overweight

thebull

Hi as a person who has always been overweight I find myself in the following position.
Due to my weight I am now suffering from joint pain and to be honest I am struggling at work ,light manual work with quiet a bit of walking.
Thing is my department is contracting at the moment and the first wave of pay off's has begun and fortunately I survived but there will be more and to be honest its getting to the stage now where I think I must go sick which will impact on my employability.
Is there any employment law that protects overweight people at work is my question ?
Please advice only not opinion I know I need to lose weight and I am genuinely trying.
I have been with my company for 12 year and I am male 54

hcb42

no there isnt, but if the weight is impacting the ability to do the job, then it is time to try and manage it, even shedding a couple of stone will help...not easy I know.

scooby088

Only advice i can give is to lose weight, i was about 23 stone had a very manual job and although am younger still had the same sort of problems...It's easy for me to say this now but join a gym and keep on working.

Sorry to say but being overweight has no special consideration in employment law.

dandelionclock30

Try eating a high protein lower carb diet,I've usually lost weight when I've done this.Like eating chicken and tuna salads for lunch at work, fish and vegetables for tea etc.Combine eating like this with exercize and the weight will drop off you. Do more walking and get a bike. Also stop drinking alcohol altogether, its a waste of money and very calorific.
Its really hard losing weight, but I think eating like the above is the only way really.

skintandscared_2

There are lots of ways to lose weight and I personally don't like the low carb diets. The OP should find something that includes some of the foods he enjoys or he will never be able to maintain it. There is a guy in the 'States who lost a huge amount of weight eating at Subway every day. It's all about making manageable and lasting changes.

OP maybe if you kept a diary of everything you eat over a couple of days you will see where you could make some swaps or cut back on the portions? I know losing weight isn't easy, but if you are at the stage where you are contemplating time off work sick because of your weight then clearly you need to do something. If you are away from work you will probably stop the small amount of exercise that you currently do and things could only get worse. I wish you the best of luck.

Emmzi

OP, one thing I have learned is never, ever post a weight question on MSE. (Weight or smoking, they bring out all the self righteous!)

Generally slender posters think it is because you just don't know what to do, or are too lazy/ have no willpower to do it. As opposed to the rather more complex reality. I would only take advice form your doctor on how to lose weight.

There is no law protecting people on the basis of weight or size discrimination. If you are affected so much it would be a disability, then yes, there may be some protection, but you still have to be able to do the job, albeit with adjustments.

Can you ask for an Occ Health referal?

Evilm

Unless you can get your Doctor to agree this is a disability and help you prove that to your employer then No.

dickydonkin

Back to the question - selection for redundancy should be based on mostly objective criteria and applied to all at risk.

It will be likely that one of the objective criterion in a redundancy selection matrix will be attendance, then potentially any time off work may place you more at risk and affect your 'score'.

From someone who used to be overweight - and struggles to keep it off I might add, I can sympathise, but as others have suggested, if you can take some of the pressure off your joints, not only will you be able to do your job without pain, but you will feel better for it as well.

See your GP and ask for advice on how you can relieve the pain in the short term so you can keep working and avoid harming yourself - but also take that opportunity to request advice on a diet THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU which may hopefully help in the long term.

Good luck.

Middy

The only way to reduce joint pain in your case - lose the excess weight.

I am 31 years old and look at my sig to see how much weight I have lost. It has taken me 18 months so far. I used to get knee pain from walking long distances - not anymore.

I can't swim or ride a bike due to co-ordination problems, but eat sensible foods and fewer naughty foods.

LisaB85

It is hard being overweight I have always been overweight too and although I still am I have increased my fitness and I feel good about it but know it can be hard to motivate yourself.

As for food it is hard to break those habits you didn't realise were doing so much damage. I used to forever skip breakfast and sometimes lunch too but now I eat both which I am finding easier as I get used to it.

I love food but I'm slowly training myself to ignore biscuits etc I am suprised at how easy it is to say 'NO' to those things, I still have a treat in the evenings to stop the cravings but instead of a chocolate bar I'll have a choc moose, yoghurt or small pot of custard.

My bad food habits have a lot to do with my moods and mental state but I'm breaking it; although never going to be a super healthy eater.

Don't just do it for work do it for yourself.....of course if you want to.