Question: How do u help young people keep mentaly & physicly fit? Because they might eat more food than exercise

Sally Fenton answered on 16 Jun 2010:

This is very true and a very good point. The reason people become overweight is because they eat more food and calories than they burn off…. so you are right to ask this question.. it may be that a person its doing loads of exercise but still keeps eating more calories and fat than they can burn off and so they become unfit!

However…scientists have shown that to keep physically fit exercise is actually more important than diet as it has more of an effect on your weight. This is because once we exercise our calorie burning is increased for hours afterwards. Also…when we exercise we build more muscle. Now muscle in itself can actually burn fat! so the more we exercise…the more muscle we build…and the more calories we can burn…which again makes it easier for those people who are exercising to stay fit and healthy in terms of their weight.

There will always though be some people who will still eat more food than they burn off and these are the people who are not physically fit and healthy and may be overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese is associated with different health problems such as diabetes and heart disease…which is why it is imporant to try and avoid this.

In terms of my research…all I can do is try and find ways to get more people to be active and take part in and enjoy physical activity…but there will always be some people who resist this…Obviously I can not control everything a person does and exactly what they eat…but If we can get them to be active we are half way there. We can give them all the information they need in order to be fit and healthy but it is up to them to do it!