"Hold on! Five seconds left!" Twenty students gathered in a circle, holding a plank¹ in a gym in northern China's Tianjin University.

“坚持住！还有五秒了！”在中国北方的天津大学的一座体育馆里，20名学生围成一圈，坚持着平板支撑。

It was a course offered by the university, through which students can lose weight while earning two academic credits or additional awards such as bikes and swimming cards if they reached a weight-loss target.

这是该大学开设的一门课程，通过该课程，学生可以在减肥的同时获得2个学分，如果达到减肥目标，还能得到自行车、游泳卡等额外奖励。

"I ate a lot but seldom did exercises on campus," said Ma Wenzhuo, a sophomore² student with the university. He hopes to shake the fat off and become handsome.

该校的大二学生马文卓表示：“我在学校吃的多，动的少。”他希望能甩掉身上的肥肉，让自己变帅。

Ma was the first batch³ of 20 students, selected from 107 applicants⁴, who joined the 21-day weight-loss course. The course was open to students with a body mass index over 26.

马文卓是从107名申请者选出的第一批20名学生中的一位，参加了21天的减肥训练营。这项课程是对身体质量指数大于26的学生开放的。

"We provided various courses including kickboxing, yoga and qigong, a system of breathing and exercise designed to benefit both physical and mental health, to improve students' strength, endurance, speed and dexterity," yoga teacher Jin Shiyu said.

负责瑜伽课程的靳石羽老师表示：“我们的提供了丰富的课程，有搏击操、瑜伽、气功等对学生们身心健康都有益的呼吸和运动系列课程，使同学们在力量、耐力、速度、柔韧等身体机能方面都有所提高。”

Eating too much with high amounts of fat and calories and doing little exercises have led to an increase in obesity⁵. Obesity has become an increasingly serious problem in China.

摄入太多高脂肪和高卡路里的食物，又很少运动，就会导致肥胖。肥胖在中国已成为一个日益严重的问题。

Statistics released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017 showed 30 per cent of Chinese adults are overweight, and 11.9 per cent obese⁶.

中国疾病预防控制中心2017年发布的数据显示，30%的中国成年人超重，11.9%的成年人肥胖。