Weight loss course popular among students in E China

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Recently a video showing students taking a selective course has been popular on Chinese social media. The course is in weight loss and is at Nanjing Agricultural University, east China’s Jiangsu Province.

As people are paying more attention to fitness nowadays, this course has become popular with students.

But not everyone can meet the requirements – there’s an additional test before signing up.

Screenshot from Pear Video /CGTN Photo

According to Zhou Quanfu, teacher of this course, students who must be weighed before they sign up, and only those who have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 28 or higher, or a BFP (Body Fat Percentage) of 30 or higher can enroll.

Working as a physical education teacher for freshman and sophomore classes for decades, Zhou said he has seen many students who have difficulty in passing the course due to weight problems.

Screenshot from Pear Video /CGTN Photo

"We offer students PE courses like table tennis, basketball or badminton, but apart from that, all of them must pass some basic test first, like long-distance running, pull-ups or sit-ups," Zhou said. "But these are nightmares for some overweight students."

He also did a survey at the university in 2013 and discovered that 12% of the students were overweight.

Screenshot from Pear Video /CGTN Photo

To counter this, Zhou set up the course and it is still popular three years later.

According Zhou, the aim of course is to help students lose weight through scientific exercise alongside theoretical courses like nutritional therapy or diet control.

As to how this course is graded, it is quite practical – students are awarded primarily on the amount of weight they lose during the semester, with consideration of other figures like BMI.

A student has lost a lot of weight after taking the course for two semesters. / Photo via Beijing Youth Daily

“During the first year, we set the standard at 3%, meaning students have to lose 3% of their weight. Seeing that many students can reach that easily, we adjusted it through practice, and gradually raised it to 7.13% this year,” Zhou said to Beijing Youth Daily.

And Zhou's course proves to be effective. After taking all the 18 courses for a semester, his students have lost 5kg on average. One of the students even lost 52kg after taking the course for two years.