Aren't you a little tired of the "Obesity Epidemic"?

I hope we all know that part of the reason that "Everyone is overweight" is that they changed the standards of the BMI -- I think around 2000 --- so that all these people who were considered average were now overweight. Part of the reason I don't like all this talk is that it doesn't take into consideration the "why" rather than the "how."

So absolutely not true...and a really weak excuse.....

Actually--it's TRUE. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/17/weight.guidelines/

They changed the guidelines in 1998 in ways that defined more people as overweight. They give an example in the article.

To someone else who posted....it's not quite clear that a bmi of under 25 is healthier than overweight BMI. Most recent study, published in January in Journal of the American Medical Assn. finds people in the overweight category were less likely to die during the study period! It's not a definitive study, but there is still a lot of disagreement in the medical community about whether having a bmi of 25 to 29.9 is less healthy than under 25. Obese BMI--yes, less healthy in general.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/02/health/overweight-mortality

I don't remember if it's in that article or not, but there is speculation that part of why "overweight" individuals may be less likely to die is that they may be more likely to go to the doctor because they know they're overweight and need to visit the doctor. Meanwhile, people in the lighter ends of the BMI chart may assume they're fine and not go to the doctor until something is very serious.

BMI is only a guide.

If you are an elite body builder carrying lots of muscle and you have a BMI over 30, that's fine.
Most people will know if their high BMI is due to this or not.
If not, then it is highly likely you are over weight and over weight enough for it to be likely to affect your health outcomes.

There is another tool (in Australia anyway, not sure if it is used in USA) where waist measurement is used as a guide to healthy size - this is quite useful as eliminates the 'muscle tipping BMI up' people - an elite body builder or even a healthy muscular sportsperson may have a higher BMI but will still not have an overly increased girth.

The waist measurement is good because it does try to focus on fat. But it's still similarly limited because not everyone's skeletal structure is the same. In the US Air Force, there's a big discussion about waist measurement as part of our fitness test. Men can be between 58 and 80 inches (147-203 cm) to serve . But they have the same waist standard whether the individual is 4'10" or 6'8". So it's like saying you can stretch a person out vertically, but you can't have any corresponding / proportional horizontal increase.

Both methods can be used to get a quick look, but if you really want to know about an individual's health, you need to get out the calipers, bod pod, or other BF% measuring devices.

People need to live in reality. If you are fat, don't ignore it an hope it goes away. It is okay to be hungry. Start moving, count calories, no excuses. It may sound harsh but I got fat by not being honest with myself. I wouldn't even weigh myself because the truth was too painful. Face it head on, be brave, and just do it.

The title of your post reminded me of a song a few years back.
It was by Lazy Boy and it was called "Underwear Goes Inside The Pants" It is an awesome song with a very powerful message.

"Americans, let's face it: We've been a spoiled country for a long time.
Do you know what the number one health risk in America is? Obesity. They say we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic.
An epidemic like it is polio.

Like we'll be telling our grand kids about it one day.
The Great Obesity Epidemic of 2004.
"How'd you get through it grandpa?"
"Oh, it was horrible Johnny, there was cheesecake and pork chops everywhere."

Nobody knows why were getting fatter? Look at our lifestyle. I'll sit at a drive thru.
I'll sit there behind fifteen other cars instead of getting up to make the eight foot walk to the totally empty counter.
Everything is mega meal, super sized. Want biggie fries, super sized, want to go large.
You want to have thirty burgers for a nickel you fat mother f*cker. There's room in the back. Take it!
Want a 55 gallon drum of Coke with that? It's only three more cents."

http://www.lyricsmania.com/underwear_goes_inside_the_pants_lyrics_lazyboy.html

:laugh: yeah that about sums it up!

I have made excuses, I have stuffed my face countless times knowing full well exactly what I was doing and just having an IDGAF moment - moment after moment after moment.... I have blamed my parents, genetics, ex-husbands, and maryjane and margarita.... But I think even as a child I knew all those cookies weren't what I should be eating, back when I was one of the few overweight children in school (and I am talking maybe 10-20 lbs heavier than my classmates on average, not the 100+ we are seeing today)... And we get to the point where we need to act like adults and take on the responsibility for our choices, and who gives a rats' *kitten* if something is GMO or corn-fortified or whatever - whether you are practicing clean eating or not, it is up to YOU to control portions. Yes it scares me to see the obesity epidemic in our country, and as someone else said, I am tired of being part of it, which is why I am here and making the changes. Tonite I want nothing more than to cave to PMS cravings and scarf an entire package of rice-a-roni, but I am not going to let cravings control me any more, nor give in to hormones as an excuse. But seriously, I am kinda in a stabby mood and not using starchy carbs to combat it isn't helping... So I will save the "PMS and hormones" excuse for my legal defense :grumble:

Just for the record, I just looked in my dictionary and it defines epidemic as "a rapid development, spread, or growth of something, esp something unpleasant". So, technically it IS an epidemic. Yes, people may be overweight for various reasons HOWEVER that doesn't make it any less unhealthy. I don't know why people keep trying to deny it. It's unhealthy to be overweight PERIOD. That being said, it's also unhealthy to be UNDERweight as well. If you saw someone who looked like this:



Wouldn't you be concerned whether you knew them or not? I'm sure ANYONE would make a comment about it at the very least. Then how come we aren't allowed to say anything when someone is morbidly obese? Why is it suddenly SO RUDE when someone states the fact that being overweight is unhealthy and that there is an obesity epidemic?

i was always thin,i worked at it daily as a young lady to stay that way,BUT after i had kids i was never really thin again and still am not but i plan to be..Im doing great..what i find is just as you hear,you are supposed to eat when your hungry..just what and how much we choose to eat is the key..Ive learned from lets say reteaching myself not to eat garbage...that healthy food is good,preparation is everything..i cook so heakthy now it scares me..and for those times when i have these crashing moments..i chalk it up to,if you dont buy it,you dont have it,you wont eat it..also,do not drink sugar,not in any form,no juice,soda..water water water...when you get those snack attacks,choose ice cold watermelon ,or cut some berries up over cottage cheese,or just eat them,very satisfying..i am luck though that when i get sad,depressed,tired of everything,,i dont eat,so i feel for you on that one..rem to visit this site daily it helps me so much keep track of what im eating and stick to my exercise,,and rem 1 pnd at a time,a pnd is a nice chunk of beef,its a great thing to drop a pnd..keep thinking day at a time,till it becomes an addiction,hugs..ps i know what your talking about,i have had coworkers have a baby and be skinny already and be eating like 2 bites of a sandwich cause their fat and,their not!! and i am ,but me i said something,maybe you should too

I think most of the excuses people don't like are when individuals try to come up with an external cause for weight problems.

As you say, it's not black and white, but, in the end, most weight issues reduce down to things we have done to ourselves. From emotional eating, to bored eating, to coming from a culture that heavily emphasizes food, most of the time, it boils down to the fact that we are the ones who put food into our own mouths.

The takeaway from that is that we need to make sure we aren't trying to deflect responsibility. It's not our friends or family who "sabotage" us by providing unhealthy foods. It's that we choose to put that food into our bodies and, therefore, must acknowledge our own responsibility.

To an extent, it's not even medical situations because there are often are things the individuals can do once the issue is recognized. In the military, we have people who become injured and can't be as active as they once were. In some cases, their weight goes up because they didn't change their eating habits to compensate. As a result, when they're injured and unable to exercise, we actively remind them they will need to reduce their intake.


The issue that then comes up is that not all of us reach the point of acknowledging the challenges we face and taking more control at the same point in time.

That's where perspectives, such as those of your coworkers, come out. In my family, we also sometimes ask ourselves how individuals can become obese. We don't think they're bad people, but watching our diet, activity level, and waistlines is such a part of our day to day life that we wonder why they do not *seem* alarmed or don't *seem* to take action at points where we would have said "okay, I need to change something". (Of course, it's all based on what WE perceive to be going on in their minds. They may be in a self-propagating emotional eating cycle that we don't know about. If we knew what was going on, then we wouldn't be wondering.)

One example of where my family as asked "how can they get that overweight" would be people who use the Freedom Wand. We can understand people needing to use it because they've had surgery, have arthritis, or have hip or shoulder problems. What puzzles us is when someone needs to use it because they are obese and cannot wipe themselves. To us, we would have wanted to address our weight issue BEFORE self-sanitation became so difficult we needed tools.

I wrote this to see what kinds of people were on the board and how much self-loathing was going on. I'm past that, so I really don't want to see fat-phobic rhetoric.

You came to a fitness/weightloss website and are suprised to hear that people on this board will emphasize fitness and weight loss?

I see there are people who "don't like excuses," whatever that means, because I've found that life isn't very black and white. It certainly isn't "You're fit or you're making excuses." Almost all of my family is overweight, so whether or not that's genetic or behavioral, I don't know. I also eat because I'm stressed out or depressed, as do other members of my family. These are facts. Glossing over it or calling it "excuses" is being dismissive.

It's not being dismissive, it's being realistic. Some people do like avoiding the reality of their situation, unfortunately.

I've lost hundreds of pounds and regained them (not all at once, but definitely over 20 years), been on numerous diets (my mom put me on one when I was 10) so I come here trying to make peace with my experience with food and eating, and promote acceptance and common sense. This experience doesn't come in one size nor does it fit all.

Promote acceptance of what? Unhealthy lifestyles? There is no sense in that, common or otherwise.

I agree entirely. When I was really slim, I was size 10 UK. I hear people saying they are size zero and I look at them and see that they are fatter than I was then. Something has changed!

Yes, I have had that experience, too! It's as if many doctors have been to seminars that promote this idea that if you're overweight you *must* have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. And, inf my experience anyway, it also seems to mean that you must be completely sedentary and clueless as to how you got to be overweight!

Thanks for sharing!

c.

I don't think doctors say if you are overweight you must have high BP, high Cholestrol, diabetes etc - however the statistical reality is that overweight people do carry much higher risks of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.


This isn't an 'idea' - it's an evidence based reality.

Oxford University ( http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/130116.html ) have updated the body mass index with a new formula that they say more accurately estimates body fat the reasons are articulated in the attached article which has the old calculator (used in the UK ) to the proposed new one

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9816596/Interactive-calculator-do-you-win-or-lose-with-the-new-BMI.html

What scares me is seeing a few of these documentaries on tv - i.e. the people who go thru the very drastic bariatric surgery, and then after they gain the weight back and/or they are shown eating soda pop and macdonalds, and they have not changed their eating habits. This is disastrous and might kill them.

the other thing - when i see the hospitals where the bariatric patient is going - they are shown refusing to do the program and sneaking in fast food deliveries -

the other thing - when they have the super obese featured on a documentary like the 1,000 ton man, and he is acting so desperate, however, when the doctor talks with his wife, his wife cant put up with his screaming for bad food or she doesn't know good food choices, or she feels sorry for him or whatever, but he cant cook and she is bringing him food that is way unhealthy.

so if they are having a hard time following healthy eating, even to save their life, this is alarming to me.