• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Did Lockdown Make Us Fat?

by Noah Carl
1 December 2021 7:51 AM

Unlike the Swiss or Japanese, we British are not known for our health. After Malta, in fact, we’re the most obese nation in Europe. Fully 28% of us have a BMI greater than 30, which for a man of 5 foot 10, equates to a bodyweight of 96kg.

This should be a source of national embarrassment. And you’d assume the Government wouldn’t want to make it any worse. Which prompts the question, “What on earth did they expect lockdown would do?”

Back in March of 2020, we were told that we “must stay at home”. Only “one form of exercise a day” would be allowed under the new regime. Gyms and sports clubs were closed, and children’s play areas were cordoned off like crime scenes. (This was all in spite of emerging evidence that the chance of being infected outdoors was negligible.)

The full effects of lockdown on our waistlines are only now becoming apparent. And they they’re not pretty.

In a recent study, Feifei Bu and colleagues analysed data from the COVID-19 Social Study, a longitudinal survey of British adults that began on 21st March 2020. Note: the sample was not representative, so the researchers applied weights throughout their analysis.

During the initial phase of the study (up to the end of August), respondents were asked about their level of physical activity on a weekly basis. In particular, they were asked how much exercise they had done on “the last working day”. Results are shown in the chart below.

Although the series begin after the start of lockdown, the percentage of people reporting no physical activity increased substantially over the duration of the study – from around 23% to almost 40%. Oddly, the peak of inactivity was not reached until the late summer.

If the government’s messaging had not needlessly emphasised staying at home, it’s plausible this change could have been avoided. In a recent meta-analysis, the majority of studies reported “decreases in physical activity and increases in sedentary behaviours” during lockdown. (Hardly surprising, you might say. But it’s good to have hard data.)

So that’s calories out. What about calories in? Perhaps people compensated for lower levels of activity by eating less. It seems they didn’t.

In a study published back in July, researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies looked at the impact of lockdown on people’s eating habits. They combined several sources of data to estimate the change in total calories consumed inside the home versus outside the home.

Unsurprisingly, there was a drop fall in calories consumed outside the home: although takeaways went up; visits to cafes and restaurants plummeted. However, this was more than compensated for by a rise in calories consumed inside the home. Results are shown in the chart below.

Each line on the graph corresponds to a different assumption about the change in calories consumed outside the home. The lower dashed line indicates that, even if you assume a 100% drop in calories consumed outside the home, there was still a sizeable net increase in calories – on the order of 10% or more.

Evidence suggests that, during lockdown, we did less and ate more. It’s therefore hardly surprising that 40% of British adults gained weight, with the average gain being half a stone. So you can add ‘20 million people getting fatter’ to the costs side of the lockdown ledger.

What’s more, 2020 saw the largest annual rise in childhood obesity – of 4.5 percentage points – since records began.

All this brings to mind the first of Martin Kulldorff’s twelve forgotten principles of public health. Repeat after me: “Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single disease.”

Tags: ExerciseLockdownObesity

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Omicron Variant Places Question Mark Over Vaccine Efficacy – But Evidence for the Enduring Power of Natural Immunity Remains Strong

Next Post

Hospitals in Hull Begin Imposing Restrictions on Visitors

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

135 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
A Y M
A Y M
2 years ago

Roll on the clown show.
He literally looks like a perverted clown.
They are rubbing it into normal peoples faces.
Of course it’s just hysteria that’s whipped up to distract, anger and confuse the masses while they get on with controlling our power, transport and food networks.

Last edited 2 years ago by A Y M
178
-2
jeepybee
jeepybee
2 years ago
Reply to  A Y M

Said this to my friend earlier, clearly he has some fetish about it, nipples all pokey outy like that. What a fucking weirdo. Actually, no. What a poor man. What a fucking weird society for clapping at this mentally ill man.

185
-1
A Y M
A Y M
2 years ago
Reply to  jeepybee

It gets more ludicrous.
Apparently this “teacher” teaches DT (Shop) to his students using power tools while manoeuvring behind his fetish boobs.

Last edited 2 years ago by A Y M
64
-1
jeepybee
jeepybee
2 years ago
Reply to  A Y M

Remember when long hair had to be tied back? Inclusivity overwrites that now.

62
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
2 years ago
Reply to  jeepybee

What I’m struggling with is how can a person who has the mental capabilities to be a teacher simultaneously lose all of their faculties and be reduced to this? I mean, how can both realities possibly be true? I’m still thinking this is some elaborate Alex Stein-type skit. Somebody pushing the boundaries in order to see just how insane schools have become and what level of lunacy they’ll tolerate in the name of being ‘inclusive’, and then highlighting this ridiculous example to all. That’s the only way I can get my head around this car crash horror show. No school is going to want their reputation dragged through the mud and be a national ( or international ) laughing stock, so heads need to roll within the authorities who’ve allowed this farce to go ahead.
It reminds me of just what this child psychiatrist was saying about the state of educational establishments. This article is a good example.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/ML7ct8a53Sre/

Last edited 2 years ago by Mogwai
40
-2
psychedelia smith
psychedelia smith
2 years ago
Reply to  A Y M

Who downvoted this post? That’s hilarious. Make yourself known, we’d love to hear from you.

2
-1
Amtrup
Amtrup
2 years ago

And this despite the fact that the school’s dress code apparently expressly forbids students from wearing clothing that visibly reveals/shows/displays nipples.

Last edited 2 years ago by Amtrup
85
0
Jane G
Jane G
2 years ago

This is deeply insulting to women – on a par with blacking-up.

193
-2
jeepybee
jeepybee
2 years ago
Reply to  Jane G

Absolutely. It’s like some parody written by the Little Britain duo, ironically they’re all for this nonsense now…

87
0
1984imminent
1984imminent
2 years ago

Not even wearing the face nappy correctly. On means on.

50
0
JohnK
JohnK
2 years ago
Reply to  1984imminent

Maybe its designed to stop her eating too much, or alternatively, to keep her mouth shut.Take your pick!

29
0
jeepybee
jeepybee
2 years ago
Reply to  1984imminent

How cute is it that it’s pink, like his ruined cardigan?

21
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago

Its not ‘gender expression’, its ‘mental illness’. Stop pandering to it and challenge it.*

*I know they won’t. They love a bit of this

115
0
Laicey
Laicey
2 years ago

There is certainly a poor choice of boobies there.

Rather than throw fun at people it might be worth looking at the reasons. For most trans I have met they envy women because they are allowed to look good. If makeup and nice clothes were acceptable for both sexes you would get a lot less of the trans people..

7
-61
Lancer
Lancer
2 years ago
Reply to  Laicey

Are you suggesting the builder with the trousers half down and his crack showing isn’t attractive? I’m messing with you of course, but we don’t all look that cavalier? I’m pretty sure men wouldn’t look any better wearing makeup either, and in all seriousness I wish women would wear less themselves. It’s the imperfections that matter and create the beauty as a whole. I do think there is a connection with the cardboard cutout media presenter and the trans movement though – perhaps that’s why they’re over represented in the mainstream (genuinely so, with no need for affirmative action) but this concentrating on image has turned in to an obsession for some. Maybe the trans psyche is similar to an anorexic or someone with bulimia – in their minds they think they somehow look wrong but make it even worse in their pursuit to correct it (but in those cases we’re not encouraging it, which is the big difference).

38
-1
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago
Reply to  Laicey

Come on… Men and women can dress well and look good. Who is stopping them.? Thats a weak point to justify this.

We used to have a thing called ‘cross-dressing’ or Transvestism, in which if you were a male and wanted to dress as female, then you did it in your own home, or a club in town or whatever. If thats what you like, I dont have a problem with that.

What I have a problem with is that someone can turn up to a school dressed like this to teach and we are making excuses to allow it. This may be their thing, but what about issues of safety for the children. Its clear that this person has issues with understanding where the boundaries are. Not a thought is given to the 14 year old girls and boys who have to be ‘taught’ by this person. Obviously their feelings don’t matter, because its all about the perversion.

There has been a growing movement around ‘trans’ that everyone should just accept everything. I say no. We should not tolerate completely inappropriate behaviour, especially around children.

Last edited 2 years ago by NeilParkin
84
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

Grossly insulting to both men and women because it respects neither.

This horror should not in any way be allowed in front of children and those responsible for allowing this should be locked up.

123
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

You’ve got admire his balls though.

17
-1
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Epi

They should be cut off.

11
-1
exbrit
exbrit
2 years ago

What we should all be asking is why we had not even thought about this gender theatre even five years ago. Almost certainly this ludicrous idea that gender is an expression rather than a function of biology has been created by bad actors using social media. Isn’t it likely that anti-Western entities such as the PRC / CCP have engineered this issue to undermine and weaken our culture? All the bogeyman stories about Russia backing Trump are looking at the wrong side. The cultural Marxism we are seeing played out in ways that destroy education and the nuclear family is where the troll farms have focused their efforts.

78
0
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
2 years ago
Reply to  exbrit

Spot on , we are under attack ! It’s a new form of Warfare & Warfare it most certainly is !..

32
0
Human Resource 19510203
Human Resource 19510203
2 years ago

When I was a youngster people like this would be in the local loony-bin. It’s still the best place for them.

45
0
DevonBlueBoy
DevonBlueBoy
2 years ago
Reply to  Human Resource 19510203

Loony bins don’t exist anymore, it’s all ‘care in the community’ now. All the money saved goes towards paying all the six figure salaries to the hordes of “Directors” that infest the NHS.

34
0
Human Resource 19510203
Human Resource 19510203
2 years ago
Reply to  DevonBlueBoy

I know. I’m lamenting their passing.

7
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago

Reminds me of that old school boy joke about a girl who goes to her doctor with chest pains.

Doctor “Big Breaths”

Young girl “ Yes and I’m only sixteen”

Boom boom.

17
0
Covid-1984
Covid-1984
2 years ago

Can you imagine her school reporting. Your son isn’t paying attention 🤣🤣🤣

25
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
2 years ago

I’d be totally pulling my kid out of school if this is the level of Clown World absurdity that I was expected to tolerate as a parent, and from adults that we entrust the care of our easily-influenced children to. This looks too obscene to even be a carnival costume! And do you think the loonies in charge allow him to use the female toilets and changing room? Sick! Nope, parents should all withdraw their kids en masse until this perverse, mentally ill excuse for a role-model is removed. He makes this guy look positively pedestrian;

“Meet your new woodwork teacher.” ROFL
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00z3yf9/p00z3y6s

Last edited 2 years ago by Mogwai
35
0
sarah
sarah
2 years ago

Don’t you think he’s doing this to show how crazy the inclusivity obsession is, and to push the illogic to an extreme??

8
-1
Nobody2022
Nobody2022
2 years ago

Joe Biden says “the pandemic is over”.

How long before people start saying his brain must have been affected by Long Covid?

6
0
BurlingtonBertie
BurlingtonBertie
2 years ago

Aside from the psychiatric issues of this individual, there is something known as professionalism & appropriate clothing for a given situation. How that individual is dressed is unprofessional. Full stop. Nobody can then jump on the bandwagon of wokery to ‘defend’ the individual from ‘hate’ speech.
Any woman teacher who turned up at school dressed like that would be hauled over the coals for dressing inappropriately, & rightly so. School is meant to be a learning environment which includes knowing how to present oneself to the world in a given situation. Push the boundaries by all means (I did design & make my own school uniform so that it was anything but uniform but still kept within the boundaries – just) but keep it appropriate. A teacher is meant to be a professional. They have to earn respect from the pupils & this particular individual is not at all respected by the pupils in their class.

20
0
ebygum
ebygum
2 years ago

What a horrible time to be a child when society actively promotes and defends the sexual predilections of adults while not protecting children or giving the slightest shit about the effect it may have on them……
It’s a fricking school not a drag club!!

29
0
RW
RW
2 years ago

In the end, if some idiot absolutely wants to dress like the idiot he is, there’s no real reason to stop him from that. He’ll end up being everybody’s laughing stock and (very likely) on of those teachers who get completely ignored by their pupils. Obviously, a dismal clown like this shouldn’t be hired as teacher as he’ll never effectively perform as one but that’s a different problem.

3
-4
psychedelia smith
psychedelia smith
2 years ago

This brain damaged nonsense just needs to keep happening and getting more absurd. It’s the only way it will end.

4
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

Episode 36 of the Sceptic: Karl Williams on Starmer’s Phoney Immigration Crackdown, Dan Hitchens on the Assisted Suicide Bill and Tom Jones on Reform’s Local Council Challenge

by Richard Eldred
16 May 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

15 May 2025
by Will Jones

Ten Things George Soros is Funding in the UK

15 May 2025
by Charlotte Gill

News Round-Up

16 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

Chris Packham is the New St Francis of Assisi

15 May 2025
by Sallust

‘Trans Toddlers’ Allowed Gender Treatment on NHS

15 May 2025
by Will Jones

Chris Packham is the New St Francis of Assisi

36

‘Trans Toddlers’ Allowed Gender Treatment on NHS

36

Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

21

News Round-Up

13

Ten Things George Soros is Funding in the UK

21

The Folly of Solar – a Dot on the Horizon Versus a Blight on the Land

16 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Renaud Camus on the Destruction of Western Education

15 May 2025
by Dr Nicholas Tate

‘Why Can’t We Talk About This?’

15 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

Daily Mail Misses the Real Story About Long-Term Stable Antarctica Ice in Dumb Quip About Climate ‘Deniers’

15 May 2025
by Chris Morrison

Ten Things George Soros is Funding in the UK

15 May 2025
by Charlotte Gill

POSTS BY DATE

December 2021
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Nov   Jan »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences