Is obesity 'normal' where you live, or 'abnormal'?

pineygirl

I'd say overweight is pretty normal where I live (Central/South NJ)....but not obese, although there are still a decent number of obese people here. We live in an area where the only places I can walk to are a shooting range, a gun store and a campground....so we don't do much walking around here.

atb0821

I live in rural Tennessee and obese is definitely normal in this area. There's delicious yet unhealthy food everywhere.

jenilla1

I'm honestly the slimmest person I see almost everywhere I go. The vast majority of adults are overweight, many obese. The kids are about 50-50. It surprises me since I'm in Southern California. Year-round good weather and all.

LizardQueen4PointOh

Texas here. About one hour east of Houston and definitely 'normal'. And, as has been stated a few times, even the pets.

I live in Mississippi. That right there should tell you everything you need to know about if it is normal or not.

People swear my children now reside in a strange home. Some parents inquire what I plan to feed theirs, if their children are staying for dinner. Sometimes I want to tell them I am giving them diet pills and laxative cookies for dinner, but I refrain. The more normal sized I become the more it feels like society here is extremely out of sync with healthy habits.

One of my children's friends' mom got nearly irate at me because I didn't have soda for the kids to drink, I had crystal lite, tea, and juice and milk, but not soda for afterschool. Snacks that day were cut up mixed fruit (strawberries, kiwis, grapes, grapefruit chunks, and and cantaloupe). The mother informed me that wasn't a snack and her child didn't eat that sort of stuff. That a snack is supposed to be chips, or cookies, snack cakes and a soda, because then her kid would still be able to eat dinner after having that. But what I offered was odd to her.

Another thing that I have noticed and it really saddens me is that I'm getting really dirty looks in the grocery store now. People think it is okay to just walk over and poke around in my grocery cart and turn their nose up at my selections, look me up and down like I am an alien and on more than one occasion comment to their companion about me and my groceries. I get I lost weight, I wanted to, but I was not prepared for comments about finally being into the just barely overweight range. (9 pounds more until I hit the upper ranges of recommended weight for my height)

I have to drive 35 miles out of the way to grocery shop, just to get to a grocery store with a true produce section. The grocery store here in my itty bitty town sells this in their produce section and only this: bananas, onions, potatoes, carrots, iceberg lettuce, grapes(green), red apples, tomatoes, and turnip greens. That's it, the whole produce section. The snack/junk food though has 4 whole isles devoted to it. It also only sells chocolate milk, whole milk and 2%, no skim or anything else.

If someone started digging through my basket at the grocery store, they might get throat punched (okay, maybe I'd just think it). I can't imagine someone telling me what kind of 'snacks' I need to keep in stock at my house (unless there were an allergy of some sort). Those kids would need to pack a snack when they visited.

Hbazzell

Closer to Portland Oregon (nearest metro) I dont see it as much but now I live on the coast (rural) and I see it a lot. (Minus other Coast Guard/Military people) I am in better shape than almost everyone I see and look at my ticker! I need to loose 20 more lbs atleast!!!! I think the closer you are to the metro the more people walk and the more people work full time/have hectic schedules. Out here there are a lot of people who are unemployed/retired or on disability and are uneducated about health/fitness so they make very poor decisions. However, I am not saying ALL overweight people are like this. I have had a full time job on my feet (until my recent desk top) since I was 15 and I have always lived in the city (until recently) and I am in better shape now than before.

addreonnaseger

Mississippi...Wow. Made me cry! How can a mom even try to be healthy in that environment with those selections.

It's hard as CRAP. But totally doable with the right motivation.

slkehl

Abnormal here in DC. People are young and active