We’re in the midst of an obesity crisis, as if you needed reminding. One problem is that we’ve become so used to seeing overweight people it’s become the new normal.
We’re getting fatter, but we don’t notice any more. Here’s how our weight has crept up, and how we can stop it...
Exercise Confusion
We find it hard to know what we should eat for our activity levels. In studies where people were told to eat the equivalent of what they’d just burnt off after a workout, they overestimated by as much as four times.
Also, we cheat: a 20-minute jog won’t burn off a tub of ice cream, it would only shift a handful of almonds. We need to be more realistic.
Too Much Pressure
We think that to lose weight we need to make drastic changes, but simply ditching the mayo from your sarnie, swapping from full fat to diet drinks and having three roast potatoes instead of four can cut hundreds of calories a day.
The best diet is the one you don’t notice you’re on. We want to be thin overnight, but losing just 5% of your body weight if you’re obese makes a difference. Do 5%, then another 5%.
Changing Advice
There is so much conflicting advice out there – “carbs are the enemy,” “only certain carbs are bad,” “eat fruit,” “fruit is too sugary” – so people disengage or get it wrong.
We think people who look great must know some secret, but the basic healthy eating advice, which is to eat lots of fruit and veg and cut down on saturated fat and sugar, has been the same for years because it works!
Takeaways
You can eat your way around the globe just by walking down the high street (or order in and walk nowhere) but, controversially, I don’t think takeaways make you fat.
How much you order makes you fat. Purely in terms of weight (not health), you could eat takeaways most days, but if you ate the right number of calories, you wouldn’t gain weight. An Indian main dish can contain 1,200 calories and a single slice of pizza can be 275 cals, though.
Ready Meals
When you cook, you know how much oil, butter, cheese or sugar you use – you don’t when you buy a ready meal.
Packaging can be misleading, too. Take breakfast cereals – they consider a portion 30g so that’s what the calorie count is based on, but most adults eat double that for breakfast. Then there’s packet sizes – if you get a larger bag of crisps, you’ll eat more. Experts recently said that if we cut our portions by 12%, we could tackle obesity.
Lazy Lifestyle
We spend a lot of time on our bums–both at work and at home. Research shows that if you live in a “more walkable” neighbourhood with interconnected streets to shops, restaurants and parks, you’re slimmer.
We can’t change town layouts, but we can be more active. Walk up escalators, don’t use lifts and do the housework – vacuuming the stairs is a strenuous calorie-burning activity!
Lack Of Education
There isn’t – and hasn’t been – enough focus in education about eating well. Learning more about nutrition is key. For example, kids in America go to fat camp, lose half their body weight, then return home and their parents keep giving them McDonald’s every night. We need to educate ourselves better about how to eat well as a family.
The Partner Problem
If you’re living with a rugby player and matching his portions, you’ll get fat.
Those extra helpings can be disastrous if you’re overweight.
We use food as reward, celebration and a way to socialise, but there are other ways to be generous and sociable!
Drinks Count
There’s a lot we don’t count in what we consume – alcohol, coffees, teas, juices.
You may go to the gym before a night out to compensate for the calories you’ll drink, but you’ll spill more wine than you’ve burned off!
Alcohol is just empty calories and it has a real impact on your metabolism – it does count!
Emotional Eating
Depression, stress and anxiety have a massive impact on your weight. It’s important to look at why you overeat – habit, stress or comfort. Keeping a food and mood diary will show you.
There’s a phrase: “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re not hungry.” That’s very true.
Then there’s eating on autopilot – you don’t notice you’re full if you wolf down your lunch in 15 seconds, so sit at a table, really tasting the food and noticing fullness.
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