For almost all of the million odd years of human evolution, humans had never even heard of, let alone frequented, gyms or fitness centres. They had no Reeboks or Nikes and only ever jogged if they had to catch their lunch. Yet virtually everyone was lean. And if they weren’t lean, they were fit at least fit enough to be extra-ordinarily active. And that’s the crux of the matter to be active, you need a reasonable level of physical fitness. But to be fit, you have to get active.

Technology and labour-saving machines have turned FITness into FATness. Unfortunately, this is nowhere more evident than in twenty-first-century schoolchildren and will probably explain your own children’s weight problems. Kids don’t walk to school anymore, whether because of safety concerns or their parents’ time constraints. Physical education is no longer compulsory in most schools and playgrounds are getting smaller and smaller. If children aren’t playing as much on the streets, or going out to the park alone or in groups, the most popular alternative indoor activities are sitting still watching TV, playing computer games or watching videos.

So how hard is it to increase the family’s activity levels in order to reduce the aggregate body weight? Also, should we approach individual family members’ needs differently?

The answer to the first question is ‘not difficult at all’, but most popular weight-loss programs have totally misunderstood, or neglected, the issue of movement in weight loss. Blind Freddy could see that it’s lack of movement, not over-consumption or eating the wrong type of food that is the primary cause of the nation’s obesity epidemic. In fact, the issue of exercise for weight loss is so simple, it will probably surprise you. Basically, it boils down to movement. The more you move your body, the less chance it has of storing unused energy as fat. It doesn’t matter whether this movement is in the form of walking, crawling or bouncing along on your bottom all human movement burns energy, and our excess energy is stored as fat. Even more importantly, regular physical activity will help prevent you regaining the weight you lose. What distinguishes people who successfully lose weight and keep it off, as compared to people who lose weight initially but regain, is daily physical activity, such as walking.

Obviously, some forms of movement will be more effective than others, but in general we can say that it’s those forms of movement that are non-weight supportive, i.e. where you have to carry your own body weight, that use up the most energy. In fact, for the average 75 kg person, every 25 steps he or she takes will burn up roughly a calorie. It doesn’t matter whether these steps are in the form of a brisk walk, a jog, or just a walk around the house or office.

So the simple answer to what best burns fat is ‘movement’ and there is nothing better for burning off fat than plain old walking. True, jogging is a great form of exercise for cardiovascular fitness, and you can burn the same amount of energy in less time. But jogging can be painful and potentially dangerous for most overweight people and is therefore best avoided. It’s much better to slow down and make sure that fat, rather than sugar, is the fuel that you are burning off.