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Adult Obesity Facts

cdc.gov

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Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#71

Post by Loughla »

yupper32 wrote: post #23

Every time I comment on one of these threads, I mention how most people don't know about the most fundamental component of weight control: Calories-in calories-out. And then I get a mass of people complaining that "it's not that simple! x y and z also impact weight!" I think so much has to do with these two points: 1. Most don't know about CICO. 2. Many who do throw it away as not useful. We should be teaching this i…

People like to say that it's something else, in my experience, because they do, in fact, know what CICO is, and have tried it, and have failed when they tried it.

With broad strokes, those failures can be lumped into 2 categories: 1) lack of willpower (pretty self-explanatory) and 2) hoodwinked, bamboozled, and otherwise tricked by food package nutrition labels.

It is genuinely hard to discern real calories consumed using just food labels, and not 3rd party sources and at-home food scales.

That's the part that people don't understand, I think.

Source: I was fat, now I'm a little less fat because of CICO. Still kinda fat, but getting less fat slowly. I learned early that nutrition labels are your enemy and are just another marketing tool used by savvy companies.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#72

Post by gibagger »

wccrawford wrote: post #21
yehudalouis wrote: post #3

Nitpicking is pointless here, but the phrasing was immediately confusing to me. "US Adults are 42.4% obese" leads me to believe that all US adults are 42.4% of the way to becoming obese, where as in actuality it appears that 42.4% of US adults are obese.

I'm medically "obese", but nobody looking at me would say that. Whenever I tell people that I'm dieting, they're surprised and often tell me that I look good. So with the medical definition of obese not matching what peoples' eyes tell them, I'm not surprised that 42% are "obese".

In this age of normalised obesity, the idea of what an obese person looks like has also shifted. Plenty of overweight and slightly obese people would consider themselves as normal weight in countries where obesity is prevalent.

And normal they are, but it's just a bad reference point.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#73

Post by armagon »

I wish that article talked about the geographical distribution of obesity.

I saw a fascinating pre-print paper here a while ago: A Contamination Theory of the Obesity Epidemic. via: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27936016

I also read an interesting book lately called "The Dorito Effect" in which the author makes the case that we have a finely developed ability to associate the flavour of food with the nutrients we get from it (and, when we need nutrients, we'll crave the foods that offer it), but, 1) food's flavour and nutritional value has become diluted as we've bread for larger yields, and 2) we add synthetic flavourings to everything, messing with the ability to crave and eat the foods we need.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#74

Post by snakeboy »

canjobear wrote: post #52
rjbwork wrote: post #2

We've designed our cities, suburbs, food industry, and society such that the average person is at least overweight, nearing obese. If the average person suffers from what should be an anomaly, perhaps it is less a personal failing than a societal failing and we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome.

City design and the food industry haven't changed substantially in the last 40 years. If anything, there has been increasing emphasis on walkability in communities and health in foods. And yet the obesity rate was 15% in 1980 and 42% now.

Isn't that expected? People born since 1980 grew up with those sticky habits/culture around food and exercise, and are a growing proportion of the population.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#75

Post by [deleted] »

yupper32 wrote: post #23

Every time I comment on one of these threads, I mention how most people don't know about the most fundamental component of weight control: Calories-in calories-out. And then I get a mass of people complaining that "it's not that simple! x y and z also impact weight!" I think so much has to do with these two points: 1. Most don't know about CICO. 2. Many who do throw it away as not useful. We should be teaching this i…

[deleted]

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#76

Post by woodruffw »

paulddraper wrote: post #57
rjbwork wrote: post #2

We've designed our cities, suburbs, food industry, and society such that the average person is at least overweight, nearing obese. If the average person suffers from what should be an anomaly, perhaps it is less a personal failing than a societal failing and we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome.

The problem with "policy solutions" is that they don't account for individual preferences. Do people want walkable cities? Or do they want single-family dwellings and yards? Do people want to be healthy? Or do they want sugary foods and television programs? Fortunately, the U.S. has plenty of each, to accommodate multiple preferences. Life is trade-offs. It's the conceit of policy makers to force their trade-off pref…

> Fortunately, the U.S. has plenty of each, to accommodate multiple preferences.

As of 2010, close to 24 million Americans lived in a "food desert"[1], i.e. an area without adequate access to healthy eating choices. These areas are disproportionately lower SES areas, and the people in them don't get to have a "preference"; the decision is being made for them.

Edit: Here's a paper explaining the correlation and absence of choice in detail[2].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

[2]: https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/66/4/216/1...

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#78

Post by Ashanmaril »

yehudalouis wrote: post #42
yupper32 wrote: post #23

Every time I comment on one of these threads, I mention how most people don't know about the most fundamental component of weight control: Calories-in calories-out. And then I get a mass of people complaining that "it's not that simple! x y and z also impact weight!" I think so much has to do with these two points: 1. Most don't know about CICO. 2. Many who do throw it away as not useful. We should be teaching this i…

Exactly. If you operate at caloric deficit (which can be achieved via caloric subsidies such as diet or exercise) you will lose weight. Even if your caloric deficit is achieved through processed junk, you'll still lose weight. Not a recommendation to do that, but, if you're simply optimizing for losing weight, it would technically work.

And also if you're gonna be tracking your calories, be liberal with the caloric value of what you're eating. There's some really messed up entries for caloric value of things in MyFitnessPal that extremely underestimate how many calories are in certain foods. Like an entry for a full-sized cinnamon bun that says it's 150 calories (just making up an example, but I've seen things that absurd)

Too many people complain about tracking calories not working for them, and I guarantee it's that they weren't tracking properly.

Edit: Oh another thing: with stuff like protein powder measuring itself in scoops, they tend to be way off in how many grams are in a scoop. I don't know how they get away with it, but if you measure with a scale how many grams are in a scoop, it can be like 25% more than what it says on the tub

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#79

Post by aww_dang »

rjbwork wrote: post #12
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome What would this look like policywise?

Walkable and bikable cities and suburbs. Increased transit. Reduced working hours so that people don't feel the need to choose between health and survival and stress. Getting the garbage out of our supermarkets. Not subsidizing massive amounts of corn syrup and sugar. I really could go on.

If you're a cycling enthusiast you'll always find a way. As you develop as a cyclist areas which once intimidated you may feel safer. It is like any other skill in that way.

I know many would prefer bike lanes, but bicycle infrastructure isn't always safer for cyclists. Often city planners have no concept of what actually goes on, so even when token lines are painted on the street - it does nothing to increase cycling.

It may be best to put aside the issues of investment and which top-down solution is the best. There may be a time and place for that, but in the near term individuals with an interest can develop their skills incrementally.

Disclaimer: I am a self admitted cycling extremist

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#80

Post by twelve40 »

wiremine wrote: post #29
sharkmerry wrote: post #8

Is this solely done based on BMI? Some of you may know that BMI can be wildly inaccurate. (this guy is technically obese on BMI scale - https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=153207891 ) I wonder if we would find better connections between disease and "weight" with body fat % or similar measure.

I've read in a few places that BMI can be inaccurate too. Wondering if anyone has any good articles or perspective that dig into this some more: 1. Is it a "good enough" metric? 2. Is it "wildly inaccurate" for most, or just some outliers?

If you are ripped af and most of your body mass is muscles then yes your high BMI can be safely ignored. For everyone else, it's definitely a "good enough" reflection of their bad habits.
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