Obesity is a disease!

Obesity is a disease!

"I was too fat," declared Prime minister Boris Johnson following his admittance to intensive care in April 2020 after he battled Covid-19 and was put on oxygen. Then he stated, "Brits must lose weight to fight coronavirus."

The government unveil new obesity campaign to help people lose weight, get active and eat better after COVID-19 and protect the NHS.

Ban TV and online adverts for food high in fat, sugar, and salt before 9 pm. End "buy one get one free" deals on unhealthy food high in salt, sugar, and fat. Calories are to be displayed on menus to help people make healthier choices when eating out.

Well thanks, Boris, but I do get my size isn't good for me. I've been overweight ever since I was a child: buying clothes from the women's section when I was barely a teenager because they fitted my body until New Look brought out the Curves section. While it was nice to have styles aimed at my own age group, I still felt like I was been separated from civilisation as they were hidden away upstairs or thrust into a corner at the back of the shop.

"Your body is precious. It is your vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care." - Buddha

Age five, I began swimming for York City Bath Club, a club to teach kids how to swim and possibly competitively train. I started in yellow hats, bypassing purple hats due to my previous swimming experience. Soon, I made my way up the hat system going from green, to blue and red then, bronze. Yet, standing on the poolside in my swimming costume, I was aware the other girls were less shapely than myself. Eventually, through the club, I was training up to four times a week, but even then, I was still piling on the weight.

At my primary school they took us swimming in Year 5 and 6 to the Mount School. Due to my club, I was already swimming at the Mount School, and I felt quite smug that I knew the code to get in.

After getting changed we all had to line up on the pool side ready for our 'audition' which was swimming the width of the pool doing breaststroke to assess our swimming ability. I was at the back of the queue and there were three groups; bottom, middle and top which they had to split thirty children into. I was eager to get in the top group, so I knew all my lessons were paying off and to impress my mum.

After going in pairs of two to quicken up the process it was finally my turn. Another girl and I swam a width of breaststroke; however, she was clearly a beginner. As I touched the side of the poolside, I was pleased with what I had done until the lifeguard/swimming instructor asked me to do backstroke. She also asked the other girl to do backstroke, but apart from us two no one else had done another stroke.

I accomplished the backstroke and luckily, I was in top group. During this time everyone wanted me on their team in order to win. It didn't occur to me until later that my weight could have been a contributing factor to why I was asked to do a second stroke.

During senior school the PE teacher made a speech that one in three children leave primary school overweight and almost two thirds of adults in England are classified as being overweight or obese. And that obesity-related illnesses cost the NHS approximately £6,000,000,000 a year. All I could do was stand there surrounded by my slim and skinny peers (who I knew spent their social time, drinking, smoking and eating junk food) while I listened to the teacher's insensitive speech. The irony was, I went swimming with the PE teacher's cousin, a fact she was fully aware of.

Raised by a single mum, there was no money for a car which meant all my life I have had to walk or bike everywhere. Between swimming, biking and walking I was probably the most active kid in my class. Yet, apart from swimming, I was rubbish in PE and the biggest one in the class.