More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese • Hacker News Board

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#101

Post by lotsofpulp » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:47 PM UTC

titanomachy wrote: post #71

vecter wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s all diet. I visited Nashville a couple of years ago and everything on the menu was fried or just terrible for you. Most of weight is diet. Exercise helps a tiny amount but is more for your cardiovascular health and strength. Running for an hour burns far fewer calories than half of a muffin.

> running for an hour burns far fewer calories than in half a muffin As a guy who runs pretty hard and weighs over 200 lbs, I burn nearly 1000 calories in an hour of running (~11km distance). I've tried a few different models to estimate this and they all more or less agree. A lightweight person jogging at low intensity for an hour, maybe .

Use an elliptical and it will show you exactly how many calories per minute you can burn.

For reference, Olympic athletes only manage to burn 30 calories per minutes at their best. I would put most people’s capacity at 10 to 15 calories per minute sustained.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/sports/olympics/cross-cou...

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#102

Post by samename » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:47 PM UTC

ambivalents wrote: post #85

> A new report has also revealed that 19.3% of children and young people, aged between two and 19, had obesity , with 6.1% of kids identified as being severely obesity. Small point but I found it interesting that 'obesity' is used here as a condition one can have, rather than be. Maybe that's the norm in science writing but first time I've seen it.

Maybe the norms or language is changing to be more accurate. This applies to mental health as well. For example: Skylar has bipolar disorder. Trevor has depression. A person is not their condition and many conditions can be overcome.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#103

Post by mmcconnell1618 » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

lumost wrote: post #53

bambataa wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why, how many Americans have the figure of Tom Brady? Is that number big enough to have a meaningful impact on average BMIs? I don’t understand why everyone is so quite to dismiss BMI based on edge cases, especially when the finding is backed up by your other evidence.

It makes it so that people don't have a strong sense of what a healthy version of themselves is, and can assert that they must be healthy "as they are". I've found Body fat % to be a more useful number, it's easy to understand what you'd look like with 10% less body fat - and you won't see many/any athletes with 30%+ body fat. When I first started tracking this I was shocked by the initial number (35%) and managed to…

I think body fat percentage is a reasonable metric but even that isn't absolute. For example, studies on Sumo wrestlers in Japan found that while they had lots of fat, they didn't suffer from the adverse affects of obesity while they maintained their active workout schedule. Once they left the career and stopped exercising, the obesity related health problems showed up. Exercise and activity play a significant role in overall health, not just fat percentage and weight.

https://www.businessinsider.com/sumo-wrestlers-obesity-diet-....

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#104

Post by dwaltrip » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

konjin wrote: post #76

lotsofpulp wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are probably multiple factors, walking more and fewer time sitting in cars is quite possibly one of them. Urban areas also have more young people. The added sugar in the US is a shame. Just this year, the nutritional labels are mandated to show added sugars in products now. I hope that helps.

Would showing added lead in baby formula help? Kind of shocked how in the US an issue that is obviously a health issue is treated as a personal failing. If you want sugar in your food you're free to add some after the fact, or buy it from a non-food store. Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything.

> Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything.

It sounds like you are suggesting all food in American grocery stores is equally bad when it comes to sugar. Perhaps I misunderstood you, as that is obviously absurd. While I do wish there were more healthy options, I can assure you that the mainstream grocery stores (Ralph's, Safeway, etc) contain many products with low or no sugar.

Empowering people to make better decisions is actually one of the best things we can do. What is your alternative proposal?

I read nutrition labels, looking at the sugar content. I eagerly await the requirement to list the amount of added sugar, as it will inform my food purchases.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#105

Post by ekianjo » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

titanomachy wrote: post #71

vecter wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s all diet. I visited Nashville a couple of years ago and everything on the menu was fried or just terrible for you. Most of weight is diet. Exercise helps a tiny amount but is more for your cardiovascular health and strength. Running for an hour burns far fewer calories than half of a muffin.

> running for an hour burns far fewer calories than in half a muffin As a guy who runs pretty hard and weighs over 200 lbs, I burn nearly 1000 calories in an hour of running (~11km distance). I've tried a few different models to estimate this and they all more or less agree. A lightweight person jogging at low intensity for an hour, maybe .

> I burn nearly 1000 calories in an hour of running (~12km distance).

You get a lot more calories than you can physically burn in one day. A donut can be something like 500 kcal. Skipping on snacks is more much effective than exercising no matter how you look at it.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#106

Post by spaetzleesser » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

forrestthewoods wrote: post #54

lemonspat wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it is very destructive and unhelpful in the long run. If the United States ever moves to a public-funded healthcare regime, it will also be more expensive and destructive to care for from a government budget perspective.

False! Unhealthy people are great for saving money. Health care costs are disproportionately skewed towards end of life care. People who are unhealthy die younger and more quickly. Edit: Here you go. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05iht-obese.1.9748...

Nonsense. You just move the years of suffering and high health care expenses to a younger age.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#107

Post by ojnabieoot » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

turing_complete wrote: post #30

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #9

Is "healthy at every size" still a fringe movement, or is it gaining more social acceptance?

"Body positivity" is -- inadvertently for the most part -- insidious. Of course, don't make fun of overweight people for being overweight, don't be an asshole. However, making people people believe that they can eat whatever they want, can be obese and still healthy doesn't help at all. It might make you feel nice, but it is very destructive and unhelpful in the long run.

I’m sorry but you can’t just make broad sweeping claims like this with literally zero supporting logic or evidence:

> However, making people people believe that they can eat whatever they want, can be obese and still healthy doesn't help at all... it is very destructive and unhelpful in the long run.

First of all, I can’t think of a single body positivity activist who says “you can eat whatever and you’ll still be healthy.” It doesn’t really help your argument when the first target is a preposterous strawman!

More to the point: body positive ideologies might be damaging in the long run. But it might not be! You have absolutely no evidence either way - nor could you, even in principle! - and it’s extremely irritating to see such strongly-stated ignorance.

One of the major impetuses for the body positivity movement is the incredible danger of anorexia nervosa, which is the most lethal mental illness and has been spiking dramatically since the 80s. And as an unambiguously psychological disorder, nervosa rates are much more easily understood as a consequence of societal views of body image than obesity rates.

To be blunt: although there isn’t extant data, I strongly suspect that body positivity saves more lives than it loses. There will be many more women discouraged from starving themselves than women discouraged from moderate exercise and reasonable diets.

Regardless, obviously the body positivity movement has nothing to do with the 21st century rise in US obesity rates (not to mention Mexico). The problem in both countries is much more agricultural/economic. And it strikes me as a bit ridiculous (or dishonest) to suggest that marginalizing body-positive ideologies can reduce the obesity rate.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#108

Post by ekianjo » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

titanomachy wrote: post #98

ransom1538 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Burger King Whopper with cheese, for example, has 710 calories. You would need to run 10km. Running and exercise is worthless. Don't eat the Whopper. Cancel the gym membership. Workouts cause calorie cravings - and most Americans will just eat processed garbage [ or unless you are super healthy - then you drink the "Mocha Mojo" from jamba juice 680 calories ].

> running and exercise is worthless A bold claim indeed. Not everyone who exercises is trying to lose weight.

It's a discussion about weight, so in context, that statement is completely valid.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#109

Post by maddyboo » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

misja111 wrote: post #88

I find it amazing how much effort and economic sacrifices we are willing to take to fight COVID, while at the same time, even now, the death toll because of unhealthy lifestyles is far greater. Why don't we put a similar effort into banning fast food, for instance? How can the USA allow companies to advertise that stuff when the bad consequences can be seen everywhere?

We should be doing both, but COVID is very different and I don't think I need to explain why.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#110

Post by twblalock » Tue, Dec 29, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

inglor_cz wrote: post #84

tunesmith wrote: post #66

It's impressive, because it's as if in America, we've figured out how to design a system that gets 73% of us to agree to do whatever we are doing to be overweight. That's really something when you think of it in terms of a population that is otherwise divided and polarized.

Our firmware back from the ape era contains instructions to enjoy anything sweet and/or fatty. Of course, this worked back in the Paleolithic, when you found something sweet and/or fatty several times a year. It becomes a bad loophole for metabolic diseases when sweet and fatty things are everywhere and cheap.

There are plenty of other countries where sweet and fatty things are cheap, yet they don't have the same obesity rate as the US.