Is Ireland generally a fat country, on average?

Fbjm · 10-06-2013 6:37pm #1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18770328#G1A21H1.88W79.38C79

I just took this BMI test thingie there, and according to that I'm fatter than 52% of people in my age group across the world, but skinnier than 66% of Irishmen. I found that a bit shocking, really.

What are peoples' thoughts on this, are we a nation of couch potatoes? Or what? Thanks.

mossy95 · 10-06-2013 6:40pm

Take all the underdeveloped countries into account and you statistic is not too shocking

IM0 · 10-06-2013 6:41pm

bmi is a load of ****e, it doesnt mean **** all for individuals, no doubt someone will chime in later with the relevant source. it was never intended to be used on an individual personal basis only for large data average from the population

pickarooney · 10-06-2013 6:42pm

It's pretty fat. Not Samoa fat but slowly getting there.

Fbjm · 10-06-2013 6:44pm

pickarooney wrote: »

It's pretty fat. Not Samoa fat but slowly getting there.

Samoa weight to pack on before then I guess.

I'm sorry, that was bad.

FreshKnickers · 10-06-2013 6:45pm

BMI is it? And where are we flying to then? Nowhere I suppose, if we're too fat that the plane won't get off the ground.

IM0 · 10-06-2013 6:45pm

Fbjm wrote: »

Samoa weight to pack on before then I guess.
I'm sorry, that was bad.

Ive seen ALOT worse tbh

ALOT

Banjo String · 10-06-2013 6:45pm

Snack boxes, spice burgers, puddin, tayto and Guinness.....

Are ye surprised?

Hownowcow · 10-06-2013 6:47pm

SamHall wrote: »

Snack boxes, spice burgers, puddin, tayto and Guinness.....

Are ye surprised?

No, I'm hungry.

Wanderer2010 · 10-06-2013 6:54pm

Maybe I have just been unlucky with sights but I spent all Saturday in Dublin city and 2 days in Galway last week, in the middle of all the hot weather and I can count on one hand the amount of heavy people I saw. For all the statistics on all the overweight and obese people in Ireland I saw nothing but slim fit and toned men and women out and about in shorts and bare torsos. Taking into account many overweight people probably avoid crowds, in two highly populated cities I saw very little evidence of them.

Also, most shops simply havent caught up to the obesity crisis in this country. Shops like Pennys, TK Maxx and Jack and Jones STILL cater for a client base of 34W 32L, when all the heavy people are surely 40W and heavier, but these options cannot be found, the country is still only catering for the 1990s Ireland and has a lot of work to do. So in short Ireland is apparently a heavy country but maybe most of these people are in hiding!

ChunkyLover_53 · 10-06-2013 6:56pm

Irelands not fat she's just big boned.

Have you seen the size of the hole on Great Britain?

carzony · 10-06-2013 6:57pm

What exactly is Bmi? I hear this test being done everywhere but never actually had one myself..

From previous posts I presume it's testing if your a fat f*ck?How would one take a bmi could scales not just tell i'm fat?

FreshKnickers · 10-06-2013 6:58pm

ChunkyLover_53 wrote: »

Irelands not fat she's just big boned.

Have you seen the size of the hole on Great Britain?

You might be biased though Chunky Lover.

IM0 · 10-06-2013 7:00pm

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Maybe I have just been unlucky with sights but I spent all Saturday in Dublin city and 2 days in Galway last week, in the middle of all the hot weather and I can count on one hand the amount of heavy people I saw. For all the statistics on all the overweight and obese people in Ireland I saw nothing but slim fit and toned men and women out and about in shorts and bare torsos. Taking into account many overweight people probably avoid crowds, in two highly populated cities I saw very little evidence of them.

Also, most shops simply havent caught up to the obesity crisis in this country. Shops like Pennys, TK Maxx and Jack and Jones STILL cater for a client base of 34W 32L, when all the heavy people are surely 40W and heavier, but these options cannot be found, the country is still only catering for the 1990s Ireland and has a lot of work to do. So in short Ireland is apparently a heavy country but maybe most of these people are in hiding!

well duh, in pubs, their houses, couches you get the idea

IM0 · 10-06-2013 7:02pm

carzony wrote: »

What exactly is Bmi? I hear this test being done everywhere but never actually had one myself..

From previous posts I presume it's testing if your a fat f*ck?How would one take a bmi could scales not just tell i'm fat?

its next to useless for lots of reasons a couple I stated earlier. hopefully someone will be along later with more detailed info

you should be more concerned with your body fat percentage this is the real measure of obesity, if you are 25% or more and male [32% for women] you are obese. to give you a starting point. the average is about 21%

Feathers · 10-06-2013 7:09pm

carzony wrote: »

What exactly is Bmi? I hear this test being done everywhere but never actually had one myself..

From previous posts I presume it's testing if your a fat f*ck?How would one take a bmi could scales not just tell i'm fat?

From the BBC:

BMI stands for body-mass index. It’s a calculation based on a person’s height and weight and is used by doctors to assess whether someone is “obese” or “overweight”. It ranges from around 15 (near starvation) to over 40 (morbidly obese). A BMI greater than 25 is considered overweight. A measure over 30 would be obese. The index is not a perfect measure, however. It is possible for a healthy, muscular athlete with very low body fat to be classified obese using the BMI formula.

carzony · 10-06-2013 7:11pm

Feathers wrote: »

From the BBC:

just checked mine it says i'm 22.. A lower bmi than 70% of males in Ireland and a lower bmi than 52% males aged 15-29 in the world...

IM0 · 10-06-2013 7:17pm

Feathers wrote: »

From the BBC:

thats junk data, they are half right

SV · 10-06-2013 7:17pm

For mine to be in the 'healthy range' I'd have to be between 9 and 11 stone? lol, piss off.

I would despise being that skinny.

carzony · 10-06-2013 7:20pm

What weight should your average 21 year old be anyway ?

IM0 · 10-06-2013 7:20pm

carzony wrote: »

What weight should your average 21 year old be anyway ?

depends on height

carzony · 10-06-2013 7:25pm

IM0 wrote: »

depends on height

i forgot google is my friend lol

well i'm just over 6 foot and had a look through google and it says I should be 14 stone :eek::eek: **** me i'm 12 stone now and have a bit of a belly on me..

Yellowblackbird · 10-06-2013 7:31pm

carzony wrote: »

just checked mine it says i'm 22.. A lower bmi than 70% of males in Ireland and a lower bmi than 52% males aged 15-29 in the world...

Did you take your shoes off or leave them on

Real Life · 10-06-2013 7:32pm

BMI is not a very good scale to go by in my opinion but according to the test my BMI is lower than 94% of males in my age bracket in the country

Herb Powell · 10-06-2013 7:41pm

Having been to the USA, England, and Germany, **** no, we are not a fat country. Not the slimmest, but not even anywhere close to the USA.

Czarcasm · 10-06-2013 7:55pm

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Maybe I have just been unlucky with sights but I spent all Saturday in Dublin city and 2 days in Galway last week, in the middle of all the hot weather and I can count on one hand the amount of heavy people I saw. For all the statistics on all the overweight and obese people in Ireland I saw nothing but slim fit and toned men and women out and about in shorts and bare torsos. Taking into account many overweight people probably avoid crowds, in two highly populated cities I saw very little evidence of them.

Also, most shops simply havent caught up to the obesity crisis in this country. Shops like Pennys, TK Maxx and Jack and Jones STILL cater for a client base of 34W 32L, when all the heavy people are surely 40W and heavier, but these options cannot be found, the country is still only catering for the 1990s Ireland and has a lot of work to do. So in short Ireland is apparently a heavy country but maybe most of these people are in hiding!

I don't think that's a fair assessment tbh. I buy my black pants in Penneys (34W 30L, I'm a bit of a shortàrse - 5'10") and I have terrible trouble getting pants in my size as they're usually all sold out and all they have left are 32, 38, 40 pants left on a Saturday if I don't get in on Tuesday when they get in new stock.

I just tried the BMI calculator here and at 5'10", 14 stone, my BMI comes up as 28.1 which it says is "overweight".

Even at 17 stone this time last year you wouldn't have thought I was overweight and I STILL couldn't get a 36W pants in Penneys on a Saturday!

Fbjm · 10-06-2013 8:08pm

Czarcasm wrote: »

I don't think that's a fair assessment tbh. I buy my black pants in Penneys (34W 30L, I'm a bit of a shortàrse - 5'10") and I have terrible trouble getting pants in my size as they're usually all sold out and all they have left are 32, 38, 40 pants left on a Saturday if I don't get in on Tuesday when they get in new stock.

I just tried the BMI calculator here and at 5'10", 14 stone, my BMI comes up as 28.1 which it says is "overweight".

Even at 17 stone this time last year you wouldn't have thought I was overweight and I STILL couldn't get a 36W pants in Penneys on a Saturday!

My measurements are the inverse of yours and I have the same issue. You can't get 30W 34L anywhere, it's always either the wrong waist or the wrong length. It's like their target market is a barely fluctuating but popular demographic.

ToddyDoody · 10-06-2013 8:10pm

carzony wrote: »

What exactly is Bmi?

Its the average amount of people a priest can draw to a mass in a given time period. Anything above 30 is big.

Ilyana 2.0 · 10-06-2013 8:27pm

According to that, my BMI is 26, thus I am overweight. But an online body fat calculator gives me 27% body fat, which isn't overweight for a woman.

Well I'm confused.

EDIT: I'm most like someone from Chile

Smeggy · 10-06-2013 8:31pm

You have a higher BMI than 98% of females aged 15-29 in your country

You have a higher BMI than 95% of females aged 15-29 in the world

:eek:

FreshKnickers · 10-06-2013 8:32pm

I'm not sure how an online body fat calculator would work. What do you do, put in what you weigh?

Ilyana 2.0 · 10-06-2013 8:34pm

FreshKnickers wrote: »

I'm not sure how an online body fat calculator would work. What do you do, put in what you weigh?

The one I used looked for weight then waist, hip, wrist and forearm measurements. It was the first test that came up on Google. Not sure how reliable it is compared to using calipers/measuring tape though.

NegativeCreep · 10-06-2013 8:38pm

Says I'm most likely someone from D.R. Congo. *Checks where D.R. Congo is on the list*
Oh dear...

vitani · 10-06-2013 8:58pm

I'm most like someone from Thailand

shruikan2553 · 10-06-2013 9:22pm

With a BMI of 19

"You're most like someone from DR Congo"

bbam · 10-06-2013 9:29pm

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Maybe I have just been unlucky with sights but I spent all Saturday in Dublin city and 2 days in Galway last week, in the middle of all the hot weather and I can count on one hand the amount of heavy people I saw. For all the statistics on all the overweight and obese people in Ireland I saw nothing but slim fit and toned men and women out and about in shorts and bare torsos. Taking into account many overweight people probably avoid crowds, in two highly populated cities I saw very little evidence of them.

Also, most shops simply havent caught up to the obesity crisis in this country. Shops like Pennys, TK Maxx and Jack and Jones STILL cater for a client base of 34W 32L, when all the heavy people are surely 40W and heavier, but these options cannot be found, the country is still only catering for the 1990s Ireland and has a lot of work to do. So in short Ireland is apparently a heavy country but maybe most of these people are in hiding!

You'll find them plodding round shopping centres as their pass time. That way they never have to walk up a hill and are never too far from a pizza or snack box.
obesity is definitely a problem and it's on the rise, and seriously on the rise in children.

Feathers · 10-06-2013 11:32pm

IM0 wrote: »

thats junk data, they are half right

Well what I quoted was a description rather than data. Feel free to post a more accurate one if you don't like it.

Czarcasm · 11-06-2013 12:11am

bbam wrote: »

You'll find them plodding round shopping centres as their pass time. That way they never have to walk up a hill and are never too far from a pizza or snack box.
obesity is definitely a problem and it's on the rise, and seriously on the rise in children.

Won't somebody please think of the... Ahh fcuk it, I can't be àrsed, suffice to say that such silly generalisations and scaremongering just get on my tits. Nothing personal bbam as I guess when one hears it often enough in the media they start to believe it, but it's a misguided perception.

Obesity or anything even approaching it isn't on the rise in children. Their preoccupation with their body image IS on the rise though given that they are constantly bombarded with, and subjected to, all this nonsense.

They shouldn't be, and they should be allowed to be children, and develop naturally and normally, but with knee-jerk reactive parents feeding nothing but their insecurities, children's preoccupation with their weight is one metric that's unlikely to decrease in the future. If anything it's only likely to get worse.

woodoo · 11-06-2013 12:13am

On the radio today they were saying that Brian O Driscoll would be obese if BMI was used.

Fbjm · 11-06-2013 12:15am

woodoo wrote: »

On the radio today they were saying that Brian O Driscoll would be obese if BMI was used.

Yeah but he's a big muscly feck, clearly if you've a high BMI and you're a tank with no tummy you'll know you're grand, a bit of common sense helps a lot with the BMI.

Czarcasm · 11-06-2013 12:20am

bluewolf wrote: »

With a bit more fresh air and a few less sugar drinks?

Absolutely! And with the Summer holidays coming up there's no better time to stop using the laptop / game console / tv as an unpaid baby sitter and take the children down the park for an hour for a runabout. That way parents too get some exercise and it's a great way to spend time with their children and teach them the value of exercise - "monkey see, monkey do" and all that jazz

NegativeCreep · 11-06-2013 12:49am

Fbjm wrote: »

Yeah but he's a big muscly feck, clearly if you've a high BMI and you're a tank with no tummy you'll know you're grand, a bit of common sense helps a lot with the BMI.

Extra weight, be it lots of muscle or fat, still increases your chance of getting diabetes.

Nemeses · 11-06-2013 12:55am

That website told me I needed to go to the gym

Never am I clicking on links in AH again..

carzony · 11-06-2013 1:06am

Have to say giving up the sugary drink would be a big challenge for me, I love a nice can of coke with food, you can't beat it IMO

Peregrine · 11-06-2013 1:10am

BMI lower than 99% of males aged between 15-29 in Ireland and 91% of males around the world. Fook me I didn't think it was that bad..

Gotta love eating like a pig and putting on feck all. I don't think the gods of diabetes and cholesterol will be as kind to me though.

Cossax · 11-06-2013 1:12am

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Extra weight, be it lots of muscle or fat, still increases your chance of getting diabetes.

Source on the muscle part?

DaveDaRave · 11-06-2013 1:13am

carzony wrote: »

Have to say giving up the sugary drink would be a big challenge for me, I love a nice can of coke with food, you can't beat it IMO

diet soda for starts

carzony · 11-06-2013 1:16am

DaveDaRave wrote: »

diet soda for starts

I thought that the diet stuff was just as bad for you? Obviousally the adds are gonna tell you it's good but I could have sworn I hear they take the sugar out and just add other **** that's just as bad for you??

DaveDaRave · 11-06-2013 1:18am

carzony wrote: »

I thought that the diet stuff was just as bad for you? Obviousally the adds are gonna tell you it's good but I could have sworn I hear they take the sugar out and just add other **** that's just as bad for you??

a 330ml can of coke has an ungodly amount of sugar inside. Its like 10 teaspoons of sugar.

Whatever about the controversy of diet soda and artificial sweeteners, it contains no calories and no sugar so its far better for your health than drinking half your daily recommended sugar in one go.

carzony · 11-06-2013 1:23am

DaveDaRave wrote: »

a 330ml can of coke has an ungodly amount of sugar inside. Its like 10 teaspoons of sugar.

Whatever about the controversy of diet soda and artificial sweeteners, it contains no calories and no sugar so its far better for your health than drinking half your daily recommended sugar in one go.

I think i'm being a bit slow here but I never knew there was so much sugar in just one canI know there was a hell of a lot but not that level, Jesus I'v been drinking atleast 2 cans a day since childhood, I'm not particularly fat but I could be a lot fitter.

This is somthing i'll have to address tomorrow, Coke Zero or Diet coke will have to do me now

NegativeCreep · 11-06-2013 1:24am

Cossax wrote: »

Source on the muscle part?

Extra weight puts pressure on the Pancreas and disrupts the production of insulin and the way in which the body uses the insulin it does make. Extra fat is worse though because it's obviously easier to have a huge stomach consisting of fat than it is to have a huge stomach consisting of muscle.
I don't have a source. Learned it in college in a Nutrition module.

Is Ireland generally a fat country, on average?

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