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I came upon a statistic somewhere (though perhaps I may have just made it up) that something like 80% of women over 50 are overweight...

I don't know what the figure is for men, but when I thought about it... Well, go onto a highstreet during the day and look at all the shoppers:

See the menopausal females wearing their sunglasses, their hair all short and trim and it seems as if they ALL are morphed into Babushkas.

Sure there are some thinner sorts (my mother) but it seems like proper OBESITY is actually epidemic in that demographic.

I honestly think that, despite beer bellies and the like, you do not see men of that *size* nearly so much.

At least in the UK.

So, are those chocolate-nibbling, biscuit-eating mares skewing the obesity figures for the nation as a whole?

Henners in Australia I work a Mcdonalds and for a majority of obese people at least 70% are female so I would have to agree with you.

Well a lot of women from older generations still have the mind set that exercise will make them bulk up with muscle, add that to hormone changes after menopause and it gets real hard to keep weight off.

The only hormone change most men have to worry about is decreased testosterone, which causes balding and lack of sex drive, and we got meds for both of those

And women have meds for menopause, too, yet in both cases you see people not taking their meds.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, using BMI (which isn't the greatest measurement), in the US more men are obese than women, but of the women, they are more likely to be categorized as "extremely obese".

Mind you, I know several people who are obese by BMI but not obese in reality.

I'm wondering if when, in my mind, I look at a lot of men and think "he's a tad tubby but not a Death Star" it could be something to do with frames; perhaps it is simply, upon a glance, more striking on a woman because one expects a man to be bulky in shape, as opposed to what we want to see in a woman.

yeah but the BMI is horribly off, at 5'6" I should weigh in at 142 lbs. I'm 10 lbs over and still crack skinny. I would need drugs and tapeworms to hit my ideal body weight!

In Australia more women are overweight or obese than men in both categories.

Both categories are rising as a percentage of the population.

People really need to eat less volume and exercise more.

I diagnosed 3 diabetics last week, all were obese.

Grabzak Dirtyfighter wrote:yeah but the BMI is horribly off, at 5'6" I should weigh in at 142 lbs. I'm 10 lbs over and still crack skinny. I would need drugs and tapeworms to hit my ideal body weight!

Yes, that nearly two-centuries old chart is rather bad and it's unfortunate that we still use it.

Yes, at the same time, it should not be used as an excuse.

People like me need to man up, admit we are fat, and do what Dr Gonads advises -- Eat less and get more exercise.

Kilkrazy wrote:Yes, at the same time, it should not be used as an excuse.

People like me need to man up, admit we are fat, and do what Dr Gonads advises -- Eat less and get more exercise.

Meanwhile people who are six foot one and weigh a MERE 140 pounds need to man up and start eating more food, and doctors need to realize that there are far more accurate ways of measuring obesity than BMI.

They won't of course, because BMI is easy. It may be a hideously flawed and stupidly designed thing created during the 1830s for a completely different purpose (and only for men), but laziness has its own rewards. Namely, it's slightly less work than measuring tape around the waist.

*mutter mutter* I'm just annoyed that, if I started working out more seriously and got into weights, I'd be considered overweight for a woman of my height.

I'm 5'9" and weight 11 stone, but I literally can't gain any weight... and believe me, I binge like mad.

I'm presuming that it's just the metabolism of youth... But since I don't bother to exercise, I think I'll retain this frail appearance for a few more years :-/

Then again both of my parents are tall and spindly so perhaps muscle is the only way out!

Henners91 wrote:I'm 5'9" and weight 11 stone, but I literally can't gain any weight... and believe me, I binge like mad.

I'm presuming that it's just the metabolism of youth... But since I don't bother to exercise, I think I'll retain this frail appearance for a few more years :-/

Then again both of my parents are tall and spindly so perhaps muscle is the only way out!

I'm 6'2" and I'm 11 stone...

You can also lose more weight by eating one's own legs.

It gives you less weight and gets you prepped to cannibalism when society collapses a-la Mad Max.

corpsesarefun wrote:I'm 6'2" and I'm 11 stone...

You need to put some meat on your bones MISTER!

Heh. I hate the "stone" measurement of weight...

Melissia wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:I'm 6'2" and I'm 11 stone...

You need to put some meat on your bones MISTER!

Heh. I hate the "stone" measurement of weight...

Thing is, I'm not actually that skinny.

I have little fat on me but I actually have quite a broad build, it is odd.

Personally I was just too darn slowed at primary school to remember any other measurement of weight.

I still don't know what a pound is... or a ton...

At least metric grams make sense.

Henners91 wrote:Personally I was just too darn slowed at primary school to remember any other measurement of weight.

I still don't know what a pound is... or a ton...

At least metric grams make sense.

Wait...don't you have a Driver's Lisence yet that tells you all those things, or were those measurements based off your guesstimates?

If that's a joke... I don't geddit

This is what a UK license looks like:

I don't think you should post a full, uncensored pic of your DL....

At any rate, that's a rather crappy license format. It doesn't list any identifiable physical features? Huh.

Henners91 wrote:If that's a joke... I don't geddit

This is what a UK license looks like:

That my friend is one funny looking Scotsman.

Melissia wrote:I don't think you should post a full, uncensored pic of your DL....

At any rate, that's a rather crappy license format. It doesn't list any identifiable physical features? Huh.

It's not mine

Observe the "Sample" scribble upon it.

Henners91 wrote:I'm 5'9" and weight 11 stone, but I literally can't gain any weight... and believe me, I binge like mad.

I'm presuming that it's just the metabolism of youth... But since I don't bother to exercise, I think I'll retain this frail appearance for a few more years :-/

Then again both of my parents are tall and spindly so perhaps muscle is the only way out!

I'm 5'9 and 8 stone at 18...

As with you, my parents are from a family of tall and skinny people, my dad was about 2" shorter than me and about the same weight at my age, one of my mum's brothers was over 6' and wieghed about the same at my age, perhaps a tad less, her other brother was the same height but a bit more weighty.

Even so, i'm starting to get slightly worried (I eat loads, but i've suffered from increasingly bad depression for the last 7 or so years, peaking two years ago and fluctuating from there; couple that with stress (my depression, parent's divorce and mum's cancer to name but a few) and you've got a recipe for weight issues), I gain weight veeeeeeery slowly, but I never seem to lose it; once it's on, it stays on. A few people have expressed concern (random people, my dentists, teachers, friends...) but nobody who has expressed it has been a qualified doctor, so until my GP or someone qualified to comment expresses it, i'm not overly bothered, but it's still making me think that there might be something really quite wrong.

Grabzak Dirtyfighter wrote:yeah but the BMI is horribly off, at 5'6" I should weigh in at 142 lbs. I'm 10 lbs over and still crack skinny. I would need drugs and tapeworms to hit my ideal body weight!

I'm 18, 5'8" and weigh 130lb.

Fatties try harder.

Cheesecat wrote:

Grabzak Dirtyfighter wrote:yeah but the BMI is horribly off, at 5'6" I should weigh in at 142 lbs. I'm 10 lbs over and still crack skinny. I would need drugs and tapeworms to hit my ideal body weight!

I'm 18, 5'8" and weigh 130lb.

That is one big cheese cat...

Now is that 5'8" from ears to tail?

WarOne wrote:

Cheesecat wrote:

Grabzak Dirtyfighter wrote:yeah but the BMI is horribly off, at 5'6" I should weigh in at 142 lbs. I'm 10 lbs over and still crack skinny. I would need drugs and tapeworms to hit my ideal body weight!

I'm 18, 5'8" and weigh 130lb.

That is one big cheese cat...

Now is that 5'8" from ears to tail?

Yep.

Cheesecat wrote:

WarOne wrote:

Cheesecat wrote:

Grabzak Dirtyfighter wrote:yeah but the BMI is horribly off, at 5'6" I should weigh in at 142 lbs. I'm 10 lbs over and still crack skinny. I would need drugs and tapeworms to hit my ideal body weight!

I'm 18, 5'8" and weigh 130lb.

That is one big cheese cat...

Now is that 5'8" from ears to tail?

Yep.

Aww...hell, I'm just responding so that more of my Pony signature consumes this thread.

Henners91 wrote:I'm 5'9" and weight 11 stone, but I literally can't gain any weight... and believe me, I binge like mad.

I'm presuming that it's just the metabolism of youth... But since I don't bother to exercise, I think I'll retain this frail appearance for a few more years :-/

Then again both of my parents are tall and spindly so perhaps muscle is the only way out!

Trust me that will change. When I was in my 20's I was between 210 and 220 lbs. I would eat anything I wanted, never gained any significant weight. Now that I'm in my mid to late thirties, and quit smoking, I'm 280 lbs. I believe smoking has more to do with it, but it is almost impossible to lose it.
I'm also 6' 6", so I'm not really all that fat, just alot bigger then I ever was. It kinda sucks.

Back on topic: I think it's about the same between men and women. It just seem more socially accepted for men then women. Not say'en that's right, by any means.

When I lived in the UK for a year in the North East (Mackem/Toon Army land) most of the women looked like Heifers on hind legs. If they weren't stuffing chocolate into their mouths, it was deep fried whatever all washed down with a nice bottle of the Cheap Red stuff from Tescos. They all wore clothes that exposed their beer guts too. Well, when they weren't wearing their best Kappa track suit. I was really puzzled.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:In Australia more women are overweight or obese than men in both categories.

Both categories are rising as a percentage of the population.

People really need to eat less volume and exercise more.

I diagnosed 3 diabetics last week, all were obese.

I would hate a job like that, but i appreciate your work.