The fight back starts here!

Dr Michael Mosley tells TV Times why it is more important than ever to shed extra pounds

- Rebecca Fletcher

LOSE A STONE IN 21 DAYS WITH MICHAEL MOSLEY

NEW WEDNESDAY / C4 / 9PM / EP 1 of 3 / LIFESTYLE

Dr.Michael Mosley is a man on a mission. Desperately worried about the excess weight many Brits have piled on during lockdown, he fears our overeating could have serious consequences on our longterm health – and make us more vulnerable to coronavirus if a second wave occurs.

‘The health of the nation is at a crossroads. There’s never been a more critical time to act,’ says the doctor, author and presenter of BBC2’s Horizon: Eat, Fast and Live Longer and Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, as he chats to TV Times.

‘I happened to be writing a book on pandemics when news of the coronavirus broke and it was pretty clear that people who were overweight, over 60 or had type-2 diabetes were much more at risk of ending up in hospital with, or dying from, COVID-19.

‘Two-thirds of Britons are overweight or obese. We’re the fattest country in western Europe, and we have some of the highest rates of type-2 diabetes, so clearly our population was going to be high-risk when COVID-19 hit. That’s, in part, why we’ve had such appallingly high death rates. And, worryingly, two-thirds of the population put on more weight over lockdown, with ice cream, chocolate and alcohol sales soaring in the past four months.’