Horizon

Britain is in the grip of an obesity epidemic.

We can't seem to stop eating and we are getting fatter.

It's one of the greatest public health challenges

of the 21st century

and rarely out of the papers.

"Aporkerlypse Now."

"Obesity as big a threat to the UK as terrorism."

Obesity is all over the news and it garners really shocking headlines.

In recent years, attitudes are becoming more and more judgmental.

There's lots of things that I can't stand

but one of them in particular is fat children.

Do you know who is responsible for you being fat? You. That's it.

When I sit there and I look at somebody that's overweight,

I find that really repulsive and disgusting.

And the verdict seems to be that the obese people are to blame.

They are slothful, they are lazy, they are bad.

In my view, nothing could be further from the truth.

My name is Giles Yeo. I'm a geneticist.

I study genes that are linked to obesity.

I spend most of my time pipetting liquids from one thing to another.

But these test tubes can't tell the full story.

What I want to do is to actually know the person behind these genes.

I want to meet the people behind some of the more alarming headlines.

A lot of fat people, we put on a good facade but inside we're crying.

I want to hear from them why they think they can't stop eating.

That was a general lunch for me.

That was me at the age of 15 there,

not long before I made the decision to lose weight.

I want to dispel some of the myths about obesity...

You're not lazy. It's not because you lack willpower.

You guys are fighting your biology.

..and see what solutions science can offer.

So what we're hoping the faecal transplant will do is help people to

feel more full and therefore will influence weight loss.

Fast forward ten years, obesity won't be a problem.

They'll have the injections. They'll be painless.

No side effects

and actually really inexpensive and freely available.

What's it actually like to live with obesity?

I'm bringing together a group of obese people to hear their views.

With obesity, I think people do treat you differently.

They ignore you. They don't see you as a real person.

Some people have let doors just slam in my face,

looked me up and down in disgust.

You can see their mouths dropping open

because they are just thinking, "Who is that?!"

People certainly think that because you are fat you're not intelligent.

It's a very frustrating thing when people judge you for how you look.

I just think we need to get to a place

where we're just kind to people.

I'm taking a break from my laboratory work

and getting ready for a road trip.

Obesity is perceived as really quite a simple problem,

like eat less, move more.

And that is fine. Simple physics.

The problem, however, is that WHY people eat more is quite complex.

On this trip, I'm going to meet some of the people

behind the newspaper headlines.

I hope my knowledge of obesity genetics can help them and, in turn,

I hope THEY can help me understand the human side to obesity.

I think it would really give me some fresh perspective

and fresh impetus into the type of work that I do.

'As well as the film crew joining me on the road trip,

'I'll be recording some video diaries.

'I think my own lifestyle choices could also offer some

'insights into our relationship with food.'

This is largely a bag of vegetables.

Oh, there are a couple of naughty pizzas back there...

which we shan't talk about.

For the first stop on this trip, it's time for a few home truths.

I'm going to find out what my body mass index or BMI is.

This is one way to discover if you are a healthy weight,

overweight, or obese.

Actually, do you know what, all this is adding weight, adding BMI.

I'm going to take my clothes off.

Well, not ALL my clothes.

'BMI is a calculation of body size based on your weight

'in relation to your height.'

Stand still and keep your head upright.

People with a BMI over 25...

Please collect your ticket.

Are classified overweight.

My BMI is 27.1.

That means I'm overweight.

The problem with BMI is it doesn't actually tell you how much fat

and how much muscle you have,

so maybe underneath this shirt is a rippling bod of a Greek God?

Or I'm carrying too much fat.

'For another 20p, I can find out.'

Firmly grip the handles at the sides, as shown in the figure.

'By measuring how easily an electrical current travels

'through my body and comparing it to my sex...'

I am a male

'..and age...'

A youthful 42.

'..it calculates my percentage body fat.'

For men, it's recommended that this figure should be under 25.

Please collect your ticket.

'And mine is...'

28%. That's awful!

That's more than a quarter of me that's fat!

Oh, God!

I didn't know... I really genuinely...

Guys, I genuinely did not know it was that bad.

'This fat percentage is not great.

'But what surprised me most

'is how unrealistic I have been about my weight.'

I don't think I look tremendously overweight.

I think I look like the vast majority of the people

wandering around outside.

Is it because our perception of what is overweight and what is not

overweight completely changed over the past few years?

Whether we THINK we look fat or not,

the current statistics make for uncomfortable headlines.

Today, over 60% of Britons are overweight.

Of these, around 40% have a BMI of over 30,

which means they are classified as obese.

And being obese can lead to heart disease, stroke and cancer,

and reduce life expectancy by ten years.

Health-wise, it's just not good at all.

I've got severe diverticular disease.

My knees are giving me awful trouble because of my weight itself.

I was classed as type 2 diabetic.

I've had high blood pressure, high cholesterol.

Getting to an age where it's going to take its toll.

Today I'm heading west up the M4 towards Wales.

I've scoured newspapers from the last few years

to find stories featuring obesity, and track down some of the people

who have generated shocking headlines.

I think there is a lot more going on in the lives of these people

that is not captured in the headlines.

I'm here driving through the fog to meet Les Price.

Les is clinically obese and, because of his size,

he made the headlines a few years back.

This is the story I'm interested in.

"37st man was told to buy two seats on a jet"

"and got one in row 17 and one in row 19."

I want to find out what that experience must have been like

for Les and also what else he has to say about being the size he is.

It makes you feel stupid because of all the rigmarole,

cos everyone's like, "What are they talking to him for?

"What's going on there?" It was turning heads.

It was like my life was put out there for everyone to see,

whether I want it or not.

Les has struggled with his size all his life.

As an obese child, you are bullied, you are picked on.

Nobody wants to pick you to play any of their games.

I would go to the shop. I'd buy myself a fun-sized bag of whatever.

I'd go home and just lock myself in the bedroom and hide.

I didn't have to see nobody else.

I could cry if I wanted and just have a tear to myself.

Using food as a comfort is not uncommon and, for Les,

this habit escalated when life dealt him a harsh blow.

My wife died.

We hadn't been married a year and it knocked me.

I just didn't want to do nothing. I couldn't be bothered to cook.

My daughter then, she come home from school,

"Oh, can we have a takeaway?"

"Go on, we'll have a takeaway."

It was, like, for months that's all we had, was takeaway,

but then that took me back then to when I was younger

and the taste of something was the comfort.

You know, you can wrap yourself in that blanket

because it doesn't matter what anyone done out there,

you're in that little comfort zone because a lot of fat people,

we put on a good facade but inside we're crying.

Hmm. You know.

For Les, the way obese people are portrayed in the media

only makes things worse.

Fat people in the media, it just goes fat, that's it.

They've got no idea what has happened in my life.

Do I need you to come along and put a stamp on it and say, "You're fat."

I know I'm fat, you know. I try my best to lose it.

But it is hard work with life all-round.

I am not physically able to go and exercise at the moment.

I've got shoulder problems. I got arthritis in two knees.

I need the help around me

to put everything together to get other things going.

It sounds very frustrating, Les. Life is very frustrating.

People just see the fat guy and just think,

"You've got to stop doing this."

I was genuinely moved by meeting Les today.

Clearly a number of different events have happened

throughout his life to lead him to being the size he is.

You could say that he just needs to reduce his calories

and he would lose the weight and that is true, but the problem is,

once you get into a vicious cycle of not being able to move, of being

immobile, of needing someone to help you to go and get some exercise,

then it gets very, very complicated to try and lose the weight.

For me, Les' story illustrates how obesity in the real world is

rarely straightforward.

I used to turn to food for comfort

and every time I was depressed or something like that,

it would be straight to food

and I would try and make myself feel better,

but it was no good cos it was just making me bigger than better.

My mum killed herself and I managed to hold it together for a short

amount of time and then it was inevitable that I comfort ate.

I think what a lot of people who have never been overweight

don't realise is that food can actually be a bit of an addiction.