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More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

diabetes.co.uk

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

#71

Post by titanomachy »

vecter wrote: post #62
rsynnott wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only ever visited San Francisco in the US, and the first time I was there I was slightly surprised that in terms of obesity it seemed pretty similar to Dublin (which wouldn't be the thinnest city around, but is middle of the road European). Then I flew back via O'Hare, and really saw the difference when waiting for the transfer; quite dramatic levels of obesity. I wonder how much of it is just down to urban Amer…

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.

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

#72

Post by meowzero »

This isn't surprising. We're conditioned to eat great tasting food and lots of it. Most American cities have a car-oriented culture, along with sedentary lifestyles; therefore, not much walking or NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis). It seems over the years, Americans are burning less calories, but consuming more.

I usually cook at home now, thanks to the Pandemic. Looking at all the recipes I found online, I realized how much high-calorie ingredients you have to add to make the food taste delicious. I try to limit those ingredient or use lower-calorie substitutes, but it is challenging. I can't imagine how much fats and sugars restaurants put in their foods to make it tasty for the general population.

Also, food portions have gotten bigger. We're used to eating more. Having a great tasting food filled with sugar or fats is not bad by itself, but eating a small portion of it won't be satisfying or satiating enough for most people.

There's a Youtube home cook named Ethan Chlebowski who sometimes does low-calorie versions of certain foods. I think more people need to do that--give great recipes that can taste almost as good as the high-calorie versions.

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

#73

Post by JackMorgan »

andygcook wrote: post #11

BMI isn't a reliable indicator to gauge obesity. For example, Tom Brady at 6' 4" and 225 lbs is considered overweight, which is obviously not the case. That being said, as an American, it really did shock me how fit the majority of people were in Italy when I visited there for the first time last year. This New England Journal of Medicine chart really does a good job of showing that America has gotten heavier over th…

No athlete I know bothers with BMI - it's meant for non-athletes. Likewise athletes often accept that bodyweight corresponds almost directly with lifting potential, but obviously we know that's it's only true for athletes, otherwise every obese person would be setting world record deadlifts.

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

#74

Post by [deleted] »

ggm wrote: post #48

Fringeing overweight, it has taken me years to remove 10kg and keeping it off is a constant battle. I used to be as thin as a rake. Folks, its a mostly one-way ratchet. If you put a one-way walk into any system, and let it run free, what direction do you think things will trend, even if the pace of movement is a crawl?

[deleted]

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

#75

Post by post_below »

vecter wrote: post #62
rsynnott wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only ever visited San Francisco in the US, and the first time I was there I was slightly surprised that in terms of obesity it seemed pretty similar to Dublin (which wouldn't be the thinnest city around, but is middle of the road European). Then I flew back via O'Hare, and really saw the difference when waiting for the transfer; quite dramatic levels of obesity. I wonder how much of it is just down to urban Amer…

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.

Diet is the biggest part of it, no question, but calories are misleading. The number of calories you burn by running for an hour doesn't take into consideration the increase in metabolism that will follow for up to 48 hours or the calories that will be burned in the future by the extra muscle you build even while at rest.

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

#76

Post by konjin »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #61
rsynnott wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only ever visited San Francisco in the US, and the first time I was there I was slightly surprised that in terms of obesity it seemed pretty similar to Dublin (which wouldn't be the thinnest city around, but is middle of the road European). Then I flew back via O'Hare, and really saw the difference when waiting for the transfer; quite dramatic levels of obesity. I wonder how much of it is just down to urban Amer…

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.

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

#77

Post by symlinkk »

meowzero wrote: post #44
symlinkk wrote: post #12

Isn’t it strange how the only way to eat healthy food in America is to cook it yourself? Every fast food restaurant is unhealthy. Most sit down restaurants are unhealthy. I can pay someone to change my oil, I can pay someone to cut my grass, but for some reason cooking healthy food, the most essential service, is difficult to find. Why has our economy failed us in this sector specifically?

Usually, healthier cooking doesn't taste as good. Most of the food industry is focused on providing the best tasting food so people will buy them. How do you make food taste good? Add a lot of fat and/or carbs, which are the macro nutrients that are calorie dense. There doesn't seem to be much demand in healthy food services.

I disagree that there isn’t much demand for healthy food services. I think the real problem is that healthy food just doesn’t have as high of profit margins as unhealthy food.

A satisfying healthy meal will be primarily meat based, which is expensive.

A satisfying unhealthy meal will contain lots of carbs and fat, which is cheap.

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

#78

Post by syshum »

vecter wrote: post #62
rsynnott wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only ever visited San Francisco in the US, and the first time I was there I was slightly surprised that in terms of obesity it seemed pretty similar to Dublin (which wouldn't be the thinnest city around, but is middle of the road European). Then I flew back via O'Hare, and really saw the difference when waiting for the transfer; quite dramatic levels of obesity. I wonder how much of it is just down to urban Amer…

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.

I agree it is diet, I disagree that it "fried foods" that are the source

High Fructose based drinks like Soda, Mass produced Tea's, etc combined with decades of government "education" around the high carb diet is the main source of the Mid Wests Obesity problem

When you are drinking 1500-2000 calories a day, and eating mainly pasta / potato heavy meals that is going to kill your weight.

Fried Chicken is not the problem...

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

#79

Post by brundolf »

29athrowaway wrote: post #34

In the US there are many highly processed foods with little fiber and added sugar. Nutrition fact labels can be very misleading. e.g.: showing nutrition facts per certain some arbitrary amount of weight, or having multiple servings per container, which is misleading if it's an individual serving container. e.g.: Oreo serving size is 2 cookies. Who opens a pack of oreos only to eat 2 of them? nobody. Many occupations…

Something I've realized in recent months is that restaurant portions are insane.

Even if you're not eating a cheeseburger - heck, even if you're eating a salad (assuming it has more than just lettuce) - the sheer amount of food you get in a single entree at most restaurants means that even a reasonable type of meal will end up being two or three times the calories it would be if you made it at home. The alternative of course is to stop halfway (or earlier), but that's really hard to do when it's right in front of you.

The only workaround I know of (beyond just not eating out) is to order it to go, and then immediately put half in the refrigerator.

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

#80

Post by rhino369 »

mirekrusin wrote: post #41
sangli wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BMI isn't a reliable indicator go gauge obesity FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSON. I would think most of us agree that the people like Tom Brady, Dwyane Johnson (the rock), or competitive body builders would be extreme ends of this scale. For average people BMI is a reliable indicator.

That’s because muscles are heavier than fat, right?

It also doesn't a good job of modeling ideal weight for short or tall people. BMI models a human in only two dimensions.
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