Every time the eve of the New Year comes, millions of people promise to themselves to maintain a normal weight in the coming year. Yet, most of those promises are broken as early as by the end of January. Researchers at the George Washington Medical Center managed to unearth why this happens.
They found that many overweight people feel ill at ease at the thought they would be panting among other gym visitors, who are younger and slimmer, and because of their excessive sweating. So the major reason overweight people stop doing fitness is emotional rather than the lack of determination as it is widely thought.
By the way, women were more exposed to fears of how they would look compared with other gym visitors. They were afraid of not being able to handle unknown and sophisticated gym equipment or worried about how fashionable their athletic outfit would look or how they would look in the eyes of men working out beside them.
Two thirds of Americans suffer from obesity or excessive weight. That figure tripled since 1980 and continues to surge upwards. Yet just about 30 percent of overweight people are following the guidelines of the National Institutes of Health that encourage them to spend the minimum of five hours a week doing moderate aerobic exercises.
Source of the image: sxc.hu/profile/lusi.
