WOD Map

A very interactive talk was organised at Sant Parmanand Hospital involving doctors, nurses and other staff members regarding how obesity prevalence is increasing throughout the world and what are the contributing factors in the INDIAN KITCHEN which are contributing to it. And how we can modify the Indian kitchen for preventing obesity and healthy weight loss. A healthy lunch was also organised setting an example of healthy eating habits.

I grew up being called “the fat kid.” After graduating from college, my weight soared to 110 kilograms. A busy job, irregular eating habits, and late-night social engagements pushed me to a staggering 135 kilograms by my 30s. In China, that puts me in a tiny fraction of severely overweight individuals. As my weight climbed, health issues came one after another. Even tying my shoelaces left me gasping for breath, and I dreaded medical checkups because I knew the results would be disastrous. I used to joke, “If I make it to 30, that’s good enough.” Then 30 arrived, right on schedule. My health was deteriorating, and I worried about when death might knock on my door. I thought I should at least have a child before dying, so my parents could have some hope. But for two years, despite our efforts, my physical condition was so poor that even conceiving a child became an issue. At that moment, I finally resolved—I had to change!

After countless failures, I decided not to merely “try” losing weight. Before turning 30, I had tried all kinds of methods: Fasting/Dieting: I couldn’t stick to it; the hunger was unbearable. Exercise: I’d lose weight but gain it all back, leaving me more hopeless each time. Meal replacements, medication, or “miracle” solutions: Either they didn’t work or had serious side effects. This time, I decided not to haphazardly experiment with random weight-loss methods. I wanted to truly understand what weight loss entailed. I enrolled in a National Health Manager program, systematically studying physiology, nutrition, exercise science, and psychology. Finally, instead of “blind training,” I started over with a science-based approach. By managing my diet and exercise, I successfully lost 45 kilograms in a single year! Even more exciting, I didn’t just slim down—I finished my first-ever full marathon! And best of all, I finally welcomed my first child. At that moment, I thought I had completely conquered obesity.

Overconfidence led to a harsh lesson. Feeling triumphant, I signed up for a 50 km trail race—but I ended up injuring my knee. This injury forced me to cut back on exercise, and my weight quickly rebounded to 100 kilograms. That injury was a painful wake-up call: True exercise science isn’t just “work out more.” The wrong approach can backfire and make things worse. So I dived deeper into specialized exercise knowledge and obtained the ACE-CPT certification in the United States, learning more about exercise rehabilitation. With adjusted training methods, I brought my weight back down to 90 kilograms.

Life’s curveballs took me back to 110 kilograms. Just when I thought things were on track, another challenge arose. I switched to a high-intensity job in the tech industry, flying 150 times a year. I was so busy that I barely had time to train, and I depended on social events for meals. Even though I maintained regular workouts and used various devices to track my calorie intake, my weight still soared! This time, I finally understood that the real problem wasn’t just about exercise—it was about managing appetite and metabolism! I continued my studies, earning a Certified Nutritionist qualification in China to gain deeper insights into physiology and nutrition. With a strategic adjustment, I not only brought my weight down to 85 kilograms, but also saw major improvements in my health metrics, fitness level, and muscle strength. Most importantly—this time, I’ve stayed at my healthy weight for years!

My three key weight-loss secrets:

• After many failures and lessons, I finally summarized the core truths of effective weight loss: Precise calorie calculations don’t exist outside a lab. In daily life, it’s impossible to measure exactly how many calories you consume and burn. The only workable method is to observe your weight trends, infer your energy balance, and tweak your diet and exercise accordingly. Don’t just make a plan—keep adjusting it. Many people devise a “perfect” weight-loss plan at the start. But the body adapts, and that plan soon stops working.
• You need regular assessments and adjustments to achieve long-term results.
• Improve cardiovascular capacity and do strength training so the body resists less. Cardio training boosts your overall energy expenditure, while resistance training helps the body recover and adapt. Combined, they help you avoid adaptive rebounds under a calorie deficit.

I’m still learning and ready to be your “umbrella”. Recently, I took the SCOPE course from the World Obesity Federation. It’s highly specialized, covering topics like obesity stigma and weight-loss strategies for special populations. From 135 kilograms to a healthy weight, I’ve been through failure, regaining weight, overconfidence, injury, and confusion… but I never gave up! Because I know the misery of trying to lose weight—and the happiness of finally succeeding. That’s why I’m willing to share my journey with you. I hope you can also find a path that truly suits you and enjoy a life that feels light and free!

Once upon a time, there was a 42-year-old man named Marco. A brilliant professional, a loving father, but to the world, first and foremost, an man with obesity. When he entered a room, it wasn’t his smile that was noticed, nor his skills—it was his extra weight. A silent shadow followed him, made of judgmental glances, whispered remarks, and rushed diagnoses. Every medical visit seemed to boil down to a single prescription: “You need to lose weight.” No one asked why that weight was there, no one wondered what battles he was fighting.

Then, one day, everything changed. Marco walked into my office with a look of resignation. But this time, I didn’t start with the scale. I started with him. I asked him about his childhood, his relationship with food, his sleepless nights, and his struggle to breathe. I talked to him about the hunger hormone, insulin resistance, and the neuroendocrine alterations that make obesity a disease, not a fault. For the first time, Marco realized that he wasn’t the one who was broken. The systems around him were—a healthcare system that often oversimplifies, a society that reduces everything to “Eat less, move more.”

That day, Marco started a journey. Not just of weight loss, but of self-discovery. Change Starts with Stories Today, every time I see a patient like Marco, I wonder how many more invisible people are out there. How many still carry the burden of stigma along with their body weight. I am a doctor. I believe in science. But I also believe in the right words, in respect, in listening that heals just as much as a medication. That’s why I’m sharing this story today. Because obesity is not a choice; it’s a disease. Because the narrative needs to change—from waiting rooms to healthcare policy discussions. The question is not “Why are you living with obesity?”, but “How can I help you?”

�� Challenge the stigma.

�� Change the narrative.

�� Bring science to the heart of people.

Together, we can make a difference.

Almost 18% of all employees in the European Union, which is equivalent to 34 million people, were working shifts in 2020. Shift workers working rotating night shifts have a higher risk of developing overweight and obesity. Their misaligned and ever-changing sleep/wake cycle and feeding rhythms may lead to unhealthy food choices (i.e. snacking, increased sugar intake, preferences for spicy and sweet-fatty foods) and is often combined with a decrease in consumption of vegetables and fruits. So how can obesity risk be prevented and reduced to improve shift workers' wellbeing and quality of life? This is exactly what scientists from the 5-year research and innovation project SHIFT2HEALTH aim to find out. Since June 2023, the researchers have set up different studies to better understand the lifestyle of shift workers by investigating behavioural determinants, needs and expectations. The researchers implemented an online survey with more than 6,400 participants from eight European countries (Denmark, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Greece). Currently 20 focus group discussions and a large multicentre cross-sectional study with 1,000 participants from 5 European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, and Poland) are carried out. At the same time pre-obesity biomarkers & biological pathways will be analysed in 1,000 shift workers from these 5 European countries in an in vitro 3D human intestinal model in Belgium and Austria. The next step in the SHIFT2HEALTH project is to develop interventions and products aiming to support behavioural changes of shift workers. Follow us for more information! https://shift2health.eu/ This project is funded by the European Union under @HorizonEU research and innovation program.

https://shift2health.eu/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/103982621/admin/page-posts/published/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559775084954)

Instagram: @shift2health_eu

On 6/23/2004, I received RuenY Bariatric Surgery. On that day I weighed in at 255lbs.I will never regret having the surgery because it changed my whole life! After several skin removal surgeries, I need just one more to completely remove the old me. Today at 59 years old I am 121lbs. I love my new life it gave me.

March 4, 6:30 pm. I will walk from my home to a certain point and then come back. I will cover more distance than I usually do.

Living with obesity a life less lived is now worth living

I remember the feeling of weakness in the legs as I leave my bed disorientated for my weekly weigh in that had moved from the school setting to home. The feeling of trepidation willing that the red dial on the Salter bathroom scales had reached the anticipated notch below seven stone mark. Clammy, feeling nauseous, the chicken pox scabs brushing against my wash worn Beatrix Potter nightie, I had reached six stone ten pounds. Being considerably unwell with a bout of the Pox did not give me any respite to escape the feeling of shame - I was eight years old.

The weekly weigh in ritual in Mrs Ions office, seeking the much-needed approval from the middle school head teacher, the subsequent weekly call to my mother to discuss if I had this week been successful to determine if the Salter scales dial had moved anti-clockwise. The shoulder tapping of the school nurse making her weekly visit to my classroom, taking me to the Head’s office in full view of the other children was breath takingly uncomfortable. 

The walk of shame to the office came with the overwhelming feeling of fear, the fear of disappointment that most weeks the dial had moved clockwise. The constant thought was how I felt, the longing to look like the rest of the other school children, to blend in and to be liked. I remember the praying inside that I was not going to be scolded for not losing weight.    The vivid memory which is etched on the mind was the overwhelming feeling of wanting to be able to climb the PE apparatus without the blushes of not being able to reach the top of the wooden frame. I would have done anything to avoid the class sniggering at me. These were the earliest memories of living with obesity. 

My journey with the disease like most who are living with the condition, has been a monumental journey to feel well, to ultimately feel accepted in this world. I have spent over two thirds of my adult life significantly overweight. Food has been my enemy, the constant noise, the daily grind of dilemmas of trying to determine of when and what I can eat that will not have the profound effect on whether my school uniform, PE kit and moving to the later years work skirts & trousers would not feel overbearingly tight. The buttons and zips being placed on the last hole or openings willing that they will fit without buckling under the pressure of the midriff.

The disease has dominated every thought and feeling of my being. Entering into the adolescence years where my peers could wear the clothes that were in trend, experiencing their first boyfriend, I was a ball of angst battling with shame and self-loathing, hiding away feeling worthless with the overwhelming notion that I could not find my place and not knowing how to find it.

From the latter part of my teen years to the late twenties I had reached a reasonable and stable weight, the early twenties actually slightly underweight. I had finally felt in this brief period of my life control and acceptance.  I had made the move from the Midlands to London to seek the career as an Assistant, I also met my husband. Life should be good although the daily food noise was constant invading the thoughts reminding me of who I really was.

What should have been an invigorating time of my life, making a home, building a career, the constant worry of the condition continued to dominate the thoughts of when my fatness will return. In spite of shedding the skin physically, mentally I was unable to feel the same with both not operating in sync with each other.

My wedding day in 2003 should have been a time of excitement. However, trying to find a gown that could compliment and shield the growing girth was a huge challenge as the weight gain started to re-appear with momentum. As I reflect, the day was full of love and good wishes, although clouded with my anxiety that I did not feel as every bride should. My late father reaching the pinnacle of what every father wants for his daughter is to walk them down the aisle knowing his job is done, handing over to another - I did not feel beautiful. I remember the fear of what the wedding congregation could be thinking, ahh, she has tried to look her best. Perception is not always the reality, illustrating the constant feeling of seeking approval and acceptance.

Our daughter arrived December 2004, my greatest achievement. Her arrival did not come without months of complications. The pregnancy was onerous, unable to sleep with anxiety that my obesity problem will have a long-lasting effect on me and my unborn child. I was considerably unwell, the weight gain was in full force, losing mobility in the latter stages of third trimester with pre-eclampsia taking centre stage of what should have been the most uplifting and special time extending our family. She arrived by emergency C-Section as the conventional process of giving birth was not an option which obesity played it’s part.  Needless to say, we did not try for another.

I was acutely aware that the disease was here to stay post my daughter’s arrival. Notwithstanding at conception the extra four stone of body weight I was carrying, I gained a further seven stone at full term gestation. At my six week check up with my GP postpartum, I was strongly advised that I needed to lose weight if there was an appetite to continue to extend the family. The journey of the next twenty years would be the worst doing everything in my power to regain some sort of normality, having no real clarity of what this could look or feel like.

The complications of obesity were here. Insomnia, upper airway resistance syndrome a condition that mimics sleep apnoea, hypertension, anxiety and living fear of possibly being diagnosed as a diabetic was at the forefront of every waking moment. The armour of weight, carrying on what felt like an extra person on my back was consuming, a daily reminder that this condition was not going away - I needed help.

A metabolic consultation in early 2010 reinforced just how serious my obesity problem had become. After an array of blood tests in the hope to identify that something else was at play, it was established that overeating and genomics concluded as to why I was fat. I needed to determine a way forward on how this ingrained problem could be remedied.

The suggested solution was bariatric surgery and that the consultant would make a strong recommendation to my GP. I presented the ask, if there was a workaround.  In short yes, a conventional diet and exercise combining with the weight loss medication of Orlistat. However, I remember the consultant with a sense of ambivalence saying that this would short term fix to the problem due to the magnitude of weight that I needed to shift. He said with an element of absolute certainty that I would be back revisiting the issue with him or another consultant seeking other options to combat my fatness.  

It was strongly advised that surgery was the only solution and I needed to give it some serious consideration. I negotiated mentally that surgery was not an option at this time, the fear of my digestion system being replumbed, complications that may arise as a consequence, I decided that I would pull every ounce of resilience in the tank to diet, exercise and use the prescriptive weight loss management medication. 

The uphill struggle over the next twelve years took its toll on me professionally and personally. Whilst the orlistat weight management drug had confirmed that I did indeed manage to shift eight stone of the body weight collaborating with a rigorous diet and exercise regime, the regain after the removal of the drug returned with a vengeance.

My late father made an early exit from this world on the 15^th January 2019. As I lay sprawled across his torso listening to his fading heart beating in ICU, exhaling his last breath, the calling of his time of death was a pivotal moment. I had finally acknowledged I had to find a long-term solution to my obesity problem. Before my father entered into the final hours of end of life, he made me promise to him that I would get myself sorted. Being a parent myself you will do anything for your children. He wanted me to find a solution to be happy and content, as he didn’t’ want me to replicate on what his life had become. His words will never leave me – he died of all the complications associated with Type 2 Diabetes.

The ripple effects of Covid still prevalent as I leave my husband and daughter at the foot of hospital door the morning of the 5^th January 2022, I took a giant leap of faith by putting my life literally into a consultant hands. Thank you Mr Somers that you did not make me feel that I was fat because of choice - I had weight loss surgery.

At pre-assessment the day before surgery I tipped the scales at 149kg’s, pre LRD (Liver Reduction Diet) 155kgs. Doing nothing was now not an option. I had to follow through, taking accountability to make myself well in addition owing this to my family and to the NHS. 

I have spent the last three years adjusting to my new life. The words of Mr Somers leaning forward to me as I’m slightly hunched over from the laparoscopic puncture wounds in the hospital chair ‘If you follow this process, it will change your life’. I can confirm this long journey that I have endured has not only changed my life, it has saved it.

As I bring my story to the here and now, my previous life less lived and now in the land of living, I have reached a stable weight of 62kgs, I am shadow of my former self. I have finally found comfort realising that food is my friend not my foe. In truth, I’m still finding the feet adjusting as to what is looking back to me. Whilst aesthetically I am now a slim person, I am very much aware that I will be a person continuing living with obesity. The tool that I use every day sympathetically, the promise I made to late father, to myself and those who are close to me, I align healthy food choices and exercise to keep the fatness at bay.

As I re-appraise as to what was and to the now, I feel thankful, that I finally blend in not seeking in desperation acceptance from others, I accept who I am now. I am starting to feel comfortable in new body that I have created, it’s not perfect but I have finally given permission to be kind to myself. I am worthy of what lies ahead of me. The continued career within health which has been instrumental in my journey, being able to hopefully see my daughter accomplish her hopes and dreams. My long-suffering husband who has been right by the side through the thick and thin as we enter a period of our lives of the unknown of what is coming next, creating the next chapter which I will embrace.

On World Obesity Day, we delved into the multifaceted challenges faced by the obesity community through the lens of five dedicated advocates from the Obesity Matters community. Each individual brought a unique perspective to the forefront, exploring critical issues that intersect with obesity. From the compassionate viewpoint of a caregiver discussing the nexus of obesity and caregiving, to the analytical stance of an insurance company representative examining obesity's implications on private insurance policies. A healthcare provider shared insights on the interplay between obesity and chronic diseases, while advocates shed light on the crucial topics of mental health, chronic pain, and the journey towards self-love in the face of obesity. This article illuminates the diverse and complex issues surrounding obesity, calling for a comprehensive and empathetic approach to address them.

I was weighing 102kg in January 2021, I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and poor self esteem as a consequence of obesity. I started fasting at least 8 hours a day, avoiding fatty food and soft drinks, doing push ups every morning, walking 1 km every day and sleeping regularly. I lost 30 kg in 3 years ago, my Irritable Bowel Syndrome has healed and my self esteem has increased significantly.

On March 4th 2024 The Obesity Collective launched a new report A Time for Action, which looks at the most recent statistics and calls for collective action to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians. In the past 20 years, Australian governments have drafted numerous strategy frameworks to tackle obesity, with another National Obesity Strategy launched on World Obesity Day March 2022. Since then, little has been done to implement this strategy. No lasting comprehensive action flowed from previous and current strategies and, as a result, Australia is paying a significant health and wellbeing price, as this report shows.