Did anyone watch this last night?  Was on channel 5 at 9pm. Followed the story of 3 incredibly obese people, who were basically 'eating themselves to death'.  It was awful :(  The sights of these people were just unbelievable, you couldn't imagine someone could get so big.  Two of them couldn't get out of bed and hadn't walked in years.  One of them actually died during the filming of the program.

It stopped me reaching for that chocolate bar I can tell you!!  (Well, ok, so it didn't, but I felt mighty guilty after I'd eaten it!)

Ewww no i didnt see it - does make you not reach for that choccy or bag of crisps now - well it will me now ive heard of this :-(

I watched it and was absolutely horrified.  It definitely put me off chowing down the crisps and choccies while I was watching it and the strangest bit on it for me was the woman who put most of her weight on her stomach and the rest of her was of 'fairly normal' size, although still obese.  I think her stomach fat weighed at least 11 stone.  It was a definite eye-opener!!

It was absolutely unbelievable, which one died though, I missed the end of the programme as OH kept switching channels saying he couldn't bear to watch it?

The one that died was the bloke they showed third, he had congestive heart disease - he was also the one that, although booked into a clinic to reduce his weight, used to order up takeaways and have them on his hospital bed - unbelievable!  I know it's hard to diet, blimey I've tried enough times, but didn't this man realise he was going to die soon if he didn't stop?  Not trying to judge (before anyone jumps on me :D ), just find it amazingly difficult to understand.

I thought it might have been him, his wife didn't help him much either did she?

Not from what I could see - she was bringing him half his fast-food.  My OH asked me if I'd do that for him and I said no!!  He said the same - you have to be cruel to be kind on times.  Mind, not being mean or anything but they didn't look like the worlds smartest couple!!  Bless!

I found him to be a bit too graphic - particularly when talking about sex and his girlfriend/wife just gazed adoringly at him.  Think they must have been rose tinted spectacles she was wearing because he came across like a total caveman and not a particularly nice person.  If nothing else, despite having a bad back just now, I'm off for another walk with the dog to attempt to burn off some of the lard I've eaten over xmas time so the programme has done me a bit of good.

She was unbelievable to look at wasn't she?  Her stomach just looked like it didn't belong to her and wasn't attached - it was like a big mattress that she was just laying on. 

Out of all three of them I was really hoping that the first man they showed didn't due during the filming (not that it was nice that any of them died :( ) as he seemed to be the only one who had tried to lose the weight, and indeed had done at one point, and who didn't blame his genes/thyroid etc etc.  He said "every pound on my body is what I've eaten"  And at the end of the show he had actually booked himself into a clinic to try to do something about it.

I agree Keeley, that its nice when people are honest like that.  It is also really sad to see people who have ended up so big they can't attend to their everyday needs.

Some people do genuinley have a problem which may hinder weight loss, however the people that say 'I barely eat a thing' drive me mad, when it is obvious they must either eat a lot more than they realise or what they do eat is so high in fat and calories, coupled with no exercise, that they pile on the pounds.

Nobody puts on weight without taking in more food than their bodies need.  I am overweight and make no excuses for myself.

My excess weight  is due to plain and simple over-eating and eyes bigger than the belly syndrome (wish that were true ;) ) :D

I am one of these people aswell who don't pretend to be happy when they are big.   I hate my size and have been working hard over the past few months to lose all of my excess weight got a way to go yet but it is coming off.

Losing weight is one of the most difficult things to do ( next to smoking ;) , come on quitters, you can do it :D ) but it is achievable.

I can't wait to be a healthy weight again.

Some people do genuinley have a problem which may hinder weight loss, however the people that say 'I barely eat a thing' drive me mad, when it is obvious they must either eat a lot more than they realise or what they do eat is so high in fat and calories, coupled with no exercise, that they pile on the pounds.

Well actually you know its a case of the body using up ALL you eat and storing the fat if you don't eat enough and not frequently enough (and of course of the wrong things as well), rather than just using up what's necessary,so yes you can put on MORE weight by eating less. :) The first thing I was told when I saw a dietitcian was that I MUST start eating MORE meals a day if I wanted to lose weight, 2 was not enough -something which my mother had already nagged me about for years........

Yeah, that's the other end of the extreme.  Your body will store your fat cells if it thinks you're starving it - but not to the point of making you as obese as these people were - never!!  This was purely over-eating, nothing else for it.

Hi Goldmali :)

Yep, thats why i wrote ......  or what they do eat is so high in fat and calories, coupled with no exercise, that they pile on the pounds.

I didn't realise that until a couple of years ago.  It is amazing what your body can do! :D  and annoying ;)  :D  :D

Edited to add -  OOoops just realised what I meant to say didn't say what I meant to say on my original post!  Ignore the above! :D  Dohh

Yep, like you say, the reason I'm fat is because I eat too much of the wrong stuff - plain and simple!!  Crikey, I sincerely hope I never ever get as bad as these people were though, I don't understand how people can allow things to get so out of control?  Surely at the point of struggling to get off of the sofa you would do something drastic, not allow it to continue to the point of not even being able to get out of you bed at all

I still feel some sympathy towards these people though, it's bloody hard to lose weight and in the end I just think it's a very sad waste of life for people who are that obese :(

And yes, that guy talking about sex was disgusting   Just the thought of it made me cringe!!  And he didn't need to use the words he did - he seemed almost proud of himself, proud that he could weigh so much but still be able to make love - big deal!!  Didn't do him any good in the end though :(

My mum eats fairly healthy things and is overweight.  Her problem has always been that she skips meals and doesn't eat enough so there's nothing to help her metabolism. 

Made me cringe too !. Must have been like looking for a needle in a haystack for his wife !.
I only saw the chap in the hospital bed that died, I'm afraid I had little sympathy. Why did the hospital allow food deliveries ?.

I didn't see the programme but I would imagine we were seeing something rather more than general gluttony but a serious mental illness in which case I think they deserve the same level of sympathy as any other.  Hospitals, of course, are not prisons and cannot deny anyone something they wanted.  The role of partners who "pander" to their illness is rather more dubious but then we have no idea what is going on in their head either, perhaps it's the unfortunate case of two ill individuals finding each over and responding to each others needs in a very unfortunate way.  Whatever it all means it doesn't seem to add up to entertainment in my view, a bit too freak show for my taste.

>Whatever it all means it doesn't seem to add up to entertainment in my view, a bit too freak show for my taste.

It was freaky Isabel!  But I think it was good that it was shown - if it prevents just a few people from becoming that obese, by using shock tactics (which this program certainly had) then I think that's good.

They did say that I think at least two of these people had experienced sexual and/or mental abuse and torture, but I'm unsure as to whether it's the major contributory factor to their obesity.  I'm classed as obese at 14 stone, but I had a fab childhood! 

>Hospitals, of course, are not prisons and cannot deny anyone something they wanted.

Quite true, and how annoying it must be for the staff who work there to see their hard work going to waste, when this man simply continues to eat cr*p and slowly kill himself.  I guess some people just can't be helped. :(

Mmmm, maybe, but I think the average trencherman who is happy to carry a good bit of bulk :) knows he is not going to end up like this, it is the extreme and rather more to do with damaging yourself than the eating itself.   Health workers have to deal with lots of different forms of self damage, you would hope that no matter how frustrating their training would help them deal with it.

I think in extreme cases like this, its more of a mental illness rather than just pure greed; just as the anorexic starve themselves, these people are abusing food.

Edited to add: not sure if that makes any sense having re-read it:rolleyes:

Yes it does Liberty :)  That's an interesting thought, isn't it, I wonder if all of us repulsed by the vision of an enormously fat fella eating himself to death would have exactly the same feelings at sight of a waif of a teenage girl killing herself in the opposite direction or would our view of her be tinged with rather more empathy.

Yes, if I saw an anorexic lady I think I would be more likely to be sympathetic - silly isn't it?  But then I did say in my earlier post that I was sympathetic towards these obese people also, I just find it annoying when they blame everything in life, apart from THEM actually putting food in their mouths, for their obesity.  The first man they showed, as I mentioned before, admitted completely that the reason he was that big was because he couldn't stop eating and that every pound he had gained was because he had eaten the wrong food.  But then maybe he is just one of the people who have become that large without having any underlying 'mental illness'. I don't know.  Either way it was awful to see, and I just pray to god that I never, ever allow myself to get that big, or even a quarter that big.

Yes, I agree, a food addiction is a mental illness of neurotic tendency and shares common ground with alcoholism, anorexia, bulimia and various other disorders.   These people deserve the same amount of empathy, sympathy and the right treatment for an addiction that can be very difficult to control depending on the neurotic driving force behind it.    

  No-one said they shouldn't have sympathy did they?  This seems to be heading towards a debate as to whether overweight people should be given sympathy or not!  That wasn't the point of my topic. :)

As I've said before this country doesn't do enough on mental illness, which is extremely sad, especially when many illnesses can begin due to a mental illness.

Well, actually, someone did say they felt little sympathy :) and everyone has been careful to stress the point that these are not just overweight people but extremely overweight people continuing without let up to death so I don't think it is in danger of looking like an attack on either group really.  At the moment we are oozing sympathy all round :)  Threads like this often do go off topic though :)

i didn't watch it keeley, but i read an article in my friends mag at the weekend, and there was a fella who used to be over 76 stone ! He was huge. They liked his weight to a baby whale, 6 humans and so many washing machines. He's lost 43 stone so far. They gave him weeks to live! I can't believe that people allow themselves to get to that stage! I know its a vicious circle-i'm fat (classed as obese actually) and always have been (was 19st at my heaviest, but since lost weight), and its because (a) i have food intolerances which i find easier to ignore, but (b) i eat more than i need to. Simple as that. I walk for hours each day, but its no effort for me. I really must go back to the gym...

nicola

I think ive seen this fella on this morning - is he called Charlie? Hes done extrememy well :-) Gives hope to the rest who are suffering out there

Yeah, that was the first guy they showed - he was 76 stone at one point, then he wrote to an American diet specialist who helped him lose so much weight he got down to 14 stone I think it was - 17 stone initially then he had 3 stone of skin cut away.  But unfortunately his Doctor told him he was 'too thin' and had to stop dieting, which he did, and of course the weight piled back on and now he's back to being 36 stone or there abouts I think it was.

He said "it was like the Doctor telling someone addicted to heroin 'you've done well the last year, now you can have a bit of heroin now and again' how stupid would that be?'

Or words similar anyway!  A valid point I think - if he is addicted to food like he says, then it should be treated like any other addiction.  He also said 'imagine if an alcoholic had to have a bit of alcohol three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner - how hard would that be for him?  Well, that's what I have to do in effect, I HAVE to know when to stop eating and it's hard'

I thought everything he said made a lot of sense.

I wish id seen it now - does anybody know if there going to repeat it - i dont really know how i feel on the subject as im not invloved - but i do think the hospital/food takeaway place were at fault from reading this. Hospital should have refused the delivery as they will have had to ask where the recipient was. Takeaway place as when there they will have realised the problem. Saying that they have a job to so so i dont know.
I know theres freewill and all that - but i simply would have refused to treat this person.

Which brings me to the subject - what do you all think about this new law sort of thing there taking about - not treating people if the refuse to stop eating, smoking or drinking. What there trying to say is should they refuse to treat alcoholics,obese people and smokers. Thats if theyve been told to stop but have ignored it and carried on then need treating.

Thats just made me think - they havent said anything about refusing to treat anorexic/bullemic people.

>Which brings me to the subject - what do you all think about this new law sort of thing there taking about - not treating people if the refuse to stop eating, smoking or drinking. What there trying to say is should they refuse to treat alcoholics,obese people and smokers. Thats if theyve been told to stop but have ignored it and carried on then need treating.

When the govt stops taking tax money from cigarettes and beer they might have a right to stop treating folk who smoke/drink! It seriously annoys me that they go on and on and on about cigarettes causing cancer, push through bans, advertise, provide support to stop - yet still allow them to be sold and profit from them! Just ban the things from sale full stop!!!

I think we all know that the Govt enjoy the financial benefits from cigarette and alcohol duty........they have no real desire to see people quit

I never thought of that - made me see a whole different side - i dont smoke and barely drink - but i agree - stop charging the tax then refuse to treat them - only fair!
Double standards - theyll take the tax but not treat you - thats not on

I don't think there has been talk of any law, its up to the local PCT what they fund.  Doctors have always withheld treatment when the prospects are limited by a refusal to change habits and I think that is perfectly reasonable, it is in the patients own interest not to suffer the treatment with no prospect of a good outcome, but it is rarely as brutal as that they will almost certainly refer them for the help required to assist them altering their habits as necessary, I've know a couple of women prescribed Reductil and referred to dieticians prior to reaching a target weight in order to cut the risk to them in have an operation, the rest is up to them.

I did say that I had 'little sympathy'. I only saw the one man. He seemed to find it funny that he was huge, stuck in a hospital bed (where he was being helped to lose weight), talking about how he and his wife still had great s*x (although he didn't use such a polite term !) and laughing that he could phone up and have junk food delivered. He had no intention of ever losing weight and I don't believe he cared.
I do however, have great sympathy with people who have any kind of eating disorder who desperately want help. He didn't.

Val

For those of us who didn't get to see this programme it is repeated on Thursday, Channel 5 at 11.30pm.

it is well worth seeing as I feel that some of those who have commented on this thread, particularly around mental illness, may change their perception when they see the programme.  IMO mental illness is a word used far too often when there is no diagnosed illness and many of these people on the programme were displaying a very emotional link to food which may or may not have been instilled in them in childhood and they have taken this emotional/behavioural link through to adulthood where it has become so self-harming it has endangered their lives.  IMO this has contributed to mental ill-health but you will all need to watch the programme to make your own minds up.  i felt it was very well made and did not come across as particularly sensationalist or freak show-esque - definitely one to watch.

[deleted]

Snap!

I think talking inappropriately and finding humour inappropriately points rather more towards mental illhealth, but I'm not expert :p

I'm suprised he could find it let alone get it up!

I watched that last night.  It was awful   Those people were so FAT.
I felt really sorry for the lass they were on about who had grown into the sofa and hadn't moved for years.  She must have lived in absolutely appalling conditions.

just watching it now
Only seen first 10 mins so far. 13 years old and 46 stone. Now that is MAJOR CHILD ABUSE!!!!!
(I taped it the other night!!!)
How on earth can someone be fused to the sofa????
And I have been into houses where the dogs wee and pooh every where but is cleaned up and the house stinks. Can you imagine how her house STUNK!!!!!!!!!
Lea :)

OMG Have just finished watching it.
Now i am sorry but once someone becomes bed bound then here HAS to be a second party that is at fault for them getting fatter.
Other people have to do EVERYTHING for them including sorting out banking, shopping etc.
so If the people that were looking after them stopped the source of the food and only provided proper meals then they wouldnt get bigger.
Maybe some people will disagree but its true.
That guy that went into hospital and died even tho he was in there trying to loose weight. his WIFE was bringing him in food, was she too THICK to realise what she was doing :( she was one of the reasons he died. Harsh but true :( Maybe she thought she was being kind, but kindness sometimes kills.
Dad went to a women who was huge, they needed to ambulances, 4 men to lift her out of the house, and she said she didnt eat much so didnt know why she was fat. they moved her and all in her chair were sweet wrappers!!!!
Deffinatly starting running tommorow, complete with kids and Beano. Although dont think kids will get like that one has 24" waist and 29" inside leg at the age of 10!!!!!!!
Lea :)