Survey Results - Key problems with your Food & Fitness (Part 1)

Jonny Parr
Jan 20, 2019
3 min read

Hi guys.

How have you all been?

As you may well know, I recently sent out a survey and the replies you gave were absolutely grand. Thank you for your responses!

To recap, I specifically created the survey as I’m keen to learn what problems or issues you, as an expat, currently face in terms of your fitness, food, and general health.

Having gone through all of your replies, here are 2 of the main problems you highlighted:

1. “I don’t have enough time to workout”

By far, the most common answer I received regarding fitness was lack of time. Specific reasons you gave included...

Long working hours (the average time you folks finished work was 5 pm. This doesn’t even include your commute home)
Time spent with family and kids (after work and weekends)
Time spent socialising (dinner, drinks, coffee dates)
Time spent relaxing/destressing (i.e. Internet browsing, movies, reading, napping)

All the above are fully justified reasons as to why your time is limited. Let’s face it, most of us are here primarily to earn more money, whether that be to save for a house in our homeland, financially support those we care about most, or perhaps even pay for our somewhat 'flamboyant’ lifestyle. What’s more, family time, particularly that with your kids, was highlighted as an absolute priority, and the idea of traveling halfway across town to join a fitness class simply didn’t outweigh the priority of kicking a football with your kids.

2 - “I don’t have the time to cook. I’m just too tired”

Similar to having little time to work out, a large number of you highlighted your biggest food problem as having little time to cook. Some of you also mentioned that you’re far too tired to consider any form of cooking as when you get home, you’re simply exhausted. Again, everyday life occurrences such as family time, work commitments, meetings, social meet-ups, cinema trips, and brunches at the weekends, all contribute to your food difficulties. Many of you also mentioned you travel extensively, sometimes as much as 3x per week. Preparing healthy food for this situation is extremely difficult and let’s face it, not realistic for most of us. Finally, some of you funnily mentioned, yet made a hugely valid point, that Talabat (the food delivery app) is a prime culprit for not cooking food at home. With food being quickly and easily available on your doorstep, it does appear that Talabat or having a food delivery service so easily available, can play a role in your food choices. I know this, I had Nando’s pretty much on speed dial ;) Concluding thoughts... The above food and fitness problems heavily relate to time. For a large number of you, it seems to be an expat may be bringing you good benefits such as better finances and/or having strong job positions. However, a consequence of this is a lack of available time thereafter to commit to working out and cooking healthy meals. Thanks for taking the time to read this first-part summary of my findings. Check back tomorrow for my next email where I’ll delve into the other major food and fitness peeves and issues you identified. We’re in this together, and once we figure out all the major problems you face, we’ll set about ways in which we can tackle and solve them. Thank you and have a great day. Jonny