Americans are Overweight!No two words in the health and fitness field evoke more debate or spawn more
systems, products, diet plans, exercise machines or television commercials
than “weight loss”. It’s no surprise. With an estimated 65% of adult
Americans 20+ years-old considered ‘overweight or obese’ and 30% or 60
million of those adults labeled as obese, weight loss has become a
national obsession and a dismal failure. Our children are not faring much
better as they adopt our fast food, high-fat, high-stress lifestyle. An
estimated 16% of children ages 6-19 are overweight or obese. Overweight and obesity are both labels for ranges
of weight that are greater than what is generally considered healthy for a
given height. Overweight and obesity ranges are determined by using weight
and height to calculate a number called the “body mass index” (BMI).
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An adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is
considered overweight.
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An adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is
considered obese.
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It is
important to remember that although BMI correlates with the amount of body
fat, BMI does not directly measure body fat. As a result, some people,
such as muscular athletes, may have a BMI that identifies them as
overweight even though they do not have excess body fat. For more
information about BMI, visit: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm
SOME SOBERING STATISTICS
While the average height of Americans has
increased slightly in the past 45 years, our average weight has
increased dramatically.
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Men between the
ages of 40 and 49 were nearly 27 pounds heavier on average in 2002
compared to 1960.
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Men between the
ages of 50 and 59 were nearly 28 pounds heavier on average in 2002
compared to 1960.
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Men between the ages of 60 and 74 were
almost 33 pounds heavier on average in 2002 compared to 1960.
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Women aged 20-29 were nearly 29 pounds
heavier on average in 2002 compared to 1960.
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Women aged 40-49 were about 25½ pounds
heavier on average in 2002 compared to 1960.
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Women aged 60-74 were about 17½ pounds
heavier on average in 2002 compared to 1960.
Meanwhile, the
report documented that average weights for children are increasing as
well:
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The average weight for a 10 year-old-boy
in 1963 was 74.2 pounds; by 2002 the average weight was nearly 85
pounds.
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The average weight for a 10-year-old girl
in 1963 was 77.4 pounds; by 2002 the average weight was nearly 88
pounds.
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A 15-year-old boy weighed 135.5 pounds on
average in 1966; by 2002 the average weight of a boy that age
increased to 150.3 pounds.
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A 15-year-old girl weighed 124.2 pounds on
average in 1966; by 2002 the average weight for a girl that age was
134.4 pounds.
Average BMI
for children and teens has increased as well:
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In 1963, the average BMI for a 7-year-old
boy was 15.9; in 2002 it was 17.0. For girls the same age, the average
BMI increased from 15.8 to 16.6 over the same period.
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In 1966, the average BMI for a 16-year-old
boy was 21.3; in 2002, it was 24.1. For girls the same age, the
average BMI increased from 21.9 to 24.0 over the same period.
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