Dieting doesn't work!

[piskieinboots]

says this chap who is having a specially-built council house costing £300K. Seems he has tried all diets but they don't work so he has given up and now spends 11 hours a day watching TV.

I could suggest he tries the revolutionary new diet of eating less, getting off ya butt more - but as it's a new idea, he'd never believe it would work!

Am I being mean? Not intentionally, it isn't my way. But losing weight could just save his life (a new purpose-build house will not), another revolutionary idea!

[FionaH]

Given that NICE have recently withdrawn a cancer drug because it is too expensive I find this a horrendous misuse of funds grrrrrrr

[piskieinboots]

yep - that's pretty much how I feel Fi!

[OllieMartin]

This conjuers the same emotions in me as reading about people on benefits who make no effort to get a job. It's not that I have anything particular against them, I'm very much 'each to their own'. It's more a feeling of "why would you want to?"
I like working and earning money in the same way as I like being relatively healthy and being able to fit through a norml sized doorway.

Diets might not work, but eating lots and not exercising definately does work, there's plenty of evidence!

[Flummery]

I think people can get so overweight simlpy by eating unwisely and letting things slide, that they can't face the uphill struggle to lose it. If you need to lose the equivalent of a 'normal' bodyweight, or more it's completely overwhelming. You know you should eat less but I know from my own experience of losing weight after the children were born, that you eat less for weeks and weeks and nothing happens (you have to keep it up for ages, I find, even with increased exercise). Unless you are iron-willed, it's easier to give in and eat what you want.

Also, when I worked at school, we found that overweight children hated exercise. It tired them more, they wobbled, others laughed, they avoided the situation. If you try gwntle walking and even that chafes, you give up.

I agree that paying huge amounts for a special house isn't the way to go. He needs a personal dietician and trainer - what would that cost I wonder, and who would cought it up?

[Mac]

Grrr. People down the road from us have come up with what may be a cheaper solution to teh £300k price tag. They have built a very large garage next to the house they are refurbishing. They had it up in 4 days, it has a kitchen area, sitting area, sleeping area, even sky TV and would be easy to manoever a wheelchair round. It even has a ramp up to the door. They've been living in it for a year. Sorted....

[piskieinboots]

I agree that paying huge amounts for a special house isn't the way to go. He needs a personal dietician and trainer - what would that cost I wonder, and who would cought it up?

This is exactly what he needs - help in the form of making better food choices, help in the form of a trainer who can encourage him - even a small steps would help.

I do feel sad for him and I'm sure it must be very hard to come back to 'normal' but the house is just keeping him in the condition he has got himself into not addressing the main issue

[di]

It is really sad and I can't start to imagine what his life must be like.However,I totally agree that spending this amount of money,which in fact is encouraging him to stay the way he is,is absolutely ludicrous!

What possibly gets to me the most is that he's housebound...therefore all the food he eats is being brought into the house & more than likely prepared for him!...these are the people that need to be educated to change their ways first!
I know how hard it is,I used to work with adults with learning disabilities.One lovely chap was totally reliant on his wheelchair and needed help with eating unless it was finger food.Day services got to the stage where they had to threaten to withdraw their services as he was too heavy for staff to work with(H&S)...what made me really mad was that some staff continued to "treat" him with loads of unhealthy snacks...because "he didn't have much else to enjoy"!!!He sadly did lose his day service.

[Pumpkin Becki]

It would probably be cheaper in the long run (on the tax payer) to give this chap a live-in dietician or personal trainer (or both), rather than build him a house and the inevitable NHS costs involved. I lost 5 stone (one on my own, and four more with Weight Watchers about five years ago), so I do understand how hard it is to get started (even though that is a relatively small amount to lose), and that it has to be a decision you reach for yourself in order to maintain the effort, or it just won't work.
I find building this chap a special house a strange way to deal with the problem.

[ginger ninger]

I've just read about him....apparently he blames taking steroids as a teenager for his eczema for his weight gain. My mum was on steroids for 18 years she put maybe 1 stone on over that length of time.

In the margin at the bottom, down the right hand side of this article is a heart breaking story about what is happening in "Cockermouth, Cumbria", the fact that these poor families, through no fault of there own, will not be spending Christmas in there own homes, the devastation that has been caused in there homes is laid open for all to see, people who have lots everything, photos of past loved ones which can't be replaced, its terrible, £300.000 could be put to much better use hear, it's already been said that a cancer drug has been withdrawn because of cuts....Its nice to see this government has got its priorities right

[piskieinboots]

I've just read about him....apparently he blames taking steroids as a teenager for his eczema for his weight gain. My mum was on steroids for 18 years she put maybe 1 stone on over that length of time.

Same for me, I have taken them (in my earlier years) for eczema and for Asthma - I stand at 15-20lbs overweight and that is because I eat too much, I drink too much, but I do exercise a lot, otherwise it could be much worse.

He is also probably depressed, who wouldn't be sitting watching 11 hours of TV each and every day!!

[ginger ninger]

I've suffered from depression since my late teens, I have good days and bad days, I can go months without feeling down and then there are months when it creeps up on me and knocks me for 6, this is when I have my counselor and medication to help me, but in all that time (30+years) I've not used food as a crutch.
Yes I'm over weight around 2 stone, but I swim twice a week, take regular long walks and I'd like to think I eat relatively healthy.
I also think that your frame of mind has a massive part to play in the way you perceive your self, if you have no self worth then depression will occur.

I'm not void of sympathy for this man, I'm just angry that £300.000 could be used in more constructive ways to help many more people than just the one.

[HeyWayne]

I like being relatively healthy and being able to fit through a norml sized doorway.

Whatchoo sayin' sunshine?

I say give the guy a ticket to some remote desert (make sure it's not dessert) island and let him fend for himself. He'll shed the weight, learn that there's more to life than the telly box, maybe pick up some life smills other than reaching for the remote and we'll have an extra house available for the really needy.

[SarzWix]

Bloody Daily Mail! Really should be banned, they like nothing better than to stir up misery and discontent

The bloke isn't being given the house you know - it's going to belong to a Housing Association, and will continue to do so long after he pops his clogs. They are building another house suitable for wheelchairs at the same time, but no-one's kicking off about that one?! Is that because the Mail can't fix a 'label' to the person who'll be living in that one?! And it says that the house is being [...]financed by a grant from the Homes and Communities Agency[...] not the NHS, i.e. money set aside for building houses...

It also mentions [...]as well as health problems including kidney failure and diabetes[...] so it's not as black and white as they make it out to be.

I've looked after more than one seriously overweight patient when I worked in a nursing home. Yes, they did eat a bit more than the 'average', but for the most part the fact is that being ill and bed-bound had got them overweight to begin with and they didn't have the strength necessary to get the weight back off again. One lady was constantly trying to shift the weight, and it made her exceedingly miserable being in that state

[Brengirl]

Bloody Daily Mail! Really should be banned, they like nothing better than to stir up misery and discontent

The bloke isn't being given the house you know - it's going to belong to a Housing Association, and will continue to do so long after he pops his clogs. They are building another house suitable for wheelchairs at the same time, but no-one's kicking off about that one?! Is that because the Mail can't fix a 'label' to the person who'll be living in that one?! And it says that the house is being [...]financed by a grant from the Homes and Communities Agency[...] not the NHS, i.e. money set aside for building houses...

It also mentions [...]as well as health problems including kidney failure and diabetes[...] so it's not as black and white as they make it out to be.

I've looked after more than one seriously overweight patient when I worked in a nursing home. Yes, they did eat a bit more than the 'average', but for the most part the fact is that being ill and bed-bound had got them overweight to begin with and they didn't have the strength necessary to get the weight back off again. One lady was constantly trying to shift the weight, and it made her exceedingly miserable being in that state

Earlier in the thread I thought I had posted a comment. It didn't appear so I have to presume either I didn't submit or it was deemed inappropriate. However I wish to add that I never read newspapers and if I do I always reserve judgement until knowing the full story and for that I thank you Sarzwix.
We all have crosses to bare, some heavier than others'. I have always in my mindset been overweight. It used to trouble me at the age I wanted to be desirable. Silly me. My OH saw the real me and liked it. I am still that same weight. 10st. 7lb.