‘It isn’t about willpower’ says Dr Zoe Williams on weight loss
ok.co.ukCelebrity GP Dr Zoe Williams is discussing the weight-loss myth that bugs her the most. “The one I hear time and again is, ‘It’s simple: just eat less and move more.’ But it’s so much more complex than that,” she says of the nation’s battle with the bathroom scales. “We shouldn’t just dismiss overweight people as lazy.” Obesity rates in the UK have almost doubled since 1993, with one in four adults living with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over.
Zoe adds: “Only about a third of adults could be deemed to be living at a healthy weight, so the majority of people aren’t.That’s not just down to willpower or lack of it.
Obesity’s a complex medical condition with over 100 contributing risk factors. “Problems begin way before a person is even born, with triggers including everything from our genes to stress, medication or even lack of sleep. “Where you live is one of the biggest risk factors, which is fascinating.
People living in the country’s most deprived regions are almost twice as likely to gain excess weight than those in the least deprived areas, so it really isn’t about willpower.” Social pressures and lack of understanding often stand in the way of success, with women afraid of being judged if they try to seek help to lose weight.
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