Are you fat or obese?

it all starts with 1 big mac

Is fat a bad word?

Comments from then Health Minister  Anne Milton in 2010 about Doctors telling people they are fat  generated much comment.

I don’t have a problem with honest feedback– there is too little of it– as long as you then give some solutions to help the person concerned.

An example in Netball is that one player was described to me as “not agile enough.” I then asked the coach what she had done to help the player concerned to improve. “We give them all a folder“.  Great.

Living in Devon I see a lot of fat people, maybe it is an economics issue, it is a poor county, maybe it is a lifestyle issue- large distances to travel by car.

Luckily most of the athletes I train are very lean and have trouble putting on weight- a different problem altogether.

Whose fault is obesity?

This report makes some interesting points, but I still believe it is an individual’s choice as to whether they eat that extra biscuit or not.

Lifestyle has changed, working with young athletes, it is surprising how few of them walk or cycle anywhere to get around. Part of that is a cultural aspect of safety issues and ease of access to facilities, but part of it is they are not in a habit of using their feet.

As a coach or parent- how much of a good example do you set? Young people tend to respond to practical examples and role models rather than being told what to do.

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