Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS £6.3 billion a year, in treating related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. It is becoming a national problem, and people have taken to suggesting various measures in an effort to tackle it. Take the recent example of the Lanarkshire MP who made the ridiculous suggestion of taxing chocolate. Thankfully, the British Medical Association rejected this as bumf.
It seems that shortsighted individuals regularly attempt to tackle problems by taxation. But why should ordinary, self regulating individuals be made to pay for the lack of self control of others by paying through the nose for chocolate or alcohol?
Forget taxing chocolate. People should be encouraged to eat less, drink less alcohol and exercise more.
I could probably be used as an example in this regard. I'm 25, of average height and generally in good health. But I'm slightly overweight, with a 90kg bodyweight and a BMI of 27.6 (BMI can be skewed by muscle vs fat content, but its a rough indicator). I don't seek to blame anyone else for the fact that I could do with losing a few pounds, and I don't think that making me pay more for chocolate or beer is going to help. That whole idea is proposterous.
Rather, what I need is to do is slightly change my diet to avoid processed carbs and excessive sugar consumption, and to get more exercise. The nature of my job means that I'm sitting at my desk for most of the day, and therefore I am not burning as many calories as others who have more physically active jobs. But this leads to a problem which most people come up against when contemplating additional exercise: lack of time.
The monotonous prospect of spending hours and hours on a treadmill or lifting dumbells fills me with horror, and I'm quite a busy person, so I don't get the chance to go to the gym for hours at a time. I go when I can, (usually about three times a week) and I swim and play football. But this is not enough, because my weight is not coming down. So I need something else, in addition to the exercise I currently get. And I think the answer may be circuit training.
There was an article in Men's Fitness Magazine which was a circuit training programme entitled '28 Days to a Flat Gut'. It only involves about 40 minutes a day, and you don't need to go to the gym or buy any expensive equipment (though you can use equipment for certain types of circuit training).
To me, an investment of very little time and money with a high return of fitness and weight loss is 'the holy grail'.
The main benefits of circuits are allegedly; improved core fitness and stability, improved muscle tone and of course, weight loss (when combined with a proper balanced diet). All of this with no cost and little time used. This is because the nature of circuit training means that your heart rate goes up and stays up for the entire duration of the exercise, which increases your metabolic rate and leads to increased energy consumption both during and after the exercise.
So I'm going to start doing circuit training, and will post an update on my progress on my blog. I doubt anyone except me will ever read it, but having this record which I can go back to and which could be read by others will provide me with extra motivation. I'm going to get up at 7AM, go for a short run and then do the circuit training which involves groups ten exercises, each of which is done for 40-60 seconds, with no rest in between. In addition, I'm going to watch what I eat and mostly cut out booze for a month.
Tomorrow is day one. So before I begin, let it be noted that I am 5 foot 11 (180cm) and:
Current weight: 14 stone 1 (89.8kg)
BMI: 27.6
Body fat: 25.4%
Target Weight: 12 stone 0 (76.5kg)
BMI: 25
Body Fat: 19.5%
It's an optimistic target and will probably take longer than a month to reach, but I'm certainly going to try.
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