: »

In fact, if you re-read the thread, I think most of us are managing to discuss the subject quite well.....whether you or dizziblonde agree with our opinions or not.

You don't find this patronising or suggesting stupidity?

There is a closely guarded secret to losing (not loosing) weight that appears to be known to only an increasingly small minority.

I will let you into this secret.

It requires you to eat less and/or to exercise more. Preferably both but either on its own will usually do.

DKLS

There is a guaranteed method of losing weight, unfortunately its illegal and a lot of fun so not to be recommended.

RichOneday_2

I think I must be missing the point here!

If someone is overweight AND feels that it is a major issue for them AND feels that a program of SW classes is somehow the answer to their woes then why aren't they attending?

What's this great NHS initiative exactly? Oh that's right to fund the £4.50 pw. Is there something about being overweight that makes it easier to reach for someone else's purse/wallet rather than your own?

aliasojo

Emmzi wrote: »

You don't find this patronising or suggesting stupidity?

There is a closely guarded secret to losing (not loosing) weight that appears to be known to only an increasingly small minority.

I will let you into this secret.

It requires you to eat less and/or to exercise more. Preferably both but either on its own will usually do.

To be honest, no. I think the point was made in a jokey / slightly wry way, and that doesn't suggest stupidity to me.

(Although to be fair.....I dont think pointing out spelling errors was necessarily helpful. )

Emmzi

aliasojo wrote: »

To be honest, no. I think the point was made in a jokey / slightly wry way, and that doesn't suggest stupidity to me.

(Although to be fair.....I dont think pointing out spelling errors was necessarily helpful. )

It's possible you haven't been in a position where people treat you like your brain died because you are overweight or disabled.

I am not sure I see the humour in it myself.

Hiwever thank you for your alternative viewpoint. Your points have been calm and well made, in my opinion.

hermoine_2

Hi all

Speaking as someone who has lost weight several times with SW, WW and RC I do not really see the point in attending free of charge. Part of the reason why these classes work is because you are paying to attend and each week you will pay, be weighed receive some support and go home. The fact that you are paying and do not want to waste your cash is a serious motivator.

That said, I am not sure that these multi million pound industries really are the answer for anyone. They are full, as a previous poster said, of people who have been there before. I have joined on many occasions - the diet industry has it sussed they are the only people I can think of that when their product fails to deliver the customer totally blames themselves!!!! Anything else you buy you would blame the product or the manufacturer.

I have lost weight over the last 18monts. I have done it at home on my own by eating less and moving more. I have lost 3.5 stone and have about the same again to lose. My GP weighs me once a month and she is providing me with some support, I see her for other things which is what started me on this road, she said my joints would hurt less if I lost weight.

So whilst I would support anyone who wanted to lose weight, and even the idea of the NHS paying for them to do it, I am not sure that the slimming club will work if you do not pay for being there.

H

aliasojo

Emmzi wrote: »

It's possible you haven't been in a position where people treat you like your brain died because you are overweight or disabled.

Actually, without going into detail and turning this thread into a 'look what happened to me' kind of thing.....I have. I can still remember the burning feeling of acute embarrasment as if it were yesterday. I also know I was much more sensitive about things for a long time afterwards and I analysed every remark made to me and about me, for alternative meaning.

It's just as an unhealthy way to be as it is to be overweight imo and it's important to regain perspective otherwise a person's emotional health will suffer just as much as their physical health.

Lord it's hard trying to be a well balanced (in every way) individual. :rotfl:

Nelski

Well on one hand the level of obesity in the UK is obviously a ticking time-bomb for the NHS in the future so if people really do get motivated by the fees for these classes being paid then maybe its a good thing. I think though that we do need to ask a couple of questions.

Why is this open to all obese people - Im sure Dawn French would qualify and yet has a few million quid stashed - shouldn't there be some form of means test?

Is the NHS fully supporting these classes now? I know lots of people who go for a while then pile it all back on again so where is the proper evidence that the route the NHS is supporting has long term clinical benefits? And if they do work why don't the NHS just run their own version of the classes open to anyone wanting to lose weight.

If it works then great but the cynic in me says that a 4.50 paid class will not provide the inner motivation that is really needed for a consistent long term weight loss.

And for the sake of balance maybe if gym sessions were subsidised for everyone not just the obese we would have less problems in the future - a thin person can be just as unfit and unhealthy as a fat person it just doesnt show as much;)

magyar

No-one needs gym sessions. We all have a big gym outside our front door, and you can run in it.

Someone who walks 5km a day will burn off about 400 calories. Do that ten times and they will lose 1lb in weight.

It really is as simple as calories in / calories out. There is absolutely no such thing as being 'predisposed' to carry weight. All the crap about diets is just something made up to see books and magazines.

Emmzi

magyar wrote: »

It really is as simple as calories in / calories out. There is absolutely no such thing as being 'predisposed' to carry weight. All the crap about diets is just something made up to see books and magazines.

The Maths is that easy. The Doing isn't.

Lots of overweight people have psychological issues to overcome. Support groups can help with that, be it weight watchers or group therapy.

The NHS don't have enough psychologists and councellors to go round. Isn't it worth funding a few people to get group support to see if it works? A fiver a week is a damn sight cheaper than £50 an hour for a therapist. And, unlike self funded programmes, there is a definite structure - 5% weight off in so many weeks. And for my money, support group vs xenical/ alli or gastric band surgery? Let's give the safer, cheaper option a try.

Please folks - let them give the trial a go and prove it does or doesn't work for certain groups of people before you decry. Folks used to think therapy was tosh, that leeches cured everything (they cure a lot, but not everything!), and so on. Alcoholics get help; I bvelieve they *should* get help. How much worse to have a mental addiction to something you cannot live without?

What is so wrong with a trial? Or would you rather your taxes were spent on wheelchairs, and electric scooters for those to large to walk unaided? Or woukd you rather see a raft of suicides?

It's just a trial!