Why Americans Are So Overweight

I was reading this list of world cities/countries that have the most/least, etc. of different aspects. Sadly, the only place the U.S. (or any U.S. city) held on the list was "most food consumed" of all nations. Check out this factoid (which is actually 2-3 years old):

* * * * *

The overweight United States .. We eat an average of 3,770 calories a day each. Shamefully, obesity is becoming more of a problem every year

* * * * *

GEEZ, I had no idea it was that much .. We are apparently a land of TOO plenty and getting worse ..

didn't know our average calorie intake was that high - wow! I have known several people from other countries, though (I'm retired from a major university with many international students and staff), and a lot of them are shocked by the size of restaurant portions, soft drink sizes, etc here though. And buffets, too.

Well if you look at it over the last 60 years there are more fast food restaurants, less home cooked meal. Most of the food purchased in stores are either GMO vegetables, steroid/antibiotic pumped meats, fat free foods that are just full of all kinds of unhealthy **** and the list goes on.

Plus there is no more outside activities kids are as lazy as their parents. Sitting around on their phones, computers, tablets, etc. Technology has destroyed this world. And if you tell someone they should do something about their weight after they complain their back hurts or their knees hurt. Oh hell that never goes over well, because we need to not hurt their feelings. Then don't complain period.

Even in the quarantine, there are tons of outdoor activities, sports team via school and outside school and my neighborhood is consistently full of kids riding bikes, playing driveway basketball, tag, etc even when it's been cold here. Whatever is going on with obesity rates, it's not true that there are no outside activities and kids are all lazy, st least it's not true across the board.

It has nothing to do with the pandemic. Over the years I have seen less and less kids playing outside. Parents usually throw a video/movie on and they plop their kids in front of either the TV or computer because they don't want to be bothered with taking the kids outside to play or go for a walk. It starts at the parents level and it then dwindles down.

In my own family I have two sisters who are lazy as anything and all of their kids are the same way and disrespectful at that plus excessively overweight. My other sister, brother and myself always did things outside with our kids and you can tell the difference.

Studies have shown that from 1978 to 2016 the obesity rate has grown from 5% to 18.6% in children and adolescents. Some people may not think that is much, but it is. And the adult obesity rate is at 42.4%. Those two together make the US obesity rate at 60%. That's over half of the population of the US. And it is not just from the foods we eat, daily exercise of some sort has definitely decrease. When I was a kid in the 80's I either walked, rode my bike or my horse everywhere every day. I was always outside doing something. You may see kids in your neighborhood doing things, but it really isn't the norm any more.

Maybe it's geographic but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Based on what I see, I would not label an entire generation of kids as lazy. YMMV.

Agreed. I was in my laundromat earlier this week .. There are a couple of recliners there for +-sized folks (whi*****ludes me, since I'm @ 300 lbs. again ) with the rest of the customers left to sit on small plastic "stool" chairs. As soon as I got to the two recliners, there was a boy of about 8 or 9 sprawled on his back across both of them, lazily playing some video game on his smartphone. He could see that I wanted to sit down in one of the chairs, but gave me a smartazz look. Have to wonder how long it will be before HE is overweight .. Ironically, his young parents were there and they both looked pretty "athletic" .. Maybe they will be able to motivate him to get up and move some before it's too late ..

I have posted before on how, when I had my WLS performed in Brazil (back in 2006) I soon came to realize you didn't see fast food places there, despite my staying in a major city on the sea coast that I would say was comparable to a U.S. city like Santa Barbara . I remember asking my surgery concierge where they were at, and she let me know that they do NOT patronize them generally in Brazil, in that most food and meals are still cooked at home. She pointed out that they do have ONE McD's there , but that is "mostly for the tourists". When I went to buy some post-op "food" at the local WM, I also noticed they didn't have any canned soups there (e.g. Campbell's, Progresso, etc.). She pointed out, again, that they make their OWN soups at home. I also noticed that it seemed everyone there, esp. the pedestrians walking down the huge sidewalk that bordered along the beach outside my hotel, for the most part, by far, seemed to be in good physical shape. Maybe b/c it was not unusual for them to walk that long sidewalk daily for exercise .. Made me, a pre-op, feel like Godzilla there ..

Maybe we could just get away from lazy = obesity, and fat shaming altogether?

I was obese, I was never lazy.

I've always worked my ass off regardless of my weight. I also grew up in the 80's and I rode my bike, played outside, etc.

Kind of reminds me of my law partner (former QB for Iowa back in his day, btw ) many years ago, in my pre-ops days. I remember (disgustingly) how at one point he "insisted" that I always park my car at the far corner of our firm parking lot, apparently thinking that the additional walking that short distance would somehow help melt the 461 lbs. off of me, or some such. In reality. all it did was cause me to enter the office short of breath and sweaty -- lucky not to have a h.a.