What it is like to be Obese? A Practical Example

Abstract

As researchers and practitioners in the area of obesity, we are familiar with the different
types of obesity that are prevalent and the alarming increase of younger children that are
impacted globally. Moreover, we recognise the health problems concerned with the relationship
between obesity and the lack of physical activity, with the drain on health funding with increased
teeth extractions, type 2 diabetes and heart conditions, to name but a few. In an attempt
to combat this global epidemic, there are many policies and interventions in place which work
in conjunction to address obesity. One such example is the globally recognised recommendation
by the World Health Organisation1 to encourage between 30-60 minutes of exercise per
day, depending on age. However, to the general population, such advice seems too simplistic
and neglects to recognize the difficulties that individuals have with becoming more physically
active.

In order to appreciate some of these health concerns, it is increasingly evident that we
need to get our young people’s attention and show them how real and pressing these issues are
for their future. In an attempt to illustrate what being obese is like from a phenomenological
perspective, an experiment was conducted for n=8 sport and exercise undergraduate degree
university students to actually ‘feel’ what it was like to be obese in a practical environment. The
experiment was designed to highlight the physical constraints of being obese and provide them
with an opportunity to reflect on whether recommendations by WHO1 were realistic