To think peoples lives are crap enough without needing the government to interfere with Meal Deals

[Jeansmeansheinz]

FFS just let people have the pleasure of a Meal Deal. I really don't need the Government telling me what I can and can't eat.

In my local area the local leisure centre has been renovated, which is lovely. But the cost of Aquafit has risen from £8 (the price in the other, older leisure centre I go to sometimes) to £9.50.

The government should subsidise leisure centres and gyms if they are serious about tackling obesity but all they want to do is suggest options that don't cost them any money.

Most people are overweight or obese. 69% of men and 59% of women. And it’s well known that exercise has a very limited impact on weight.

And thats overally the point I was making, we've gone from 500 calories to over 700 in just understanding what we're actually eating. Thats quite a large portion of a females daily calories in just a quick lunch. Hence the obesity issue.

A Tesco meal deal can easily come in at over 1000 calories.

Also high in fat and sugar.

It's a big chunk of calories for the day and a meal deal lunch isn't seen as a main meal so more calories to come.

I think making healthy options available in the meal deal but excluding items with high fat, high sugar would help.

I don't agree with removing meal deals entirely they just need to be adapted.

People can still buy the other items, that's their choice. They just don't be discounted.

People won’t go for the same reason they don’t use free outdoor gyms or just go for a walk.

Walking is not an effective way to lose weight, its great for general mobility but anything that does not get the heart pumping is having no more effect than wandering around your own home.

I think bigger issues are

• family sized chocolate bars/packets of crisps cheaper than small ones
• Junk food displayed near the tills in shops
• mcdonalds on every corner
• building houses on every patch of green so less places for children to play and people to exercise

It’s good. Just moving more is good. There was some exercise guy saying don’t feel you have to pay to improve and promoting walking. He had a point

I agree that moving is better than not, I just dont agree its a good solution for weight loss as opposed to better for general mobility. I find doing gardening/stuff around the house far more effective. It doesnt have to be a gym, just anything that gets you a bit sweaty is ideal.

Yes, you make a good point. Though equally it is possible to genuinely choose a 500 calorie meal deal by making better choices so I don't think it is the meal deal that has to be removed. Though supermarkets could help by providing a wider range of fruit choices, for example. They could invite people to pick their own apple/banana/satuma from the ones on general display and add that to the sandwich & drink for free as part of a meal deal.

But mainly people just need to be more realistic or educated about taking responsibility for their own food choices. Sometimes a high calorific meal is what you want and what you choose to buy. But if you do it too often you will get fat. And there's no point kidding yourself about stuff like a triple sandwich being 400 calories for example.

I thought it was the meal deal for unhealthy meals that was being removed

I think they can still do meal deals although o haven't looked up the criteria for healthy

I think it was more than just calories

Exercise is amazing for your body but agree it's not great for weight loss if its used as a tool to counteract a bad diet ie I'll have an excess of calories today as I had a 10 min go on the treadmill. Although weight and health are intrinsically linked and often when you are moving your body more you feel better in yourself and perhaps don't feel the need to fill up on crap; they are still different 'issues'.

I was overweight growing up, grappling with BED amongst other things and losing 8 stone and maintaining is challenging, I don't have all of the answers of course but I do empathise that weight loss is much more complex than don't buy meal deals or my nemesis...eat less and move more. Whilst biologically in most cases that's true its not helpful one iota.

I agree OP, I don't think it's the time for introducing unnecessary price hikes. By all means focus on other interventions around obesity, but that's just failure to read the room.

He has a point and it's true most people can walk more and it's free.

But it's also quite boring after a while to go walking every day. Exercise is more fun & therefore you're more likely to do it if it is varied. Like I enjoy Aquafit but that costs money so not everyone could afford it.

Labour could address that with subsidised gyms/leisure centres when they are in charge if they want to tackle obesity. Doesn't seem like the Tories have ever cared.

Walking is indeed brilliant for your body (and arguably for your mind too), but to get a decent walk in that gets the muscles going maybe breaks a sweat is invariably going to take more time out of your day than a targeted gym session for example. Sure weaving it in and adding walking where you reasonably can is bloody brilliant, but other exercise does give you more bang for your time as it were.

You can still buy food
The supermarkets could chose to give you healthy deals
You just can no longer get deals on junk that drive up health costs - which costs you in taxes

That's just defeatist.

Sure you can never get everyone to see the benefits of exercise or be able to do it.

But it would help if economic barriers were removed as much as possible.

Why oh why don't they try making healthier food more accessible rather than making UPF more inaccessible. That's the only way they will solve this massive issue that goes way beyond meal deals.

That is true too. I think his main point was walking can be an every day change, he was some fitness guy that just popped up on IG, he made a compelling argument.

Also I think mental barriers to exercise or eating less can be hard for many, so just getting started is good

When money is tight (as it is for many families now), a meal deal is a very occasional treat.

Same with crisps and chocolate.

What contributes to obesity is "filling up" on cheap carbs - bread, pasta, potatoes etc. Also contributes to poorly balanced diets.

Keep all food at a reasonable price. Let kids (and adults) enjoy a bad of crisps or a bar of chocolate.

Filling food with chemicals and unhealthy additives doesn't help either.

Providing good food (ie free from unhealthy additives, hormones, "secret" fillers such as corn by-products - which also contribute to allergies) for the population should be one of any governments main priorities. We may have to pay more for it if we want good production, manufacturing and preservation methods, but govt shouldn't be "banning" choices.

Use a lunch box with a ice pack, problem solved. Have we gotten that lazy and entitled that we can't carry a bag?

Yes - definitely this.

When I was a child th swimming baths was literally coppers for entry. Now it is priced way out of many people's pockets.

They are removed in many ways. Exercise can be free already. I’m not a gym user so maybe I can see it’s doable.

If people said I can rather than they should.. it’s just waiting for something to change, it’s not easy to pass a mental block I know. But that’s the main issue

"nobody needs a snack" could be applied to almost any food in the supermarket why cherrypick meal deals when family size chocolate bars and sweet bags should be your first port of call if you want to start restricting things in the name of tackling obesity. A sandwich, a small snack and a drink are not the reason why people are fat even if it was your lunch every day as it was for me at my last job and I've never been fat. They are very handy for days out when you're stuck with no food and the alternative would be something actually fattening like Gregg's. And as someone said up thread they're great for homeless people or people who don't have a kitchen.
Again if you want to be restrictive on your own diet fair enough but don't beg the government to restrict everyone else's who are you Joseph Stalin? And someone on here was talking about not eating breakfast or lunch as if that's normal behaviour 🧐

Economic barriers are very real for many people. I have friends who would try Aquafit or other classes if they could afford them but they can’t and it is low priority compared to paying bills.