Published on 12, July, 2020
The NHS estimates that almost a third of adults in the UK are obese, and that one in five children aged 10 to 11 are obese. That's a lot of people eating way too much fast and doing little to no exercise (we're all sitting on our big fat behinds way too much). What makes people overweight? Are we more likely to be obese if we're autistic? BBC journalist Michael Buerk announced recently that fat people should be allowed to drop dead and no longer trouble the NHS with their chubby troubles. He said, "The obese will die a decade earlier than the rest of us; see it as a selfless sacrifice in the fight against demographic imbalance, overpopulation and climate change.'" (Michael Buerk)
Eating a mars bar provides ~200 calories, but burning 200 cals with exercise takes a surprising amount of effort. Something like a solid 30 mins on an Elliptical cross trainer on a medium resistance setting. That doesn't sound like much but if you've tried it you'll know you'll be coming off there completely saturated with sweat. There's also weight lifting, which is overlooked as a way of burning calories. The following days while your body is recovering you're burning extra calories, but of course you're in pain too.
IMO, most people should forget about exercise, it's easiest to stay trim by balancing your intake with your BMR, then eat a little more if you've had a busy day or whatever. Easy is more sustainable for most people I think. And if being a little hungry every day is too much, I guess go eat whatever, live your life and be happy.. but don't complain when you're dying of some obesity related illness.
I agree with the first bit. Not the second bit though. There are way more health benefits to exercise than simply burning off fat. I think most people would be happier and healthier if they worried less about how much they eat and take up a sport such as running, swimming, cycling etc. (Moderate) exercise relieves stress, so as well as burning more calories doing more exercise makes you less inclined to stress-eat large quantities of unhealthy food. (Do not fall into the trap of using extreme exercise to punish yourself though, it should be a fun thing you do that makes you feel good about yourself.)
Much healthier and better for your wellbeing to be strong and active and enjoy your food, than to be skinny and unfit and constantly stressing about your calorie intake.
(btw I used to have an unhealthy relationship with food, I was in a nightmare cycle of binge eating and then over-exercising and skipping proper meals. Beating myself up about it just made things worse but the problem more or less went away by itself when I worked on the stress/anxiety. I don't think you can solve an eating problem without also figuring out some of the underlying emotional reasons.)
I completely agree. If people were physically active and doing regular exercise, there would be no obesity and even being overweight would be rare.