Normalisation of being fat

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I'm Spartacus said:
1980 is a world away, people were miles more active by default. More blokes had manual jobs, kids were running riot in every street, women generally didn't have a car so walked everywhere and force fed their kids horrible healthy home made stews and shit, take aways were fish lots or a once in a blue moon Chinese. It was just a different world where being active was part of life, not something you had to think about.
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Clearly a fewer people are taking in exercise as part of their daily lives, but in recent years there does seem to have been a massive increase in the amount of people doing exercise for leisure.

I was out on Saturday morning and noticed a hell of a lot of people out running. It seemed like every section of path had a runner on it. Later that day we took the kids for a bike ride and there were huge amounts of people out. It was pretty windy along the coast so there were not too many people out, only dog walkers and cyclists. One seafront pub/cafe has absolutely heaving and I would say 90% of people in there were cyclists, ranging from slim lycra clad blokes looking professional to families just out for a bit of fun on bikes. When we got home, we found our neighbours had been doing exactly the same route too. When I do the school run, I have seen a group of mums now drop their kids off and go for a run.

I think the health message is getting through to many. People are getting out more and finding that once you get over that initial spell of starting an exercise where it is difficult and hurts, people are enjoying it. Eating wise especially on TV, a diet used to be portrayed as someone looking disappointed at a measly portion of lettuce as their main meal. Better nutrition information does mean that people are now seeing that healthy food can be really nice and filling. There are extremes between pie & chips and limp lettuce. Thinking back to my childhood, I can't think of any adults who did things like going out running or cycling. I remember at 17 a lass who was a former school mate seeing me and a friend returning home on bikes after we had just done the old railway track from Washington up to Stanley, because we were 'playing on bikes like kids'.

The message is not getting through to all and especially when I go swimming I see a lot of families where the kids are pretty fat and so are the adults. I think it is right what has been said, that in my juniors school in the 80s we had one fat lad and one fat lass (ironically the lass above who laughed at us out cycling) and it feels like it is a lot more now. On the other hand, while I don't know all the kids in my children's classes, I can't think of any fat kids in their classes. Perhaps we are just noticing fat kids and fat people more. They are easier to see.
 


DaveH said:
Clearly a fewer people are taking in exercise as part of their daily lives, but in recent years there does seem to have been a massive increase in the amount of people doing exercise for leisure.

I was out on Saturday morning and noticed a hell of a lot of people out running. It seemed like every section of path had a runner on it. Later that day we took the kids for a bike ride and there were huge amounts of people out. It was pretty windy along the coast so there were not too many people out, only dog walkers and cyclists. One seafront pub/cafe has absolutely heaving and I would say 90% of people in there were cyclists, ranging from slim lycra clad blokes looking professional to families just out for a bit of fun on bikes. When we got home, we found our neighbours had been doing exactly the same route too. When I do the school run, I have seen a group of mums now drop their kids off and go for a run.

I think the health message is getting through to many. People are getting out more and finding that once you get over that initial spell of starting an exercise where it is difficult and hurts, people are enjoying it. Eating wise especially on TV, a diet used to be portrayed as someone looking disappointed at a measly portion of lettuce as their main meal. Better nutrition information does mean that people are now seeing that healthy food can be really nice and filling. There are extremes between pie & chips and limp lettuce. Thinking back to my childhood, I can't think of any adults who did things like going out running or cycling. I remember at 17 a lass who was a former school mate seeing me and a friend returning home on bikes after we had just done the old railway track from Washington up to Stanley, because we were 'playing on bikes like kids'.

The message is not getting through to all and especially when I go swimming I see a lot of families where the kids are pretty fat and so are the adults. I think it is right what has been said, that in my juniors school in the 80s we had one fat lad and one fat lass (ironically the lass above who laughed at us out cycling) and it feels like it is a lot more now. On the other hand, while I don't know all the kids in my children's classes, I can't think of any fat kids in their classes. Perhaps we are just noticing fat kids and fat people more. They are easier to see.
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Fat kids are due to 'slow metabolism' and fast chip-eating fingers
 
zinedine said:
I knew what your point was but as i said humans are weak and not everybody can resist the temptation that is in every shopping parade these days. You've done well but we're not all the same.
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Of course we are not all the same, how dull would that be. But am not special and isn't that a very easy excuse though, temptation ?
 
monkeytassle said:
For a healthy individual to be 10 stone underweight you'd have to be dead so yeah you're right in that sense.

But in normal terms being overweight is far more dangerous than being too skinny
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Being underweight is much worse for you than being overweight. I'm sure I read somewhere that someone underweight is twice or more likely to drop down deed than a fat cuss.

Obviously neither is ideal like..

I'm off for a pie.
 
alexander said:
Of course we are not all the same, how dull would that be. But am not special and isn't that a very easy excuse though, temptation ?
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Temptation has ruined many a good man. :)
We have laws to protect us from ourselves such as seatbelts, crash helmets and drug use. While I'm mostly not in favour of state mollycoddling you can see why we have these laws. I think the state should control the number of food outlets in a given area and help to take that temptation away.
 
Hep said:
They can't make you put weight on. They might make it harder, but if you eat less calories than you burn, the laws of physics apply.
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Obviously. Life isnt black and white though. I am more stable mentally but have put two stone on in the last year since taking them.

Around 25% of people report gaining weight but its not known why this happens. Could be cravings for carbs or change in metabolism etc.

I know for me personally, I don't feel full like I used to do, I can keep on eating when I don't feel very hungry.
 
zinedine said:
Temptation has ruined many a good man. :)
We have laws to protect us from ourselves such as seatbelts, crash helmets and drug use. While I'm mostly not in favour of state mollycoddling you can see why we have these laws. I think the state should control the number of food outlets in a given area and help to take that temptation away.
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Or would that just make the one food outlet more popular and have a monopoly on an area? What if an area had a chippy and a pizza takeaway and a quote of two? Someone comes along wanting to open a bakery/deli place selling made to order sandwiches, rice, salads, pasta, pies and sausage rolls. There is some healthy food some unhealthy. You also have the unknown areas between them in the bread and pasta range where nobody can seem to make their mind up about bread and now I hear that pasta is bad, lots of carbs means energy, which means weight gain. Should the new shop not be allowed to open because there is already a chippy in town?

Personally I feel it is better for people to have a choice and give them the education to make an informed choice. It is the same thing in that people are more likely to go for a coffee or tea in the middle of the day rather than a pint. Just 20 years ago, if you wanted a drink when you were out it seemed like you had greasy spoon type cafes with cheap weak tea, pubs or posh hotel type lounges with waitress service and a suitable wait because people were there for an hour or two to relax. People went for beer. Now Starbucks and Costa fill that gap in the middle and people are not drinking as much.
 
zinedine said:
Temptation has ruined many a good man. :)
We have laws to protect us from ourselves such as seatbelts, crash helmets and drug use. While I'm mostly not in favour of state mollycoddling you can see why we have these laws. I think the state should control the number of food outlets in a given area and help to take that temptation away.
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Why should local businesses suffer for it, though ? Let alone freedom of choice. If people stopped blaming everyone but themselves it would be a better start than stately censorship.
 
daily mail bullshit

even in the op

dacre to a tee

only going to get worse in a tory/daily mail dictatorship

what next, people who wear glasses? Beards etc etc
 
DaveH said:
Or would that just make the one food outlet more popular and have a monopoly on an area? What if an area had a chippy and a pizza takeaway and a quote of two? Someone comes along wanting to open a bakery/deli place selling made to order sandwiches, rice, salads, pasta, pies and sausage rolls. There is some healthy food some unhealthy. You also have the unknown areas between them in the bread and pasta range where nobody can seem to make their mind up about bread and now I hear that pasta is bad, lots of carbs means energy, which means weight gain. Should the new shop not be allowed to open because there is already a chippy in town?

Personally I feel it is better for people to have a choice and give them the education to make an informed choice. It is the same thing in that people are more likely to go for a coffee or tea in the middle of the day rather than a pint. Just 20 years ago, if you wanted a drink when you were out it seemed like you had greasy spoon type cafes with cheap weak tea, pubs or posh hotel type lounges with waitress service and a suitable wait because people were there for an hour or two to relax. People went for beer. Now Starbucks and Costa fill that gap in the middle and people are not drinking as much.
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I didn't say just one outlet I said control the numbers in an area.
It's probably too late now the genie is out of the bottle, we are used to having takeaway junk food around the corner or just a phone call away. As for education that doesn't work either we all know how bad this food is for us.
I knew a lad who had a poor lifestyle health wise and he contracted diabetes. He wouldn't do as doctors told him and change his diet and eventually It caught up with him. He lost a foot but didn't seem bothered then the last I heard he died a couple of years ago. He knew this would happen but carried on smoking, drinking and eating what he liked. Who knows what the answer is.
 
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