More than a third of UK adults want to lose weight but are shunning long-term lifestyle changes, research from Aviva has shown.
Aviva's poll of 2,004 UK adults indicated that only 43% of UK adults are a healthy weight.
Although over a third (36%) of UK adults said they want to lose weight or improve their BMI, only 16% were motivated to eat a more balanced diet and 13% to exercise more regularly.
Almost one in five (16%) said they sometimes "exercise purely to compensate for over-eating" rather than to get any health benefits.
Aviva's research revealed a lack of knowledge among the UK public with almost three-quarters (71%) saying they don't know how many calories they eat and a quarter (24%) saying they don't understand what food labels really mean.
The survey also found that under a quarter (22%) of adults are getting their five-a-day of fruit and vegetables but 32% eat snacks or fizzy drinks (23%) every day.
A fifth (22%) have tried popular diets to lose weight, rising to 31% of women (vs. 13% of men).
Almost a third (27%) blame their busy lifestyle on not being able to prepare healthy meals, while over half (51%) say healthy food is sometimes too expensive.
More than seven in ten (72%) people exercise at least once a week. However, 17% never exercise, rising to 28% of obese people. Common barriers to exercise are finding it boring or hard work (59%), being too tired (43%), struggling to find the time (41%) or not knowing how much exercise they should take (42%).
Dr Doug Wright, medical director for Aviva UK Health said: "After the indulgence of Christmas, motivation to become fitter and healthier is strong at the beginning of the year, but tends to fade away after a few months.
"Many people end up abandoning their resolution - along with their unused gym membership. However, there's a good reason why people should make this resolution stick in 2016. As a nation, we're becoming more and more overweight, which means we are at a higher risk of developing life-threatening illnesses such as type II diabetes and heart disease."
Further reading
