The obesity problem has been getting a lot of publicity recently with governments and health authorities trying to find ways of solving the increasing levels of obesity in society.

However, I think that one of the main issues is that the way that weight (and more generally health) is viewed is flawed. Rather than focusing on promoting health and health practices there is a focus on ill health. This means weight isn’t something that most people think about until their BMI crept to a level that they are uncomfortable with.

This has two issues. Firstly, it is a lot easier to build healthy eating habits and lifestyle before the bad habits have set in and weight has become an issue. The second issue (and in my opinion the bigger issue) is that people then view weight loss in a similar way that they would view treating a cold. A short term change which gets them back to a level where they feel better so that they can get back to their normal life.

This is clear in the amount of diet plans which are all over the internet and social media. These diets generally focus on changing the way that a person eats in a manner which is not practical long term in oder to make short term changes focus primarily on aesthetics. A lot of these diets give very little consideration to long term health.

This approach is not particularly helpful and is one of the reasons that a lot of people fall into a cycle of gaining and losing weight. If you are not learning long term strategies to manage your weight and keep your body healthy then you will more than likely fall back into the habits that made you gain weight in the first place.

I am not saying that I am perfect when it comes to this, but this is the general approach that I take when it comes to health and fitness. I gained a lot of weight last year as I was going through a difficult time but by the end of this year I intend to be in a much better place (the running that I have mentioned many times before is a huge part of this for me) and maybe I can inspire a few people to join me on this journey.

🙂