this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
448 points (98.9% liked)

News

23361 readers
3381 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

A new Lancet study reveals nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, a sharp rise from just over half in 1990.

Obesity among adults doubled to over 40%, while rates among girls and women aged 15–24 nearly tripled to 29%.

The study highlights significant health risks, including diabetes, heart disease, and shortened life expectancy, alongside projected medical costs of up to $9.1 trillion over the next decade.

Experts stress obesity’s complex causes—genetic, environmental, and social—and call for structural reforms like food subsidies, taxes on sugary drinks, and expanded treatment access.

Non-paywall link

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 51 points 5 days ago (4 children)

To be fair, I don't think many of us would recognize someone who is a BMI of 26 as "overweight." It technically is, but you've probably seen people regularly that are "technically" overweight but would never realize it. You yourself might be (and, statistically, are likely to be) overweight according to BMI and not realize it.

The really staggering thing is obesity. From 1960 until about 1992, it was between 15-20%. By 2000 it was 30%. These days it's getting close to 45%.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 days ago (2 children)

That's the thing 40 years ago you would realize that they were overweight.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Actually 40 years ago a higher percentage of Americans were "overweight," so it's unlikely it would seem more obvious then vs now. The difference is that now many more people are obese, but being obese is fairly noticeable unlike being overweight.

The percentage of people who are in the just-above-normal category of "overweight" has remained very steady and within a narrow band over the years, i.e., it's been consistently between roughly 31-34% for almost seven decades. It was 32.9% last year. That's why in my comment I noted that the real concerning thing about the study isn't really the amount of people who are overweight; it's the amount of people who are obese and morbidly obese.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Maybe...but two things:

If the number of obese people is lower, then what are the people who aren't mildly overweight? They are healthy weight. So even if the percentage of mildly overweight people stay the same, the day to day comparison is with a bigger group of healthy weight people, so they probably were more recognizably overweight.

Secondly, with less really obese people you wouldn't get desensitized to seeing fat all the time, which makes mildly overweight people seem more normal. Somebody with a BMI of 26 and about 15lbs overweight would have been more likely to be described as "plump" or "husky" back then. But when crowds are full of people that are 50+ lbs overweight, that 26 BMI seems downright healthy.

This is all speculation. I can't remember how I perceived overweight vs obese people back in the 80's.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Well, you may be right. I'm not going to try to divine cultural sentiment from 40 years ago or whatever. I just think the study collapsing a relatively stable category (people who are "overweight") with people who are obese and morbidly obese kind of hides the news. Sure, it makes for a splashier headline "75%!!" But the increase in obesity and morbid obesity is actually more dramatic when the "overweight" category is taken out of the focus.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

Well, 40 years ago it was easy to find really good blow anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yup. I was talking to a guy whose doctor told him that he needed to lose weight. He didn’t look big - he’s tall, but apparently his bmi was 30.

I’ve always had a scale and I’ve always used it. My weight now is less than my weight in hs. I was 130.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah right now I weigh 170, I'm in pretty good shape (would be in better shape if I didn't injure my foot and could start running again). But for me 180 is overweight? Even if that's just fat that means my muscles become less visible. Hell it feels like my thighs are bigger now after getting in shape that when I was 180. And I started to look really skinny when I got down to 165.

I'm sure people would keep calling me skinny at 180. What we need are easier ways to measure body fat percentage. Because it is true that holding onto lots of fat for a long time is what's bad for you.

The easiest way to check on body fat percentage right now is just to take weekly pictures of yourself in your underwear. You can see the muscle vs fat pretty well.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Part of the problem with BMI is that since it's squared it over-reports overweight in tall people and under-reports overweight in short people. I'm 189 cm or so and if I were to reach the bottom of the "healthy" weight I would look like a concentration camp victim. 😄

[–] [email protected] -5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Someone with bmi 26 is absolutely overweight o.O

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 children)

Yes, technically, they are. But it's unlikely you would see someone with a bmi of 26 walk by you on the street and think "that guy is overweight."

This guy has a BMI of 26. If he had clothes on, few people are going to assume he's overweight, even though technically he is:

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I’ve got about 10lbs on this guy. I’m obese. I know it. I’m ashamed of it. My body knows it and tries telling me every day I need to lose 30lbs.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

If you or anyone else is actually interested in getting yoked, a great place to start is the fitness wiki. It does a good job of condensing everything down and lists various effective routines which will do a good job of getting you looking the way you want.

Fitness influencers specialize in baffling people with bullshit. The recipe to getting in good shape is really simple. Follow an established routine, adjust your diet (the does not have to be drastic, you only need subtle changes) and improve your sleep. You could lift 40 minutes two days per week, walk 30-60 minutes another two days per week and you'd look and feel like a new person in a year

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It's never too late, I managed to lose 20lbs simply not going after seconds on my tasty pasta dinners. Took like 6 months but my stomach got used to it. Granted, this last week has been hella tempting to stress eat, but just seeing progress is enough to keep me going. Just get the ball rolling and be happy with really subtle losses. Like, impossible to notice day to day loses.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yeah. I was actually fifteen pounds lighter this time last year. It’s been a rough year. I cut out all bread, pasta, cheese, and beer, and walked an average of 15 miles a week.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

It's really mostly about doing something sustainable. I tried keto once and lost 20lbs only to regain it immediately after. Portion control seems to be working better for me since I will still eat whatever I want during the day (helps that my diet is mostly normal food I cook and not processed)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Where can I learn more about these tasty pasta dinners that you speak of? :⁠-⁠)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

We're talking about losing weight, not bulking up!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

This is the more important part, even if you don't look unhealthy, if you are overweight there are health conditions that become more likely and it is likely poor lifestyle and diet is influencing it. Just because you don't look unhealthy doesn't mean you are perfectly healthy. Even people who are a healthy weight and exercise regularly could benefit from removing processed, oilly and sugary foods from their diets. People who eat amazingly healthy might not be getting as much exercise as they should. Our bodies require high quality nutrition and movement to stay in shape and most of us aren't meeting those needs between lifestyle choices, work, finances, and education.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

with men, the issue is that there is a lot built up internal fat around the inner organs BEFORE you even get to see fat thats visible from the outside. so yeah, i bet the guy is medically considered overweight even though he doesn't look like peter griffin. this is why when women gain weight you can tell immediately and for men it takes a while. both is unhealthy though

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

i hate being wrong on the internet :D
point taken!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago

As usual it is a matter of education and normalisation. I'm a rock climber and am surrounded by shredded people a lot of the time. I'm sitting at around 18-20% body fat which is high for the sport but I am considerably leaner than the guy in your photo.

I can absolutely tell that he is overweight (even with clothes) but that's because I have invested a lot of time into learning about health and fitness and spend most of my time with people who have a 'healthy' BMI. If all you see are overweight and obese people every day then of course you will look at this guy and think he looks perfectly healthy (which he might well be but that's another discussion).