So, we've got an obesity problem, have we Boris? Lovely. Cheers.

Strap in. Thread ahoy.

I shall now proceed thusly in outlining a few issues I have with this latest 'initiative'.

First of all, I say 'initiative' because what it actually feels like it an accusation.

All of the rhetoric around this new attack on obesity would have us believe that it is all our fault. That we need to get ourselves moving again, to change our ways, to be less revoltingly fat.

This government is excellent at absolving themselves of any blame and redirecting it onto the public...and here we are again. I shall expand in this later.

Next, the government's main source of data, although there are many criteria, ultimately falls in line with the BMI scale.

The BMI scale is thought by many medical professionals to be a poor scale of overall health. It does not take into account health conditions, body fat percentages, cardiovascular health or genetics, to name just a few variables.

Sure, many people might be heavier than average for their age and height, but this is not an accurate reflection of overall health whatsoever.

The way this has been handled is just another way to reinforce the perception of imperfection that many of us have about ourselves.

I am a fit, well educated, millennial who is well aware of the absurdity of trying to achieve the perfect body, and yet, I still break my bullocks regularly in pursuit of it. This way please...

At 27 I was the fittest I have ever been. I was just under 11 and a half stone.

I was working in a physically relentless job, running with a weighted pack 5 times a week and I could sprint a 5k in under 20 minutes. I was eating a 'clean' diet, which was not only expensive but also a pain in the arse to keep on top of.

I was working as hard as humanly possible to keep my body in what I deemed to be an acceptable state, it was a lifestyle of penance, of needles sacrifice, and, most importantly, on that was completely unsustainable. Even with all of this, my BMI was never lower than 24...

...therefore, I was never more than 5 or 6 pounds away from being classed, by government standards, as overweight.

The projection of the 'perfect body myth' is ever present, and just as destructive for men as it is for women.

I have spent most of my adult life intermittently bullying, beating and berating my body for being 'overweight'. Indeed, I found myself yelling at my reflection as little as a month ago, genuinely disgusted at how fat and ugly I thought I looked.

Fitness and slimness has been a part of my identity for a long time. Although I have broadly loved being fit and healthy, my battle to get away from the chubby, under-confident, unfashionable teenager that I used to be has also resulted in...

...long standing injuries, an often unhealthy relationship with food, and significant contributions to depression and anxiety. I doubt, despite logic, if I will ever be entirely comfortable in my own skin.

Now 32, with a baby, in lockdown, it is harder to keep weight off, and some days I hate myself for it. This hatred is nonsense, and I know it, but the damage has been done, and some days I can't shake it off. During lockdown I have put on weight, I am now 13 stone.

That being said, I am still very fit and healthy; I do an hour of intense exercise 4 times a week, eat a balanced, home-made, pescatarian diet, currently drink once a week, and rarely exceeded 2000 calories in a day.

The extra weight is merely a result of the loss of everyday movement. To look at me, most people would say I am of average build, maybe even 'muscular', 'fit' or 'slim' to some, but according to the government I am significantly overweight.

I am tired of the rhetoric around body image. I am in good shape, yet the world would have me believe that I am defective or not trying hard enough. This new battle against obesity is patronising, reliant on crap data and ignores the fact that...

...the reasons for people gaining weight or being unfit are broadly systemic. Excuse me Boris (you are fat as fuck bin bag full of coleslaw, by the way), how can you expect schools to feed children a balanced diet when your party regularly cuts schools funding?

Who is going to buy a bike when they can barely scrape enough money together to feed their kids and keep the electricity on? How dare you lecture us about how to feed ourselves when over half a million people in the UK currently have to subject themselves...

...to the indignity of collecting their weekly shop from a food bank. And how dare you tell a nation that has been pretty much unable to leave their homes for four months (partly due to your inadequate response) that they 'got fat'.

So, I don't know who needs to hear this, but here we go...

1. Your body is nobody's business but yours. Whatever the government, or anyone else says, they can take a long walk of short pier. The only person whose opinion matters is yours.

2. Men; talking about your struggles is not a weakness. It helps us all to know that we are not alone.

3. The government statistics are skewed. Yes, we could all be healthier, sure. But do it for you, not for them.

4. There is no such thing as the perfect body.

5. Everyone is beautiful, you included.

#LoveYourself #YourBody #ObesityCrisis #MensMentalHealth