Thanks Trusylver!

Hi Nathan welcome to you

Best of luck with the pre-op weight loss DeDe!

Good to see how many of us are from Down Under
I'm a born and bred Melbournite (from Melbourne + cellulite lol). Greetings to you all and you all sound pretty motivated and in kick-ass mentality.
So they say Australia has now surpassed the US as the world's fattest nation. Hmmm, wonder what it would be like to have a bit of a nation-to-nation online weight loss challenge? Aussies v. Yanks??
What do you all think?

Australia would totally win. Canadians would help, if need be!

I think it's just that there are more extremes in North America. People are either morbidly obese, or fitness fanatics. There are far less people in between. I would guess that in Australia the "fat" people are all less fat on average than the Americans, who are probably more disabled by obesity in greater numbers.

Yeah, I would tend to agree Alpha.. I can't see where we are the fattest nation at all.. it is still pretty rare to see someone who would be truly morbidly obese here.. but there are a lot of people who are a fair bit overweight.

Someone I know who returned from the USA recently commented that it was BS us being the fattest, and that they had seen huge people everywhere over there... here it is still a eye boggling sight to see someone really huge.

I am probably technically morbidly obese, but I am not really, just very overweight - obese, as I have a big frame, but it feels good to be doing something about it anyway.

Still it's not a title we should hide from, it's very shaming, and I hope that more fattie Aussies are taking heed and doing something about it.

I don't think it matters who the winner(ie loser) in this argument is really. I think a reliance on fast foods(cheap, easy & usually high in fat, salt & calories))& processed foods(same but which are quite expensive) & rapidly increasing food portions are making the people of both countries more unhealthy & over-weight. We eat way more than we need. Look around you & see how many people are carrying excess weight. Not necessarily morbidly obese but just overweight. We are getting bigger & eating more. Just because we can. It's crazy!
I think if anyone has a BMI of 40 or above they are classified as morbidly obese or if they are 100lbs over their ideal weight. When I was told that I was "very obese" I was horrified & really hurt & offended. It was true. It hurt me but after a while I decided to do something about it. The weight I have chosen to settle on leaves me in the "desirable" range of the charts & I am slim but not thin. I know that I can never become complacent about it & I'm going to make sure I stay this way.
We are very lucky in Australia to be able to get around easily & to have the choices available to us. There does seem to be a much bigger divide between the rich & the poor and in the US there are very many poor who have few options available to them, including their own transport. Most families here have at least one car, often 2.
I live in Tassie, away from the markets & km's away from any shops, and I'm on a very low income(zilch for me but husband has a casual job) but we can still manage to eat well & healthily. We don't eat take-aways or buy pre-prepared food but eat fresh fruit, vegies & good lean protein etc. It's taken a lifetime to learn by my mistakes but now I know what to do there's no going back. I will never eat as much as I used to nor eat rubbish. Why would I want to?
I seem to have raved on I'm sorry!
I guess want I wanted to say is.....
Obese, very obese, morbidly obese, US v/s Aus. Who's the fattest? Does it matter? It's in all of us to do something about ourselves & our health & that's what we can change. That's what matters. Cheers, gasbag Cate

Hey

here from the Central Coast.

Good to see some aussies here

hi sammeh! good to have you here!

Another Aussie in the mix - I'm up North where we do alot of this ...... and it usually end up like this .

Noooo ..... just kidding - we're not that bad. A bit rough around the edges, but an adorable bunch nonetheless.

Hey Sammeh! Hey Life after 30!

Good to see you both here