Overweight people at work
Discussion
Have you considered free gym membership?
On the whole I think it is something companies who make their employees perform sedentary, i.e. desk-based roles, should be made to provide for employees. The first thing I forked out for myself when I started earning a good salary was a gym membership, but at about £60 a month was also the first thing I gave up when my finances tightened due to having increased rent after my then GF moved out. For some context we were paying £140 a week rent on a 1-bed flat in those days so gym membership was nearly a week's rent.
On the whole I think it is something companies who make their employees perform sedentary, i.e. desk-based roles, should be made to provide for employees. The first thing I forked out for myself when I started earning a good salary was a gym membership, but at about £60 a month was also the first thing I gave up when my finances tightened due to having increased rent after my then GF moved out. For some context we were paying £140 a week rent on a 1-bed flat in those days so gym membership was nearly a week's rent.
KrissKross said:
Thank you for this reply, yes I am only trying to help and getting slated for it.
It's so easy to be negative and says a lot more about the people who take the time to reply to topics like this than it does about me.
No doubt its the "fatties" that have a problem with this discussion.
No it's not, as a bit of a porker myself and someone who has always done desk jobs I think as an employer you are doing the right thing. Yes my weight is usually my responsibility but if/when I am giving up 10 to 12 hours of my day, five days a week, for your business and am spending more of my waking hours inside the office under artificial light than I do in my own home or outdoors to make you a good return on your investment in me then hell yeah you need to take some responsibility for me bloating out because I'm spending all day at a desk for your benefit. It's so easy to be negative and says a lot more about the people who take the time to reply to topics like this than it does about me.
No doubt its the "fatties" that have a problem with this discussion.
Edited by vsonix on Thursday 18th January 14:11
We've a big guy that works with us, he's fairly lethargic, spends most of his time in the toilet presumably having a s
t, he's a nice guy though, and plods along with his work, there is a semi-permanent 'butty van' located about 50 yards from our door....which he DRIVES to every lunch break and presumably fills his face with whatever they have on offer there.
Sad really, rare to see him without some kind of food/snack.
He seems happy enough, but he can't be healthy, you just gotta let some people 'be'.
t, he's a nice guy though, and plods along with his work, there is a semi-permanent 'butty van' located about 50 yards from our door....which he DRIVES to every lunch break and presumably fills his face with whatever they have on offer there.Sad really, rare to see him without some kind of food/snack.
He seems happy enough, but he can't be healthy, you just gotta let some people 'be'.
djc206 said:
Sa Calobra said:
xjay1337 said:
I've never heard of that!
You never went to a UK school?I think showering before swimming in pools as a matter of course has come in the decades since we were last forced onto swimming by teachers.
vsonix said:
I think showering before swimming in pools as a matter of course has come in the decades since we were last forced onto swimming by teachers.
Potentially. I think it is relatively recently that it has become understood that it isn't chlorine which makes your eyes sting when swimming. Rather it is the products produced when chlorine reacts with other stuff such as urine, sweat, deodorant, aftershave, etc.Jambo85 said:
vsonix said:
I think showering before swimming in pools as a matter of course has come in the decades since we were last forced onto swimming by teachers.
Potentially. I think it is relatively recently that it has become understood that it isn't chlorine which makes your eyes sting when swimming. Rather it is the products produced when chlorine reacts with other stuff such as urine, sweat, deodorant, aftershave, etc.Gary29 said:
We've a big guy that works with us, he's fairly lethargic, spends most of his time in the toilet presumably having a st, he's a nice guy though, and plods along with his work, there is a semi-permanent 'butty van' located about 50 yards from our door....which he DRIVES to every lunch break and presumably fills his face with whatever they have on offer there.
Sad really, rare to see him without some kind of food/snack.
He seems happy enough, but he can't be healthy, you just gotta let some people 'be'.
t, he's a nice guy though, and plods along with his work, there is a semi-permanent 'butty van' located about 50 yards from our door....which he DRIVES to every lunch break and presumably fills his face with whatever they have on offer there.Sad really, rare to see him without some kind of food/snack.
He seems happy enough, but he can't be healthy, you just gotta let some people 'be'.
Theres a lady like that where i work. Lovely person but registered disabled because her joints are that knackered.
Ironically she sees herself as obese because shes disabled, not disabled because shes obese. Has to have a "special chair" for posture (as opposed to her ass being too fat for a regular chair)
Theres specific instructions in the fire evacuation procedures as to how to get her out.
Another lady apparently has a medical condition that means shes obese. Of course, she'll be telling you this as she tucks in to a packet of chocolate biscuits for her morning break or during her three course lunch.
She came in from being off for a doctors appointment and ALL her ailments were either due to or would be significantly improved by not being morbidly obese. Conversation to her friend went like (bit in brackets was what i was thinking each time) :-
Well the doctor says my blood pressure is up (is that because you're morbidly obese?)
He says my knee joints are more swollen (is that because you're morbidly obese?)
My asthma is still as bad (is that because you're morbidly obese?)
I'm still feeling very lethargic (is that because you're morbidly obese?)
Hes given me extra medication for my back problems (is that because you're morbidly obese?)
My temperature is high so i need to keep a desk fan on (is that because you're morbidly obese?)
Probably are reasonably effective in their job roles but they're killing themselves slowly....
daemon said:
Probably are reasonably effective in their job roles but they're killing themselves slowly....
Bang, nail on head. We are not creatures evolved to do desk jobs. If anything, increasingly overweight population and us all becoming morbidly obese is a sign we are evolving into creatures fit for doing nothing but sitting on our asses tapping screens and clicking buttons. In order to earn a 'living' we are putting ourselves in unnatural situations that kill us slowly - sedentary office work being a case in point.
Then to counteract the effect of sitting there doing nothing for eight to ten hours we spend some of the money we just earned on going to a gym to stand on a treadmill or sit in a rowing machine burning off all those calories (waste energy - hook some dynamos up to the exercise machines for goodness sake!) like idiot hamsters on a wheel. Then wonder why we haven't got enough money at the end of the month.
Like animals locked in a zoo, sedentary humans start to engage in repetitive stereotypic actions. In the case of a captive polar bear, it's rubbing against the bars of the cage till their fur wears off and pacing up and down til their paws bleed.
In the case of the desk-bound human it's binge drinking after work to slow the mind down to the same pace as the body, or eating packs of chocolate biscuits they know deep down will make them worse.
Treating individual cases of obesity in isolation, lambasting and stigmatising the obese will get us nowhere
We need to look at holistic, ground-up solutions for the problem. We need to look at integrating excercise and physical activity alongside desk-bound work and be sure that adequate facilities are provided so EVERY adult has can access physical fitness equipment to keep themselves in top form. It's great that schools provide P.E. classes, and prisons have gyms, yet keeping regular adults active is purely the realm of private, for profit businesses that not everyone can afford to engage with.
vsonix said:
Treating individual cases of obesity in isolation, lambasting and stigmatising the obese will get us nowhere
We need to look at holistic, ground-up solutions for the problem. We need to look at integrating excercise and physical activity alongside desk-bound work and be sure that adequate facilities are provided so EVERY adult has can access physical fitness equipment to keep themselves in top form. It's great that schools provide P.E. classes, and prisons have gyms, yet keeping regular adults active is purely the realm of private, for profit businesses that not everyone can afford to engage with.
Exactly - theres a ground up rethink required.We need to look at holistic, ground-up solutions for the problem. We need to look at integrating excercise and physical activity alongside desk-bound work and be sure that adequate facilities are provided so EVERY adult has can access physical fitness equipment to keep themselves in top form. It's great that schools provide P.E. classes, and prisons have gyms, yet keeping regular adults active is purely the realm of private, for profit businesses that not everyone can afford to engage with.
I think obesity is going to be the next "smoking" in terms of it becoming unacceptable.
I would be hugely right wing on it in terms of solutions, but there does need to be something done.
daemon said:
I think obesity is going to be the next "smoking" in terms of it becoming unacceptable.
I agree, especially given the strain the NHS is under and the huge amount obesity costs it each year.I don't necessarily have a problem with people being a little overweight as many people's lives are almost entirely sedentary and there's a lot of delicious but unhealthy food available however there's no excuse for being very fat, other than you can't stop filling your mouth with food.
MrBarry123 said:
there's no excuse for being very fat, other than you can't stop filling your mouth with food.
which is patently untrue and that stigmatising attitude doesn't help anyone.There are plenty of very good reasons why people are prone to weight gain.
And there are definitely people who are far more prone to gaining weight than others. It can be linked to any number of other conditions ranging from depression to injury to genetic disorder. Blaming an obese person for their own obesity as a default position is incredibly damaging.
vsonix said:
MrBarry123 said:
there's no excuse for being very fat, other than you can't stop filling your mouth with food.
which is patently untrue and that stigmatising attitude doesn't help anyone.There are plenty of very good reasons why people are prone to weight gain.
And there are definitely people who are far more prone to gaining weight than others. It can be linked to any number of other conditions ranging from depression to injury to genetic disorder. Blaming an obese person for their own obesity as a default position is incredibly damaging.
vsonix said:
which is patently untrue and that stigmatising attitude doesn't help anyone.
There are plenty of very good reasons why people are prone to weight gain.
And there are definitely people who are far more prone to gaining weight than others. It can be linked to any number of other conditions ranging from depression to injury to genetic disorder. Blaming an obese person for their own obesity as a default position is incredibly damaging.
I was waiting for this...There are plenty of very good reasons why people are prone to weight gain.
And there are definitely people who are far more prone to gaining weight than others. It can be linked to any number of other conditions ranging from depression to injury to genetic disorder. Blaming an obese person for their own obesity as a default position is incredibly damaging.
I accept it's true that some people are more prone to weight gain however no-one increases their weight without consuming more calories than they burn.
It may sound a bit harsh but if someone is predisposed to get a bit fat, they need to try and ensure they're also predisposed to put less cake in their mouth.
Re: depression and fatness. These people should of course be provided with help and assistance but let's not pretend the obesity we see nowadays is down to depression in the majority. It's the result of people not moving their legs enough and eating too much high-calorie food.
MrBarry123 said:
I was waiting for this...
I accept it's true that some people are more prone to weight gain however no-one increases their weight without consuming more calories than they burn.
It may sound a bit harsh but if someone is predisposed to get a bit fat, they need to try and ensure they're also predisposed to put less cake in their mouth.
Re: depression and fatness. These people should of course be provided with help and assistance but let's not pretend the obesity we see nowadays is down to depression in the majority. It's the result of people not moving their legs enough and eating too much high-calorie food.
Wholly agree.I accept it's true that some people are more prone to weight gain however no-one increases their weight without consuming more calories than they burn.
It may sound a bit harsh but if someone is predisposed to get a bit fat, they need to try and ensure they're also predisposed to put less cake in their mouth.
Re: depression and fatness. These people should of course be provided with help and assistance but let's not pretend the obesity we see nowadays is down to depression in the majority. It's the result of people not moving their legs enough and eating too much high-calorie food.
Consistently take in more calories than your body needs and you'll get fat.
Some people do have to work at not being fat harder than others, particularly as you get older.
Depression does not make you fat. Depression removes you of any desire to not be fat (among many other things).
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