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UK Council To Send Obese People 'Motivational' Texts Telling Them To Use Stairs
Qedward writes "Stoke-on-Trent City Council is sending texts to obese people in the area to help motivate them to lose weight. Examples of the texts sent include 'aim to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables each day,' 'aim to eat regular meals and keep a check on snacks and drinks' and 'maybe walk to the shops or use the stairs more often.' Over 100,000 people in the region are overweight or obese, the council said, and the texts are for those who are aged at least 18, have a body mass index of 25 or over and who have proactively signed up to receive the motivational messages."
Between these txts and increase in suicides.
but that's uncalled for!
But then I read the last line of TFS.
This is OPT-IN. You only get them if you sign up for them.
Of course, at some point, they will tap into NHS (I'm assuming that this is UK), and send to everyone, regardless of whether they had opted-in or not.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
BMI is designed as a measure of population weight, not individual. Mine is over 30, making me technically obese, yet I have so little body fat I cannot float in swimming pools, and only just in the ocean.
that butt's uncalled for!
I don't think it's a surprised that people in Cambridge, for example, are quite healthy and fit and people in Stoke are not. It's not just a case of wealth but people in Cambridge are better educated and probably feel they have more to live for. The UK government has drained a lot of the country's ability to compete in favour of advancing London. It's no surprise people in poorer areas probably simply don't care. What's the incentive to lead a healthy life when you live in one of the more economically depressed areas of the country and the government makes it clear you don't matter because you're not a banker?
"I don't know... lately I just don't feel like there's anything special about me."
"You are an incredibly sensitive man, who inspires joy-joy feelings in all those around you."
How many floors are we talking about?
Stairs are fine if there are only 2 or 3 floors (basement, ground floor, and one above that (sometimes called first floor in UK I think)
But if you're talking about 10 floors or more then it takes to long to get anywhere
I live in my mother-in-laws basement you insensitive clod
"Get off your arse and walk, fatso!"
"Put down the fork, you slob!"
"You're disgusting! No one will ever love you!"
"Be sure to vote in Council elections next Tuesday!"
Well BMI is Wrong anyway, yay for using a flawed formula to make people feel bad.
Quote : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255712.php
BMI has been used for 100 years in population studies. by doctors, personal trainers, and other health care professionals, when deciding whether their patients are overweight. However, BMI has one important flaw - it does not measure your overall fat or lean tissue (muscle) content.
Body Mass Index, derived from a simple math formula, was devised in the 1830s by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet (1796-1874), a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. BMI is said to estimate how fat you are by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. However, as mentioned earlier, the measurement is flawed, especially if the person carries a lot of muscle.
The current BMI formula leads to confusion and misinformation, Trefethen believes. The height2 term divides the weight by too much when people are short, and by too little when they are tall. The result is short people being told they are thinner than they really are, while tall people are made to think that they are fatter than they are.
Nobody. Nobody is going to get the messages.
The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
Put them on a spit and roast them, then feed them to the dogs!
"Help, I've fallen and can't get up!!"
Council Gyms are not just on the decline but over twice the cost of private ones, due to subsiding public sector employees, and the unemployed. How about the focus should be on something obvious; cheap; without lock-in(long contracts - single visits expensive) sporting/exercise activities for everyone.
Motivational messages voiced by Dylan Moran:
Hey, maybe there's a little man in there who looks just like you but he's really good at running.
Well... yeah... you put one leg in front of the other over and over again really really fast.
If you don't know, the UK's obesity rate is right behind the US's and increasing. Since the government provides their health insurance, it's very much in the government's interest to get their people healthier.
Wow. Bigoted and illegal in the US. And everyone says the USA is privacy invasive. If someone did that in the USA they would be sued for violation of medical privacy law.
What part of opt-in didn't you understand?
Instead of being lazy and sending texts - those obese public servants should ride a bike, or walk, to deliver the message. (or tax the hell out of sugar and fund health programs?)
Oh wait (weight?).... maybe it's only people who are not public servants who are morbidly obese.
The council also announced a second motivational program for those same individuals.
They will (unbeknownst to those who signed up) be part of a new police-dog exercise program. They will be given a steak to wear @ their waist while they walk those stairs, while police-dogs are set loose saying "Go get the steak, tear into em"
"Dinosaurs were big boned. You're big arsed. Put the fork down!"
Wow. Bigoted and illegal in the US. And everyone says the USA is privacy invasive. If someone did that in the USA they would be sued for violation of medical privacy law.
Yeh! That's what the lobbyist from the Jenny Craig Weight Loss program told me (while we shared a can of Diet soda and a bag of low-fat Pork Cracklings and chowed down on our Philly Cheese Burgers)
...being the worst kind of smartass they can be and tell fat guys (like me) what they already know. Great. The world needs more of these morons.
Of course... I wouldn't live in the UK either.
Wow. Bigoted and illegal in the US. And everyone says the USA is privacy invasive. If someone did that in the USA they would be sued for violation of medical privacy law.
What part of opt-in didn't you understand?
The bit that where it's likely to motivate fat lazy people - to make the effort required to request someone (else) motivate them.).
How about - compulsory weight checks outside fast food stores and supermarkets, in concert with compulsory liposuction? You could require fast food deliverers to have portable units - and make it part of a re-employment plan for TSA and NSA staff (they already have the necessary skills and motivations). Reduce health and public transport costs and create a viable biofuel program.
Just musing on my keyboard....
Hahaha! I love the way you say 'someone would be sued' like it is some sort of badge of honour. Out here, if someone says something that we don't like, we tell them to go fuck themselves and get on with our lives, but yeah, go ahead and cry to mummy if it makes you feel better.
"...to order a dialling wand, please mash the keypad with your hand."
Will the council pay the doctor's bills and lost wages for obese people who blow their knees when climbing stairs?
Walking is definitely good exercise, especially for obses people, but not necessarily with stairs.
iNag
Table-ized A.I.
As long as you have a TMI in the average range you should be happy no matter what your BMI.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
We could have AC's to signup for motivational texts:
Try and be more constructive with your comments
Don't always try and get first post
Stop attacking other people
Get a life
Etc
Interesting idea but likely to be a counterproductive annoyance if used too much.
Only if I get to decide what compulsory medical procedures you undergo.
I shall use the escalator and I shall eat my fried chicken and there's nothing you can do that can make me not to those things!
There are similar commercial apps in a bunch of styles -- some friendly and upbeat, some with foul language, some with scary imagery. Some of them seem to work well for some people, and it seems cheap to run, so a plausible worthwhile opt-in experiment.
Seems like it could be more adaptive; let people choose the style they prefer, and maybe have an 'Okay I did!' or 'Not this time!' response to see which messages when are most useful.
I can just see an obese person chowing down on fish and chips, looking at a text message about eating more vegetables and commenting, "Potatoes are vegetables, aren't they?"
Good, inexpensive web hosting
BMI was designed for population studies and it is actually appropriate there. The flaws in the calculation in regards to individuals can be severe, but in a study of a large population they cancel out and you get a fairly accurate estimate of the status of the population as a whole.
But of course when applied to a single individual, there is no opportunity for the errors to average out and the results are worse than useless.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
Seriously, it's downright scary to see how Brits are ok with that, none of them seem to see what's happening to their country, some defend it, other write on the net about it but they collectively reached a point where it makes me cringe.
And you get to pay for the text message, whether you wanted it or not!
I swear to Christ, this kind of shit makes me think the genocide of the human race might not be a Bad Thing *TM* sometimes...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Then don't opt-in for the comments... dumb-ass...
Really? Really? I don't blame you for not RTFA... but damnnn... not even reading the crappy summary to the end?
It is 100% opt-in only... you don't want it, don't opt-in.... Has the collective IQ quotient on /. dropped 50 points somewhere in the last 6 months?? Or was it just Chas's IQ that dropped 50 points (when it apparently started @ 35 to begin with)
Cambridge MA starts using "telescreens" to nag people to put down that cigarette!
You know that someone will try to break into the system running this and alter the messages.
This thing has a giant "Kick me!" sign pinned on it..
..
Cut the cord, mum! Cut them all: the one on the elevator, the escalator, and the trolley.
"Smith!" screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. "6079 Smith W.! Yes, YOU! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. You’re not trying. Lower, please! THAT’S better, comrade."
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
"Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits. Fanatics will never learn that, though it be written in letters of gold across the sky. It is the prohibition that makes anything precious."
The Onion, as usual, cuts to the chase: FDA Official: "Just Eat A Goddamn Vegetable"
and in some places I like to take them.
I cannot help but feel somewhat satisfied about this news. As a smoker, I have no issue with the reasonable demands of non-smokers [I hated smoking on the working place or in trains even though I smoke, for instance].
But the hysterical propaganda that still rages on, the ever increasing "financial incentives" to quit [ever higher taxes and license fees - do you notice they always do it to things we are "addicted" too , like energy, housing, food, drinks...treats to increase medical premiums....] has left me bitterly disappointed by the gullibility of the human race and its pettiness. The lies about secondary smoking, the "cost" of smokers to society [all damn lies, but let's not digress] all these hatred [remember, it made enough impression so that Rockstar to include in GTA 4 an "interview" on the chat radio with hysterical mom that was advocating shooting smokers on site] - I felt and still feel very upset...
And all the time when having discussions with those people I was saying "Beware, next they'd come after you - for your beer, for your food, for your car, for your sex life, for your opinions [if they make difference - freedom of speech applies as long as the speech has no detectable political impact]"
Enjoy now, idiots!
Can I have then back please?
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
I looked forward to the day Fast Food won't server you because your too fat!
Yes I'm fat, but hey, if you can't make fun of yourself who can you make of?
You're too fat for the elevator so get stepping, btw Epic Meal Time is filming on the roof. Those stairs would be demolished on my way up, followed by a flood.
It runs in my family I have a extremely slow metabolism I take Bontril a prescription medication, walk daily, and try to eat healthy, but I've been stuck around 275 for the last 10 years.
"The vending machine at the top of the stairwell is doling out FREE KING DONS!!!"
(How's that for a motivational message to climb stairs?)
30 minutes of applauses ! Completely agree ! You made my day :)
The whole three-month motivation text experiment (which has been found to work in trials) is for people who asked for "help" from the council to get motivated to lose weight. The whole process cost £10,0000 which is the same as the cost of ONE gastric band operation. Since these are on the increase in this area, if they manage to encourage one single person to lose weight, then the entire process has just paid for itself.
Most fat people get into a mind-set that losing weight is impossible and they are stuck as they are. Some just need a little help to get past that.
I was 18.5 stone (259lbs) before Christmas, but I stopped eating chocolate, switched to a low-fat butter and cut out ice-cream desserts and I'm now just under 17 stone (236lbs) and I don't go to the gym and haven't made any other change to my lifestyle. Small stuff matters.
Please aim to be a little bit less corrupt than usual today.
Which shithole are you from?
I have never undsterstood why healthy people use the lift for going up or down a few floors. In very tall buildings, it makes sense, but even in a typical 3-5 storey building, the majority of people seem to use the lift, even though it is usually slower and the stairs give you a light exercise for free.
I have never undsterstood why healthy people use the lift for going up or down a few floors. In very tall buildings, it makes sense, but even in a typical 3-5 storey building, the majority of people seem to use the lift, even though it is usually slower and the stairs give you a light exercise for free.
I usually use the stairs unless carrying things - and it amazes me when the lift has to stop twice for someone to get on at one floor and off at the next - when they aren't carrying anything! Once someone who had worked for the company for six months was surprised when following me to a meeting and said "I didn't know there were stairs here"; he had been walking to the centre of the building, going down one floor in the lift, and walking back again to go to a meeting room almost directly below where his desk was.
Given that falls on stairs are the second largest cause of unintended injury It would be better if the UK could propose that people incorporate exercise in their daily lives by riding bicycles for transport. Unfortunately, the UK has invested almost nothing in making cycling into the safe form of transport that it could be.
Something needs to be done to get them to lose weight and stop leeching off everyone else who has to pay for their high medical expenses.
Unfortunately we can't force them to lose weight, only make "suggestions", unlike being forced to hand over your money to a private company or have the government reach into your bank account and forcibly extract the money.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
You have lots of faith in politicians, it seems. While they believe they are qualified to make the best decisions for you, decisions in your best interests, they are not actually working in your best interests. They are working in their best interests.
There are some consistent political agendas. If you watch the news, nationwide, across nations, then you can see it. Immunization. Stopping population growth. They are common. What are the common trends in weight? What is on the horizon?
Politicians are great at addressing root causes behind why fat people become obese, right? They are qualified to provide help, to change the fundamentals, right? No. It isn't their area of expertise. It isn't their expertise, but it is their interest. What makes it the area of their interest? Why are they putting tax money into solving that particular problem? If it were an actual solution, there would be a company that makes money from doing it. Texts are so cheap they are nearly free. Imagine a business that was paid real money for something that was effectively free. It is a great business model if it worked. There is a fundamental economic reality behind why it isn't a business - it doesn't work. Fat people (and I'm overweight, I'm the target audience) pay millions a year because they don't want to be fat - go ask Jenny Craig. It is a huge industry, taking money from fat people after convincing them that you can make them human again.
It is weight-ist. Opt in or not, it is a stupid politician being weight-ist.
How secure are text messages? How about the vendor? Are they securing the information? This is medical information. This associates particular medical conditions with a phone number and a persons identity. Is it secure? No way. It is broadcast unencrypted publicly. People are unable to get jobs because of weight. They are considered higher medical risk, and so get less pay for the same job. If you sign up for that list, it is going to go into a HR database somewhere and, God-forbid you ever lose the weight, it is going to be considered against you in the future. It has legal and ethical implications, career spanning implications, that the politicians likely didn't consider.
I'm sure you didn't consider those either.
No one tell Michelle Obama about this!
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Most people hostile to "fat fucks" are generally fat fucks themselves. It's amazing how many people think they're either thin or in good shape when they're just less fat than the person they're picking on.
Why can't these people pay for their own motivational texts. Why is this something that must be funded by the tax payer?
You can't argue that leaving this task to the private sector would restrict access to such a service only to an elite few; anyone rich enough to maintain obesity and own a phone in the UK, is rich enough to pay for a subscription to a company to provide motivational texts.
Straight up: versus doing nothing, this is less fair, less efficient, and provides no benefits to the people whatsoever.
The disturbing thing is that this council is tracking who is obese and who isn't.
Technoli
Tell NSA's John Clapper to tell the truth to congress, tell priests to abuse girls instead of altar boys, etc etc etc.
Everyone loves being told what to do, so this is a great idea.
Because I don't have a choice - the ground-floor stairwell door is locked so you can only go out that door, not in - I guess because it used to not be, and hobos liked to sleep in it?
Only if I get to decide what compulsory medical procedures you undergo.
Feel free to waddle on over, with the anonymous coward paper bag on your head, and assert your right. You'll have to waddle because your couch won't teleport.
They take up WAY too much room in the elevators and escalators...