You know there are lots of different types of people in the world? People who have different struggles, some people struggle to lose weight, others to put it on. Some people watch what they eat whether they struggle with managing their weight or not and others find they don’t need to. Away from our physical self we all work in different industries and have different personal situations.
So I struggle to understand why so many people in the fitness industry keep comparing and contrasting the Governments intentions to tackle obesity and the Dine Out 50% Scheme.
The economy has been hit hard, in particular the hospitality sector. The 50% scheme and the lower VAT rate are designed to stimulate an area of the economy that is on the edge of a disaster that will have far reaching effects on us all as jobs are lost and windows along high streets start getting boarded up (I mean we’ll just ignore the fact here that the Government found the money to fund this but it took a footballer campaigning to find the funds to feed kids who would otherwise go without during the school holidays). Maybe it does encourage people to go and eat out more, but you know that when you go to a restaurant you don’t have to pick the fattiest, highest calorie thing on the menu right? I mean – I don’t follow this rule when I go for a meal but… I could … I do have that autonomy of choice.
That’s the thing for me. Those campaigns to stop BOGOFs and cheap deals on ‘junk’ food. Why can I not pick for myself what I put in my mouth? Does it take the Government making it more costly for me to eat less junk food to achieve that? Will that work long term? Or would me making informed decisions about what I eat be better in the long term. I frequently get laughed at for how much I eat (and particular how much cake) but actually, most of the time (OK not so much in lockdown with no classes to teach) I’m actually easily within my TDEE even with all the cake, on occasions I am not I can say no to food if I think it’s right for me to do so, I don’t need Whitehall to tell me.
So the Government’s current scheme has a purpose and that purpose isn’t related to people’s health – it’s related to the economy, and as much as I don’t like this government (albeit I’ll admit to a slight inappropriate crush on Rishi, although most people would look good if they’re almost always stood next to Boris) and think their messages are becoming increasingly confusing and contradictory, this policy is designed to get people going back to restaurants and pubs, to contrast it directly to issues of obesity is far to simplistic and takes away the ownership we need to take over our own bodies.
So onto the campaign against obesity. I’ve not read too much about this as reading the news at the moment makes me incredibly aggy and to be honest I probably don’t need to be triggered any further. From the Government website it seems to largely involve banning adverts for ‘naughty’ foods, reducing BOGOFs and GPs being able to prescribe weight loss programmes to people – this appears to be both via an NHS specific weight management plan but also being able to sign post them to Weight Watchers and Slimming World.
It’s the Slimming Clubs that seem to be the ultimate trigger to many fitness professionals here. I’ve written previously that whilst I wouldn’t encourage someone to join one, I don’t think they are the devil incarnate that they get made out to be in our industry. At the end of the day they promote a safe and healthy calorie deficit, they just do it in a sneaky way where the customer isn’t actually aware that’s what is happening and in a way that sadly doesn’t really promote moving as part of a healthy lifestyle.
To tackle obesity what is really needed is two tier. Firstly education. Banning adverts and offers doesn’t educate. It’s taking the scissors away from someone rather than explaining that they are sharp so if they use them they need to be careful. Sending them to a Slimming Club could help but not educate. I would hope the NHS weight management plan would be the first port of call for most referrals and more educational however.
Secondly however, as I’ll write more about tomorrow, knowing and doing are just not the same thing. It does’t matter what you know about calories or the benefit of exercise, most of us need accountability, reasons to make the effort. For em the Governments shortsightedness comes not from Weight Watchers but not following through to this point.
Here is where we in the fitness industry can really come into a useful position, offering services that provide that accountability and support to people. I’ve said so many times previously though, that means less talking down on other ways of losing weight (like slimming clubs) and understanding why they are popular options with many. I’ll tell you know, because I’ve been overweight and I went to a slimming club before a gym, because sometime gyms and the people in them seem scary. We need to show understanding of how people looking to lose weight feel and provide services that help rather than put people off.
The other issue here is cost. It’s often said that one problem is it’s cheaper to live off junk than fresh food. I think that is both true an untrue. You can find very cheap fruit and veg if you know where to look, but often you need to go to certain chains of supermarkets to get the value products, these might be out of town superstores, now if you can’t drive then you are limited to the more expensive local shops. Socio economic factors definitely come into play in everything going on right now. How was lockdown or you? Will have depended on where you lived, who with, access to gardens and parks. What will have been an idyllic summer for some would have been months cooped up alone indoors for others. Whilst we can argue that people coming to us as PTs or coaches would be more effective for them in terms of weight management and health, three sessions with a PT a week in going to cost at least £90 a week, a gym membership at least £20 a week. A weight in at Weight Watchers costs around a fiver.
Ultimately we need to stop over simplifying complex issues, try and look beyond our own point of view and accept that in a very complex world right now where there are economic, social and health issues vying for attention with a still ongoing pandemic that not every decision or policy is always going to sit well or make sense against another. We need to think more on a micro scale of what we can do to improve the situation rather than getting bogged down in what Boris is cocking up this week.
Heather Sherwood Fitness 