'On yer bike' says Boris...

[Uther]

He's probably got a bit of a point, especially when you look at the amount of people that are overweight and obese in the country.The figures are shocking really.
The government estimates that two-thirds (63%) of UK adults are above a healthy weight, with 36% overweight and 28% obese. One in three children aged 10 to 11 are overweight or obese, and children living with obesity are five times more likely to become obese adults.
https://news.sky.com/story/anti-obe...e-to-help-overweight-britons-get-fit-12036252

 

[Minstadave]

Need this Dad to lead the health drive:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/visibly-upset-child-made-to-run-daily.18892655/

 

[Dis86]

It tackles the symptom but not the cause. We need to stop being a nation of lazy, overeating slobs.

 

[413x]

It tackles the symptom but not the cause. We need to stop being a nation of lazy, overeating slobs.

Id argue it can tackle the cause if people actually do it.

But if you got like that, it's probably an uphill p) battle

Obesity may eventually have to be removed from NHS cover if it's gets too bad.

 

[Begbie]

It tackles the symptom but not the cause. We need to stop being a nation of lazy, overeating slobs.

How do you stop that though? It's literally the life most people strive for. More content, more automation and less doing.

I personally don't understand being hugely especially all the associated health risks. Hopefully the whe covid thing gives some people the push.

 

[brendy]

It tackles the symptom but not the cause. We need to stop being a nation of lazy, overeating slobs.

I think to a certain extent it goes hand in hand. The moment you begin to consciously exercise more, your junk food intake decreases if even just a little.
Cycling, when you use it as a means of commuting rather than straight out exercising is a good way to be active without it feeling like work. I would be over in Denmark (Odense mostly) a fair bit through work and while I'm not saying everyone is their ideal weight, it is very noticeable how many people cycle and obese people are in the tiny minority there.

 

[BongoHunter]

Walking or cycling to work where poss, and the same for shopping could only be good for everyone surely - I don't see lots of overweight people walking or cycling to work in the morning (pre covid), and those that did didn't stay hugely overweight for that long.

 

[UTmaniac]

With all the new bus/cycle lanes in Southampton and around the UK, constructed upon the instruction of Boris a few months back, it's the perfect time to get people back on bikes and feel less likely to die everytime they ride on a main road.

 

[Shadowness]

This will do nothing, if anything it'll just annoy motorists more as there'll be more bikes on the road (rightfully so I should add)

People just need to stop being so lazy.
There's an abundance of people at my work who literally live within a couple of miles from work.....all of them drive.
If people pop to the local supermarket (less than a mile away, they drive)

I'm still staggered when walking around town how many people are visibly overweight. And the kids!......

 

[413x]

This will do nothing, if anything it'll just annoy motorists more as there'll be more bikes on the road (rightfully so I should add)

People just need to stop being so lazy.
There's an abundance of people at my work who literally live within a couple of miles from work.....all of them drive.
If people pop to the local supermarket (less than a mile away, they drive)

I'm still staggered when walking around town how many people are visibly overweight. And the kids!......

Its horrible seeing kids who are so fat you know they've had a horrible start in life

 

[chaparral]

"Don't be a fatty in your 50s."

The scales are set to lbs

Me 10 years ago at ago of 40 (10 stone)

Me now at age of 50 (13 stone)

 

[fobose]

@chaparral Were you always light without doing much exercise? I've been 9 stone 13 lb since I was about 20 and rarely do any exercise (press ups is all I do now). I am wondering if/when my metablism will change and I will have to put in more effort ( currently 35 years old).

 

[Dis86]

How do you stop that though? It's literally the life most people strive for. More content, more automation and less doing.

I personally don't understand being hugely especially all the associated health risks. Hopefully the whe covid thing gives some people the push.

Taxation on junk food, with that tax directly channelled back in to treating obesity related illness such as diabetes. Some way of reducing short journeys where idiots do a loop of only a couple of miles. I've posted about my previous neighbours as being prime examples of this. Driving their kids to school when the school is less than half a mile away or it's a 1 mile car journey. Its not as if they had work to go to afterwards either! I went to school with a girl whose grandad would drive 5 miles to pick her up and drive her a quarter of a mile to the bus stop for the school bus. Utterly pathetic.

 

[phonemonkey]

I can't help but feel this won't achieve much in isolation, though it's better than nothing. I do wonder about the cost-benefit analysis though. How many people who don't currently cycle will be inspired to? How many new cyclists will be encouraged to continue? How many cycling relating injuries and accidents will it help prevent?

I think we first need to address how we treat sport in schools. I was an active child; I was a competitive swimmer who trained 4-5 times a week for at least an hour at a time. I also sailed, rowed, kayaked, and participated in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme etc most nights of the week with my local Sea Cadets but I HATED PE lessons . I didn't want to play football or rugby. I HATED cross country running. I think that there was too much focus on acquiring a certain level of competency at which ever sport we were doing that term, and not enough focus on introducing a wide variety of sports and a "give it a go" mentality in PE. PE lessons should be as much fun and as varied as possible. They shouldn't be competitive. Of course schools should also offer competitive teams for popular sports like football for those who want it but I believe that non qualification sports education in schools should be focused on participation and finding enjoyment. Adults who found sports they enjoy as kids are, in my opinion, more likely to be active adults. Adults whose only experience of sport as a child was being teased for being rubbish at football/rugby/whatever sport the school prizes are unlikely to have been inspired to be active as adults.

TDLR: the goal of non qualification sports education should be to inspire kids to participate in sport not to produce as many Messi wannabes as possible.

 

[MatsyLR]

I have the opposite problem.
Last year I weighed just over 13 stone, now I weight 8 stone 11-12 pounds (I'm 29m, 5f7) just dieting loosing around 1-2lb per week, some breaks inbetween that time and cheat days but nothing massive, just counting calories. Its amazing how much is actually in things!

My dad is obese, doesn't seem to care that he has quite a massive stomach and man boobs and shouts at me saying I've gone too far and I was fine before I started loosing weight. When I point out that hes heading for a early grave if he continues the way he is, he just shrugs it off and tell me to go away.

 

[Begbie]

Taxation on junk food, with that tax directly channelled back in to treating obesity related illness such as diabetes. Some way of reducing short journeys where idiots do a loop of only a couple of miles. I've posted about my previous neighbours as being prime examples of this. Driving their kids to school when the school is less than half a mile away or it's a 1 mile car journey. Its not as if they had work to go to afterwards either! I went to school with a girl whose grandad would drive 5 miles to pick her up and drive her a quarter of a mile to the bus stop for the school bus. Utterly pathetic.

People round here drive to work, less than a mile away. Which causes huge traffic jams. I feel your pain.

 

[fobose]

I used to cycle to work on a direct route to Cambridge for all the commuters about 6:30am in the morning (quieter, but still really busy).The commute was 27 mile round trip and I did it 4 days a week, I dropped to 9 stone so I stopped. I was a lot younger back then so thought I was invincible so didn't care to cycle on the main road. There was a 'back road' for about half of it which I took sometimes but it added 4 miles extra to my round trip and was bumpy as hell.

There is no chance I would cycle that road now, it is far too dangerous and there are no cycle paths there. I have moved since then and I can cycle 8.4 mile round trip to work, mostly cross country and the rest is on a cycle path. I don't cycle very often as I often don't always know if I will need to stay late (staying with engineers at work for equipment breakdowns etc).

A few colleagues at work chose to cycle on the main road and not on the provided cycle path which is a real pain when I am driving. I understand why they don't cycle on the main road though, there are lots of drive ways to worry about cars pulling out of and lots of turnings that they need to give way at. If I had to cycle on that part of the cycle way, I would chose the road too.

 

[chaparral]

@chaparral Were you always light without doing much exercise? I've been 9 stone 13 lb since I was about 20 and rarely do any exercise (press ups is all I do now). I am wondering if/when my metablism will change and I will have to put in more effort ( currently 35 years old).

Yes up to the age of around 40 i was going from 8 1/2 stone to 10 stone and back to 8 1/2 stone every year

All my life i wanted to weight more and not be a such a skinny git,
But now am around 13 stone am hating it as you can really feel the extra weight when going up steps , walking , running etc etc (And of cause being much older now no helps)

 

[Blackjack Davy]

With all the new bus/cycle lanes in Southampton and around the UK, constructed upon the instruction of Boris a few months back, it's the perfect time to get people back on bikes and feel less likely to die everytime they ride on a main road.

Bike use has actually declined in the last few weeks there was a noticeable uptake during lockdown around here once the cars appeared back on the road nearly mowing cyclists down at every opportunity either herd instinct has kicked in and they've got their cars out or they've decided its simply too dangerous to risk life and limb amongst aggressive motorists. "Cycle lanes" are simply white lines painted on the edge of the road motorists simply ignore them its nothing more than a box ticking exercise from the local authority.

 

[fobose]

Yes up to the age of around 40 i was going from 8 1/2 stone to 10 stone and back to 8 1/2 stone every year

All my life i wanted to weight more and not be a such a skiing git,
But now am around 13 stone am hating it as you can really feel the extra weight when going up steps , walking , running etc etc

I used to wish I weighed more when I was younger but I've learned over the years that I don't need to be huge to get things done. My job is mostly office based but from time to time I have to do some manual stuff if my staff are ill so for me its more about technique now. I do fly up stairs still, perk of being so light I guess

Maybe I will notice the weight increase when I hit 40!