Nearly half of Canadian soldiers are overweight because they sit too much

Canada has often been criticized for failing to pull its weight as a military partner in organizations like NATO because of its relatively low level of defence spending.

But it’s a weight problem of another kind that’s currently dogging the Canadian Armed Forces. Many members of the Canadian military are fat, and authorities aren’t sure what to do about it.

According to a recently published survey on health and lifestyle conducted by the Canadian military, 49 per cent of all Regular Force personnel were considered overweight and 25 per cent were considered obese, based on body mass index. This included 6.1 per cent of personnel considered morbidly obese.