Nearly 1 in 10 Americans report they are severely obese, says study.
Nearly 1 in 10 Americans report they are severely obese, says study.
Experts say preventing obesity in the first place is key, starting in early childhood
Everyone blames food/diet/portions for this, but personally I think the car-centric culture should also bear a large portion of the blame.
When I stayed with friends in Europe, they easily ate as much as my American friends, but everywhere we went we were either walking or biking.
Meanwhile, in the VAST majority of the US, if you so much as want a safe place to walk that isn't adjacent to the pervasive pedestrian-hostile street design, you need to take a car to get there.
American car culture essentially turns the average routine into ferrying oneself from chair to desk to chair to bed, intermixed with brief walks throgh scenic parking lots.
We need to counter the sedentary lifestyle within the design of our actual cities, but its the american way to push societal problems onto the responsibility of the individual... so I do not see this changing within our lifetimes.
I'm not sure that's correct, check out how many calories you'd have to burn just to cover those in a can of soda.
I think walking does way more than burning calories though.
For one it gives you a lot more awareness of your physical condition, if you go everywhere by car you may barely notice your weight has doubled.
Secondly I find any physical activity, especially running or walking, helps to combat urges for stuff like snacking.
I am one of those obese people, and it seems so achingly unfair.
I am an active person. I eat similar foods and quantities as my peers, with drastically different results. I drink water, not soda or juice. I basically stopped drinking coffee, but when I did, it was always plain black. The only weight loss success I’ve had was spending a year on a keto diet, which my doctor swears was slowly killing me (salt, sulfites, etc). My doctor says I have mild hypothyroidism, but not bad enough to call for treatment.
I have been overweight my entire life, living in a world that fundamentally believes that this is entirely my fault. I don’t know how to convey the hopelessness that people like me have to live with, and the resolve that it requires to keep making healthy choices in spite of it, and never seeing beneficial results.
I don’t know how to get off this ride. All I ask is for other people to not believe I am a lazy shameless grotesque person for being forced to ride it.
I have a good friend that sounds kind of similar. She's historically the most active among our friend group usually, generally the most fit and capable (she did the Alcatraz swim, for example). Eats completely reasonably, at times very well (due to what you're describing). But she's just always kinda large, even at her smallest. It's always struck me as extremely unfair, like you said, and she's really suffered for it.
I don't know your situation, but she's currently living her best life. Happy family with kids, loving kind partner, rewarding job in a stunningly beautiful (if fairly remote) location. And she deserves it, she's a wonderful human.
But boy did she suffer frustration and hopelessness on repeat along the way. Nearly gave up on trying for the life she wanted more than once. And I fully recognize the deck is stacked in some important ways against folks like y'all, so please don't read my "happy outcome" story as contradicting anything you said. But don't give up on what ya want.
I need to add here (because I always do on the off-chance that it might help someone) that you can have too low of blood sugar depending on your specific genetics. I had an a1c of 3.8 when I was doing keto. I had basically had nondiabetic hypoglycemia for so long I was no longer showing symptoms. Please see a doctor if you do anything too dramatic, diet-wise.
Controlling weight is one of these things that are very easy for some very hard for others.
I have been underweight to obese and back to a healthy weight trough my life and I must say, losing weight was 50% the result of my efforts and 50% life changes (whom I lived with, work/life balance and other non diet related changes)
I now have the luxury of time to make my own food and exercise as much as I want, if I didn't I'd probably balloon up quite quickly. Pre made food is the spawn of Satan.
If you do cook at home I'd suggest adding more spices to replace salt/sugar as much as possible but keep stuff tasty, and go for food that has more complex texture, it tends to be more satisfying, so you naturally eat less.
That said good luck and try to ignore the bad judgements.
You're not lazy or shameless.
Everyone has different struggles, for you one of those struggles is going to be your genetics which means you can't eat and exercise the same as your peers. You have to do better. That means cut out the ultraprocessed stuff and limit the amount you eat at restaurants. When you cook for yourself be careful of how much butter oil or sugar and salt you're adding to your food. But you know this already.
If you've done a keto diet you have the willpower to make the necessary lifestyle changes. Don't let a temporary setback be permanent. Good luck!
Only ten percent? I'd have guessed it's higher, but perhaps the states I haven't visited have slimmer people.
Severe/morbid obesity is a BMI of 40+, rather than 30 for obese. I've been at the low end of that briefly and started getting out of breath doing things like going to my car, so I immediately decided to drop weight. Bar things like severe depression or significant medical issues, I don't see how people are able to maintain that kind of weight when it has such an obvious direct impact on quality of life.
Curious if the survey also included children, where the rates tend to be lower.
Child obesity has been higher than the national average for the last 30 years.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/obesity-child.htm
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