Sunny hits the nail on the head about medication causing weight gain. Steroids cause increase in hunger for instance and if you are already battling the buldge then what hope do you have if you then have a medically induced hunger added on top!
Not only do steroids increase hunger but many other medications like anti seizure meds which are not only used for epileptics but to control nerve pain. Anti depressents also increase weight and quite often people who are drepressed are either over or underweight in the first place and so adding this issue on to them does not help!
The Governement's own medicine approval organisation NICE knows which meds cause this problem and doctors know the cheaper meds cost them less in their budgets but the vast majority also cause weight gain.
I know all about my own medications and many moons ago when I was seeing my old ill experienced pain management doctor, I refused to take one of these particular meds because I knew it was being thrust down my throat because it was cheaper! I had read up and knew it's side effects were weight gain (plus a few other nasties) yet this same doctor had said I had needed to shed a few pounds moments before??? I had found an alternative on the net which my doctor had heard of but no experience of. Thankfully he allowed me to take this med and I'm still on it now.
Money is wasted left right and centre all over the NHS. I happened to be in a hospital which was featured on the TV the day it was on the TV. We patients did not know what to do and were we going to watch it with the staff feeling we were traiters? In the end the staff watched the program with us agreeing with some aspects of the program and disagreeing with others. The next day the hospital bigwigs came around and I happend to speak to the MD and told him where I thought money was wasted in no uncertain terms but I don't think he listened. What was listened to thankfully but sadly for the overworked cleaning staff was that the ward was disgustingly dirty and no wonder people left with infections (like I did that time).
The cleaning staff worked all weekend and I got to know a couple of them quite well. The TV program focused partly on cleanliness, the cleaners drew the short straw and they were treated appallingly by the management. They were badly paid too yet what do you expect when you are paid peanuts?
The NHS needs to be pulled apart and rebuilt but it cannot blame overweight people for it's downfall when there is much more too it. I do agree that there are many overweight people that can help themselves though and many who feel that they are sucked into a cycle of eating because they have not been taught any other ways of dealing with their issues. It is easy to say "Snap out of it", but I would say once you are in a cycle, it is almost impossible to get out of it.
Long post phew....
