Free Gym membership given by GP as an incentive for patients to lose weight/get fit ?

Andy From Sligo

talking_walnut wrote: »

I'd say prescribing cooking lessons, home economics or something along those lines would be more beneficial. Teach people how to eat properly and plan meals ahead of time.


Good to see some outside the box thinking though.

its a tough one this - you got to 'motivate' people - free gym membership worth x amount of euro to me and others like me, would be more of an incentive than cooking lessons etc or 'courses' on nutritional healthy eating.

Andy From Sligo

I think the attraction to me would be to me personally that in no way would joe public would be able to afford the kind of fitness equipment for home as what you would get in a proper commercially run gym. I mean even if i wanted to buy a Treadmill for home now what would I be talking 400euro - even at that price its not maybe going to be as decent and well built as one you will find in a gym is it realistically?

Andy From Sligo

Butters1979 wrote: »

Or they could go on YouTube and find out how to cook themselves. Or do we have to pay for their internet too?

or good healthy food could be bought same price as fast food or even cheaper and taste on par or even better than fast food, or be prepared in the same amount of time as fast food and look and smell as appetising as fast food.... and then there wouldnt be any problem about people eating well....

Andy From Sligo

Coffee Fulled Runner wrote: »

Weight loss can only happen if you have a healthy diet. You can go to the gym all you like but if you're not eating right then you're wasting your time.

this is where i find it hard to grasp - if I eat and then sit around surely I am not going to loose weight .... if I eat and go to the Gym and burn off x amount of calories on a machine ... why would I not loose any weight?

cbyrd

In my old gym, they had something like this believe it or not. It was hse run. You got a referral from a doctor or consultant, for all over reduction in weight, cholesterol blood pressure and it was done with the trainer. I'm not sure exactly how it was paid for but the posters were at reception and in the changing rooms.
This was about 2/3 years ago ...

Edit to say: if you Google hse gym referral scheme, cos I'm technophobe and can't post a link.. it's all there

Andy From Sligo

Butters1979 wrote: »

You do not compare cooking dinner to education. Paying fat people to learn how to cook chicken is a cop out. It's the 'pay me to do it or I won't do it' attitude.
The internet is only one example, another is ask someone you know. Find out for yourself, if you can't work out how to cook pasta from the internet (or the back of the damn packet) then go to a paid course if you like. Just don't expect me to pay for it.

excuse me not up on this ... but I thought pasta and spaghetti was fattening?

Mr. CooL ICE

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

its a tough one this - you got to 'motivate' people - free gym membership worth x amount of euro to me and others like me, would be more of an incentive than cooking lessons etc or 'courses' on nutritional healthy eating.

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I think the attraction to me would be to me personally that in no way would joe public would be able to afford the kind of fitness equipment for home as what you would get in a proper commercially run gym. I mean even if i wanted to buy a Treadmill for home now what would I be talking 400euro - even at that price its not maybe going to be as decent and well built as one you will find in a gym is it realistically?

Why don't you pay to use a gym?

Andy From Sligo

kjl wrote: »

People who are overweight to the point they are talking to their doctors about it should start by walking.

Give them a step counter and ask them to do 5000-10000 steps a day.

The gym can be very daunting place for overweight people and I guarantee that the pain and the effort would stop them attending after a couple of sessions at best meaning we the tax payer just wasted money on this silly idea.

i get that when you forst starting going to the gym its going to be tough for a while until your body gets used to it, you are going to be using muscles and joints that are not used to being used, but surely to get you through them tough days afrter first exercising you can take paracetamols and ointment rubs?

its the same with changing diet - I bet people who have been used to crap and fast food for years suddenly start eating good healthy stuff the next few days / weeks they are on the bog (sorry toilet) sh!ting it all out and getting stomach cramps and what have you that might put some people off too - its just the body changing once it get used to it I am sure it calm down and people will get used to it.

Just because people assume that people are going to drop out of gym sessions after a few goes its should still not be shot down as an alternative that might end up helping people lose a few pounds - I still think it should be tried out nationwide - if it fails, fair enough thats one other thing they can cross off the list as being proved not to work.

Dont forget, I presume people get gastric bands here in Ireland on the HSE? ... cost a lot of money does it to have that operation? .. any guarantee that people who have a gastric bad fitted successfully stay off fast food or treats or fall off the wagon? no, i shouldnt think so.

Andy From Sligo

steddyeddy wrote: »

I would have thought heart disease and self esteem would be motivation enough to lose weight.

no, its like people could have triple heart bypass and lung or throat cancer and should have motivation to give up smoking .. a lot of the time it doesnt and they carry on smoking knowing that every cigarette is doing them harm.

Diets are a bit like that, people are told to go on diet and if they keep eating fast food and unhealthy food it can lead to heart attacks and strokes yet people find it awful hard to break away from the eating habits what they are used to even knowing all this or being told about it.

do you know what I would feel like saying if I was on a diet and someone said you cannot have that cheeseburger your on a diet, - it most probably would make me want it even more!

Andy From Sligo

cbyrd wrote: »

In my old gym, they had something like this believe it or not. It was hse run. You got a referral from a doctor or consultant, for all over reduction in weight, cholesterol blood pressure and it was done with the trainer. I'm not sure exactly how it was paid for but the posters were at reception and in the changing rooms.
This was about 2/3 years ago ...

Edit to say: if you Google hse gym referral scheme, cos I'm technophobe and can't post a link.. it's all there

wow, thats interesting, shall have to do a bit of searching and look it up

seamus

Weight is lost at the table, not at the treadmill. Someone who is fat already has a crap diet.

They won't see an appreciable weight loss by going to the gym 3 days a week.

Any road, as others have said, cost is not a barrier to exercising, motivation is.

You could give someone a years supply of celery, that doesn't mean they're going to lose weight.

Andy From Sligo

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

Why don't you pay to use a gym?

cant afford it, bills need to be paid they are very import and I really have hardly anything left after bill are taken care of. i think most of the time the fees are astronomical to join gyms and the better they are the more they cost , and of course I suppose the membership prices change around the country. But I dont blame them really, it cant be cheap at all to run a gym, all that equipment, the insurance the staff to pay and all that.

Trouble with me is that just having a gym membership wouldn't be enough for me and then told here is your membership get on with it, I would want the gym membership, a trainer/member of staff that could point me in the right direction/machines and check on me to make sure I am doing it right and access to a swimming pool in with the membership (even though I cannot swim) - one of the best forms of exercise my physio tells me is swimming, even though I cannot swim he said just walking up and down in the pool would be good exercise in itself - but again its not even cheap to go to swimming pool on a regular basis when you have no spare case to play around with -- I think thats why half the time you dont find joe public too many times in Gyms becuase to me I still think Gyms are for the elite and well off people that can afford it...

cbyrd

Any good gym worth it's salt have qualified trainers to do exactly what you need. I dislike 'supermarket' gyms that are more focused on quantity over quality in they're gym classes or with free programs. I've got on going injury issues that need me to be very careful in the gym and my trainer knows this, any program updates require his knowledge of my injuries. This should apply with all professionals and your physio can also give you direct exercise that should or shouldn't be included in you program.
I couldn't walk after the last birth, my leg was very badly damaged (nerve and muscle damage) I couldn't drive for 7 months and attended weekly physio for 14 months. I also had a car accident at week 10 in the pregnancy which left my left hip and lower back damaged.
I am not well off by any stretch. But before I buy any luxuries, after bills and groceries and the kids stuff, I put away a few quid every week for my monthly membership. Every few months they run a 3 for 2 and they know my circumstances so will always give me a heads up. They also pause my membership when the injuries flare up.
I used to be very very fit, my warm up was a 5k run and then a class.. maybe some weights after, 5-6 times a week.
Now I struggle with 3 times cos of the injuries, but I won't give it up. My kids are better for it never mind me 


 my trainer is on the mayo team 

Butters1979

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

this is where i find it hard to grasp - if I eat and then sit around surely I am not going to loose weight .... if I eat and go to the Gym and burn off x amount of calories on a machine ... why would I not loose any weight?

Your body burns a lot of calories no matter what you do. Breeding, pumping blood, signals around the nervous system and reproducing cells. It's a simple as bring down your intake to the same level as your burning. Dieting decreases your intake, exercise increases what you burn. the problem is certain types of foods are much more difficult to burn off. Therefore getting these out of your diet first is important as exercise won't really help in that respect.

Butters1979

talking_walnut wrote: »

Of course it's education! There's whole schools dedicated to cooking! There's even Home Economics in 2nd level schools. What in the name of god is your definition of "education"? I'd certainly consider cooking and nutrition more important than 80-90% of the things I studied at school.

As previously mentioned in this thread, you're already paying for all those people with sh1tty diets. All those medical costs, trips to hospital, disability xyz. You can rant away about how you think they should figure it out and lose weight by themselves, but they're not. Nor will they. So should we stay this course and let more and more of our medical resources be eaten up by preventable diseases? Or should we try and come up with some solutions that might actually make a difference and save money overall?

Bull****. There's degrees of knowledge and complexity involved in everything. Learning to be an engineer requires years of teaching and (important piece here) self study. Learning takeaways every night of the week is unhealthy does not require paid ( by someone else's money apparently) tutorage. It requires a few TV adds and if still that stupid, Google.

People know full well how to lose weight and if they don't there's ways to find out without getting handed a check. If they don't know in this day and age they haven't tried. It's an excuse for laziness. And giving a lazy person a free gym pass won't change their lazines. Why should I have to pay for the gym when others won't? The level of entitlement in this country is insane. I'm fed up with all these 'pay people to do what the **** they should already be doing' attitude.

These people know full well what is and isn't healthy and they have all the opportunity they need to exercise. Through laziness they chose not to do anything. Giving them free gym or cooking lessons won't change them and they will be just as much a burden on the health system down the line. The difference is we would have thrown good money after bad. It simply wouldn't work.

Andy From Sligo

Butters1979 wrote: »

...Why should I have to pay for the gym when others won't? ....

... ah, and there we get to the problem - or your problem with it. maybe we should scrap the whole benefits system across the board? - scrap all benefits eh? lets go back to victorian work house times

I particularly dont like the fact of paying RTE TV licence fee when there are others getting it free (who might be able to afford it a lot better than I can) or flouting the law and not paying it full stop - but i dont say why should i have to pay the TV licence when others dont!

Lucyfur

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

... ah, and there we get to the problem - or your problem with it. maybe we should scrap the whole benefits system across the board? - scrap all benefits eh?

Ffs Andy you wanting the gym for free isn't s necessity. If you want it bad enough go use a free outdoor gym. There's instructions on each piece of equipment

Andy From Sligo

Lucyfur wrote: »

Ffs Andy you wanting the gym for free isn't s necessity. If you want it bad enough go use a free outdoor gym. There's instructions on each piece of equipment

This isnt just for me - I was just putting the question out there and still am, that would it be a good Idea for GP's to offer free Gym membership to patients on low income that would benefit from it.

Butters1979

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

... ah, and there we get to the problem - or your problem with it. maybe we should scrap the whole benefits system across the board? - scrap all benefits eh? lets go back to victorian work house times

I particularly dont like the fact of paying RTE TV licence fee when there are others getting it free (who might be able to afford it a lot better than I can) or flouting the law and not paying it full stop - but i dont say why should i have to pay the TV licence when others dont!

Absolutely I have a problem with it. It's obscene. I understand we need a welfare system to support those less fortunate but you have to draw the line and free gym is way past it. There's a difference between less fortunate and more lazy. When you start making life just easy not to work then people will stop working. Then all this magic free money the government has will start disappearing very fast.

You ask what people think of your idea then give out when you don't like the feedback. Your idea is grotesque, greedy, unfair and wouldn't work anyway. Not even close to an idea. It's a another money grab by the self entitled who think everyone should be given a free ride but don't understand where the money even comes from.

It would reward the most lazy and ignorant in the country and take money from the welfare system for other more needy and deserving issues. It would not save any money in the long run and the only way to pay for it would be from others peoples taxes. Where do you think the money for this would appear from?

Lucyfur

Lots of gyms do a cheaper rate for unemployed people.

A poster above said she's far from flush, but puts a few quid away every week to cover her gym membership. I do the very same. My gym membership is part of my bills budget.

gctest50

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

excuse me not up on this ... but I thought pasta and spaghetti was fattening?

Christmas cake with sugar icing is not fattening

Just don't eat the whole f*****ng cake

osarusan

Butters1979 wrote: »

Or they could go on YouTube and find out how to cook themselves.

"dump the rice into the thing."

Andy From Sligo

Lucyfur wrote: »

Lots of gyms do a cheaper rate for unemployed people.

A poster above said she's far from flush, but puts a few quid away every week to cover her gym membership. I do the very same. My gym membership is part of my bills budget.

hmm, I dont qualify - maybe i should make myself un-employed ....

Andy From Sligo

Butters1979 wrote: »

Absolutely I have a problem with it. It's obscene. I understand we need a welfare system to support those less fortunate but you have to draw the line and free gym is way past it. There's a difference between less fortunate and more lazy. When you start making life just easy not to work then people will stop working. Then all this magic free money the government has will start disappearing very fast.

You ask what people think of your idea then give out when you don't like the feedback. Your idea is grotesque, greedy, unfair and wouldn't work anyway. Not even close to an idea. It's a another money grab by the self entitled who think everyone should be given a free ride but don't understand where the money even comes from.

It would reward the most lazy and ignorant in the country and take money from the welfare system for other more needy and deserving issues. It would not save any money in the long run and the only way to pay for it would be from others peoples taxes. Where do you think the money for this would appear from?

ah right - so you reckon no benefit whatsoever to get people fit and help lose weight (note I say 'help') - and thats your last view on the matter

- we just carry on as we are then - the fatties draining the health service of resources , and the smokers draining the heath service then ...

cbyrd

Andy From Sligo wrote:

hmm, I dont qualify - maybe i should make myself un-employed ....

You'd be amazed, if a gym membership was to become a priority to you, how easily you would put the money together for it.
If you went every day, you'd save on immersion/electric shower .. you wouldn't have the heating on as much during the winter cos your warmer for exercising. If your really skint, you can save in shower gel/shampoo by using the gym soap in the dispenser..
Lots and lots of fun ways to cover the cost.
Probably the price of a nice bottle of wine and a takeaway every week.
Drop them and your already on the path to goodness ...Sorted

Andy From Sligo

Butters1979 wrote: »

...You ask what people think of your idea then give out when you don't like the feedback. ..

of course - that's normal behaviour isnt it when people dont agree with your idea innit?

Andy From Sligo

cbyrd wrote: »

You'd be amazed, if a gym membership was to become a priority to you, how easily you would put the money together for it.
If you went every day, you'd save on immersion/electric shower .. you wouldn't have the heating on as much during the winter cos your warmer for exercising. If your really skint, you can save in shower gel/shampoo by using the gym soap in the dispenser..
Lots and lots of fun ways to cover the cost.
Probably the price of a nice bottle of wine and a takeaway every week.
Drop them and your already on the path to goodness ...Sorted

haha - this is hilarious , are you a mind reader or something? - I was just thinking that this evening how to save on heating and electric this winter, this could indeed be the key:D

I believe things happen for a reason and there must be something as to why I am fixated at the moment of free Gym membership for the less well of.

I dunno about giving up the nice bottle of wine a week though, giving that up could be tough (even though I only can afford the cheap chardonnay at €7) I dont think that will go far towards membership

Lucyfur

Have you actually bothered to ask anywhere abut prices and offers?

http://sligosportscomplex.ie/?q=membership

Gym and swim for 31.50 per month. Your bottle of wine almost covers it.

Andy From Sligo

Lucyfur wrote: »

Have you actually bothered to ask anywhere abut prices and offers?
....

No, just assuming / from what I hear

Andy From Sligo

Lucyfur wrote: »

..Gym and swim for 31.50 per month. Your bottle of wine almost covers it.

Yes , but then I would have to ditch my bottle of wine - thats my weekly treat and I might need that weekly treat even more if I started exercising ...