payment from nhs for diet class

mrsmoneyspender

Thanks for all the support

I believe it will save the nhs money in preventing people getting more health problems
In addition to my health problems I am also at high risk of developing stroke,heart disease,ovarian cancer and as this is in my family my doctor encourages me to loose weight, it is a lot to cope with so I will take whatever help I am offered.
I found the class great as it gives information about food values,choices,etc but mostly it gives support which was very inspiring,
just listening to other people with the same issues and talking helps( much cheaper than counselling!)
I feel very positive and have had a good week so far and hope to be succesful losing weight
I am on a low wage, have three children and look after my disabled mum
I would not be able to afford this out of my income, i do have to buy certain foods for my health which are more expensive ie wheat free, gluten free and dairy free which i don't ask for help to pay
I have paid into the system and luckily i have never claimed any money from the state so i feel i am entitled to this help
the cost of treatment for smokers, alcoholics,drug users,anorexics etc is far more expensive and i do not begrudge anyone who has need of help from the nhs

Good luck to everyone trying to loose weight.

mrs ms

RichOneday_2

Emmzi wrote: »

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.

I'm sorry but it's so easy to throw that old chestnut around.

Are you seriously saying that the people who will end up getting funded by such an initiative have some sort of inability to put one foot in front of the other?:rolleyes:

If they have, then they have far bigger problems than any that a £4.50pw SW program can solve!

And a genetic predisposition to be overweight? - come on, you can't really believe that? It seems to be one of those excuses that people use so often that they actually believe it themselves. The fact that parents/other members of the family are in a similar weight situation does not indicate a 'genetic predisposition' - it indicates that family members tend to have the same sort of diet, hardly surprising really is it?

Why is the 'Doing' so difficult? One step is all it takes to get started. It doesn't take a support group or classes or £4.50 per week - just one foot in front of the other and the acceptance that it isnt someone/something else's fault!

aliasojo

RichOneday wrote: »

Why is the 'Doing' so difficult?

I don't know. Do you have the answer to this question?

It's universally accepted that losing weight is a problem for many thousands of people all over the world. It is difficult. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be any fatties at all.

I'd love for someone to come up with the reason why it's difficult though. It's not enough to just say 'you can do it if you want to'....what is it that stops people from succeeding?

RichOneday_2

Emmzi wrote: »

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!

What???????????

This is only a question about who pays for SW/other slimming classes!

Why are you throwing around emotive issues that are irrelevant to the original question?

Is there some reason why overweight=poor? Unlikely!

But for anyone who is on benefits/low income and wants to lose weight there are all sorts of free/subsidised sports/exercises available. And I emphasise again..it doesn't cost anything to lose weight so even if overweight does equal poor it doesn't mean a jot.

Remember we are not talking about whether people with disabilities can exercise or any other similar type issues which muddy the discussion....just simply who should foot a £4.50pw bill to go to a SW meeting.

Fire_Fox

aliasojo wrote: »

I can see that by the NHS spending £4.50 a week in the short term, they are hoping it will herd off the potential long term (and possibly costly)issues that overweight people may go on to develop.

However, people who are 'just' overweight (and by that I mean, are carrying extra weight but are not ill or have weight related health problems) have a choice and the ability to act on that choice. People who are ill don't.

... but we dont have that luxury and whilst various waiting lists get longer and operations get cancelled because of staff shortages or lack of funding and certain cancer treatments are denied in certain areas because of cost....then I think it's wrong to subsidise individuals in this way.

Initiatives are not targetted at those who are 'just' overweight (BMI 25 to 30), they are targetted at those who are clinically obese (BMI 30+). Obesity is a medical disorder in itself, not simply a risk for other conditions. Most people who are clinically obese will have at least one other problem related to the weight - pain in the joints (back, knees, feet), infertility, hypertension, impaired fasting glucose - already.

Most cancers are caused or contributed to by lifestyle issues - being overweight, poor nutrition, smoking, inactivity. In fact experts estimate that one third of all cancers are related to poor lifestyle choices! I work in physical activity, I am qualified to work in smoking cessation and I have a lot of weight loss clients. Trust me when I say that obesity is a much more complex issue than simply eating less and exercising more.

To everyone: once you are not making lifestyle choices that will affect your future health then throw the first stone. Do you take 10,000 steps every day without fail? Do you strength train twice a week every week? Have you ever smoked? Do you eat at least five portions of fruit and veg every day without fail? Do you eat two or three portions of oily fish each week?

RichOneday_2

aliasojo wrote: »

It's not enough to just say 'you can do it if you want to'....what is it that stops people from succeeding?

But it is!!

If it means enough to you, ie you want to enough, you will lose weight. It's simple, not difficult as you suggest.

The reason that millions of people are overweight/obese is because they don't want to or cant be bothered to get round to tackling it.

There is a general lack of ability to get motivated for anything which doesn't have near instant results. Take 10 years getting fat and get rid of it all in 10 minutes seems to be what is needed to get some people motivated.

All that is needed are a couple of small changes - a small decrease in food intake and a small increase in activity. Over time, maybe several months, weight will decrease.

marcowil

Emmzi wrote: »

how easy it is for people with no weight problems to assume it's easy to just eat less and move more. Thank you SO much for informing us of this fact. Clearly the reason people are overweight is because they are thick or lazy.

Grr. This thread has me FUMING at the ignorance and prejudice on it. You can't oversimplify this problem with sweeping generalisations. Why not let the NHS do a pilot scheme and see what happens? Then you're making judgements on fact from controlled studies - not bigoted opinion.

I'm sorry to say this but the original comment was correct.

I am overweight and have been for years. I finally decided to do something about it late last year. I have now managed to lose nearly 3 stone simply by cutting down the amount i eat and cutting out (or trying to) the things i know make me put weight on. I joined Unislim to help me with this. It's hard going but I'm sticking at it.

I've always known that eating less and moving more will help me lose weight, I was just too lazy to do anything about it!!!

RichOneday_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Initiatives are not targetted at those who are 'just' overweight (BMI 25 to 30), they are targetted at those who are clinically obese (BMI 30+). Obesity is a medical disorder in itself, not simply a risk for other conditions. Most people who are clinically obese will have at least one other problem related to the weight - pain in the joints (back, knees, feet), infertility, hypertension, impaired fasting glucose - already.

Most cancers are caused or contributed to by lifestyle issues - being overweight, poor nutrition, smoking, inactivity. In fact experts estimate that one third of all cancers are related to poor lifestyle choices! I work in physical activity, I am qualified to work in smoking cessation and I have a lot of weight loss clients. Trust me when I say that obesity is a much more complex issue than simply eating less and exercising more.

No! Obesity is just fatter than overweight - why does that make it a medical disorder?

Why does a long list of reasons why losing weight is a great idea make it a more complex issue than simply eating less and exercising more?

If you are suggesting that a very small minority are so incapacitated that they are unable to exercise at all, which is obviously the case, then how does funding £4.50pw SW classes help?

magyar

Emmzi wrote: »

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!

Let's be clear, I'm not in the 'don't give fatties help on the NHS' camp.

My point is that it doesn't need to be expensive gym memberships, a very very simple system is simply getting people together to go for a walk round the local area. I would have no problem with the NHS funding something like this, because it would be very cheap.

My work has a walking club and a running club, all you do is turn up, walk or run round a 6km route - you meet people, you have fun, you get fit. Costs virtually nothing, just someone's time for 30 mins.

sidefx

dizziblonde wrote: »

When I walked into the gym and asked to join, it was flipping hard to do. When I started going there, and had to put up with a couple of snide stick insects sniggering at the sight of me coming in - it was even harder. .

Well isn't that their problem not yours? Or maybe it was a touch of paranoia on your behalf.

When I see cleary overweight person at the gym I use, I always admire them for wanting to get/stay fit and maybe lose some weight.

I do not agree that slimming class should be funded by NHS. If I put on weight I wouldn't get any help, unless of course I doubled my weight. I would have to use will power alone.

I do not think that gym membership should not be funded either. As an earlier poster mentioned, what's wrong with going for a walk or run in the great outdoors?