Why have so many Americans become Obese?
 

Twenty years ago, fitness and health were the word of the day. Now over 60% of Americans are obese, and we've become the butt of the world's fat jokes. Is electronic media to blame (computers, video games, TV, DVD's), is it apathy, lack of self-respect or just plain gluttony/laziness?

It's a mix of all of the above. Another factor is the amount of jobs that are sedentary vs the amount of jobs that are active. When the computer boom hit, it created a huge amount of sit on your ass all day jobs, (programmers, help desk, tech support, etc) so instead of bricklaying, etc, you became a desk jockey.

Also, technology advanced to the point where so much stuff is automated, it's not "hard labor" anymore (unless you work for Kathy Lee.)

But yeah, all those things are factors, the main problem is that our kids aren't outside all day anymore, their inside playing video games and watching TV. THe mom and dad are tired from working, (desk jockeys get mentally exhausted) and so they veg in front of the TV. Only a small percentage of people actually "work out" to stay fit, so you get obesity in huge numbers.

Actually, I am one of these obese people (I have PCOS, so that makes it harder, but not impossible to lose weight), and one of my resolutions this year isn't to lose weight (I'm just over 300lbs now and 6'1) but to do SOMETHING for a half hour, 4 days a week. Walk, swim, exercise, whatever. I'm not going to diet, I already eat as healthy as I'm going to, but I'm resolved to get up and move my fat ass for 30 minutes. We'll see what happens.

I just got a pedometer. It's hella-motivational to "get the fat ass moving" (and mine is definitely in that category!) I'm trying to reach that 10,000 step level that is touted as being "active". I figure, for $22, it's a good investment.

BTW, OC -- your analysis is spot-on.

Yeah, what OC said.^^

plus the crappy food we eat in overly large portions.

obesity and general health
 

I'm in this club. 6'1" 280lbs, hypertensive, hypothyroid, depression.
I'm starting to try to change my evil ways, thi first thing I did was stop going to the vending machine when I'm bored at work( which is often). Step two, start doing pushups and dumbbell swings between jobs. I feel better already!
But I'm still fat and hypertensive.
My kids are starting to hassle me about it. I need to rearrange my life somehow but am having a hard time doing it.

It comes down to willpower.

*MY* definition of willpower is: Finally "having enough of this" and achieving a level of motivation to do what you know needs to be done to achieve the goal. Whatever that goal is.

When I'm really tired of being fat, I'll finally get up and do something about it. When a person is being abused, they will take it until they have "had enough." No amount of talking or coaxing is going to make them change their life until they reach the point at where they have "had enough." It is at that moment you achieve the willpower to change your situation.

It goes for eating, drinking, drugs, your career, your relationships, exercise, everything in your life hinges on this basic concept.

The question then becomes: have you "had enough" yet?

Hm. Yesterday I bought a fabulous thing: a big, fat, quasi-steel-sided girdle.

I want to fit in at college.

My biggest problem, RE: fatness: THE CELLAR!

Always blame others, if you can. ;)

As a supporting theory, in conjunction with all of the above, I think that it is our diet which sets us at an immediate disadvantage. Deeply-ingrained in the American psyche is a meat-heavy diet: the "traditional American meal" is hamburger; the white collar version is steak. We barbeque, we grill, we rotisserie-roast: Holidays come bundle-wrapped with Turkey.

I'm not prepared to argue that simply eating meat is a problem -- but, to borrow a metaphor, it is very much like cocaine: acceptable as a special treat, harmful as a habit.

Most of what we eat from animals can be crudely summarized as "animal fat and protein" -- meat (& other animal products) contain a larger amount of calories by volume than most vegetabley foods do (foods made with large amounts of oil notwithstanding.) With a denser sort of food (nevermind that, by having such a diet, we have all sorts of deficiencies and subtle malnutrition), the adverse effect of overeating is more dramatic.

WHAT??

Naw. Obesity comes from repeated eating of 2400+ calories per day.

To do that with fatty ground beef, you have to eat 36 ounces, or nine quarter-pounders (just the meat). To do that with lean steaks, let's say queen prime rib, you have to eat four of them. Every day!

Obesity comes from the chips.

and dip.

And tater tots.

I'm inclined to believe it'sedentary jobs with long hours coupled with the ready availability (and ease) of high calorie foods often loaded with corn syrups. Corn syrup is a nasty nasty thing since it doesn't make you feel full. Soda is a big culprit.

It's probably pretty common for people to grab a quick breakfast, eat at work, then come home too drained to cook a good meal and opt for fastfood. Not hard to see how the weight could pile on.

I think you are all missing a major cause. America is a land of obese people because it was settled after the invention of the automobile. America is the land of the sprawl. Most people have nothing near their homes that they can walk to, so they drive everywhere.

People who live in rural and outer suburban sprawl areas are far more likely to be obese than people who live in urban areas. It's a proven fact. There have been studies.

Using myself as an example, I have a mile walk to the metro, so I have a starting point of two miles of walking each weekday. Everything else I do is on top of that.

Obviously, cheap, readily availible junk food plays major role as well.

I think the increase in the average glycemic value of the American diet is probably one of the bigger culprits. High glycemic food digests much faster than low glycemic food so the caloric absorption is higher.

You'll gain a lot more weight eating 2,000 calories of baked potato and coke than you will eating 2,000 calories of skim milk and wild rice - even if the fat content of both meals is zero.

And the more weight you gain, the slower your metabolism gets which just snowballs.