Obesity rate sees 4,000 get diet help
Thursday 3rd December 2009, 10:28AM GMT.
More than 4,000 people across Telford and Wrekin signed up to NHS diet and fitness schemes this year after a survey revealed almost a third of borough residents were classed as obese.
Health bosses in the borough said they were delighted by the results of the programmes but warned there was still much more work to do to combat the problem of obesity.
Earlier this year figures revealed 35,000 adults in Telford and Wrekin were classed as obese, the equivalent of almost a third of the adult population.
Bosses at the borough primary care trust, NHS Telford and Wrekin, said the figure was “significantly worse” than the national average of just over 23 per cent.
But Clare Harland, senior health improvement manager at NHS Telford and Wrekin, said: “The programmes we have in place to help local people lose weight and get fit have delivered excellent results and have really made a difference to many people’s lives.
“However, we can’t forget that the number of people who are obese in Telford and Wrekin is still significantly higher than the national figures.”
One of the schemes, Why Weight?, is a GP referral service to help people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30 to lose weight. Counsellors are currently working with almost 400 people in the borough.
Other schemes include the Health Trainer service, which offers free one-to-one support for people looking to change their lifestyle either in terms of diet or exercise. Almost 350 people have taken advantage of this service so far this year.
And almost 3,600 people have signed up for Women in Motion and Exercise for All groups this year.
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
35,000 adult Telfordites are obese??? Can anyone tell me the adult poulation of Telford?
What a waste of vaulable NHS money when old people can’t get hip replacements.
Stop their benefits so they can’t eat so much and redirect the money to hip replacements.
Report abuse
Hip replacements are very sad & they are connected to many different health issues, & obesity is one of them, The cost of a hip replacement runs into thousands of pounds & the cost of obesity on the NHS runs into hundreds of thousands which will increase as the obesity epidemic continues to explodes, Obesity can be tackeld educating & reinforcing the benifits of a healthy & active lifestyle
I must say “How lucky we are that here in T&W we services that focus on so many health related issues, exercise classes that are deliverd with dicussions on healthier eating many of these classes cost very little & some are free & they aimed at the young to our older populations, and are all based inside locaal community facilites, T&W Health promotion team are saving the NHS thousands upon thousands of pounds each year by helping people to know that prevention is better than cure
Depriving people of benifits is not the answer, educating people and supporting people to making healthier lifestyle choices, is a much better long term solution, & in the long run money saved would go towards other service to help older & younger people
Report abuse
What a load of liberal drivel trying to ‘educate’ these lard monsters. They need telling the hard facts – THEY EAT TOO MUCH.
That’s right, it’s all a relationship between calories in and calories out. Telling these people that a brisk walk will solve things when they can only shuffle along is pointless.
And waving your arms about at an exercise class is pointless if you go for a super sized burger and chips, followed up by several pints of larger and a kebab.
That Opik MP bloke doesn’t help by publicly criticising Kate Moss for taking care of herself.
I’ve been slightly over indulging recently and noticed that I had put some weight on, so I have cut out breakfast, have an apple for lunch and a small tea. Its tough love, but that’s the way it is. We are not evolved for times of plenty, we are evolved to cope with famines. Ironically, people who pile the pounds on more easily are more ‘evolved’.
I know I get criticised for ‘famine dieting’, but its natural and works. We all need to get closer to nature.
It was a sad day when the PC Brigade told us we mustn’t idolise being slim and attractive just because a few people felt miffed. All that did was encourage the feeble to accept obesity as ok.
I’ve been over weight and slim – slim is much better, better for work prospects, social life and self esteem. It’s a fact that if turn up at job interview in jeans and t-shirt on a slim figure, I get the job over an obese person in a suit. You may not like it, but that’s human nature and you will never change that.
I’m not saying don’t eat that chocolate biscuit. One is ok, but for heavens sake, if you eat the whole pack, don’t expect the tax-payer to subsidise your recklessness.
Report abuse
Lucy,
Unfortunately, the science doesn’t support your over-simplistic view of the matter. Scientific study by UCL indicated that 75% of the factors leading to obesity are genetic. And if you think about it, why wouldn’t they be? After all, some people are tall, some are short, some are fat, some are skinny – and it’s clear that such characteristics run in families.
Yes, of course some people are overweight because they eat too much, but there are many others who do not eat unhealthily, and exercise regularly, yet continue to struggle to keep their weight down to the artificial limits set by BMI, which in itself is something of a moving target.
I’m all for people eating healthily and exercising, but I think we need to be wary of allowing the zealous ‘fat-police’ to make obesity the last bastion of prejudice in society. I’m particularly concerned at the potential for bullying of children in respect of this. The suggestion that people are less valuable members of society because they happen to be overweight is an erroneous one, not supported by statistics, and is to be strongly discouraged.
Report abuse
Blimey – the me me me society is alive and well and living in Shropshire. As Missmarie correctly points out hip replacements can be caused by being obese as can a huge number of other diseases costing many billions of pounds and causing untold suffering. As LucyW appears to have a degree in Psychology she should know better than to state that people should just stop eating (- you surely must have a degree in psychology – you wouldn’t make such comments without having an understanding of human behaviour surely??)
As with most things it is a lot more complex than saying stop eating else obesity wouldn’t be such a problem Spending money on prevention now is going to ensure we still have a health service in the future – and it would be unethical not to anyway.
What is a bigger problem are bigots who have no understanding and knowledge of the complexity if these situations spouting off about subjects they know nothing about. Causes many many more problems. And if you’re worried about your tax a recent study showed that at the moment a pound spent on obesity prevention can realise savings to the NHS of 30 to 40 pounds in the future. A bit of a no brainer really.
Report abuse
not to mention the harmful gasses they produce..
Report abuse
I was at a garage shop on saturday and a little fat woman little in size around 29-33in age , clearly obese buy 3 boxes of frozen burgers and some of that funny looking cheese in thin slices she then waddles off. They need to be sectioned and the weight brought in to a normal size and healthy range . Clearly if you are obese and eat like this you are ill.
Report abuse
Lucy,
Your over-simplified view simply doesn’t take into account the science of the matter.
UCL did a well-publicised study only last year that indicated that 75% of the factors leading to obesity are genetic. And if you think about it, why wouldn’t they be? After all, other factors such as height, often run in families – so why shouldn’t weight?
Studies have also shown that some groups of thin people, even when fed a ludicrously unhealthy diet, find it extremely difficult to put on weight, and that similar control groups of overweight people still don’t lose much weight even when put on a strict diet, and put their weight back on quickly as they return to a normal healthy diet.
Of course there are people who are overweight due to their own greed – but you seem unaware that there are many overweight people who eat healthily and exercise, and still struggle to keep their weight down.
You are right to identify that there is prejudice in society against overweight people – but quite wrong to dismiss this as acceptable. There is doubtless prejudice against people on the basis of their race, their gender or their sexual preferences in society too – would you so readily excuse this prejudice? And your chosen ‘starvation diet’ is an unhealthy one – I can’t imagine a doctor would recommend it.
Whilst no-one could argue with the healthy eating/exercise message, the current media obsession with obesity, based upon the moving target of the generalisation that is BMI is probably exacerbating prejudice against those who happen to be overweight. I worry that for children in particular this will lead to an increase in bullying.
Report abuse
Here, here Andrew re#6.
These TV presenters who loose weight and deny having a gastric-band don’t help either.
A gastric band makes you eat less – whats so difficult for people to understand?
Report abuse
Lucy,
For future reference, the phrase is ‘Hear, hear’…
Report abuse
Peter, I saw a nutritionist on TV who said he had yet to meet case where there was a genetic ‘problem’ causing obesity.
I accept that some people find it easier to out weight on etc due their genetic make-up, but if that is the case they need to eat even less.
The problem is our lazy society. Most people when they want the heating on, just switch a switch. I have to make a fire, fetch wood, chop kindling sticks – and all this wood was cut up before hand by myself.
Obese eople should throw away their TV remote and get some excercise changing channel.
Report abuse