There’s good news and bad news about the nation’s health.
Good: More than 80 percent of adults 25 and older always buckle their seat belts—four times the rate two decades ago. It’s saving 10,000 lives a year.
Bad: A more important figure has reached 80 percent: adults 25 and older who are overweight. And the surplus fat is killing far more of us than seat belts are saving, because extra pounds carry greater health risks than most of us know—especially if you’re a couch potato or have a potbelly.
Is your weight risky? And if so, what’s the easiest way to drop the pounds? Here’s what science says.
Is Your Fat over?
Technically, the problem is not overweight but overfat. Some chunky folks really are “all muscle”—although you’re more likely to run into them at a weightlifters’ convention than on the street. Women are overfat when their weight is more than 33- to 36-percent fat; men when it’s over 20- to 25-percent fat. (The lower percentage is for people under 40, the higher for those 60 and older.)
It’s hard to measure your fat percentage, however, unless you own an electronic body-fat scale ($60 to $120). Otherwise, you need a special test. The most reliable involves weighing yourself under water, where your buoyancy reveals how much of you is muscle, skin, and bones and how much is not. Another test measures the fat beneath your skin by pinching you with spring-loaded calipers.
Over the past few decades, Americans have been bulking up in amazing numbers. Since 1980, the obesity rate has doubled and overweight has climbed 40 percent. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are now officially overweight, and half of those are obese. Among major industrialized nations, we are now officially the fattest.
Overweight used to be a mark of poverty and ignorance, but this is changing. Obesity rates have risen faster among the affluent and college-educated. Sex differences, too, are changing. Nowadays, women—especially in middle age—are almost as likely to be overweight as men.
Geographical skews haven’t changed. The skinniest people still live in New England and the mountain states, the tubbiest in the South. As of 2006 (latest reliable figures), the fattest state is Mississippi, with a 29.5-percent obesity rate; the leanest Colorado, at 16.9 percent.
Public-health authorities blame America’s weight gain on three trends:
• Food is plentiful and cheap. Thanks to globalized competition and more efficient farming, processing, packaging, and retailing, the cost of feeding an average family (in inflation-adjusted dollars) is 5- to 10-percent lower than 30 years ago. Meanwhile, the number of items in a modern supermarket has passed 30,000.
• People are busier. A freer labor market compels people to work more hours per week. As a result, they eat oftener in restaurants and out of packages—where the seller, not the buyer, controls the helpings. They also have less room on their schedules for burning off those calories. Three-quarters of adults get no regular exercise.
• Portions are bigger. Because food is cheaper than labor, marketers find it easier to raise profits by pushing bigger helpings than by serving more meals. That’s why “super-sizing” has swept the fast-food industry. But homemade portions are bigger, too. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the average fast-food burger has grown from 6.1 ounces to 7.2 ounces in 20 years—but Mom’s burger has swelled even more, from 5.7 to 8.4 ounces. Meanwhile, the average dessert has risen from 4.2 to 4.8 ounces
An Expensive Problem
Most people know that obesity can lead to heart attack. Many understand that fatty foods contribute to cancer. But obesity carries many other risks. Here’s a partial list:
- • Diabetes • Heart disease • Stroke
- Hypertension
- Gallbladder disease
- Osteoarthritis
- Sleep apnea
- Asthma
- Cancer
- High cholesterol
- Menstrual problems
- Birth defects
- etc
Your Overall Risk
The American Obesity Association has developed a one-minute “Weight Wellness Profile” that weighs all of the factors discussed above. Most people who score higher than 3 in the profile could benefit from weight loss, additional exercise, or both. To get your profile,
Best Weight-Loss Method
As many studies have shown, quick weight loss and fad diets don’t work. They may yield amazing results, but only for a few weeks or months. In more than 90 percent of cases, the weight comes back. And according to some studies, repeating this cycle may be riskier than staying overweight.
The only way to lose weight permanently is slowly, by lowering your calorie intake a little or burning a few more calories in exercise. Getting more calories from carbohydrate or protein and fewer from fat may also help, partly because 100 calories worth of protein or carbs is a lot bulkier and fills you up better than 100 calories worth of fat.
Lowering your fat intake and eating less or exercising more will take a little effort at first—just as wearing your seat belt did. But in time, it will be a habit instead of a chore. And you’ll be the picture of health.
