"The United States will not be escaping the obesity epidemic crisis anytime soon: Nearly 40% of adults and 19% of youth are obese, the highest rate the country has ever seen in all adults, according to research released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics. Since 1999, there has been a staggering rise in the prevalence of obesity, particularly in adults, without any "signs of it slowing down," according to the study's lead researcher, Dr. Craig Hales, medical epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"

In my opinion it's the prevalence of fast food restaurant chains. Ever notice that the majority of the time when a new strip center springs up it doesn't become occupied with the better places to eat but with Burger King, McDonald's, etc. So the parents take their kids there because it's close by and that is what is available to them. Cost is also a factor. Sure it costs less because fast, greasy food made by high school students does cost less to serve than more nutritional food having a longer preparation time and made with more care.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/health/adult-obesity-increase-study/index.html

Convenience is the culprit. We have no need to go and to do. We sit and are catered to.

Conversely, the portion of the population that is fit must be fitter than ever, as well.

Next time you are at a hospital, look at one the beds in the ER. Somewhere on it will be a weight certification sticker on it that says it is good up to 750 pounds. I'm sure it will have to be rated higher soon.

There could be a person administering CPR putting weight on that bed too, and multiple people also lending some portion of their weight on it. That 750 lbs doesn't mean "for 750 pound people and under".

That's true.

...but we're still pretty fat

So the global warming is a scam and the sea is not rising, we're sinking into there.

"Americans Are The Fattest They've Ever Been"

Not THIS American.

There is a little girl on my street who is on the heavy side. I know it's not funny, but it is something to see her red faced and out of breath chasing the ice cream truck down the street almost everyday. She rarely catches it. I figure, at least she is getting exercise.

Just ban all fast food restaurants and impose a "fat tax" on anyone who is more than 15% over their medically ideal weight.


Problem solved!! In theory we live in a free society but we can just ignore that for the common good......

I think it's a lost cause as being overweight or even mildly obese has become normal. Not everyone is fat, but it's common enough nowadays that it's easy to think that people just come in different shapes and sizes.

While there is diversity in natural sizes, *everyone* benefits from a balanced nutritious diet and getting regular exercise. All body types: ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph, usually somewhere in-between, look and feel their best when taking care of themselves. But the world we live in makes it difficult, you have to constantly make an effort to do the right thing, especially if you're trying to maintain weight loss.

Start with a physical to get baseline blood work numbers, you can later make comparisons to see where you're heading. Older men (the majority of SimHQ) should lift weights (or equivalent resistance training). It feels good, naturally raises your T (giving you energy and stamina, not just in the 'bedroom') and muscle burns fat while you sleep. Although I have a home gym (benches and treadmill), I've been reading about how gyms can offer great deals because they overbook their facilities, knowing that the majority of members won't show up, especially after January.

Ladies too, hit the weights. You don't have the testosterone to get buff (and neither do men unless they train super hard), you'll only get toned while keeping up bone density as you age. At 40+, you're replacing muscle that's naturally lost with aging, as well as (something I've learned recently) actually rebuilding bone. Squats and leg presses/curls does wonders for the ass, even with older women, although I think some today are taking ass-building too far (just a personal preference).

All that said, society in general is deluded and doomed to unhealthiness and it's only going to get worse.

Obesity is not an epidemic.

Cholera spreading in Haiti was an epidemic.

The Spanish Flu running around the world right after WWI was an epidemic.

HIV/AIDS is an epidemic in Africa. So is malaria.

We can do some things, just like we did with cigarette smoking, to reduce the number of people who are fat:

1) Stop telling kids to clean their plates at meals. This made sense in our history, as children did labor or, in a great portion of our past in the USA, it may be one of two meals they ate a day, and there would be nothing between. And don't wuss out when the kid refuses to eat and then complains they're hungry later - it sets up a snack mentality.

2) Reduce portion sizes. Restaurants are already doing this over all, as it's more profitable, but there's nothing wrong with stopping shoveling the food in when one is full. And certainly we can do this at home. See item #1.

We are training our children to become fat, and that's not the government's fault, or industry's fault. Every time I see a toddler drinking a Coke I cringe. Might as well fill their sippy cup with maple syrup....but no sane parent would do that, would they?

Starting with a small Fall garden (my father is so old-school )...

Looks like you are going to need one of these for planting.
https://www.deere.com/en/planting-equipment/1725c-planter/


Wheels

There are a few people in the area who every year have some really nice raised veg & giant sunflower gardens - their backyard backs up to the large drainage gully and a trail at the top. Outside their back fence near the trail is where they have their gardens because there are not many trees there to block the sun. They also have plenty of flowers growing around and in the gardens to attract the pollinators. The giant sunflowers grow to 15' high. They grow peppers, tomatoes, okra, greens, beans - many diff vegetables.

Anyone can stop and help themselves to a tomato or whatever because there are so many but most people respect that it's not theirs and leave it alone - we do live in a fairly good community.

As chili peppers don't need as much sun as tomatoes i grow a chili pepper plant in a large clay pot each year. With all the shade trees we have it's about all i can grow.

good luck with the garden Mark G

The problem is as I see it, is that there are less and less sane parents left. Parenting levels have taken a dive off a cliff over the last 20-30 years,maybe longer.

LOL!

A bit overkill but his rows would have been better aligned!

I won't rag on his geometry though, not bad for someone turning 79 today.

I'm at the middle of the NHS recommended weight for my height... and acutely conscious that this is no longer 'normal'.

I cannot buy trousers in any high street shop that fit me at all. I have a 27" waist and the minimum size carried in men's is 30", with most shops starting at 32" - boys trousers have insufficient length in the central seam.

Nearly everyone refers to me as being 'really skinny' or 'underweight', and that I 'need to eat more', and I am noticeably less 'hefty' than most.

I can't imagine, Lieste. I assume you're an ectomorph body type? (see pic below).

I've been comparing notes with my older brother, the same 5'-9" (175.26 cm) and 5 years older (age 55)...

Today he weighs in at 148 lbs. (67.1 kg), has been as high as 172 lbs. (78 kg.) a few years ago. He never smoked and never had a clean diet, frequently hitting buffets and drinking plenty of beer. Yet he has never had a real issue with weight, besides being overweight for his frame/build.

He cut back a little and lost the weight easily (mostly in his stomach). Where he gets discouraged is that at times he's tried to get buff (both gyms and home gym) and has never had success. Now we know he's an ectomorph like our grandfather (mom's father) was, he can't get bigger when he wants to but has never had to worry about getting *too* big. It didn't occur to me until we compared wrist measurements that he's an ectomorph, his wrist being almost an inch smaller in diameter, IIRC.

Some believe body types is junk science, especially when it comes to metabolism. There's no denying different skeletal frame sizes, even for same sex and height (comparing wrist measurements, one of the least fattiest parts of the body). But I believe metabolisms also vary with body types, and have also noticed that both my brother and my wife (both ectomorphs) have substantially higher resting heart rates (but much better blood pressure) than I do, even at my fittest. He'll be making a trip here soon, going to make more comparisons because this stuff is interesting to me now as I've gotten older.

++++++++++

Anyway, I'm not saying that an endomorph body type (the largest and quickest to gain muscle and fat) is an excuse to be obese, just that it's easier to put on weight (but also distributes extra weight better, for both sexes). Ectomorphs typically lack a muscular build (males) and curviness (females), although that's not always the case (genetics or surgery). They do better staying as slim as possible (within good health, of course) because they tend to collect any extra weight around the stomach area.

I believe I'm mostly a mesomorph, somewhere in the middle (and most common), maybe leaning more towards ectomorph than endomorph.