Has Ireland become fat like the US and UK?

Chain Smoker · 11-10-2015 09:08AM

Qualitymark wrote: »

Of course not. I'm not talking about the brainwashing or the poverty. But can you imagine any modern group of kids being able to race after a car like that for that amount of time? And repressed and miserable as the kids are, they laugh and jump in a way I've never seen in modern kids.

Imagine how much of an event a crew shooting a film must've been to kids back then, of course they're all going to be excited and want to be in the film, they've been told they're gonna be in a movie!
Sure my school wasn't too far off from that for Mary Kingston and the Disney Club.

Has pretty much nothing to do with their overall wellbeing unless you want to drift into an argument of how nothing feels special anymore so it's next to impossible to hit the same emotional highs.

Qualitymark · 11-10-2015 09:17AM

Nope, I'm just talking about the fact that these kids are a normal weight, and able to run and walk and move in a normal way.

I keep reading (in my travels through the 16th to the early 20th century) academics being dismissive of the idea that pilgrims or soldiers or people going to find work could walk 44km in a day; what they don't realise is that before this century most people moved and walked a lot more. People didn't sit all day, they walked all day. Our sedentary life is unusual in human history.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 11-10-2015 09:18AM

Tarzana2 wrote: »

I dunno, people say BMI isn't an accurate barometer, but IMO, unless you're a pro athlete, it's a fairly good indicator. Certainly is for me anyway. When it says I've entered the overweight category, I correspondingly certainly look a bit chubby. And when I was tipping into the obese BMI category, I definitely looked very overweight. People think obese is being morbidly obese but it starts way before that.

I'm not saying the indicator, i'm saying the levels.

I'd borderline obese, but I don't look it. And I'd totally see a massive wedge of the population being over the 25% mark.

KungPao wrote: »

We are on our way. We drink way too much, eat too much rubbish, but we are not near the American levels yet. They are addicted to 'soda' and 'chips' and everything is full of corn syrup. Then they have scary portion sizes and are so blasé about being fat. Scary stuff.

And the 'less active' thing doesn't wash for me. I have been doing feck all exercise the last few months and have been losing weight. The magic trick? Drinking less alcohol and cutting out (well, 90% of it at least) takeaway rubbish. And pretty much giving up fizzy soft drinks.

Burning 200 calories is hard, hard work...work undone with one pint or a bag of crisps.

Nah - it's only about a 30-minute walk, but I see your point. Walk to pub, have two pints, walk back; balances out.

But most Irish people I know will either get a taxi or arrange someone to pick them up.

Your Face · 11-10-2015 09:26AM

No, its fine.

Tarzana2 · 11-10-2015 09:30AM

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Nah - it's only about a 30-minute walk, but I see your point. Walk to pub, have two pints, walk back; balances out.

No, a 30 minute would burn only about 100 calories, even going fast. Exercise doesn't burn as much calories as people imagine it does.

A couple of pints is nearly 400 calories!

OldMrBrennan83 · 11-10-2015 09:33AM

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Tarzana2 · 11-10-2015 09:36AM

Patww79 wrote: »

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You see more fat kids than in the past, but they don't outnumber kids of healthy weight.

OldMrBrennan83 · 11-10-2015 09:37AM

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Sam Kade · 11-10-2015 09:50AM

Where are all the operation transformation followers gone? The majority of them are slouched on the couch until next years series. I know a few people that did c25k last year and they lost all the excess weight but then they lost motivation and gained it back again.

strelok · 11-10-2015 09:55AM

Patww79 wrote: »

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wut?

OldMrBrennan83 · 11-10-2015 09:59AM

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abff · 11-10-2015 10:06AM

As someone who has put on and lost a lot of weight over the years, I know how easy it is to put on weight and how hard it is to take it off and how much harder it is to keep it off. It's easier to sit at home watching the TV or on the internet than to get out and do some exercise. It's easier to drive to the shops than to walk there. It's easier to take the lift than to walk up the stairs.

In my opinion, a lot of the time whether we gain or lose weight is primarily down to our mindset. Yes, there are people who are struggling financially and can't afford to buy healthy nutritious food all the time. But there are still small choices that can be made that will add up over time.

Take the stairs at work rather than using the lift. Walk to the local shop instead of driving there. If you travelling by bus or Luas, walk on a couple of stops before getting on. If getting a takeaway, get boiled rice instead of fried rice.

I agree that we shouldn't make fun of people for being overweight or look down on them. But that doesn't mean that it's not ok to express concern about the effect that being very overweight can have on someone's health.

PucaMama · 11-10-2015 10:12AM

abff wrote: »

As someone who has put on and lost a lot of weight over the years, I know how easy it is to put on weight and how hard it is to take it off and how much harder it is to keep it off. It's easier to sit at home watching the TV or on the internet than to get out and do some exercise. It's easier to drive to the shops than to walk there. It's easier to take the lift than to walk up the stairs.

In my opinion, a lot of the time whether we gain or lose weight is primarily down to our mindset. Yes, there are people who are struggling financially and can't afford to buy healthy nutritious food all the time. But there are still small choices that can be made that will add up over time.

Take the stairs at work rather than using the lift. Walk to the local shop instead of driving there. If you travelling by bus or Luas, walk on a couple of stops before getting on. If getting a takeaway, get boiled rice instead of fried rice.

I agree that we shouldn't make fun of people for being overweight or look down on them. But that doesn't mean that it's not ok to express concern about the effect that being very overweight can have on someone's health.

I hate the fake concern about health some people express as an excuse to have a go at overweight people.

For the record I'm well aware that they care about my health about as much as I care about theirs. I really couldn't give a ****.

Carlos Orange · 11-10-2015 10:13AM

Tarzana2 wrote: »

No, a 30 minute would burn only about 100 calories, even going fast. Exercise doesn't burn as much calories as people imagine it does.

A couple of pints is nearly 400 calories!

My fitbit usually says 200-300 calories for 30 minutes walking.
Is it telling me fibs?

bnt · 11-10-2015 10:15AM

I was in the USA (Jacksonville, FL) a few weeks ago. Based on what I saw rolling around WalMart and Sam's Club, I'd say ... no, Irish folks are still lightweights by comparison.

Buona Fortuna · 11-10-2015 10:15AM

Patww79 wrote: »

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I notice that my spam has taken a distinct down turn. I used to get "Horny housewives are waiting for you call".

Now I get:

"Sha* a Granny"
or
"F*** a fat girl"

Sam Kade · 11-10-2015 10:18AM

abff wrote: »

As someone who has put on and lost a lot of weight over the years, I know how easy it is to put on weight and how hard it is to take it off and how much harder it is to keep it off. It's easier to sit at home watching the TV or on the internet than to get out and do some exercise. It's easier to drive to the shops than to walk there. It's easier to take the lift than to walk up the stairs.

In my opinion, a lot of the time whether we gain or lose weight is primarily down to our mindset. Yes, there are people who are struggling financially and can't afford to buy healthy nutritious food all the time. But there are still small choices that can be made that will add up over time.

Take the stairs at work rather than using the lift. Walk to the local shop instead of driving there. If you travelling by bus or Luas, walk on a couple of stops before getting on. If getting a takeaway, get boiled rice instead of fried rice.

I agree that we shouldn't make fun of people for being overweight or look down on them. But that doesn't mean that it's not ok to express concern about the effect that being very overweight can have on someone's health.

It depends on the amount of food you eat

if you eat plenty junk food you'll get fat same as if you eat plenty health food you'll also get fat. I don't buy this I can't afford to buy proper food nonsense. Also don't forget exercise people don't need money to do that.

strelok · 11-10-2015 10:22AM

psinno wrote: »

My fitbit usually says 200-300 calories for 30 minutes walking.
Is it telling me fibs?

most likely. that is a crazy amount of calories to burn in a 30m walk. I used to burn around 300 on an hour walk back when i was pretty ****ing fat and walking at a decent pace.

Tarzana2 · 11-10-2015 10:22AM

psinno wrote: »

My fitbit usually says 200-300 calories for 30 minutes walking.
Is it telling me fibs?

Yes, that is WAY too much. Christ, no wonder people are misguided!

There used to be a great site I used, caloriesperhour.com but it seems to be gone.

Documented calories burned in a very wide range of activities from housework to different kinds of exercise. You could input speed and time and whatnot.

You should always underestimate the calories burned from exercise.

strelok · 11-10-2015 10:24AM

Patww79 wrote: »

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i don't know if you're joking or not because a ridiculous number of people actually believe this

The Black Oil · 11-10-2015 10:26AM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/ireland-set-to-be-most-obese-country-in-europe-who-says-1.2201731

I thought Ireland was the Fattest country in the EU already. Well we nearly are.

Tarzana2 wrote: »

From the article:

In 2030, the proportion of obese and overweight men in Ireland is projected to rise to 89 per cent with a corresponding 85 per cent of women falling into this category.

That seems unlikely. Hard to it seriously.

The figures were based on what RTE called 'unpublished projections' given at an obesity conference in Prague. I remember the headlines and stories about this at the time. It was one of those cases where the narrative ran away with itself and the fact that the stats were unpublished was of secondary concern to certain elements of the media.

The World Health Organisation end up posting a clarification about the interpretation about the data.

"These projections are the result of a forecast exercise conducted by the UK Health Forum for WHO Regional Office for Europe some time ago and present a bleak picture of an obese future for many countries in Europe, if action is not taken," said Dr Breda. "Action taken today can prevent these predictions from becoming reality and in some European countries the trend is already flattening off thanks to preventative measures including successes, for example, in the area of childhood obesity."

"The study should be used with some caution as it was relatively small and was based on nationally available data that may not reflect the latest WHO estimates which are under further development," he added.

abff · 11-10-2015 10:33AM

PucaMama wrote: »

I hate the fake concern about health some people express as an excuse to have a go at overweight people.

For the record I'm well aware that they care about my health about as much as I care about theirs. I really couldn't give a ****.

I agree that people do sometimes use concerns about health as an excuse to have a go at fat people in general. But I think it is legitimate to express concern for a friend or family member, provided you don't go about it in a judgemental way.

abff · 11-10-2015 10:35AM

Sam Kade wrote: »

It depends on the amount of food you eat if you eat plenty junk food you'll get fat same as if you eat plenty health food you'll also get fat. I don't buy this I can't afford to buy proper food nonsense. Also don't forget exercise people don't need money to do that.

Not sure how you interpreted my post in that way. I went on to say that you can still make healthy choices and suggested ways in which people might get more exercise.

Carlos Orange · 11-10-2015 10:51AM

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Yes, that is WAY too much. Christ, no wonder people are misguided!

There used to be a great site I used, caloriesperhour.com but it seems to be gone. Documented calories burned in a very wide range of activities from housework to different kinds of exercise. You could input speed and time and whatnot.

You should always underestimate the calories burned from exercise.

http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedwalking.htm says about 200 but I'm not sure if that is net or gross. Plus if I start questioning stuff I should probably get paranoid about the distances too. Much too big a rabbit whole to go down

Wibbs · 11-10-2015 11:23AM

Patww79 wrote: »

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At 30 years of age? What the hell? That's mad Ted. :eek: If you said that at 50 I could kinda understand it, but not at 30. Christ.

abff · 11-10-2015 12:22PM

Being older doesn't make it impossible to lose weight. Yes, it requires more of an effort, but I lost five stone in my early to mid 50s. Mind you, I put a lot of it back on again, but have managed to get it back down to close to where it was after I lost the five stone. But it requires constant vigilance to stay there. One thing I have done is to make sure I walk instead of driving wherever possible.

discus · 11-10-2015 12:26PM

Patww79 wrote: »

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You're joking, right? There's no excuse in your 30's. People just lose their personal pride and get comfortable in relationships, that's all.

The whole country is pretty hefty on the whole though.

Yes, because everyone finds a reason not to fight their decline, like you do!

KungPao · 11-10-2015 12:37PM

Surely his tongue is in his cheek. If anything I was more determined than ever to lose a few kgs approaching 30. 34 now and still under my max weight of 80kgs.

OhDearyMe · 11-10-2015 12:47PM

SeaDaily wrote: »

A lot of people in this thread saying we aren't as bad as the US as if that's something to be proud of. I'd hope that we aren't as bad as the worst country in the world for obesity...

I read in this article somewhere that USA no longer holds that title....

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/09/obesitys-global-spread-un-goals-diet-related-diseases-fail

I haven't lived in Ireland in over a decade and I've noticed a recent change in portion sizes both in restaurants and relatives' houses when I visit - I feel like my stomach is constantly being stretched whenever I eat there. Portion sizes are unnecessarily huge now. Not sure why that happened.

strandroad · 11-10-2015 01:19PM

psinno wrote: »

My fitbit usually says 200-300 calories for 30 minutes walking.
Is it telling me fibs?

What's your weight? Are you walking uphill or with a lot of effort? I'm a size 10 woman and I burn 100-120 calories during 30 minutes walk. I only burn 200-300 in 30 minutes if I do HIIT training and I'm absolutely gasping and soaked.

You'd have to weigh multiples of what I weigh to burn that much in a walk. Your settings might be off!

Has Ireland become fat like the US and UK?

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