Obese Should Pay Double To Fly

National Chocolate Week is coming to a close here in the UK, with just the weekend left for all those chocaholics to really go to town and enjoy as many things chocolate as possible under the ‘guise of having a valid reason.
On Monday I told you that the UK is the third fattest country in the world – forget TSOTD (Training Song of the Day, remember) kings Kings of Leon, Britain are Kings of LARD! – and we reign supreme as the fat boys of Europe; I’m so ‘proud’.
So I was rather amused when I read one of the press releases I was sent today…

“Brits Think the Obese Should Pay Double to Fly”

How interesting!  6,000 British holiday makers were questioned and 70% of them said they would like to see overweight people, who span the width of more than one seat, pay double. Two seats required? Then pay twice!
Splitting it down further, 75% of the men questioned, and 68% of the women, felt that people who are too big for one seat and encroach into the seat that YOU paid for, should pay more.
The rest felt that being obese was embarrassing and difficult enough without being forced to pay extra for it too; generous souls.
It’s a thorny subject and one that can be pretty divisive.
Airline seats (in economy classes) aren’t big, what if you’re only ever so slightly over the width of one? Should there be degrees of ticket increase? If you’re not massively over, perhaps you should only pay 25% more than the standard price for one seat?
The government are talking about all sorts of ways to reduce our soaring obesity levels – a ‘fat tax’ has been discussed, paying obese people to lose weight is another suggestion that keeps doing the rounds.
Worryingly the trend seems to be heading towards conveyor belt gastric band surgery for free on the National Health Service! The ultimate quick fix which is eating into the already overstretched NHS budget.
Is the approach all wrong?
Rather than taking punitive action against the overweight and obese, perhaps rewarding those who keep themselves fit and healthy is a better way to go.
What do we respond better to – praise or criticism?
Do we feel better and inspired to try harder when someone says, “Good job, well done!” rather than, “You’re rubbish!”
If you’re part of a society where being fit and healthy is rewarded, would you rather be part of that group or remain one of the unrewarded due to poor lifestyle choices?
I know which I’d prefer.
Baggage weight restrictions on flights are becoming increasingly tight. British Airways have a long haul checked baggage allowance of 25 kilos for economy seats; my case was three kilos over the limit when I once flew with them.
What to do? I mulled over my choices en route to the airport…
1) Take some things out of my case and leave them in the car (I wasn’t keen on that one)
2) Pay the excess baggage fee (I was even LESS keen on this one!)
3) Point out to the nice check-in person that I weighed a significantly less (and at least 3kgs) than some of their more ‘soft around the edges’ customers, so everything should balance out in the end (I quite liked this one)
4) Politely suggest I be upgraded to at least Business Class because then my case would be well within the baggage allowance (I liked this option, a LOT!)
Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to try out option number four as the generous British Airways chap, who checked me in for my flight, raised one eyebrow as if to say ‘naughty naughty’, slapped a ‘WARNING – HEAVY – 25KGS+’ label on my case and sent it on its way to the hold and me to economy – better luck next time!

 After my germ-ridden week two, week three saw a complete week of training for me and it felt GOOD!
Although training is over for the week there are still two days of compliant eating to be done, a six pack isn’t achieved by training hard all week and then blowing it all at the weekends!
Food is a big issue for most people: – how much can I eat, what can I eat, does it have to be the same thing every day?
So I’ve been quietly working away on some recipes and taking photos for a new recipe section that will go live sometime next week 😀
Sleep is a big issue too and I need to get some! I haven’t forgotten about the link I promised yesterday – I knew I should have bookmarked it as it was particularly well written…perhaps I’ll just write about it tomorrow instead!
Until then, night everyone.