Your perception of overweight people?

Yep have no problems with that whatsoever

OH and it's 1.6m points

 

Amen. The issue that I have here though is that whilst individuals are responsible for their lack of discipline and poor choices I cannot seem to get people on here to agree with me that the government needs to step in and regulate this.
When the government spends $1 telling us to eat healthy for every $30 that the food industry spends telling us to eat more meat and sugar and "obey our mouths" it's time for regulation. Just like we did with smoking.
40% of the Queensland health budget is spent on preventable illness meanwhile when kids get hit by cars or terrible unexpected illness there's not enough money to properly rehabilitate them. The medical profession is sick of this. They want regulation and taxes.

 

In regards to being fit and fat. Yes that's better than just fat. But the research is showing that fit fat is still unhealthy.

'Fat but fit' counts for nothing scientists say - obesity is what drives early death

And that should also be obvious from the foods that one is eating if someone can run quite far then they must be consuming an incredible amount of calories and dodgy ones to maintain themselves as fat. So your body is dealing with the poisonous nature of the food too. Processed foods refined sugars chemicals and so on even if you train hard and burn off some of the raw calories your body still has to deal with that.
In fact I know people who do this including in the Crossfit community which tends to attract desperate people sometimes who smash the hell out of their body but then go and eat 2 double meat burgers and guzzle protein powder.
Agree that BMI isn't a great measure but it's not hard to know when you are too fat. Can you grab quite a bit of fat on your stomach? If so, get rid of it (but not all. Leave 8%) and live longer. Visceral fat is toxic.

 

Being fat myself, it might simply be that in this politically correct world, ******* are an easy, soft target and also one that can be pretty much labelled with impunity. And i accept that is the case. I probably fall into that Simpsons episode where the the salesman suggests that anyone on a computer might be fat due to the endless sitting and snacking. But i don't smoke or drink, not take drugs, which i reckon contribute just as much if not more to the health budget.

I probably do need to do something about it....but given that over 50% of people are overweight, most of that has happened in the last 30-40 years so something major has changed this from what was the case say before the '80s. And it's worldwide, and even in developing nations. India is seeing a rise in obesity too, Philippines, you name it.

Edit....didn't realise that the plural of '*****' is deemed a swear word!!

 

There needs to be more done to combat obesity. I agree that a sugar tax (or whatever you want to call it) would help fight the issue by raising revenue and potentially putting people off of sugar dense items - win win for everyone.

Can anyone think of any negatives of introducing such a measure? I mean, raise revenue, reduce preventable illnesses/injuries, reduce amount of hospital waiting time, increase the number of spare beds/nurses/doctors available - just to name a few. What are the cons? Honestly?

My perception of overweight people is that if you're unable to look after yourself how can I trust you look after anything else?

 

Until our infrastructure and town planning improve we won't see a drop in the obesity rate.

So many places without paths for cycling or walking (many new developments) or paths that just don't work (constantly criss cross the street). We tell people just start with a walk - but for many they need to drive to a safe spot - you're losing the battle by increasing the obstacles.
Need to encourage more employers to have onsite bike (and trailer for those with kids) lockup and showers (Fed govt already requires this for their offices). Plus have good pathways - rather than ripping them up like Sydney. Exercise needs to be incidental or take the place of a sedentary activity (driving or catching pt). Government of all levels also needs to work on changing attitudes towards active travel - be it foot or bike.

If we can normalise active transport our population health profile and the environment would greatly improve.

I'd also be in favour of changing packaging to include labels such as if you eat this you need to run for 25minutes at 10kph (not just you'll need to walk xyz min - too many people fail to move fast enough to raise their heart rate enough for it to be counted as exercise ). people theoretically understand how many kjs they can eat per day but it gets lost in translation for what is required to burn excess.

 

A must watch is "the obesity myth" on SBS series on Mondays

If you dont believe obesity is disease, watch the show I think you may change your mind

 

Thanks for reminding me. I must watch.

It will be interesting to see how it lines up with this info: Why “Calories in, Calories Out” Doesn't Tell The Whole Story

 

From the link:
BOTTOM LINE:Being aware of your calorie intake is NOT necessary to lose weight, as long as you eat in a certain way.
Cutting carbs while increasing fat and protein is proven to lead to automatic calorie restriction and weight loss.

This seems like complete garbage.
So you can eat bucket loads of KFC without restriction and magically lose weight?

 

Thanks for the link..

Interesting read that link and links Within..I worked on one of the first fast food outlets US based company in the 1970's at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast,and when you look at the old Australian Movies from that time and the large crowds within those old movie sets you never saw many people overweight ..

 

Without restriction? Where do you get that from in the article? The article is clear that you need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight but it also makes it clear that you don't have to calorie count to create a calorie deficit. This is true. Maybe read a bit more of the article instead of cherry picking one quote:

Changing your macronutrients can affect your appetite in a dramatic way.

The best example of this is seen in studies comparing low-carb and low-fat diets.

Whereas people on low-fat diets must be calorie restricted in order to lose weight, people eating low-carb (and high fat and protein) can usually eat until they feel satisfied and still lose weight.

Studies clearly show that there's something about the low-carb diet that decreases appetite and makes people lose weight without having to control portions or count calories (8, 9).

In these studies, the researchers need to actively restrict calories in the low-fat groups to make the results comparable, but the low-carb dieters still lose more weight (10).

In this study, the low-fat group is calorie restricted while the low-carb group is eating until fullness (11):

The low-carb dieters automatically start eating less calories, because their appetite goes down.

These studies show that there is no need to consciously focus on calories in order to eat less of them. This can happen automatically, simply by changing the types of foods you eat.
​

Nowhere does it say "unrestricted", in fact, it makes it clear The low-carb dieters automatically start eating less calories... Less calories = weight loss, not KFC without restriction = weight loss.

All of this is true. My record is around 35 kg weight loss without counting a single calorie ever. I don't know why some people find this so offensive.

IMO Calories in vs calories out (CICO) theory is garbage. According to CICO, I can eat whatever I want and as long as I create a calorie deficit, I will lose weight and magically become healthy. A professor proved the weight loss bit by only eating junk food and losing 27 pounds:

Twinkie Guy - also known as Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University - is the genius who lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks subsisting almost exclusively on Twinkies, Doritos, Oreos and other treats by ensuring that he consumed fewer calories than he burned.​

A Twinkie diet? It comes down to calories

But is it really healthy just to eat junk food? The article I lnked to explains this:

One of the key problems with the "calories in, calories out" way of thinking is that it doesn't account for other health effects of foods.

The fact is that different foods can have varying effects on our health.

For example, trans fats can lead to inflammation, insulin resistance and all the horror that follows, including cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes (12, 13).

Another example is fructose. When consumed in large amounts (from added sugars, not fruit), it can lead to insulin resistance, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides and increased abdominal obesity (14).​

The point is: you can lose weight by restricting calories but this won't make you healthy if you only eat junk food. You can lose weight and be healthier and be less hungry if you eat quality foods. You do not need to count calories to create a calorie deficit.

 

Interesting discussion here. I think the answer is it depends. For example, if I have two candidates with identical qualifications, skills and knowledge - I would go the better looking and well kept one (guy or girl) every time. My assumption would be that more attractive people fare better socially because people tend to gravitate towards better looking people and many studies have done in the past to show that better looking people are perceived as more trustworthy and knowledgable - there is also what is a called a beauty premium i.e. on average they earn 10% more than average joes. Ok slightly deviated from body type but it's part of the package. So on this case it depends on supply and demand. I wouldn't outright say that being fat or obese is bad or wrong but I definitely won't encourage people to "love their bodies" in a way that will not encourage them to make any changes. Another thing that would factor in my decision is whether health is part of the occupation. For example, I wouldn't go to a fat doctor or physio or dietician, a dentist with bad teeth, an ugly plastic surgeon for obvious reasons.

 

thank you reading through that I was wondering why people were turning to the excuses of why people were too fat and what is to blame and what the government should be doing about it - someone else please do something.

OK moving on...

As much as I would love to say no I do not discriminate against people, and I do employ large people based on performance and attitude not size, I do find myself unfortunately discriminating and have to take myself back away from it. Things like "lack of self control" come to mind and I need to ask myself the question "do I lack self control" yes off course I do so why do I need to think that of others. "let themselves go" - I let myself go too. No discipline - I have my moments too. Here's the thing, when we judge another person it's never about them. It's about the things we are not able to accept within ourselves projected out.

 

Eat real food - fat, sugar, protein in all quantities as it comes naturally but completely unrefined.

If you eat an apple why do you care how much carbs are in it - it's basically carbs and sugar. BUT it's unrefined.
Refining anything is disastrous. We've seen what refined sugar does and refined carbohydrates, people have not yet caught onto the disasters that refined protein does and still think of protein as sexy even when it's refined and completely unhealthy.

I would not touch protein powders and protein bars if you paid me to. Imagine if they were refined fat bars or refined carb bars

stick to real food not manufactured crap and don't measure what it's made of.

 

I just started a new job on Monday. The table we all (about 8 of us) work at has so many sweets on it, box of Favorites, some ?Indian sweet (i looked at the ingredients list.. only 3 things in it... it was something like condensed milk (ie. Sugar!) sugar, and fat!), a few other packets of sweets, it's not funny.

One guy wanted to go to a particular food court at lunchtime because he can buy coca cola for $1.20 at the food court which is cheaper than everywhere else. So we went there.

Unbelievable. I do think some of my new colleagues are taking in too much sugar, and some maybe overweight. But... from what I see they are good capable employees.