This week’s health and wellbeing blog has to be about weight loss. It’s the in topic. The Prime Minister is extolling the virtues of losing 5% of your body weight to guard yourself against serious complications should you be unfortunate to get Covid 19. It’s good for you and it’s good for the NHS! As I surfed the internet looking for worthwhile articles to add extra information to this topic, I saw links to dozens of websites all headed ‘The health benefits of losing 5% of your weight’.
The NHS has long had a (quiet) campaign encouraging people who are overweight or obese to lose 5% of their body weight. It sounds small and achievable, not too daunting a prospect to embark on. The research shows that if someone succeeds in keeping the weight off it has significant health benefits. See the NHS article below for the many health benefits of weighing less.
Why is losing weight so hard? Why do the pounds and kilograms go back on so easily after a person has put so much effort into shedding them? The logic is simple really: if you eat more healthy food, eat smaller portions and increase your activity levels, you will lose weight. What makes that so hard for us to commit to? I say ‘us’ because I am not a perfect weight and have struggled with this issue across my life. I lost over 4 stones 9 years ago and have, in the main, succeeded in keeping it off. I know one needs to be constantly vigilant and mindful. If you want to maintain any weight loss, it means rethinking the way you eat and your relationship with food.
Losing weight is only partly about the arithmetic of calorie counting. There are big psychological, emotional and social factors that go into successfully losing weight. The article by Amanda Capritto below considers these and reads well. And there is evidence for a ‘fat gene’ which may also make things more difficult for some to shed the weight.
Exercising regularly can help shift the kilograms alongside calorie counting but some people have underlying injuries or health conditions that make this difficult. The NHS runs an ‘Exercise Referral’ scheme to help people in these circumstances and to help those who have not exercised for a long time. This can include short-term subsidies for membership at local leisure centres; those signed up also benefit from the guidance of a fitness coach specially trained in assisting those with health problems to start exercising. People can be referred by their GP but staff in OH are also signed up to carry out the referrals Kent Sport is one of many leisure centres involved in this scheme.
If you have been inspired to lose weight, be aware that there are lots of resources available to help you. The links below are a very small sample of the advice and support you can access.
‘What Are The Health Benefits Of Losing Weight?’: NHS website
‘Start Losing Weight’: NHS website
‘Weight Loss’ by Dr Jacqueline Payne on the UK’s Patient website
‘Why it’s so difficult to lose weight: The hard truths’ by Amanda Capritto on cnet.com
‘Why “fat gene” mutation may make you obese’: NHS website