"Americans Exercise More....Obesity Rates Still Climbing"
Replies
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Packerjohn wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I will say the amount of people on rascal scooters during my last visit to Disneyland was insane...
Literally an explosion of these things over the last several years...
The majority did not appear to even need them for any particular reason
MICKY HEALS.
He is sure worshiped enough....2 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Obesity is merely a classification based on weight to height ratio. Nothing more. Being classified as obese doesn't necessarily mean you carry all of the health risks equally to others classified as obese.
There are many very fit people. When @sijomial writes that her husband is "not obese at 5'9, 210", I don't think her point is to argue the classification, because it's simply a number and you can't really do that. Technically the numbers say he is. I would doubt very highly, however, that if he's in good shape with a muscular build that he carries the health risk that the average obese person would. At least I think that's her point.
@Silentpadna
You got the wrong person, I'm not a "her", I don't have a husband and I don't have a collection of cats.....
I'm also realistic about people's weight!13 -
One thing: some disabilities or physical limitations aren't so obvious. During the period between my developing lymphedema and my appointment with a vascular surgeon, I went several weeks where my GP ordered me not to walk about outdoors. (The reasoning that was explained to me was that my leg was swollen to 3x its normal size—much less obvious to others when I wore long skirts that concealed the distinction—that there was an infection, and that exercising the leg would increase its temperature and possibly impede healing). Once I saw the vascular surgeon, he encouraged me to walk more, but he was the specialist; my GP was giving what he thought was good advice and I went by the one until I got the other. Which meant that I was taking taxis to get to my doctor's office 6 block's away. And that my husband was pushing me around in a transfer chair we borrowed from a friend when he was home. I've got no doubt that, while I was physically capable of walking around at that time, had I been at Disneyland, I would have been medically warned to use a wheelchair/scooter.5
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You just can't out-train a bad diet.1
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Packerjohn wrote: »Carrying heavy bodyweight, whether muscle or fat, has been shown to be detrimental to health.
It puts a strain on your heart in either case.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say if we look at 2 6ft, 275 pound guys one is 15% BF and the other is 35% BF the guy with 15% is actually moving, getting his heart rate up, etc and most likely healthier.
Is his heart healthier than another guy that is 6ft, 200 pounds and 25% BF? Someplace the streams cross.
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
High bodyweight levels lower life expectancy. It doesn't matter if you are muscular or not.
I maintain my initial statement is correct though.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say if we look at 2 6ft, 275 pound guys one is 15% BF and the other is 35% BF the guy with 15% is actually moving, getting his heart rate up, etc and most likely healthier.
Is his heart healthier than another guy that is 6ft, 200 pounds and 25% BF? Someplace the streams cross."
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »I don't know what the comparison date was, but if we are going back significant years, I don't think Americans exercise more is true. We may go to the gym more or do things we call "working out" more, but we are likely far less active in our daily lives (on average) even so.
Re CI vs CO, it doesn't make sense to say one side is more important or 80% or whatever. The problem is that if you don't do something (it doesn't have to be counting calories) to control calories in, and if you live in an environment like ours where eating is super easy and cheap, then increasing exercise may just result in eating more. Especially since many think exercise burns more calories than it does and will see that as an excuse to eat more indulgently.
I've lost weight just by increasing exercise, but it happened when my eating was already under control, so I didn't start eating more without realizing it. And I was truly exercising quite a lot (tri training)--many of the studies showing exercise does not help do things like taking someone out of shape and having them walk on a treadmill for an hour, which is both boring (people feel like it was more work than it was, since they hated it, and think they deserve a reward, food) and doesn't burn many calories.
It looks like the report is comparing numbers from Jan-Sept 2017 back to 1997. Given that time frame, it actually doesn't surprise me that physical activity would be up. I'd be curious specifically how many more people work out at home given the rise of free or inexpensive (at least compared to gym membership) online services.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/EarlyRelease201803.pdf
ETA: The charts for "leisure-time physical activity" start on page 43 and show a distinct jump for people meeting the aerobic activity recommendation starting in 2009 with a general upward trend since then. The response for meeting aerobic plus strength recommendations is on page 46 and shows a general upward trend since 1997, although overall numbers are lower.
I assume this is largely or entirely based on self reports. Perhaps a chunk of the exercise-increase statistical result arises from people gradually starting, around 2009, to feel better about themselves if they delude themselves into believing they routinely exercise, or simply wanting to look more respectable by lying about it?
I'm curious about the self-reporting aspect of this too. My unscientific gut feeling is that people are probably not more likely to over-report now than in 1997 or 2007, but I genuinely don't know. I do know that over the last ten years, internet use has become incredibly widespread and has brought a lot of free resources that didn't previously exist. Yes, there's woo, but there's helpful information too. I think the younger generations (I'm an old Millennial personally) value walk-able neighborhoods and are genuinely concerned about the environment, and that goes hand-in-hand with increased health and fitness. I'd be curious to see the age group trends. I guess I feel like with all the crazy in the world these days, I want to cling to something positive out of all this.0 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Obesity is merely a classification based on weight to height ratio. Nothing more. Being classified as obese doesn't necessarily mean you carry all of the health risks equally to others classified as obese.
There are many very fit people. When @sijomial writes that her husband is "not obese at 5'9, 210", I don't think her point is to argue the classification, because it's simply a number and you can't really do that. Technically the numbers say he is. I would doubt very highly, however, that if he's in good shape with a muscular build that he carries the health risk that the average obese person would. At least I think that's her point.
@Silentpadna
You got the wrong person, I'm not a "her", I don't have a husband and I don't have a collection of cats.....
I'm also realistic about people's weight!
Dooohhhh! Can't edit now. Sorry about that!4 -
Your definitions need some work. Fat phobic, anorexic, and obese do not mean what you seem to think they mean.
I don't think I need a man who mansplaining what I know. Your derivative and repetitive authors shouldn't carry any weight, and your research explains nothing. The scientists research another's research?
Mansplaining: (of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.
Bench=Bodybuilding
I'm suffering from a stroke I had two years ago. I mix up language sometimes.
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i'm so confused...all @PAV8888 did was provide science that countered your ramblings which made no sense...and you only included 1 abstract that didn't actually lead to any specific research13
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Silentpadna wrote: »...says the CDC.
I would link it, but it was actually just a 15 second news radio story I heard on the way into the office today.
The CDC spokesperson cited the "fact" that 70% of the battle is in the diet, but Americans believe that exercise alone will do the trick.
This struck me for 2 reasons:
1. I've always said (guessed really based on my own experiences) that 80% of the battle was in the kitchen (diet). I guess this could be a small case of confirmation bias....
2. A vast majority of the "I Can't Lose Weight" posts start off with how much exercise the poster is doing, many times with no other information.
So, MFP peeps, how can we emphasize the importance of the CI side of the energy balance? You want to lose weight? You almost have to find a way to eat less. That can seem harsh, but seems true enough to me - and most of the veterans around here (of which I am not one).
I don't know about "vast majority" . . . there are a heckuva lot of "eating clean, can't lose weight" posts, too.
You have no idea how much I cringe when people use these words "clean eating" , "toning", "I want to lose a lot of weight and gain muscles", "sugar is bad"7 -
candylilacs wrote: »Your definitions need some work. Fat phobic, anorexic, and obese do not mean what you seem to think they mean.
I don't think I need a man who mansplaining what I know. Your derivative and repetitive authors shouldn't carry any weight, and your research explains nothing. The scientists research another's research?
Mansplaining: (of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.
Bench=Bodybuilding
I'm suffering from a stroke I had two years ago. I mix up language sometimes.
So, because you're wrong, and a man told you. That's somehow his fault?
Mansplaining-Rejecting good advice or information because you somehow object to the plumbing of the giver of the advice.
Mansplaining-The absurdly arrogant and ignorant idea that you're being corrected because you're a woman instead of because you're wrong.22 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »According to Wikipedia...
The average American consumes 3750 calories per day
2nd highest in the world
PER DAY!
OMG! I just got to maintenance. I am a 59 yo male, 5'8" currently about 162, but going to lose a little more for a bigger cushion. I think maintenance is going to be ~1900 plus extra burn which will usually be under 500. I think even when I was gaining, my average wasn't that high. I had binge days above that.2 -
You've received a lot of flak already. I hope you don't mind my saying so, but congratulations finding a way to combat depression after a stroke. I can't even imagine how challenging that is. Regular depression is hard enough, and having to potentially cope with impaired speech, movement, and even cognition, must make it that much harder when you wake up each day. I've known several people who have suffered strokes or other injuries resulting from brain damage (bells palsy, cerebral palsy), and it is incredibly challenging to emotionally move on when your pain is literally staring you in the face each morning. My heart goes out to you.
I hope you continue winning against depression and, if you find that you need help, seek that --be it medical, mental, whatever. Sometimes we all need a trusted authority to check our perceptions and actions, even those of us who *appear* healthiest.
I am on 10mg Celexa and exercise and I continue on seeing a psychologist. I still have aphasia (10%) and speech apraxia (30-40%), and am considering "normal" in the physical world. "Strawberry," it's taken a month to say correctly. I cannot teach except in online classes.
My husband tells me I laugh more now. It is what it is.
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candylilacs wrote: »Your definitions need some work. Fat phobic, anorexic, and obese do not mean what you seem to think they mean.
I don't think I need a man who mansplaining what I know. Your derivative and repetitive authors shouldn't carry any weight, and your research explains nothing. The scientists research another's research?
Mansplaining: (of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.
Bench=Bodybuilding
I'm suffering from a stroke I had two years ago. I mix up language sometimes.
Amusing fact. Prior to this post, there was nothing to indicate in this thread that you're a woman.
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Sorry, I am temporarily away from my desk and currently mansplaining in the TOM water retention thread
It took me a good six months and a person rudely walking through the same doorway that I was occupying to realize how much less space I was taking up. <-- It was unthinkable to me that someone would try to walk through a doorway that I was occupying!!!!
I can actually walk on the outside of a road-sign, without falling off the sidewalk!
And yes, I can fit both legs in the pants I hold up, even though they still, on occasion, look to me as if only one leg would fit. This is 1.33 years after the first time I wore a pair of size 32 pants.
I still look at family and friends who are obese and I think to myself: well, they're a little bit overweight. No, they're not. They are obese!
They look at me with serious concern and wonder if I am done losing weight.
A friend actually calls me skinny and another slim. Well, I have been normal weight for just over 2 years. In that time frame I've moved less than 10lbs and my bmi, after the 10lbs, is 23.7, i.e. in the upper quartile of healthy BMI. Slim and skinny? Maybe by comparison. But in terms of health risk factors? *Barely* NOT at an increased risk, and DXA scans corraborate.
Yes, my personal experience corraborates that people often do not perceive themselves and others correctly.
That's why I prefer to rely on outside measurements such as weight, height, waist, thigh, and hip circumference and their various ratios, including BMI.
Waist to height ratio looks particularly promising. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177175
Where and how exactly does one measure their waist? https://www.dietdoctor.com/simple-waist-height-ratio-powerful-health-measurement
If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it has a good chance of being a duck even if you would like it to be a goose.17 -
candylilacs wrote: »You've received a lot of flak already. I hope you don't mind my saying so, but congratulations finding a way to combat depression after a stroke. I can't even imagine how challenging that is. Regular depression is hard enough, and having to potentially cope with impaired speech, movement, and even cognition, must make it that much harder when you wake up each day. I've known several people who have suffered strokes or other injuries resulting from brain damage (bells palsy, cerebral palsy), and it is incredibly challenging to emotionally move on when your pain is literally staring you in the face each morning. My heart goes out to you.
I hope you continue winning against depression and, if you find that you need help, seek that --be it medical, mental, whatever. Sometimes we all need a trusted authority to check our perceptions and actions, even those of us who *appear* healthiest.
I am on 10mg Celexa and exercise and I continue on seeing a psychologist. I still have aphasia (10%) and speech apraxia (30-40%), and am considering "normal" in the physical world. "Strawberry," it's taken a month to say correctly. I cannot teach except in online classes.
My husband tells me I laugh more now. It is what it is.
I hope that continues working for you. Sounds like a rough path, but you seem to be traveling it and moving along. Feel free to shoot a message or anything if you ever need....anything.
Keep laughing. : )
[Edited by MFP mod]4 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I will say the amount of people on rascal scooters during my last visit to Disneyland was insane...
Literally an explosion of these things over the last several years...
The majority did not appear to even need them for any particular reason
@Mr_Healthy_Habits
The Disney parks would bump you to the front of the line if you were in a wheelchair/scooter. This was like 15-20 years ago. Not sure if that still occurs now, but if so, people will abuse it.4 -
candylilacs wrote: »Your definitions need some work. Fat phobic, anorexic, and obese do not mean what you seem to think they mean.
I don't think I need a man who mansplaining what I know. Your derivative and repetitive authors shouldn't carry any weight, and your research explains nothing. The scientists research another's research?
Mansplaining: (of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.
Bench=Bodybuilding
I'm suffering from a stroke I had two years ago. I mix up language sometimes.
I don't think what he was saying had anything to do with you being a woman . . . he was just countering your argument/opinion/what have you.
I don't feel he was condescending, patronizing or talking down to you. I am quite sure the same tone would have been used regardless of gender. So I don't see those comments as "mansplaining" and I am a woman.8 -
candylilacs wrote: »You've received a lot of flak already. I hope you don't mind my saying so, but congratulations finding a way to combat depression after a stroke. I can't even imagine how challenging that is. Regular depression is hard enough, and having to potentially cope with impaired speech, movement, and even cognition, must make it that much harder when you wake up each day. I've known several people who have suffered strokes or other injuries resulting from brain damage (bells palsy, cerebral palsy), and it is incredibly challenging to emotionally move on when your pain is literally staring you in the face each morning. My heart goes out to you.
I hope you continue winning against depression and, if you find that you need help, seek that --be it medical, mental, whatever. Sometimes we all need a trusted authority to check our perceptions and actions, even those of us who *appear* healthiest.
I am on 10mg Celexa and exercise and I continue on seeing a psychologist. I still have aphasia (10%) and speech apraxia (30-40%), and am considering "normal" in the physical world. "Strawberry," it's taken a month to say correctly. I cannot teach except in online classes.
My husband tells me I laugh more now. It is what it is.
I hope that continues working for you. Sounds like a rough path, but you seem to be traveling it and moving along. Feel free to shoot a message or anything if you ever need....anything.
Keep laughing. : )
That's not really it, bad information is called out on here all the time, as well as defining terms properly, as there is so much misinformation and dishonest marketing in the diet and fitness industry. And that's not mansplaining or trying to win an argument. Just because someone is doing great overcoming a health issue (which she is!) doesn't mean we need to ignore them promoting bad info.18 -
candylilacs wrote: »You've received a lot of flak already. I hope you don't mind my saying so, but congratulations finding a way to combat depression after a stroke. I can't even imagine how challenging that is. Regular depression is hard enough, and having to potentially cope with impaired speech, movement, and even cognition, must make it that much harder when you wake up each day. I've known several people who have suffered strokes or other injuries resulting from brain damage (bells palsy, cerebral palsy), and it is incredibly challenging to emotionally move on when your pain is literally staring you in the face each morning. My heart goes out to you.
I hope you continue winning against depression and, if you find that you need help, seek that --be it medical, mental, whatever. Sometimes we all need a trusted authority to check our perceptions and actions, even those of us who *appear* healthiest.
I am on 10mg Celexa and exercise and I continue on seeing a psychologist. I still have aphasia (10%) and speech apraxia (30-40%), and am considering "normal" in the physical world. "Strawberry," it's taken a month to say correctly. I cannot teach except in online classes.
My husband tells me I laugh more now. It is what it is.
I hope that continues working for you. Sounds like a rough path, but you seem to be traveling it and moving along. Feel free to shoot a message or anything if you ever need....anything.
Keep laughing. : )
No, not exactly. People who promote starvation mode and are recovering from some illness should not be given a free pass just because. If you're spouting wrong information, or are misinformed, I think it's helpful for someone to speak up. We aren't doctors here - well, someone might be but most are not - so for actual health information yes, you should see registered professionals with the right credentials. That aside, if you see/read someone spouting information that isn't accurate wouldn't you want to get the right information?
Opinions =/= fact, and that's a fact. Yes, she is working through/recovering from a stroke and that's amazing but that doesn't give anyone a free pass to say her husband - who fits the definition of obesity - isn't obese. There's a very small % of people who are classified as overweight/obese by BMI standards who actually aren't. The rest - myself included - are actually obese by BMI standards. That doesn't make anyone mean or patronizing for pointing that out.
ETA: most people, when they visualize obesity visualize someone who is 400+ lbs and can't walk more than 10 steps without sitting down. But by BMI standards that isn't necessarily the case. I am technically obese and I can run 5K. Am I doing damage? Likely, being overweight and running is much harder on your joints but then again being overweight period is hard on joints - your body isn't necessarily made to carry around those extra pounds for your life. I am not saying her husband is a useless blob or anything just because he fits obesity standards, but medically/clinically speaking - he is obese.14 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I will say the amount of people on rascal scooters during my last visit to Disneyland was insane...
Literally an explosion of these things over the last several years...
The majority did not appear to even need them for any particular reason
Judgemental statements like this are the reason my disabled husband would rather stay home than be out in public. He doesn't appear disabled so, therefore, he gets judgy remarks and snickers if he uses a scooter. He got yelled at by a total stranger the other day for using a handicapped space even though he has a handicap sticker.
People really piss me off.19 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I will say the amount of people on rascal scooters during my last visit to Disneyland was insane...
Literally an explosion of these things over the last several years...
The majority did not appear to even need them for any particular reason
Judgemental statements like this are the reason my disabled husband would rather stay home than be out in public. He doesn't appear disabled so, therefore, he gets judgy remarks and snickers if he uses a scooter. He got yelled at by a total stranger the other day for using a handicapped space even though he has a handicap sticker.
People really piss me off.
My stepdad has a (legitimate) handicapped parking permit and people have stopped him and attempted to interrogate him on some occasions. Good reminder: there are many conditions that can't be "diagnosed" just by looking at someone (especially by laypeople).14 -
I honestly have no desire to discuss OP further as if she weren't here. If you wouldn't speak these things while standing next to someone face-to-face, you shouldn't say it online. There's the "brutal truth," the "sugar coated truth," and a whole lot of room for tact in between.
If anyone truly cares I'm beyond happy to have an open discussion privately through direct message.5 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I will say the amount of people on rascal scooters during my last visit to Disneyland was insane...
Literally an explosion of these things over the last several years...
The majority did not appear to even need them for any particular reason
Judgemental statements like this are the reason my disabled husband would rather stay home than be out in public. He doesn't appear disabled so, therefore, he gets judgy remarks and snickers if he uses a scooter. He got yelled at by a total stranger the other day for using a handicapped space even though he has a handicap sticker.
People really piss me off.
My mom has MS and for years it's been pretty under control, minimal episodes but her balance has always been kinda off and sometimes she needs to steady herself. Anyways, a few months ago I went out for lunch with my parents and we went to this little diner and my mom wasn't having such a great day that day; she was unsteady on her feet. A man came up to us, looked at my mom and said "Don't you think it's a little early to be dipping into the drink? There's help for that" and slid over a card for AA meetings in our area.
Now having MS, you can't drink with the medication not that my mom has ever been a big drinker. But she was so upset by this man and his comments when he knows nothing about her or her situation.
Sometimes people have things going on that aren't obvious to others - other than balance my mom looks really healthy so it can be hard to understand what MS really does to someone.10 -
I honestly have no desire to discuss OP further as if she weren't here. If you wouldn't speak these things while standing next to someone face-to-face, you shouldn't say it online. There's the "brutal truth," the "sugar coated truth," and a whole lot of room for tact in between.
If anyone truly cares I'm beyond happy to have an open discussion privately through direct message.
I don't think anyone is discussing OP . . .8 -
Silentpadna wrote: »...says the CDC.
I would link it, but it was actually just a 15 second news radio story I heard on the way into the office today.
The CDC spokesperson cited the "fact" that 70% of the battle is in the diet, but Americans believe that exercise alone will do the trick.
Because when I was younger diet was never a factor for me, I had to learn this the hard way. I HAVE to watch my diet because I can out-eat almost any amount of exercise. I spend about five hours a week in the gym and I could easily go over my calories every day, even with healthier food choices.
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Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I will say the amount of people on rascal scooters during my last visit to Disneyland was insane...
Literally an explosion of these things over the last several years...
The majority did not appear to even need them for any particular reason
Judgemental statements like this are the reason my disabled husband would rather stay home than be out in public. He doesn't appear disabled so, therefore, he gets judgy remarks and snickers if he uses a scooter. He got yelled at by a total stranger the other day for using a handicapped space even though he has a handicap sticker.
People really piss me off.
I was on an airplane not too long ago. The woman seated in the seat in front of me was morbidly obese. She struggled to move from a seated to standing position. While she struggled to stand I could hear, in the aisles around me and behind her, people tittering and scoffing. As if the inconvenience of waiting 20 extra seconds, caused by this woman's medical issue, entitled everyone to passive aggressively make their condescension and impatience known. I grabbed her jacket from overhead and said some kind words. The gratitude she expressed....I can't even convey the emotion behind her eyes and visage. As if she were just used to being treated with unkindness.
It takes so little --just a moment of thought, empathy, and an open mind-- to feel another's pain. I genuinely lose hope in humanity when I see people treating your father, and this woman, as described.10 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »I don't know what the comparison date was, but if we are going back significant years, I don't think Americans exercise more is true. We may go to the gym more or do things we call "working out" more, but we are likely far less active in our daily lives (on average) even so.
Re CI vs CO, it doesn't make sense to say one side is more important or 80% or whatever. The problem is that if you don't do something (it doesn't have to be counting calories) to control calories in, and if you live in an environment like ours where eating is super easy and cheap, then increasing exercise may just result in eating more. Especially since many think exercise burns more calories than it does and will see that as an excuse to eat more indulgently.
I've lost weight just by increasing exercise, but it happened when my eating was already under control, so I didn't start eating more without realizing it. And I was truly exercising quite a lot (tri training)--many of the studies showing exercise does not help do things like taking someone out of shape and having them walk on a treadmill for an hour, which is both boring (people feel like it was more work than it was, since they hated it, and think they deserve a reward, food) and doesn't burn many calories.
It looks like the report is comparing numbers from Jan-Sept 2017 back to 1997. Given that time frame, it actually doesn't surprise me that physical activity would be up. I'd be curious specifically how many more people work out at home given the rise of free or inexpensive (at least compared to gym membership) online services.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/EarlyRelease201803.pdf
ETA: The charts for "leisure-time physical activity" start on page 43 and show a distinct jump for people meeting the aerobic activity recommendation starting in 2009 with a general upward trend since then. The response for meeting aerobic plus strength recommendations is on page 46 and shows a general upward trend since 1997, although overall numbers are lower.
I assume this is largely or entirely based on self reports. Perhaps a chunk of the exercise-increase statistical result arises from people gradually starting, around 2009, to feel better about themselves if they delude themselves into believing they routinely exercise, or simply wanting to look more respectable by lying about it?
I'm curious about the self-reporting aspect of this too. My unscientific gut feeling is that people are probably not more likely to over-report now than in 1997 or 2007, but I genuinely don't know. I do know that over the last ten years, internet use has become incredibly widespread and has brought a lot of free resources that didn't previously exist. Yes, there's woo, but there's helpful information too. I think the younger generations (I'm an old Millennial personally) value walk-able neighborhoods and are genuinely concerned about the environment, and that goes hand-in-hand with increased health and fitness. I'd be curious to see the age group trends. I guess I feel like with all the crazy in the world these days, I want to cling to something positive out of all this.
Over my adult life (I'm 62) I feel like exercise has become more a thing that people feel they should do, which I think could bias self-reporting. I'm talking more about a gradual 30-year difference, vs a 10-15 year shift.
This is subjective: I have no data, and it would certainly vary by location and subculture.
Personally, I come from a rural, lace-curtain blue collar background, but later worked & socialized in a white-collar context in/near a mid-sized city, all of it in the US Great Lakes region.
Exaggerating a little, my childhood environment tended to look at exercise as something for richer people who didn't have real work: Why wouldn't they just go cut & stack a couple of cords of wood, or hoe the garden? Poor them!
My early working years (mid/late 1970s) were kind of the trailing edge of the 3-martini lunch era, but lived in more of a pitchers-of-beer social context. People might play a round of golf on the weekend or something, but it wasn't until later (late 1980s or 1990s, maybe) that it became common for co-workers to run, swim, or play basketball/volleyball at lunch. I'd say it was a bit later even for bicycle commuting to stop being a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, with early adopters mostly among the younger/lower-paid, even though the environment here (geography, roads) would've made it feasible for many through the whole time (Spring through Fall, anyway).
Over the same period (1960s to now), it also seems like the average handsome/beautiful admired celebrity has become a bit more buff/fit, and those parts of their lifestyles more publicized.
So, it seems like there's more expectation around me that including some form of exercise in one's life is what good, responsible, admirable adults do. I feel like that could increase the chance that self-reporting might be biased by perceptions that "good people exercise, and I'm a good person", turning the occasional tennis game, bike ride, and Zumba class into a self-perception that "I work out".
I'm not trying to diss anybody here, not saying people are lying, merely that we all may tend a bit to let perceived social norms inflate our best intentions into reported realities.
On the other hand - around here, at least - the number and diversity of gyms and other workout locations/businesses have really burgeoned over the last 10-20 years. Someone is supporting them. Whether they're attending them or not is another question, though they appear busy. No way to know how much of their patronage is people who would've been active in another way, anyway (especially as so many other formerly home/personal activities and possessions are being outsourced to businesses).
Edited: typo6 -
janejellyroll wrote: »I honestly have no desire to discuss OP further as if she weren't here. If you wouldn't speak these things while standing next to someone face-to-face, you shouldn't say it online. There's the "brutal truth," the "sugar coated truth," and a whole lot of room for tact in between.
If anyone truly cares I'm beyond happy to have an open discussion privately through direct message.
I don't think anyone is discussing OP . . .
Right. Not OP. You know who I mean. I don't even want to say her name. This has gone on long enough.
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janejellyroll wrote: »I honestly have no desire to discuss OP further as if she weren't here. If you wouldn't speak these things while standing next to someone face-to-face, you shouldn't say it online. There's the "brutal truth," the "sugar coated truth," and a whole lot of room for tact in between.
If anyone truly cares I'm beyond happy to have an open discussion privately through direct message.
I don't think anyone is discussing OP . . .
Right. Not OP. You know who I mean. I don't even want to say her name. This has gone on long enough.
I always recommend disengaging from a thread if you find it stressful or unpleasant. It's easier to do that than to control what others discuss or where a conversation goes. It seems like that is where this is going for you, so it may be something to consider.
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