Britain's Fattest Teenager - 33 st.

I feel so sorry for this girl : 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/art icle1499935.ece

But she is very strong , look at her now :

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/237 4103/Britains-fattest-teen-Georgia-Davies-has -lost-12st-in-seven-months.html

When i see overweight kids,i always feel it is their parents fault . I would never let my kids get this big . What is your opinion ?

In general I would agree that it has a lot to do with the parents.  In the second article though, it sounds like her mom is really sick (and she looks it in her picture), so maybe an unusual situation.  Kind of hard to control what your kid is eating if you can't get out of bed.

That said, good for the girl for making changes.  She's so pretty, and now you can actually see it!

I was an overweight kid, and I don't know who to blame. Parents bought me the food, but I still ate it. Yeah, they didn't exercise enough control, but even kids know that eating too much will make you fat. And once I had gotten to be fat, I kept eating too much and kept getting fatter.

My parents did have me meet with a personal trainer, though the things she had me doing were pretty ridiculous (Exercises on a floor mat, etc... not really conducive to weight loss), and she didn't even ask me about my diet or check up on my weight. I can't blame my parents for that not working, just had a poor personal trainer.

At 14 I finally seriously started the weight loss process. Glad I didn't wait any longer. I think in the end, blame is unnecessary, a teenager can figure out how to lose weight if they do their research. Parents should be more watchful of their kids' diets, although a lot of times that could be easier said than done... school lunches are pretty atrocious, kids eat out with friends, etc.

Although I'm tired of it being a big news article every time someone gets terribly overweight. What's with all the gawking over it? If you feel sorry for them, you shouldn't treat them like a zoo exhibit.

I think it's mandatory for every one of those articles/shows to have a visual of all the junk they eat in a day.

If you would look at the pictures (on the first link it says *click here for slide show*) , there is a picture of her when she was 2-3 years old,and she was already fat at that age,so how is it not parents fault ??? 2-3 year olds eat what parents put in their plates !

spose it could just be a genetic predisposition on some level, as well - but if i were a parent i'd be concerned about my kid and ask a doctor about weight issues

i'm always surprised that as a child my parents had let me get so chubby

i honestly think they just didn't know any better and just wanted me to be happy and saw that treats made me happy

I've always been overweight and I think to a certain age it's the parent's fault and then after that it's the kids choice.  They might make bad decisions because of what their parents fed them earlier in life but it's still their decision.  I got overweight because I ate what my mom bought.  I didn't participate in grocery shopping or cooking or anything, I just ate what was given to me and I've been obese the entire time, I should've done this earlier in life, but now that I'm going off to college I've decided to take control of my diet and eat healthy choice meals most of the time and I've lost 15 lbs so far, only about 65 more lbs to go!

Original Post by sondre:

If you would look at the pictures (on the first link it says *click here for slide show*) , there is a picture of her when she was 2-3 years old,and she was already fat at that age,so how is it not parents fault ??? 2-3 year olds eat what parents put in their plates !

I agree.  It is a parent's DUTY to ensure the health and safety of their children.  Sure, some things (many things) are beyond anyone's control, but food is NOT one of them.  As an adult, the parent(s) is the one that is buying the food, preparing the food, monitoring the child, et cetera.  If for some reason parents can't handle the problem, maybe it would be time to enlist the help of professionals instead of waiting until the child balloons up to this weight at age 15.  It's ridiculous.

I didn't look at the slide show, but I can gather that Georgia was on her way to being obese at a young age.  I think that from the age of infancy to perhaps the age of 10 or 11, the parents are the primary care givers and ultimate authority on what goes in the child's mouth.  Once the child hits 12/13 they should be cognizant of what choices the parents made for them and then take it upon themselves to continue or alter said choices.  With all the info flowing on the net these days and all the buzz about nutrition I figure a child that age should definately be able to take advantage of it.  I think it is the parents' fault up to a point...then it's the child's fault.  I also agree that some of it may be genetic predisposition.  As a child I hated most junk food because I found it too sweet....although that could be because I was raised on mostly unsweetened or lightly sweetened cereal and fruits/veggies so my sugar threshold was lower.  Though I did go through a phase where I had PB and brown sugar sandwiched for school lunches about once a week.

BTW, the Sun is an English tabloid.  Think of an English version of the "Enquirer".  You can't trust a single story in it.

The teen girl is very obese, yes, but I seriously doubt she's the MOST overweight teen in Britain.

I don't know about this kid, but generally speaking, there is no question in my mind...the responsibility (not fault or blame) lies with the parents.  Parents control the food in the house until any kid is a teenager, and by then if they've learned good eating habits, you don't usually have to worry.  It's not genetics, it's not the kid's fault, it's the parents.

thats so great. I love hearing stuff like that. She seems like a very motivated young lady. She is an inspiration! 

never heard of the whole "stone" measuring thing though. That was different..lol

amazing on all levels, i did not see where it says how long she has been in the camp. but it says its a 6 month program, and that she has lost 12 stone = 168 pounds. and here my losing 40 pounds seems like a big deal to me !

lets hope she keeps with it once she gets back home.

I think she has been there for 9 months,now got back to UK for the summer,and will be going back to the camp in September

Hope she stays healthy here in UK and doesnt gain back that weight she has lost.Very strong girl .

yes, I wish her the best.  It's really sad that her dad died :(

It's scary how easily I could have been that big.

I agree that it's generally the parents' fault. They're the ones that are responsible for buying food, teaching their children how to respond to food and exercise, and keeping their children from just eating whatever they feel like. And a lot of parents are too ignorant or too lazy to make sure their children grow up healthy and active.

I'm glad she's getting some help but I'm a little concerned that they've opted to send her back to the States to continue the programme rather than treat her in the home environment.

Obviously, being thousands of miles away from her sick mother and some grim Aberdare council house has helped!!... .. Anyone's going to be 'sad, depressed & shy' losing one parent, being a child carer to the other and living in poverty.   And rather than solely blaming the mother (they don't mention if there's other family) I think the girl should have had a lot more help from Social Services when she was growing up.  Respite care, bereavement counselling, holidays, support services, money, medical care  .... all the saftey-net things we chip in for via our taxes and charities such as 'Children in Need'.   A child in that advanced state of ill-health has been let down by society as a whole, not simply one parent. 

I watched a show on her last night she had surgery to lose the weight so she didnt do it her self so im not impressed.


Surgery is the lazy way out.

Original Post by res0kkw:

Surgery is the lazy way out.

That's like saying having a caesarian section for a difficult birth is 'the lazy way out'.  When someone is 33st  ... 462lbs... surgery can be the difference between life and death. They don't do it to impress anyone, just stay alive.

Well, I was overweight my entire life and I was over 200 lbs by the time I was 10 or 11 years old.  Like Ibez, I dont really know who to blame either.  I know that it wasnt my fault because an elementary school kid shouldnt be responsible for not being 100 lbs overweight, but at the same time I have two sisters who never got any where near as big as I did.   For me, its best not to blame anyone.  My parents never meant any harm to me and my mom even told me once that if she had known how much I weighed back then, she wouldve intervened.  She always thought it was just baby fat.  I guess she just loved me so much that she didnt even realize that I was becoming obese.  I guess she couldnt see it.  

I will say that it is never the kids fault when they are that big, that young.   You cant blame a kid who has no life experience in being healthy and has never been taught how to be healthy.   Thats what parents are supposed to give their kids in the earlier years of their lives, because the kids cant do it themselves.   Blaming obese kids is just wrong.