I wrote to them pointing out the many flaws in their survey.

I am in the middle of their target audience but they were suggesting things such as “keeping my mind sharp”, “avoiding aches and pains” or “feeling independent” were options for my top three health priorities. I’m not 80.

fin25 has got it.

Ever consuming customers is what most of this is about.

Their does seem to be quite an industry built up now to make us healthy. This requires us to spend our cash to adopt a desired lifestyle and body image.

Some never attain it, and just pig out, there is an increasing fat nation growing out there.
Both the food industry and the health food industry are just businesses feeding off our disposable income.

Having said that, I am just on the cusp of being classed as overweight using the BMI index.

Time to eat and drink a little more sensibly.

Just done the quiz, and because I’m not doing 2 days worth of strengthening exercise, despite the 5 hours or so of activity I do | week, it’s just told me I’m not doing enough…

no wonder, with that sort of advice, people aren’t botheringEr, it’s great advice actually. Why do you think there are so many people on here with knackered backs, etc? Strengthening exercises like yoga, weight training are way more important for health than cycling, running, etc. (IMO!)

That quiz is brilliant. I do 60 minutes of exercise 5 days per week(running for what it’s worth), 3 hours 1 day per week (bike ride) and have 1 day or rest, that’s not enough apparently.

Possibly the above applies to you to!

I am overweight on that BMI index. I don’t worry about it.

That online quiz is the sort of crap you get when someone up high has the brilliant idea that what is needed is another app and then someone is tasked to do it without any real vision for how an app could help.

I am well aware of just how good or poor my health is. I found the quiz gave a pretty accurate assessment of my health. The quiz itself could be useful to someone who is not aware of their state of health.
Other than that health issues are generally affected by multiple factors and are best addressed in a holistic way. Lifestyles, poverty and social exclusion are all key factors. Things like apps seem to me to be tinkering at the margin of the margins

How can the quiz assess my health when it forces me to make choices that I don’t make in reality?
Also, the biggest strain on my physical and mental health, my job, was not even mentioned, I assume because we’re all fat **** who work 9-5 in offices. 🙄

The whole thing is about lumping people into demographics that don’t really exist, presumably so someone somewhere can make money by “targeting service delivery” or some other bollocks.

Went to see a mate in Stockholm this summer. People were much healthier looking. Go into a cafe at a museum and you couldnt get chips over here you cant get anything without chips.

weight training are way more important for health

I agree, I fail the test as I’m only doing it one day a week. The test doesn’t care how much exercise you’re doing, it just measures how many days you’re doing it on. The “right” answer (for the test) is little and often, which is fair enough, but it weights it too much.

If the UK is anything like my Spanish office 8 out of 10 sounds about right, maybe even an underestimate. There are very few people of middle age that don’t have a gut / large hips / etc.

Where to start.
Treats aren’t treats anymore they are eaten nearly all day long. I see people walking around stuffing their faces. Go and sit down and eat properly.
Have proper meals, don’t snack in between. Learn to be hungry.
As Vickypea says above, legs are for walking, use them.
And omg, supermarkets, where do I start? The amount of choice is ridiculous.
Maybe I’m not normal but I rarely go into supermarkets. When I do, they are full of rubbish.
These telly chefs have a lot to answer for. They never promote local shops.
If possible plan meals and make them yourself.
Most of our meals are made from scratch with basic ingredients. I’m a rubbish cook but everything ends up edible.
Anyway I’m preaching to the converted on stw. If I were to make these suggestions on any other forum I’d be shown the door.

TBF, it’s just that anyone on STW promoting an alternative view would be virtually eviscerated.

e.g. supermarkets? Great. One shop, lots of choice, good prices, quality food. It’s possible to walk past the stuff you don’t want to buy and still get fresh fruit/veg/meat etc. In many locations, a supermarket will be all you have. Finding local butchers, bakers, greengrocers etc when you’re not in a decent sized town is impossible.

And omg, supermarkets, where do I start? The amount of choice is ridiculous. Maybe I’m not normal but I rarely go into supermarkets. When I do, they are full of rubbish.

Supermarkets also have fruit, veg, pulses etc. you don’t have to buy chicken twizzlers and microwave fries.

These telly chefs have a lot to answer for. They never promote local shops.

Most cookery programs I watch show chefs using raw ingredients, most recommend organic locally sourced produce.

My point is that a typical stwer will walk past the mountains of treats and fat/sugar filled rubbish, its not what I see from a typical supermarket shopper.

Good consumers are fat consumers.

Depends. I also selected zero for strengthening exercises as I rarely if ever do anything specific. However my muscle tone and core strength is great and I have no problems with my back (apart from mild pain when I subject it to greater strain than even most people who do strength exercises). Because I do a variety of exercise all of which would be classified as aerobic by those determined to classify everything – a variety which gives pretty much all of my muscles a decent workout, with most of the things I do providing a workout for my core stability. I’m less than convinced that yoga or weight training are particularly important for my health (though as I’m getting back into climbing I might do some to focus on the specific strength for that – unless of course climbing counts as strengthening, but it’s not how I see it).

Yet because I selected zero strengthening that quiz saw fit to lecture me on the need to do more exercise (despite having selected exercise every day, averaging >1 hour). Despite also drinking fairly moderately (I’m under the recommended limits) I also got a lecture for that presumably because I admitted to occasionally having 3 glasses of wine in an evening.

Fairly minor things, but indicative of an attitude of preaching at those who are healthy but not quite perfect. Not a terribly helpful attitude.

unless of course climbing counts as strengthening, but it’s not how I see it).

I would certainly count climbing as strength exercise, yes, the same as any other body weight exercises like callisthenics or yoga.

Surely off road down hill mountain biking, particularly more technical rough, steep stuff is strength training? I answered honestly and got a 10 and i’m no saint. I admitted to choosing hard cheese and snacking on crisps etc but I do get very regular exercise of both types and don’t smoke and but drink 3 times a week.

I don’t doubt that the population is largely formed of lazy bloaters but that quiz is a load of bollocks. 6 out of 10, I’m off for a 2h run later today and will do another marathon in well under 3h next spring. On top of plenty of cycling and a bit of swimming and even some strength training. But I have about a beer a night, so apparently I’m doomed.