A weird thought ....

[Sharonimo]

Poss a question for the mathematicians / statisticians amongst us -- when we read in the press that the UK is the second worst obese nation (after the US) and that obesity is on the increase every year etc etc ....

-- where have all the thousands of pounds LOST by bariatric surgery people been factored in?


I know that every year *some* people go on diets, some people lose and some people gain (most of us who ever went on diets in the past are familiar with that yo yo rollercoaster) and most of those losses would be "negligible" in terms of statistics.

And every year *some* people do put on weight -- but very very few people ever put on 6 stone or 10 stone in one year -- the rate at which many of us WLS peeps lose weight.


-- so do those statistics that keep saying "Britain is getting fatter" and obesity is on the increase exclude all us THOUSANDS of post op peeps who have each lost 50 / 70 / 100 / 150 lbs at the end of year totals ????


.

 

[rickysmrs]

probably not but looking good in your photos hun well done on your loss xx

 

[Eve30]

I agree Sharon- bariatric surgery is much more common now then it was a few years back and I'm no maths whizz but that means the numbers should be dropping!!

 

[Sharonimo]

I agree Sharon- bariatric surgery is much more common now then it was a few years back and I'm no maths whizz but that means the numbers should be dropping!!

That's what I thought !!

Because there cannot be enough people in the UK *putting* on 100 lbs a year to make up for the 100's and 1000's of us who are losing.

How could anyone put *on* 100 lbs in a year?

I think the max I ever managed was slowly gaining about 2 stone in one year, but usually 7 lbs ...... and then another 7 lbs ...... and then another 7 lbs that I never dealt with swiftly and efficiently when it should have been.


.

 

[WobblyW]

I think it's a numbers game, as in more people are above average weight and therefore for every one WLS person who looses 100 say, you could have 10 people who are considered overweight.

 

[Bellydancer57]

But you are right it diesn't make sense. There are the other headlines that anorexua etc at the other end of the scale is on an alarming increase. Again our press are not up to the job anymore sadly. Lazy journalism sensationalising things & often inaccurate & at best selective reporting. Was hoping Levison enquiry & recommendations would help sort it out but alas nothing will be done!

 

[Muttley1900]

So the question is what? Where do they get the "figures" from?

I don't know is the honest answer, but I would assume that they are figures that come in from the NHS Hospitals and/or GPs (hospitals will check hight/weight to get the BMI score as you are admitted and I wouldn't be surprised if the GP does something similar for all the patients that come through their door too (not every time, but once a year or something similar).

I'm sure there are a number of flaws in getting the numbers in this way (people with higher BMIs are prone to be more unwell, so more people with high BMIs go to the GPs and hospitals is one example) but true (professional) statisticians take this type of skewing of the figures into account with other factors etc etc.

So I think the figures are based on numbers of people who are within each of the BMI ranges, not the sum of weight in the country divided by the number of people.

Therefore, it doesn't really matter that you and I lose 200lbs between us in one year but there are a lot more people going through the hospital doors who have put on another stone or two since their last visit that has pushed them up into the next BMI category. In other words, they aren't looking at individual achievements (or fluctuations) but the sum of these BMI bands (and probably extrapolated out to a national figure).

So, I think we can therefore have both - we can have an increasing obesity level (more and more people going through the different Obese levels) and an increase in the below "normal" BMI level too (and I agree Bellydancer - using words like "Alarming" means what? - is one more person suffering with anorexia alarming or is 101 more people?).

So to have both levels increasing, it probably means that the "Normal" and "Overweight" BMI levels are probably getting less populated.

 

[Yvessa]

Actually, I would argue the case that they haven't had BMI as a measure of obesity for very long to suggest this. I also don't think they're taking into account the changes in population, ethnic origin etc. What is classed as overweight now was perfectly acceptable 10 years ago. Those of us who are extremely heavy represent a small proportion of the population, but the population as a whole is larger. And the numbers are getting bigger.

 

[Paula Garner]

They only base their statistics on obese patients. They don't take into account post surgery patients. There is a separate set of statistics for that. The same as there are separate statistics for Post surgery complications etc.

 

[Bellydancer57]

Well chaps we are all on board for our own Weight loss journeys & addressing our issues so at leat contributing to making the figures better reading. Best of luck everybody. X