The Amazon reflects, self-motivates.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

When I first started working out and watching my diet in 2004, I was 5'9" and weighed 230, 27 pounds over what is considered obese.

Forget about the handwaves you'll sometimes hear from people about doctors having set obesity benchmarks too stringently-- I'll TELL you what obesity is. Obesity, for me, was daily acid reflux. It was bad sleep and exhaustion and insomnia, including having to sleep in a certain way so that the fat on my chest and throat wouldn't cut off my airflow. Eric sometimes had to keep vigil during the night to make sure I was still breathing.  It was rising mobility issues-- little things-- movie theater seats being too tight, seatbelts at amusement park rides not fitting, bolted-down tables and chairs at restaurants being too snug against my stomach.  It was the insidious rise in my blood pressure-- occasional dizziness, shortness of breath.  I was on birth control pills, too.  Oh, MAN, I was sweating bullets about strokes and blood clots when my blood pressure started steadily rising.

I don't know when exactly I came to the realization that the the pieces were coming together to form a really bad picture.  But I am really glad I did, and my one regret is I didn't do it sooner.  I gained about 10 pounds back before I moved up here, and I was painfully conscious of the difference between a heavier me and a lighter me.  I'm now at 186.  I need to go further, but I also cherish the little things I DO have that obesity denied me.  Easy clothes shopping.  Restful sleep, energy.  Ambition.  Healthy, empowered choices.  My realization that I needed to lose weight wasn't about looks, it was about health-- this decision means that I won't ever say "eh, I'm older, my looks aren't so important"-- my health is and should always be a big part of my decision-making process. I read articles like the one below to remind me of what we face now in our collective health as a society, and what we'll face in the future, when things like cardiovascular disease and diabetes-related disabilities will become commonplace among younger and younger people.  (WALL-E made me simultaneously want to go to my gym and my garden!!)  We will see (possibly already are seeing) this financially in our taxpaying outlook, as more and more people require disability assistance.  I'd like to think us geeks getting together to encourage each other, be it through exercising together, going dancing, cheer-leading, advice, or a penalty bet(!), is part of taking care of that collective health and each other as friends, as well as taking responsibility for ourselves.  To me, this is a part of being a good citizen!

U.S. Obesity Epidemic Continues to Grow
One-quarter of Americans report being obese, CDC report says

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- Despite wide-ranging efforts to encourage Americans to lose weight, the number of U.S. adults who are obese increased almost 2 percent between 2005 and 2007, a new report found.

In 2007, 25.6 percent of adults reported being obese, compared to 23.9 percent in 2005, according to the finding in the July 18 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

"The epidemic of adult obesity continues to rise in the United States, indicating that we need to step up our efforts at the national, state and local levels," Dr. William Dietz, director of CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, said in a news release. "We need to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables, engage in more physical activity and reduce the consumption of high-calorie foods and sugar-sweetened beverages in order to maintain a healthy weight."

The percentage of adults who are obese varies by state and region, according to the report. For example, in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, 30 percent of the residents reported being obese, compared with 18.7 percent in Colorado, which had the lowest prevalence of obesity.

Obesity was most prevalent in the South, with 27 percent of residents classified as obese. In the Midwest, the number was 25.3 percent; in the Northeast, 23.3 percent; and in the West, 22.1 percent, according to the report.

In terms of age, among those 50 to 59 years old, 31.7 percent of men and 30.2 percent of women were obese. For those 19 to 29, 19.1 percent of men and women were obese.

Breaking the numbers down by race/ethnicity and sex, obesity prevalence was highest for non-Hispanic black women (39.0 percent), followed by non-Hispanic black men (32.1 percent).

Education levels play a role, too. For men, obesity prevalence was lowest among college graduates (22.1 percent) and highest among those with some college (29.5 percent) and a high school diploma (29.1 percent). For women, obesity prevalence was lowest among college graduates (17.9 percent) and highest among those with less than a high school diploma (32.6 percent).

None of the states or the District of Columbia has met the "Healthy People 2010" goal of reducing the prevalence of obesity to 15 percent or less, the CDC said.

"Obesity is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. These diseases can be very costly for states and the country as a whole," Deb Galuska, associate director for science at the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, said in a news release.

The CDC defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) of 30 or above. An adult who is 5-feet, 9-inches tall is considered obese if he or she weighs 203 pounds.

In compiling the data, the CDC used its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which collected information on more than 350,000 adults through telephone interviews. The researchers calculated BMIs using information reported by survey participants.

"These data from the CDC confirm that the epidemic of obesity continues to spread, whether looking at population trends in the short- or long-term," said Howard D. Sesso, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The likelihood of America meeting the Healthy People 2010 objectives for obesity prevalence appears dim, Sesso said. "This report highlights the need not only to outright prevent the development of obesity over the life-course, but also to improve efforts to reduce body weight in those already classified as obese," he said.

More information

For more on obesity, visit the CDC.

SOURCES: Howard D. Sesso, Sc.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston; July 18, 2008, CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Comments

[deirdremoon.livejournal.com]

Over a QUARTER of the nation???

Yikes.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

That's including the fact that this survey was mainly phone-based-- women tend to lowball their weight, men overstate their height. Even with the fudging in the reported data, 1/4 of the nation is medically obese. Additionally, the highest levels of obesity are to be found in the poorest areas of the nation. We are paying for it, folks.

[grandmoffdavid.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind "The CDC defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) of 30 or above." Which, while it gives general trends, is not actually a good measure of obesity. For example, for my body weight to be in the Normal range, I'd have to weigh around 170. The last time I was at 170, I was in college, climbing mountains on a weekly, if not daily, basis, using a bike as my main means of transport, and was causing concern in my family for being, "too skinny." (True, that's my family, but still...) It's also generally acknowledged that it overestimates body fat on "athletes and others who have a muscular build."

That being said, yeah, a big chunk of the nation could stand to loose a little weight.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know Normal is off for that survey-- but the reality of our situation is that we don't have a bunch of thickly-muscled men and women running around our country, so logic appears to dictate that the 30 is a BMI of fat, not muscle.
Obesity surveys are going to be fuzzy for a lot of reasons, including the lowball/highball problem I mentioned in my earlier comment. Grain of salt, etc. But cardiovascular disease and diabetes incidence-- sadly, they're not as ambiguous. And they're going up too.
I personally would like to see if I can meet with someone who can actually give me an accurate caliper reading so that I know how much fat I could stand to lose.

[silverstreak.livejournal.com]

I never paid too much attention to the BMI. I think that each individual knows when they are obese and when they are healthy. As long as you get to a point that you are healthy and have no weight related medical issues, you are golden.

[grandmoffdavid.livejournal.com]

Actually, they have devices that can measure body fat with electrodes now, so you don't have to get pinched. There's also the displacement test, but you need a big tank of water for that.