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THE BIG PICTURE

FALL 2018
OFFSITE
THE WAVES 

OF OUR TIME
Huge changes are happening in the world.
Some have been slow building, like climate change.
Other changes have been fast, like smartphones, that have 

only been around for 10 years. Where will we be in 10 more years?
The rise in excess weight and obesity is slower than smartphones. Its origins
seem to be around the 1910s, people have been getting heavier since then.
It’s since the 70s that obesity overtook world hunger as a problem.
Now the developing world is getting this issue too.
“It’s hard now to remember how it used to be. Around the early
1970s, weight problems began to become more common because
food, almost suddenly, became more available, more affordable,
more calorific, and activity levels began to diminish…”

— Judith Wills, “Is fat the new normal?” (2017)

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-wellbeing/diet-nutrition/diet-blog/2017/is-fat-the-new-normal
7.6
billion
people alive today

Source: http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
7.6 2.3
billion billion
people alive today overweight

Source: http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
“The obesity ‘epidemic’ is one of the most pressing contemporary
public health problems. However, in spite of good intentions, public
health and social marketing efforts have had virtually no effect on the
increase of obesity worldwide.”

— Samantha Thomas et al. (2008)


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“The fundamental cause of obesity and


overweight is an energy imbalance between
calories consumed and calories expended.”

—World Health Organisation (2018)

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WHAT DOES EXTRA
WEIGHT MEAN?
DISEASE
With increasing BMI, increased risk of:
• Cardiovascular disease (today’s leading cause of death)
• Type 2 diabetes
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Musculoskeletal disorders
• Many types of cancer (endometrial; breast; ovarian;
prostate; liver; kidney; colon)

http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
“Since I was 18 I am having troubles with my weight, gaining and losing
40kg and everything in between multiple times. Now at age 47 I was
told I have diabetes type 2 and I had to go on medication… I do not
want to go blind, lose a limb or go on dialysis”

– Anja1970 on Reddit, replying to “What was your breaking point?”


DEATH
39% increased risk of death for
every 5 points of BMI above healthy
(log-linear relationship)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27423262
“I'm currently sitting by my Dad's hospital bed in the cardiac
ICU. He's here because of his weight.”

– LockeWatts on Reddit
SHAME
Individual behaviour corresponds to ~40% of
their health outcomes, but society blames you
for 100% of it.

You might blame yourself 100% too.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1369-7625.2008.00490.x
“Fast forward a little more to last summer… We went to Florida for a
family reunion and all was well and dandy, oh except for about 1/4 of
the rides that I was too fat to go on. I have never been too fat to go on a
ride at an amusement park. I wanted to just crawl into a corner and die.”

– BuzzTheToy on Reddit
INFERTILITY
• Less chance of getting pregnant

(e.g. due to poly-cystic ovary syndrome)

• Higher risk of complications 



(miscarriage; pre-eclampsia; gestational diabetes; …)

• Overall 2x risk that baby will not survive

• Epigenetic and lifestyle factors increase the risk of your


child becoming obese

https://yourfertility.org.au/for-women/weight-and-fertility/
(this one I’ll spare you)
THE GOOD NEWS
LOSE WEIGHT, 

IMPROVE ALL THESE
PROBLEMS!
Increase fertility!
Cure diabetes!

Live longer! Give your children

LOSE WEIGHT, 

a better start!

IMPROVE ALL THESE


PROBLEMS!
Increase your salary!
Gain the respect

of others!
Gain the respect 

of yourself!
LIFESUM IS
PRETTY
EFFECTIVE…
…BUT IN TERMS OF HELPING
PEOPLE STICK TO IT
WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN
This is you.
With the right spirit
you improve things for
your team, learn and

grow together.
But we’re soon 60 people,
talented and driven.

What will happen in the next


year that we work together?
8M
USERS TRY OUR APP

IN A YEAR
160K
USERS LOSE 5% OF 

THEIR WEIGHT
160K / 60 

=~2700
PEOPLE YOU

WILL HAVE HELPED
“So I decided to go all in. And this app is such a tremendous help! It keeps
me on track, let’s me know when I’m not, and gives me smiley or frown
faces to let me know if I’m doing what I’m supposed to. Thank you to the
creators and designers of the app. You are helping to change a life!”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I really am enjoying Lifesum. It has been life changing, thank
you. I’m a career firefighter and I’ve struggled with eating
right. But Lifesum has me taking back control of my life.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I advise you because it is not a lie as you
can believe c the truth is i am satisfied”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Love it. So cute.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Super mega very good”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
WHY STOP HERE?

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