Britain Needs To Get Slimmer & Fitter

Whilst we praise Public Health England for using their voice to make britons aware of the increase in obesity, we also need to make sure that the UK population focuses on getting healthier and fitter.

With the amount of fast food, high calorie, processed and convenience foods available and sold, Britain is not only slightly overeating, people are gorging on calories. Reducing these calories is essential, however, we need to encourage regular exercise and increase daily activity.

Burning calories and increasing your lean muscle mass improves your overall fitness and in turn results in an increase in your metabolism; meaning more calories burnt throughout the day!

This allows you to eat more calories whilst keeping your food intake and energy expenditure equation in balance.

Whilst I admire Public Health England’s attempt to provide an eating platform, the 400:600:600 plan is not realistic or sustainable for most people, but more importantly is an oversimplified solution for this issue. It is hard to ask a population that is vastly over-eating to drastically change their eating habits to only hold a 1,600 calorie diet in the long term.

Creating lifestyle change has to be progressive and we must allow for gradual and maintainable choices to be made. I fear that 1,600 calories, a bold and aggressive move, is too much for most. Few will stick to it in the short term and will fail in the long term, most will see it as too difficult before even starting.

Encourage exercise, encourage calorie control, educate about the different food groups and give the population more chance of success for a long and healthy life.