Seeing Statistics in RLFollow

We hear about new statsics now and then on the evergrowing percentage of people overweight in the US. Right now it is estimated that 35% of Americans are overweight. I've always been concious of my own weight, making sure I never got heavy due to laziness. I worked hard to get my body back when my son was born, and while it took a lot longer than I hoped, I finally did it. Im not a health concious nut though.

So my story comes about that yesterday I had to go to a kids fair with my son. It was almost 100 degrees out, very humid, and lots of people! I was busy keeping an eye on my son, who ran from one ride to the next, and looking for a place to grab some water to keep us hydrated whn my husband made a comment that made me pause. He had been people watching and realized that the statistics of overweight people were glaringly true, if only you looked around. I took a moment to check out the thousands of people nearby and was shocked. So many people were not just overweight, they were outright fat! I've never been one to critisize anothers body weight. But I was pretty amazed that so many people out there had their stomaches bulging out of their shirts, or watching people waddle about 50 steps and then plunk themselves down in the grass because they couldnt keep up with their kids. My self esteem went up just a little bit knowing that because I had worked on getting back in shape, I was a lot healthier than most parents there, and I could keep up with my son constantly.


What is it that makes people let go of themselves? I completely understand women who are pregnant and the years it can take to drop the baby weight. ive been there, and it was one of my lowest times of self esteem, knowing I was doing all I can and it was taking forever. But what about the others? The men who have the huge beer bellies, the women who had kids a long time ago, but they still have an extra 75lbs on them? What is it that has made the average American give up on their looks and health to the point they are reducing their life expectancy?


I get the whole fastfood and convenience part. But are we working so hard we dont have time to make dinner at home 5 times a week? Or do we, as an average American, just not care anymore?

Bingo! For a lot of people that is.

Nowadays is so much easier to just plop the kids down in front of the TV with a happy meal ( a king size double whopper for yourself ) than actually spend time making dinner (*GASP*) and *SHUDDER* talk to your child!

Don't get me wrong, I like fast food everyonce in a while, but I know familes who only eat fast food, breakfast lunch and dinner. The kids don't know anything else, and don't like home cooked food (go figure).

I lived in Europe for 6 months back in 2001 and was completly amazed that I rarely saw a fat person...then I came back here...sigh..

For myself (not that I'm overweight but I weigh more now than I did at 25) it was the sudden downgrade in metabolism around age 30. I ate like crap at 25 and never gained an ounce. I eat like crap now and.. well.. I weigh more now than I did at 25. Point being, it takes a change in lifestyle that you may not be prepared for until one day your pants don't fit.

As for the McDonald's thing, I attribute some of it to the fact that there are more double-income households (or single parent ones) than when most of us were kids and fewer people home to spend all day cooking a roast. It's quick and easy. For that matter, it's fairly cheap; I posted once ages ago a breakdown of my own grocery spending which showed that buying my child two Happy Meals a day would actually cost me less financially than it does to feed him grocery bought food for lunch and dinner. I'm not saying it's right, but it does have a certain allure after working eight hours and spending another hour in traffic getting home to a hungry child.

Because its hot outside, or your favorite show is on, oh I wanted to do it but I get to it later, etc. whatever excuse fits. Finally to much of the day has gone by and you can say "well its to late to do that now".

Try a 40-hour work week again and see how quickly that drains your will to live.

I hang with my friends, go swimming, play roller hockey once a week, tennis whenever I can...my problem is I just can't figure out when to stop eating. I'm almost always hungry. I think it comes from boredom though, because whenever I'm around the house, bored out of my skull, I eventually open that dreaded refrigerator and find something to eat.

The dreaded "freshman fifteen" of college wasn't anywhere in sight. I found out that I could make a pretty healthy small meal for lunch everday, that was still filling, and fairly cheap. And @ college, there are people and friends everywhere, so boredom doesn't rear it's ugly head nearly as often.

So, I don't know if it's like this with every American, but when I'm bored, I eat. Sucks living in a town with nothing to do, and no girlfriend to help "pass the time".

Keep in mind not everyone that is fat is lazy. Some people have medical problems that keep them from doing those very activities. I for one cannot get overly hot, my medications make me more susceptible to heat stroke whether indoors or out and since I have suffered this twice, I am about 80% more likely to again. This same med makes me light sensitive and sunburn very easliy. I can't even do fake bake for more than 10-12 minutes without burning, but I did find that fake bake made staying in the sun easier.

As for the big Darkflame some of you have seen was also medicated related. I was/is allergic to Lopressor, which made me gain weight incredibly fast and made me more than lethargic. Taking the stairs killed me. Once I got off that medication I dropped 50 pounds in around 4 months.

I haven't lost much more lately as I work between 2-3 jobs and fast food is sometimes much more time and financially efficient to buy a happy meal for $1.29 on Thursday's for Kai and me. I treadmill when I can, which isn't daily twice a day as it was. ATM the cash flow is more important than how I look in my bikini to some guy.

My aunt has cancer and her meds make her swell which makes her appear fat, however it is mainly water weight. So I guess saying that people are lazy, some are, but not all.

My mother is heavy and a lot of it has to do with these same reasons. I know there are medical reasons that can prevent people from losing weight, and I'll add that to my list of understanding. But somehow I think those people are a minority in the percentage of people overweight.

Keep in mind that losing weight isn't just how what you eat, or how much you eat...it's also about how you eat.

Folks that eat two meals once or twice a day will generall have a harder time losing weight. A much smarter way to eat is to have 6 - 8 small, clean meals a day, about 2 - 3 hours apart. Target most of your carbs for the morning, that way your body can start breaking them down so you'll have energy throught the day.

As the day progresses, back off on the carbs a bit, this will help to slow you down, and you'll sleep better. Eating clean like this will allow you to crank up your metabolism. You'll be able to maintain a lean figure, and remain healthy at the same time.

You only have to maintain clean eating about 90% of the time. If you need pizza or ice cream, or want to go out to dinner and have a giant burger, DO IT! It really won't hurt you in the long run.

Of course I make no claims that this will work for everyone (or anyone for that matter), but it does work well for me. It took a while to get used to eating that many times a day, but now I feel starved if I got 4 or more hours without food.

People who are overweight from medical reasons aside....


The reason so many Americans are overweight these days isn't exactly laziness. It's more of a sense of entitlement. It's the sort of thing that makes a guy cuss out a cop for pulling him over when he's speeding because he's LATE, DAMNIT! It's the sort of thing that pushes school programs where children don't get grades and sports programs where everyone receives a trophy. We have to have the biggest, the fast, and the best of everything. Nothing less will do.

That's why the diet industry is so huge. Just about all of those things out there work if you follow them. Low-carb, no-carb, sugar free, just one calorie, light, new & improved. There's a ton of diet ice cream on the market. That should be a clear indicator.

We, as a group, feel entitled to eat or cake and have it too. Unfortunately for us, we have it on our thighs.

Until and unless we learn that you actually have to sacrifice some eating to lose weight, the problem will continue to exist.

I recall one particular summer when I was working for my grandfather in his greenhouses. Every day we'd have a real lunch prepared by my grandmother. And a real lunch hour. A whole one. It took all of it to deal with the spread she'd lay out. Well, she's been dieting as long as I've been old enough to know what dieting was. This particular episode was an ugly one, because she decided that lunch was going to be salad. Nothing but salad. She was tired of watching everyone else eat all that good food while she ate salad and at the same time fighting guilt for sneaking some of that good food herself. So she fixed salad for lunch. My grandpa gave her holy hell for it, too. (They never postponed a heated discussion due to the audience. If you didn't want to hear it, you may as well hit the door. Fifty-eight years of marriage will do that to you.) Anyhow, she was going on about how the salad would help her lose weight when he pointed out how large the bowl was and that the quantity she ate was her problem. She went on to talk calories and how she wasn't taking in all that many. His reply? "Cows get fat off of grass."

I wound up buying my lunch that day.

Did your self esteem go back down when you remembered you were a housemaker/hairdresser? It should have.

Sank you, Perigrim-san. /bow