Most people know that to maintain a healthy weight, you need to eat well and exercise regularly, but in Staffordshire 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 ten-year-olds are considered obese.
Not only does this limit the chances of people in Staffordshire living a long, healthy life, it also costs Staffordshire’s NHS and social care services over £100million every year in dealing with issues linked to obesity.
Clearly something needs to change, but what?
OBESITY IS COMPLICATED.
We’ve got lots of data that says your weight can be a result of the personal choices you make as well as the environment you live in.
This means that we can all play a part in tackling obesity, but we need to agree where our responsibilities lie and how far we’re willing to go to make change happen.
ABOUT BIG FAT CHAT
Staffordshire’s Big Fat Chat is a public debate being run by Staffordshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board. It’s about hearing your opinions on how we should tackle obesity in Staffordshire.
We’ll use your views, alongside other research and evidence, to agree a joint plan to tackle obesity across the county.
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Dr Maggie Bailey
February 8, 2017 at 11:05 am
I used to weigh 16 stones 7 pounds, about twelve years ago, and had battled with my weight on numerous diets for all my life (I am now 67). I was well aware of the health issues – I was a physiotherapist and Senior lecturer at Keele University, and I am well-educated, I have a PhD. I started the final diet (alone, using sensible eating) when I was 55 as a result of a chance remark from a close friend about my weight (somehow, we manage to avoid being truthful with ourselves!). I took two years to lose 7 stones. Since then, I have managed to maintain my weight loss to within 7 pounds (Unusual for most folks to maintain for so long)and consider myself a bit of an expert from the personal experience point of view. I now walk more, ride horses again, bike etc. and am healthy. I try and avoid sugar wherever possible – top tip, and believe that diet ‘buddies’ could be a useful notion.
Big Fat Chat Team
February 8, 2017 at 11:33 am
Wow, 7 stone. That’s a lot of weight to have lost. Congratulations Dr Maggie, and thanks for the tips.
Jack Stevens
February 21, 2017 at 4:21 pm
Shouldn’t there be a service to help people to lose weight in a supported way – not like a diet or a fad but just gradually and have someone to check in with who knows how to help people change their lifestyle. It says all over these pages that most people know what they need to do but as it’s getting worse so they’re obviously not doing it!
Big Fat Chat Team
February 22, 2017 at 10:26 am
Hi Jack, you’re right. I think people know the science behind weight gain – calories in vs calories burned – but it’s easy to say and not so easy to do. There’s lots of people who see the environment we live in nowadays as a huge factor in our ability to maintain a healthy weight (the ready availability of high sugar/high fat foods for example or the fact that most of our modes of transport don’t involve much in the way of burning calories).