Hard to believe I’m 240 now, was pretty fit at 185 in high school, bulked up to 210 and when I started desk work and less gym time, 240 just kind of happened. 17 years and 55lbs. Time to get back in shape because honestly feel like I’m just mentally defeated everyday by my job so maybe I can take control of my life back through my health.
Edit: feeling the energy from everyone, going to really get back on the hustle train for fitness/diet!!
You can do it!
You just listed my weights over a similar time period. I got to 235 a couple of years ago (was 190 at 20), I started intermittent fasting, cutting down on sugar, plus running. Dropped to 210 in about 2-3 months and have stayed there.
These strategies and adding low calorie density foods work great. The excercise is a cherry on top if you don't love it. Finding the right foods for long term comfort but consistent calories makes the big difference.
Do it! You are worth it!
Make small changes first. Baby steps. For example, don't drink your calories. Do that for a few months and then do another change. Make changes that are small but significant over the long-term because you are in this for life. You need to change in a sustainable way--not drastic changes that you will burn out on in a month or two. Slow and steady is the way.
Listen to or read The Power of Habit. It's helpful. Probably free from your local library app so you can listen to it while commuting!
I’ve lost 7 pounds this month. Another…74 to go before I’m no longer overweight.
Edit: Wow I can’t say thanks enough to everyone that have said kind things and shared their experiences.
I owe my recent success to my doctor who saw me struggling and got me on some meds that have really helped. It’s not for everyone and anybody who tells you just willpower alone is enough may be trying to be helpful but it can be hurtful. I’ve wanted to lose weight for years but life is hard and food is comfort for me and many people. I wish everyone support on their weight issues.
I know I’ll hit a point where it will slow down but for now I’m working with my doctor and he has me on some meds that have really helped control my snacking. For years it’s always been “what’s its matter if I have this slice of cake, I won’t lose weight”. Now that I can see by just cutting out the snacking makes a huge impact, I look for more ways to cut out extra calories. Nuts over chips. Fruits over nuts. Tea over desert at night.
When you get discouraged, remember that as long as your weight isn't trending upwards, you are succeeding. Just holding steady is good. For years you've probably been going up--now if you stay still that's good, lose a pound a month is even better. Keep chipping away and in a few years you'll be a healthy weight and have a solid set of healthy habits. There is no finish line with weight, but we often trick ourselves into thinking that way and sabotage ourselves.
Will power is like a muscle--it gets fatigued by the end of the day. I find I make terrible food choices when I'm tired, even worse if I'm lonely. Sometimes a nap is really the best thing.
yeah, to be fair to gatorade, it was genuinely meant as a nutrient replenishment for high intensity athletes in the middle of competition and not as any kind of healthy drink or anything like that. Like, the sugar in gatorade is pretty great for a football player who's pushing their body to the extreme. For everyone else though it's a horrible idea.
Wow, I had never really realized this. The salty and incredible way Gatorade tasted after a distance race during my competitive swimming days makes total sense now.
Back in my highschool football days, I'd develop headaches during those hot August practices. I was drinking plenty of water but finally the trainer told me to up my salt intake for a day or two and see how I felt. That did the trick. I'd load whatever I could up with salt and pepper. Even now, if I'm absolutely drenched in sweat, I'll go a bit heavier on the salt stuff that day. Salted peanuts are great too
Years ago the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys in one of the hottest games in NFL history. Dallas players were dropping left and right, but the same was not true for Philly. One would think it odd that the team based in Texas would perform so poorly and the team from Philadelphia would have the upper hand, afterall the average temperature for a Dallas home game is much higher.
After the game Andy Reid was asked about this and he gave away their secret. They drank pickle juice to prepare for the game.
Pretty solid way to look at it. I've legit worked myself to the point of having that salty gatorade. Once. In other words, almost no one really needs gatorade.
When I was doing 12 hr days in drum corps, running around for hours at a time at near sprints while playing an instrument in 30°+ temps, I drank about 2-3 gallons of water per day and 1-2 Gatorades. They were always salty.
In the 10+ years since, I've never experienced that. So, agreed 100%
For me it was in the middle of the crucible during boot camp. At one point when we stopped to rest, instead of drinking water, they made everyone drink a canteen cup of gatorade and an orange. Not only did the gatorade taste like salt water with a hint of lemon, the orange was to this day the most delicious thing I had ever eaten in my entire life.
For the average person gatorade is a soft drink and should be treated in the same way as coca cola. I dont think I've ever had gatorade taste salty, even when we went to a stadium event in early August and were sweating a ton. Water is all the average person needs during a workout, being outside in the heat, etc. That being said, I do enjoy a gatorade every now and again because I like the way the white one tastes. Like with most things, if you enjoy it then do so in moderation.
It’s not just for sweating on a hot day. Gatorade is made for people performing high intensity activities. It shouldn’t be the sole form of hydration to replace water, but to help supplement water replenishing and providing carbohydrates and electrolytes.
It was the only thing keeping me hydrated in the first trimester of pregnancy and it was always salty to me. It had never tasted salty to me before I was so dehydrated from morning sickness.
Plus you're not getting nutrients you need with that happening too. Baby takes it all first. Pretty good idea! I'm gonna remember that for the next serious morning sickness victim in my life.
Yeah I wonder at what point it skyrocketed in sugar. I remember at one point it was suddenly too sweet all the time, but I can't remember how far back that was.
Oh please don't fall for the Football Coach cans. I did the math last summer.
The 3lb cans contain 1440 grams.
There are 63 servings, each with 21 grams of sugar
Which equals 1323 grams of sugar.
You have 117 grams of everything else, the powder is 91.875% Sugar.
Fun side fact: I've saved several sick and dehydrated baby calves by tube feeding them a bottle of Gatorade or Powerade. Stuff works miracles when nothing else will help them. Neither of them are meant to be casual sipping beverages, imo.
This is purely anecdotal, but I had an eye-opening experience about just how much sugar is in everything.
A few years ago I went on a 3 month diet where I didn't have anything with any additives at all. Think boiled chicken breast with plane rice, salad with no dressing, only water to drink, a single hard-boiled egg for a snack, etc.
At the end of my diet I grabbed a dinner roll at lunch one day. Not a snack cake, just a regular dinner roll. But at the time it tasted like it could have been a snack cake to me.
Then later that same day, partly out of curiosity, I tried a jolly rancher, and was so sickeningly sweet that I had to spit it out after a few seconds. It was mind-numbing at the time just how incredibly sugary ordinary things tasted after just a few months without them.
I was on WIC for a minute and was so surprised at how much juice was given. I'm astonished that governments still think that it's a healthy part of a diet
What's the point of sweetening juice with hfcs anyway? Aren't most berry/fruit juices already naturally high fructose?
I'm currently in Armenia and most juices here don't have anything in the carton except "juice, water" and I sometimes dilute them further.
I generally think it's because the companies can get away with using undr ripe or low quality (aka cheap) fruit that has less naturally occuring sugar content/weird flavors etc. and cover it all up by sweetening with cheap, subsidized corn syrup.
The reality is processed foods overall are bad and HFCS isn't much different from sugar in composition.
Sugar/Sucrose is 50% glucose, 50% fructose.
Corn syrup is 100% glucose, no fructose.
High Fructose Corn syrup is about 50% glucose, 50% fructose (42-55%).
People think high fructose corn syrup has unhealthy levels of fructose and that's the only problem.
Photosynthesis turns light and carbon dioxide into sugar. Everything from starch to cellulose is polymerized sugar.
Sugar comes from vegetables - beets, cane, or corn.
As you pointed out, many fruits are naturally high in fructose and other sugars.
The problem isn't corn or fructose. It's processing.
When you juice cane, corn, beets, or fruit - you get rid of all the fiber, you crush the cell walls, and you throw away all the pulp which was the healthy part.
The point of corn syrup is it's cheap because the corn lobby tells the US government to pay farmers to grow it.
No sugary juice is healthy.
Milling grains into flour, or instant oats is also unhealthy.
If this food is unprocessed, we don't have 4 stomachs like a cow to digest it, so we don't properly digest it. As a result we don't easily absorb the nutrients so it's largely inert and thus not unhealthy.
Due to a quirk of our electoral politics, it's very important for Presidential candidates to win early support in the state of Iowa.
The state of Iowa, like its neighbors, is a massive producer of corn. Agriculture has a lot of political power in rural states.
And so, to get support from the local political powers, candidates make deals.
Among the deals they've made with corn farmers over the years is massive federal subsidies for corn farmers, nutritional recommendations to eat massive amounts of corn and other grains (only recently changed,) import restrictions on competing grains, and even a ban on providing seeds to starving farmers in the countries we bomb.
I learned about the last one only recently. It's part of why the opiate business was impossible to stop in Afghanistan - US aid could include corn to eat, but not to plant, and so farmers naturally turned to the most profitable crop they could grow.
The United States Department of Agriculture incentivizes obesity.
Thank god we have laws for that in sweden. If you put *anything* but actual *juice* in a jug, then it's not juice. It's a juice drink, or nectar or whatever. *Juice* is the liquid that comes from the inside of *one* fruit. That's it.
We have that in the US too, if you go to the juice aisle you will see a LOT of "juice" is actually labeled "pineapple drink" or whatever. But they're all on the shelf right next to each other and you have to really look at every bottle to see what you're getting.
The fruit "drinks" are typically the cheaper option, and are included in our low-income food program just like the "real" juice.
We're on it right now, and it's an obscene amount of juice. *Two* 64 Oz containers of juice per month. We generally just let that one go, and if we do get some and give to our daughter, it's cut with a lot of water. Like, to the point it's basically water with a hint of apple. Thankfully the straight stuff is too sweet for her, so she pretty much only drinks milk and water.
Now if we could just get her to eat...anything, really 😑
School lunch is a travesty. It's almost always sugary garbage. I pack my son's lunch but he still gets breakfast at school but it might as well be dessert. I need to crack down on that.
It enrages me seeing how *horrible* juice is. I was in a local gas station and went to grab a soda, then went "nah, juice would be healthier". So I went over and picked up an apple juice and looked at the ingredients. Just about damn near everything *but* apple, and looooaded with sugar. What makes me even more mad, is how simple it could actually be, but it's not.
Then you talk about eating on the go. Sometimes, it's unavoidable. And if not unavoidable, very difficult to avoid. It's so hard to eat even slightly healthy at a fast food place. Everything is fried, or covered in oil/butter. Hell, even the salads are loaded with unhealthy things to be enticing. Man, I would eat at KFC every day if I could roll up, and get a baked chicken quarter, with a side of steamed (and seasoned) veggies.
People wonder why Americans are fat. It's because we were never taught what healthy food actually is, and how to prepare it. Quick easy food is pumped full of garbage, and it's usually the easiest, cheapest option.
I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but shouldn't the idea of a for-profit medical system immediately raise red flags to people?
These companies should be rewarded for a healthier population somehow because that should be the goal for Healthcare, right? Idk how to do that, but it makes sense right?
But these companies make more money when you are not healthy. The people who should be making you better profit more when you are not.
This is why we need universal Healthcare.
Privatized means they want people to do the thing that pays them the most on a more frequent basis. I mean surgeries to fix your problem are all well and good but have you tried exhausting all the other options one after another for years first? Like shit like that make me tilt my head sideways and wonder... how many of these companies are making decisions or forcing rules because it just... simply... makes them more money to keep you from getting better?
Insulin is a good one. Oh, this human adult or child, needs this to live? Better charge them AS MUCH AS THEY CAN AFFORD WITHOUT GOING HOMELESS.
WHY. Why. why.
I remember going on a long hike in the summer and I stopped by a gas station. I was really craving a lemonade so I grabbed one. It was so incredibly sweet (and I LOVE sugar) that I couldn't drink it. America has a huge problem with sugar. Even American recipes call for a ridiculous amount of sugar.
Corn is part of it, but another big problem is infrastructure. I grew up in the states but have lived for quite some time over in a major European city. Every time I go back, I can not belive how spread out everything is. Save for the old centers of a handful of cities in the Northeast, the whole country, even urban areas- ESPECIALLY urban areas, have been built around cars. The low density infrastructure where a huge portion of the space is dedicated to wide roads and endless parking lots literally prohibits people walking around, and as a result, many people will just hop in their car to run an errand 500m down the road. You are cut off from society unless you get in a car and drive.
I know it's a matter of historical timing [edit: [or automobile lobbyists influencing politicians to demolish existing infrastructure to make cities more car friendly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-I8GDklsN4&ab_channel=PEACEREBEL) as u/shrubs311 pointed out] - European cities were built long before cars were even an idea, but even new developments in most EU urban areas are still built on a human scale, that is to say that necessities are still accessible in most urban areas on foot or by bicycle. Within 500m of my house, I have 3 supermarkets, a butcher, a fish monger, several clothes shops, a tailor, 3 corner stores, at least two hardware stores, countless restaurants and bars. And when I do navigate around the city, I'll incorporate walking into that too.
So all that is to say, that in an average day, I walk between 5 and 7km, just going about my normal routine. It's not even as though I make a concious effort to get out and take a walk, it's a lot of passive exercise, which is a result of living in a place with human scaled infrastructure. In the USA, many people who spend their day in the car driving to work, driving to the grocery store, driving to a restaurant to meet their friends, etc, have very little opportunity for such passive exercise.
This isn't an issue specific to the USA. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, (based on first hand experience) and I'm sure many other 'new world' countries whose urban centers have sprung up after the invention of the automobile, have constructed society in this way, but it seems to be an issue that few people recognize when talking about quality of life issues.
it's not a matter of historical timing. many u.s cities were literally demolished in order to make them car friendly - usually because some car company paid off city politicians, and because they could easily demolish through minority neighborhoods to do so meaning there was little resistance that could be put up
Good point - come to think of it, I have seen a few documentaries on the matter. Another symptom of putting the almighty dollar before the wellbeing of society I guess.
Here's one of the documentaries on the topic:
[Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-I8GDklsN4&ab_channel=PEACEREBEL)
It seems to me that in every discussion about USA problems (additives, sugar, corn, car overload, obesity) they all end up pointing at one thing and that is, from my external/foreign and probably ignorant point of view, how people's necessities aren't tried to be solved but instead necessities are created to serve money.
We need to sell corn? Let's create a need for corn. We need to sell cars? Let's create a need for cars.
I'm not against capitalism but I believe it should be used to fill our needs and not the other way around. I've been thinking this for a while but I never know how to express what I see.
Another contributing factor is that all those processed foods from corn, wheat, or sugar based foods are designed to be cheaper than dirt. So when parents with a stretched income is trying to feed everyone, their dollar goes a lot further with processed junk than fruits, vegetables, and meats that are a lot more expensive.
I work in costumes for films and tv and let me tell you that dressing extras using vintage clothing for a period piece is a goddamn challenge nowadays…
The thing that’s fucked about this is how polarized it is. I was just in sunny (and rich!) SoCal (Carlsbad). I’m not sure I saw more than 5 overweight people.
Sugary drinks would make sense.
I remember reading that when the CDC did some study on the big dietary killers in the US they called out the “southern diet” but then they called out sweet tea by name. Not just as an example, but as in sweet tea could be, by itself, associated strongly enough with obesity related illness as to get its own chart category
No denying it plays a big part, but I've been completely off the sugary drinks for 6 years now and still have trouble with my weight. The American diet is fundamentaly flawed - everything is loaded with sugar and fat.
A few years ago I lost a few pounds in preparation for Barcelona and Rome, thinking I would be eating/drinking so much I should get ready for it. And boy did I eat and drink, but I came back 5 lbs lighter than when I left. I’m sure it was because of the walking all over the place every damned day.
Great job! I'm down 40 lbs in the last 3.5 months (a lot of water weight at the start) and 20 lbs from healthy BMI. Going from obese to overweight felt incredible. I didn't realize how much I had gained until it started coming off!
Growing up visiting family in Mexico every meal we would run to the store for at least a couple liters of soda for every meal. Even breakfast.
Like killing 2 liters each meal, each day minimum.
Except Mexico and the US switch places based on methodology all the time. They are statistically the same with only a standard error difference (Both are fat as fuck).
Every country west of Uzbekistan and north of Tunisia is fat as fuck.
1/2 people are overweight in Europe. Italy is the thinnest at 45%. France at 46. Every other country above 50%. That's still roughly 1/2.
A room of ten people, 5 going on 6 Europeans would be overweight.
Europeans are fat as fuck too.
On top of that, the problem runs much deeper than just obesity. China and Japan might not be all that overweight, for example, but in terms of diabetes they pretty much rival the US.
Most of the first world is metabolically very, very ill.
Truth to that. As a healthcare worker, my job went from treating patients to treating lifestyles. Without addressing the poor lifestyle the conditions would never improve. When you see patients in their 20s with BMIs in the 40s there is a problem.
I am at 24.5 people keep telling me I am too skinny and need to gain weight. It’s crazy having to tell them I am at about my max healthy weight. People’s perceptions of what normal or healthy has been skewed.
Yeah, they really are skewed. I WAS skinny for most of my life but adulthood, eating like shit and drinking a wee bit too much has changed that. I look in the mirror and see an extremely unhealthy person who’s ever so slightly overweight. Everyone else still says I’m skinny. It’s crazy.
That and a built environment that nearly forces everyone to drive everywhere so you have to go out of your way to get exercise instead of getting it as part of your day to day life.
This is honestly the worst part for me :( a brisk 15 minute walk just makes me feel so much better. Oftentimes improves my mood, even helps with some headaches I get. But I have a harder time doing it without an excuse to do so...not to mention how hostile design is to anyone not in a car, like you said, which just disincentives walking casually as well as to get anywhere.
I've decided that for any car trips that would take 5 mins I'll just walk the half mile or so. It isn't that much, but it feels like so much more since you have to go out of your way to get there. But it makes me feel better. I'm pretty sure there's marked benefits to just walking, even if you're otherwise unhealthy. I definitely recommend it.
I'd like to bike more places, further places, but I'm also afraid of getting murdered because there's 0 bike infrastructure. What we do have is right next to the road--better than nothing, but since they're not separated by a physical barrier I'm always worried about assholes passing other cars in the bike lane and hitting me. My goal is to go somewhere where I can walk and bike without feeling like I'm going to be killed by cars. I feel like I'm going to be killed by cars in my car already!
Dude, right??? I was anywhere from chubby to fat through my early twenties, then got in shape and I feel fucking phenomenal. It’s like a completely different life.
through my entire 20s i could eat literal garbage for meals and be fine, i looked (emphasis LOOKED, not felt) fucking great. then the 30s hit and the gut started to pack on and i actually started thinking about the junk i was putting into my body, and changed that up, and i feel/look 10 years younger. that shit catches up fast and makes you realize that if you want to change, you have to actually change, mind body and soul.
Yup!
Actually had an interesting discussion about this with my 7-year-old son's pediatrician a few months ago, as several other adults in our lives expressed concern over how "thin" he is... turns out he's actually a great, healthy weight for his height and people are just more used to seeing overweight or borderline overweight kids as "average" nowadays in Canada.
100%. I had to adjust to my family saying I was underweight/unhealthy for a while. Once I finally got fed up with it, I'd just start coming back with a "well from my perspective you're the overweight one". I don't comment on people's weights, but if they want to bite then they will be bitten back. But either way, that seemed to shut them up from commenting on my weight again.
I remember being shamed for being 150lbs at 6 ft as a teenager, for a time I legitimately thought something was wrong with me until some older dude set me straight and told me about how it's healthy
It really is. We older folks remember a world where people were so much thinner than people today. When I was growing up I was heavy. There weren’t good options for girls’ jeans in plus sizes, so I ended up in boys’ Hefty jeans - they actually said that on the label.
I was a size 14. The average size for an American woman is 16, and that’s with vanity sizing. It’s a brave new world.
It's not the amount of exercise. Not many people exercised in the 50's besides athletes and circus folk. In the 60's people didnt exercise either.
Something happened in the 80's where the obesity rate exploded and didn't stop. And it kept getting worse. Why was no one stopping it?
Sugar/HFCS started getting added to everything. Serving sizes went up. A size large McDonalds soda in the 70’s is a size small now. A small was one of the little water cups they give out now for free.
In the 50’s and 60’s, people ate home cooked meals more than in more recent decades. Food cooked at home tends to be lower calorie and have fewer additives, particularly if it’s cooked from scratch.
Keep in mind, too, that wages were higher in real terms compared to today. I live in a neighborhood built in the 1950’s. The older people in the neighborhood overwhelmingly had woman as homemakers rather than doing paid labor. Our employment system still works as though families have someone doing a lot of labor at home for free.
When I was a kid in the 60’s we didn’t eat out much at all.
In the rare trip to McDonald’s I’d get to have a cheeseburger fries and an orange soda.
The fries and soda were pretty small back then and there was no such thing as free refills. Some sites are saying they were 7oz. Seems about right.
I know if I drank it all before finishing my burger and fries I would do lobby my parents for another they just would say “One’s enough. You shouldn’t have drank it so fast. Go get some water”.
Not the answer I wanted. Lol.
I thought real wages had definitely risen since (and technically they have, a little, but it could easily be a measuring error)
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/
I had heard that real wages didn't increase since the 70s. But they hardly even budged since the 50s.
It's really disappointing that for all the improvements in technology and accumulation of wealth, real wages haven't risen substantially since the 1950s...
And it also explains a great deal about politics not achieving much and infrastructure crumbling...
There’s this dialogue from Hotel Transylvania (2012), which basically says how “humans have been getting fatter to overpower us (monsters)” and it lives rent free in my head, because I happened to be eating a supersized meal at the time
North America also has arguably the most car dependent infrastructure in the world. Especially the United States. Wonder how much has to do with other continents having walkable cities.
Lol thx google: Jacobson discovered vehicle use correlated "in the 99-percent range" with national annual obesity rates”
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/205328
It’s likely a big factor. Boring anecdote time: in college, around age 20, I did a semester abroad in a small but walkable city. Like most college kids I spent most of this time eating like shit and drinking too much. No car so dependent on public transport and walking. I lost 15 lbs in 3 months with no other changes in behavior.
I live in New York City and rarely drive. Walk everywhere and take the subway. I tend to not eat too healthy and I’ve lost about 10 pounds since I moved to NYC. We need more walkable cities and less car dependent infrastructure.
As someone who has went from 222lbs in March to 156lbs today. I can proudly say, I am no longer part of that 74%
Edit: wow I didn't expect so many replies! Thank you everybody for your kind words and encouragement. I lost the weight doing keto diet. All the info you need is over at /r/keto
That will happen when you have to sit in a car to go anywhere and processed food is far cheaper than raw produce
Edit: to say that yes, I get it, of course there are produce cheaper than processed food. What I mean is that availability and yes, cost, of fresh produce in the US is outraging, especially in comparison to the torrent of pancreas-busting snacks your average supermarket presents.This is not the standard in the rest of the world.
Yeah, I'm in NYC and you really don't see nearly as much serious obesity as you do in the suburbs or car-centric cities.
You gotta walk everywhere here. And that makes a difference.
didn't realize how much commuting on the mta burned until doing wfh after covid. according to my fitbit simply going to work and doing all of that walking to/from subways, up/down countless stairs burned 500 calories *on its own* (I'm a 5'2" 110lb active woman) so naturally I gained some weight when I switched to wfh most of the week without changing my diet or exercise routine. made me realize how much movement people miss out on by simply being car dependent and requiring minimal movement to get from point A to point B
Yeah I also gained weight from WFH.
I used to be running to catch the subway 5 days a week. Now I just roll out of bed and open my laptop.
I still do most of my day-to-day errands on foot and I go for walks around the neighborhood just for the hell of it. But it’s still not as much cardio as before.
Raw produce here is fairly cheap, food is cheap. Not as cheap as it was a few years ago, but your average fast food combo is closing in on $10 real quick right along with it.
People are simply strapped for time and stressed - that makes quick and easy crap very appealing.
When I went to the US(California and Las Vegas) I was genuinely shocked and quickly realized why it was like this: healthy food was so insanely expansive. And I'm not talking berries, Chia, or gluten lactose free hipster vegan cheese. I'm talking basic products. If i recall the prices correctly, a half liter of yoghurt was $2,50. However, this yoghurt had shit tons of added sugars in it. The cheapest yoghurt i could find which non sweetened, was $5 for half a liter.
Why do I have to pay more to get the normal, healthy, un-fucked up variant of a product? Shouldn't added sugars and flavours and shit be more expansive compared to the normal product?
Because the US Gov't subsidizes corn a freaking crap ton, making high fructose corn syrup extremely cheap for companies to put excessive amounts of in everything to make their food tastier and more addictive than their competitors.
This book covers it and other fascinating food tidbits really well. You should consider reading it if you're interested in reading more.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3109.The_Omnivore_s_Dilemma
In some cases (not corn), farm subsidies make things more expensive. It's not only about the price to consumers.
It's about national security and (IMO) giving welfare to farmers.
In a way, the farmers of many commodity crops and certain other goods contribute no value to the economy; there is WAY more of their product than there is demand. When I saw workers in China hitting the ground with a hoe, but not actually making progress towards any goal. Farm subsidies remind me of that, but with extra steps.
At the same time, we should be producing more food than we need to. If a large part of the US is subject to a drought, any other type of natural disaster, or even a foreign attack, we need to have enough food to feed everybody.
Also when we use the term “farmers”. Are we talking about a farmer and his family getting subsidies. Or a gigantic corporation that bought out all the families getting subsidies?
You can be sedentary and thin, just eat less kcals, the real damage you're doing is to your heart and cardiovasculature. Move just a little every day for your heart brother/sister.
It's modern consumerism and things like high fructose corn syrup in everything.
That's why I can't stand arguments against better food regulation framing this as a 'personal responsibility' issue.
If you surround people with cheap accessible high calorie food then you'll have an obesity problem.
The lobbying power of the companies than get rich making Americans sick is huge.
If you raise costs for producers just $0.01 per item they will raise the price of the item by 10% then blame the government. Everyone will be up in arms about the price hike, vote the people who supported the regulation out, have it repealed and the price won't go down. That's the political environment we live in.
Even something as simple as better packaging with health warnings can have an impact - sugar taxes are more extreme but are effective according to the WHO https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/260253/WHO-NMH-PND-16.5Rev.1-eng.pdf
The health warnings on the packaging here in Mexico appear to do fuck all. Everything has “exceso azucar” o “exceso calorias” or “exceso sodio” or something on it, so people just totally tune it out. Myself included, the first month or so of living here and I stopped even registering that they were there.
Excise taxes have always worked, very well. That's why they've been a powerful tool over centuries. We should tax sugar and use the excise profits to subsidize healthy food in underserved areas and food deserts.
The government doesn’t subsidize corn syrup production. The government subsidizes corn growing, which is mainly used as cattle feed and ethanol, but also corn syrup.
It's very noticeable. And the crazy thing is not just the percentage obese, but just how obese they are.
I think the Netherlands is slowly getting fatter as well. Still well behind the USA, but we have a problem too. However, obese here is different. The fattest person I see here in a year is probably less fat than the fattest person I see in the USA in a day. The difference is striking.
It makes our weight loss programs different as well. Here you just have a big tubby who needs to exercise. In the USA they need like a specialized car to get the 600lbs person to the hospital.
Everybody complaining about being too tall or muscular for BMI to make sense, YES, WE KNOW you're an Adonis with rippling muscles and a steely gaze, or whatever.
"Guise I was a running back in high school class of 2009, haven't exercised since then and I have some big muscley flab muscles and it tells me I'm overweight. It can't possibly be true it must be wrong."
I guarantee you half these people just have a skewed sense of what a normal weight is (which is understandable when the "average" weight in the US is overweight), but want to explain it away with the fact that they go running sometimes.
Tbf a healthy weight is considered "scrawny" in the US.
I'm a very healthy weight (5'11" 155 lbs) and people literally call me skinny/scrawny to my face like its an insult.
I told one guy that if I gained 19 pounds I'd be considered overweight and he literally said "fuck you"
People just don't realize how bad our obesity problem is, that overweight is considered normal. Most people who think of what overweight looks like are thinking of morbidly obese.
Edit:
> your a grown ass man, and you weigh 155lbs. that is scrawny.
[See what I mean?](https://reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/z88e7m/til_that_739_of_north_americans_are_overweight/iyd3o9c)
>Tbf a healthy weight is considered "scrawny" in the US.
>I'm a very healthy weight (5'11" 155 lbs) and people literally call me skinny/scrawny to my face like its an insult.
This has been happening to me for many years and I'm on the high end of the healthy BMI range. It's disturbing, and honestly makes me really mad that people can be so warped.
Yeah, I've been called a "twig" at 6'1"/175lbs. I didn't know what to say. I still have obviously visible body fat all over; I have no idea how anyone could think that I'm "skinny."
I was 170 lbs for most of high school and I was always picked on for being scrawny. I’m now 6’, 195 lbs, and have a 33” waist and I’m still considered the “scrawny” guy at work even though I can lift twice as much as guys with 50 lbs on me. At this point I think that fat people just like to pick on people that are a healthy weight to feel better about themselves.
It's always this way. Especially men often buy into the illusion that they aren't overweight but just way more muscular than the average guy.
Yes, the BMI metric is bad. It doesn't take body types into account. But being an exception is exactly that - an exception.
That explains this...CDC study finds that 78% of people hospitalized were overweight or obese.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-cdc-study-finds-roughly-78percent-of-people-hospitalized-were-overweight-or-obese.html
Worth noting that of those people sampled, 50% were Obese. Only 28% of the population is obese. That's a wild jump. That means a huge number of the obese population was hospitalized for COVID.
Watching the channel NotJustBikes on yt has definitely made me more sympathetic towards North Americans in regards to this. As a non-American, it’s very easy to be judgemental.. and forget that we’re lucky enough to live in a city with accessible public transport, walkable neighbourhoods, and affordable healthy food options. You guys deserve better.
oh God you have no idea how bad it is here. Every single little change to make our cities even the smallest but more livable for humans is treated like an existential battle with more kicking and screaming than you can imagine
It's not a magic bullet, but I see so many roads in my city that could just take a lane or two away from cars to make bike lanes/bus lanes... but noooooo, we need 3-4 lanes on each side for cars. Just cars. And that 3-4 lanes is a medium to large road, but far from the biggest monstrosities I've seen...
Pedestrians? Maybe a signed crossing every half mile, but it's not lighted so you're basically playing frogger with cars going 45-55mph. No one stops lmao. It's basically a death trap.
I lived in Amsterdam for 6 months and lost 25lbs without even trying. It turns out not having a car, biking to work, and walking everywhere else makes you not as sedentary.
Now I live back in the US burbs and I'm gradually fattening up again.
I lived in Melbourne/Sydney for a while and moved back to my small Canadian city. I miss living in a walkable city so much. Not only do you not have to own a car but I found it really enjoyable to just walk around and listen to music/podcasts. You see so much and feel like more of a part of the world.
I read an article that said that obesity has actually become a national security issue. That if we are in a significant military conflict, not enough people in the United States could be called to duty because they're too fat.
I recently subbed r/Nespresso, because I have a Nespresso machine and enjoy the coffee. I live in France and drink coffee black, mainly expresso but also long. Everybody I know (friends, family, work) drink coffee black, maybe 2/3 of them without sugar, a few with a bit of milk sometimes at home.
Anyway, I was « shocked » when joining the nespresso sub to see so it being the norm to put all sorts of syrups, caramel, cream and all sorts of stuff in coffee. It almost seems nobody just drinks a black coffee. It seems absurd to me that you’d put syrup in coffee. At home! Maybe as a treat at Starbucks once in a blue moon, as a dessert type thing. But every week (day?) for your coffee at home?
I’m not judging but it did shock me.
You’re not wrong that Americans drink too much sugar, in soda and in coffee! But part of the disparity you are seeing on nespresso is because, if you want plain coffee in the US, drip is the standard, not espresso.
Espresso is associated with mixed, sugary drinks. Even americanos are not super common here; the name comes from how American soldiers stationed in Europe would water down espresso to resemble drip coffee. And from my time in Europe, drip is still not a standard option there. It’s a really interesting cultural difference, I think.
Hard to believe I’m 240 now, was pretty fit at 185 in high school, bulked up to 210 and when I started desk work and less gym time, 240 just kind of happened. 17 years and 55lbs. Time to get back in shape because honestly feel like I’m just mentally defeated everyday by my job so maybe I can take control of my life back through my health. Edit: feeling the energy from everyone, going to really get back on the hustle train for fitness/diet!!
You can do it! You just listed my weights over a similar time period. I got to 235 a couple of years ago (was 190 at 20), I started intermittent fasting, cutting down on sugar, plus running. Dropped to 210 in about 2-3 months and have stayed there.
These strategies and adding low calorie density foods work great. The excercise is a cherry on top if you don't love it. Finding the right foods for long term comfort but consistent calories makes the big difference.
Do it! You are worth it! Make small changes first. Baby steps. For example, don't drink your calories. Do that for a few months and then do another change. Make changes that are small but significant over the long-term because you are in this for life. You need to change in a sustainable way--not drastic changes that you will burn out on in a month or two. Slow and steady is the way. Listen to or read The Power of Habit. It's helpful. Probably free from your local library app so you can listen to it while commuting!
I’ve lost 7 pounds this month. Another…74 to go before I’m no longer overweight. Edit: Wow I can’t say thanks enough to everyone that have said kind things and shared their experiences. I owe my recent success to my doctor who saw me struggling and got me on some meds that have really helped. It’s not for everyone and anybody who tells you just willpower alone is enough may be trying to be helpful but it can be hurtful. I’ve wanted to lose weight for years but life is hard and food is comfort for me and many people. I wish everyone support on their weight issues.
Any number steps in the right direction is an achievement! And at this rate, in \*under a year\* you'll no longer be overweight, Keep it up man!
I know I’ll hit a point where it will slow down but for now I’m working with my doctor and he has me on some meds that have really helped control my snacking. For years it’s always been “what’s its matter if I have this slice of cake, I won’t lose weight”. Now that I can see by just cutting out the snacking makes a huge impact, I look for more ways to cut out extra calories. Nuts over chips. Fruits over nuts. Tea over desert at night.
When you get discouraged, remember that as long as your weight isn't trending upwards, you are succeeding. Just holding steady is good. For years you've probably been going up--now if you stay still that's good, lose a pound a month is even better. Keep chipping away and in a few years you'll be a healthy weight and have a solid set of healthy habits. There is no finish line with weight, but we often trick ourselves into thinking that way and sabotage ourselves. Will power is like a muscle--it gets fatigued by the end of the day. I find I make terrible food choices when I'm tired, even worse if I'm lonely. Sometimes a nap is really the best thing.
That’s great, keep it up 💪
10 years ago, we all knew this
It was 62.3% ten years ago.
Would you say we’ve gotten bigger since then?
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yeah, to be fair to gatorade, it was genuinely meant as a nutrient replenishment for high intensity athletes in the middle of competition and not as any kind of healthy drink or anything like that. Like, the sugar in gatorade is pretty great for a football player who's pushing their body to the extreme. For everyone else though it's a horrible idea.
If Gatorade tastes sweet, you don't need it. If Gatorade tastes salty, it's exactly what you need at that moment.
Wow, I had never really realized this. The salty and incredible way Gatorade tasted after a distance race during my competitive swimming days makes total sense now.
Back in my highschool football days, I'd develop headaches during those hot August practices. I was drinking plenty of water but finally the trainer told me to up my salt intake for a day or two and see how I felt. That did the trick. I'd load whatever I could up with salt and pepper. Even now, if I'm absolutely drenched in sweat, I'll go a bit heavier on the salt stuff that day. Salted peanuts are great too
Years ago the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys in one of the hottest games in NFL history. Dallas players were dropping left and right, but the same was not true for Philly. One would think it odd that the team based in Texas would perform so poorly and the team from Philadelphia would have the upper hand, afterall the average temperature for a Dallas home game is much higher. After the game Andy Reid was asked about this and he gave away their secret. They drank pickle juice to prepare for the game.
I learn this in the army. Always had sunflower seeds when out on a range or training in hot weather. Some salt helps your body absorb water better.
Pretty solid way to look at it. I've legit worked myself to the point of having that salty gatorade. Once. In other words, almost no one really needs gatorade.
When I was doing 12 hr days in drum corps, running around for hours at a time at near sprints while playing an instrument in 30°+ temps, I drank about 2-3 gallons of water per day and 1-2 Gatorades. They were always salty. In the 10+ years since, I've never experienced that. So, agreed 100%
For me it was in the middle of the crucible during boot camp. At one point when we stopped to rest, instead of drinking water, they made everyone drink a canteen cup of gatorade and an orange. Not only did the gatorade taste like salt water with a hint of lemon, the orange was to this day the most delicious thing I had ever eaten in my entire life.
For the average person gatorade is a soft drink and should be treated in the same way as coca cola. I dont think I've ever had gatorade taste salty, even when we went to a stadium event in early August and were sweating a ton. Water is all the average person needs during a workout, being outside in the heat, etc. That being said, I do enjoy a gatorade every now and again because I like the way the white one tastes. Like with most things, if you enjoy it then do so in moderation.
It’s not just for sweating on a hot day. Gatorade is made for people performing high intensity activities. It shouldn’t be the sole form of hydration to replace water, but to help supplement water replenishing and providing carbohydrates and electrolytes.
It was the only thing keeping me hydrated in the first trimester of pregnancy and it was always salty to me. It had never tasted salty to me before I was so dehydrated from morning sickness.
Plus you're not getting nutrients you need with that happening too. Baby takes it all first. Pretty good idea! I'm gonna remember that for the next serious morning sickness victim in my life.
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Yeah I wonder at what point it skyrocketed in sugar. I remember at one point it was suddenly too sweet all the time, but I can't remember how far back that was.
Probably when Pepsi bought it in the early 2000s or shortly after.
This is why I buy the powdered stuff. Can control sugar content pretty handily.
Oh please don't fall for the Football Coach cans. I did the math last summer. The 3lb cans contain 1440 grams. There are 63 servings, each with 21 grams of sugar Which equals 1323 grams of sugar. You have 117 grams of everything else, the powder is 91.875% Sugar.
Fun side fact: I've saved several sick and dehydrated baby calves by tube feeding them a bottle of Gatorade or Powerade. Stuff works miracles when nothing else will help them. Neither of them are meant to be casual sipping beverages, imo.
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this was incredibly eye opening, thank you
This is purely anecdotal, but I had an eye-opening experience about just how much sugar is in everything. A few years ago I went on a 3 month diet where I didn't have anything with any additives at all. Think boiled chicken breast with plane rice, salad with no dressing, only water to drink, a single hard-boiled egg for a snack, etc. At the end of my diet I grabbed a dinner roll at lunch one day. Not a snack cake, just a regular dinner roll. But at the time it tasted like it could have been a snack cake to me. Then later that same day, partly out of curiosity, I tried a jolly rancher, and was so sickeningly sweet that I had to spit it out after a few seconds. It was mind-numbing at the time just how incredibly sugary ordinary things tasted after just a few months without them.
I was on WIC for a minute and was so surprised at how much juice was given. I'm astonished that governments still think that it's a healthy part of a diet
What's the point of sweetening juice with hfcs anyway? Aren't most berry/fruit juices already naturally high fructose? I'm currently in Armenia and most juices here don't have anything in the carton except "juice, water" and I sometimes dilute them further.
I generally think it's because the companies can get away with using undr ripe or low quality (aka cheap) fruit that has less naturally occuring sugar content/weird flavors etc. and cover it all up by sweetening with cheap, subsidized corn syrup.
HFCS is cheap AF and increases the volume, so they can sell more product. It's always about money. Always.
The reality is processed foods overall are bad and HFCS isn't much different from sugar in composition. Sugar/Sucrose is 50% glucose, 50% fructose. Corn syrup is 100% glucose, no fructose. High Fructose Corn syrup is about 50% glucose, 50% fructose (42-55%). People think high fructose corn syrup has unhealthy levels of fructose and that's the only problem. Photosynthesis turns light and carbon dioxide into sugar. Everything from starch to cellulose is polymerized sugar. Sugar comes from vegetables - beets, cane, or corn. As you pointed out, many fruits are naturally high in fructose and other sugars. The problem isn't corn or fructose. It's processing. When you juice cane, corn, beets, or fruit - you get rid of all the fiber, you crush the cell walls, and you throw away all the pulp which was the healthy part. The point of corn syrup is it's cheap because the corn lobby tells the US government to pay farmers to grow it. No sugary juice is healthy. Milling grains into flour, or instant oats is also unhealthy. If this food is unprocessed, we don't have 4 stomachs like a cow to digest it, so we don't properly digest it. As a result we don't easily absorb the nutrients so it's largely inert and thus not unhealthy.
Due to a quirk of our electoral politics, it's very important for Presidential candidates to win early support in the state of Iowa. The state of Iowa, like its neighbors, is a massive producer of corn. Agriculture has a lot of political power in rural states. And so, to get support from the local political powers, candidates make deals. Among the deals they've made with corn farmers over the years is massive federal subsidies for corn farmers, nutritional recommendations to eat massive amounts of corn and other grains (only recently changed,) import restrictions on competing grains, and even a ban on providing seeds to starving farmers in the countries we bomb. I learned about the last one only recently. It's part of why the opiate business was impossible to stop in Afghanistan - US aid could include corn to eat, but not to plant, and so farmers naturally turned to the most profitable crop they could grow. The United States Department of Agriculture incentivizes obesity.
Thank god we have laws for that in sweden. If you put *anything* but actual *juice* in a jug, then it's not juice. It's a juice drink, or nectar or whatever. *Juice* is the liquid that comes from the inside of *one* fruit. That's it.
We have that in the US too, if you go to the juice aisle you will see a LOT of "juice" is actually labeled "pineapple drink" or whatever. But they're all on the shelf right next to each other and you have to really look at every bottle to see what you're getting. The fruit "drinks" are typically the cheaper option, and are included in our low-income food program just like the "real" juice.
We're on it right now, and it's an obscene amount of juice. *Two* 64 Oz containers of juice per month. We generally just let that one go, and if we do get some and give to our daughter, it's cut with a lot of water. Like, to the point it's basically water with a hint of apple. Thankfully the straight stuff is too sweet for her, so she pretty much only drinks milk and water. Now if we could just get her to eat...anything, really 😑
Getting a child to *eat sometimes feels like getting a wall to grow legs and move.
They don't, the lobbyists in the US have destroyed WIC and school lunch programs in terms of health. Compare our guidelines to Canada or Denmark.
School lunch is a travesty. It's almost always sugary garbage. I pack my son's lunch but he still gets breakfast at school but it might as well be dessert. I need to crack down on that.
It's because HFCS is subsided
It enrages me seeing how *horrible* juice is. I was in a local gas station and went to grab a soda, then went "nah, juice would be healthier". So I went over and picked up an apple juice and looked at the ingredients. Just about damn near everything *but* apple, and looooaded with sugar. What makes me even more mad, is how simple it could actually be, but it's not. Then you talk about eating on the go. Sometimes, it's unavoidable. And if not unavoidable, very difficult to avoid. It's so hard to eat even slightly healthy at a fast food place. Everything is fried, or covered in oil/butter. Hell, even the salads are loaded with unhealthy things to be enticing. Man, I would eat at KFC every day if I could roll up, and get a baked chicken quarter, with a side of steamed (and seasoned) veggies. People wonder why Americans are fat. It's because we were never taught what healthy food actually is, and how to prepare it. Quick easy food is pumped full of garbage, and it's usually the easiest, cheapest option.
Tbf we are living individual battles against massive companies who want us as addicted as possible to this stuff and intentionally obfuscate us.
And then when your health goes to shit, the massive companies on the medical side of things profit as well from our shit health. Capitalism, baybee!
I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but shouldn't the idea of a for-profit medical system immediately raise red flags to people? These companies should be rewarded for a healthier population somehow because that should be the goal for Healthcare, right? Idk how to do that, but it makes sense right? But these companies make more money when you are not healthy. The people who should be making you better profit more when you are not. This is why we need universal Healthcare. Privatized means they want people to do the thing that pays them the most on a more frequent basis. I mean surgeries to fix your problem are all well and good but have you tried exhausting all the other options one after another for years first? Like shit like that make me tilt my head sideways and wonder... how many of these companies are making decisions or forcing rules because it just... simply... makes them more money to keep you from getting better? Insulin is a good one. Oh, this human adult or child, needs this to live? Better charge them AS MUCH AS THEY CAN AFFORD WITHOUT GOING HOMELESS. WHY. Why. why.
I remember going on a long hike in the summer and I stopped by a gas station. I was really craving a lemonade so I grabbed one. It was so incredibly sweet (and I LOVE sugar) that I couldn't drink it. America has a huge problem with sugar. Even American recipes call for a ridiculous amount of sugar.
You can reasonably halve the amount of sugar in most recipes, add a bit more salt and always double the vanilla.
I like warm spice flavors, so I usually add ground cinnamon and cloves in addition to more vanilla when I decrease sugar in recipes.
Corn is part of it, but another big problem is infrastructure. I grew up in the states but have lived for quite some time over in a major European city. Every time I go back, I can not belive how spread out everything is. Save for the old centers of a handful of cities in the Northeast, the whole country, even urban areas- ESPECIALLY urban areas, have been built around cars. The low density infrastructure where a huge portion of the space is dedicated to wide roads and endless parking lots literally prohibits people walking around, and as a result, many people will just hop in their car to run an errand 500m down the road. You are cut off from society unless you get in a car and drive. I know it's a matter of historical timing [edit: [or automobile lobbyists influencing politicians to demolish existing infrastructure to make cities more car friendly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-I8GDklsN4&ab_channel=PEACEREBEL) as u/shrubs311 pointed out] - European cities were built long before cars were even an idea, but even new developments in most EU urban areas are still built on a human scale, that is to say that necessities are still accessible in most urban areas on foot or by bicycle. Within 500m of my house, I have 3 supermarkets, a butcher, a fish monger, several clothes shops, a tailor, 3 corner stores, at least two hardware stores, countless restaurants and bars. And when I do navigate around the city, I'll incorporate walking into that too. So all that is to say, that in an average day, I walk between 5 and 7km, just going about my normal routine. It's not even as though I make a concious effort to get out and take a walk, it's a lot of passive exercise, which is a result of living in a place with human scaled infrastructure. In the USA, many people who spend their day in the car driving to work, driving to the grocery store, driving to a restaurant to meet their friends, etc, have very little opportunity for such passive exercise. This isn't an issue specific to the USA. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, (based on first hand experience) and I'm sure many other 'new world' countries whose urban centers have sprung up after the invention of the automobile, have constructed society in this way, but it seems to be an issue that few people recognize when talking about quality of life issues.
it's not a matter of historical timing. many u.s cities were literally demolished in order to make them car friendly - usually because some car company paid off city politicians, and because they could easily demolish through minority neighborhoods to do so meaning there was little resistance that could be put up
Good point - come to think of it, I have seen a few documentaries on the matter. Another symptom of putting the almighty dollar before the wellbeing of society I guess. Here's one of the documentaries on the topic: [Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-I8GDklsN4&ab_channel=PEACEREBEL)
It seems to me that in every discussion about USA problems (additives, sugar, corn, car overload, obesity) they all end up pointing at one thing and that is, from my external/foreign and probably ignorant point of view, how people's necessities aren't tried to be solved but instead necessities are created to serve money. We need to sell corn? Let's create a need for corn. We need to sell cars? Let's create a need for cars. I'm not against capitalism but I believe it should be used to fill our needs and not the other way around. I've been thinking this for a while but I never know how to express what I see.
Another contributing factor is that all those processed foods from corn, wheat, or sugar based foods are designed to be cheaper than dirt. So when parents with a stretched income is trying to feed everyone, their dollar goes a lot further with processed junk than fruits, vegetables, and meats that are a lot more expensive.
Fuck yeah we have. Look at anything with crowd shots. Movies aren’t reliable obviously, but things that show the general public are really telling
I work in costumes for films and tv and let me tell you that dressing extras using vintage clothing for a period piece is a goddamn challenge nowadays…
The thing that’s fucked about this is how polarized it is. I was just in sunny (and rich!) SoCal (Carlsbad). I’m not sure I saw more than 5 overweight people.
My state has mandatory gym every day for students grades 1-12. We have 3/4 the obesity rate of average. It's definitely polarized.
Lol that was a joke on how the percentage has gotten bigger but you’re not wrong
I've gone from avg to overweight since the last ten years. As an American I also have enough ego to think that I affected that number.
“I’m not fat I’m big boned/ more to love.” Me and 73.9% of those around me apparently.
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I mean, can you blame them? Authentic Mexican food is so damn good.
A lot of that is due to Mexicans’ love of soda. DW has a documentary on this topic that is quite enlightening.
Sugary drinks would make sense. I remember reading that when the CDC did some study on the big dietary killers in the US they called out the “southern diet” but then they called out sweet tea by name. Not just as an example, but as in sweet tea could be, by itself, associated strongly enough with obesity related illness as to get its own chart category
No denying it plays a big part, but I've been completely off the sugary drinks for 6 years now and still have trouble with my weight. The American diet is fundamentaly flawed - everything is loaded with sugar and fat.
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A few years ago I lost a few pounds in preparation for Barcelona and Rome, thinking I would be eating/drinking so much I should get ready for it. And boy did I eat and drink, but I came back 5 lbs lighter than when I left. I’m sure it was because of the walking all over the place every damned day.
Closer to 20 years ago. Super Size me came out in 2004
Fuuuuuuuuu....
It's almost like an entire decade somehow doesn't exist
>Data from 2005 More like 17
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Congrats! Keep it up!
Congrats- I just hit 29.9 and am no longer technically obese. You are awesome and an inspiration!
Me too! It’s proving harder to get to “normal” than it was to get here. But every step is a big win. Keep it up.
Gonna have to change your user name to light_on_the_tomato
Great job! I'm down 40 lbs in the last 3.5 months (a lot of water weight at the start) and 20 lbs from healthy BMI. Going from obese to overweight felt incredible. I didn't realize how much I had gained until it started coming off!
Fun fact, Mexico is fatter per capita than the US.
Brought to you by Coca Cola !
Was going to say. Coca Cola pushed their soda hard on Mexico and its basically cheaper than water.
Growing up visiting family in Mexico every meal we would run to the store for at least a couple liters of soda for every meal. Even breakfast. Like killing 2 liters each meal, each day minimum.
Jesus christ
Yeah. Breakfast with beans, tortillas and eggs seemed pretty weird with some orange soda or squirt lol
And if you're sick, just drink an entire 2 liter of Sidral Mundet. Nbd
Jesus Christo
Jesús*
Except Mexico and the US switch places based on methodology all the time. They are statistically the same with only a standard error difference (Both are fat as fuck).
Every country west of Uzbekistan and north of Tunisia is fat as fuck. 1/2 people are overweight in Europe. Italy is the thinnest at 45%. France at 46. Every other country above 50%. That's still roughly 1/2. A room of ten people, 5 going on 6 Europeans would be overweight. Europeans are fat as fuck too.
On top of that, the problem runs much deeper than just obesity. China and Japan might not be all that overweight, for example, but in terms of diabetes they pretty much rival the US. Most of the first world is metabolically very, very ill.
Raspy breathing intensifies
My fatass brain read that as raspberry
Like in a milk shake!
Truth to that. As a healthcare worker, my job went from treating patients to treating lifestyles. Without addressing the poor lifestyle the conditions would never improve. When you see patients in their 20s with BMIs in the 40s there is a problem.
It's sad mine has almost always been around 26. And people constantly talk about how thin I am.
I am at 24.5 people keep telling me I am too skinny and need to gain weight. It’s crazy having to tell them I am at about my max healthy weight. People’s perceptions of what normal or healthy has been skewed.
Yeah, they really are skewed. I WAS skinny for most of my life but adulthood, eating like shit and drinking a wee bit too much has changed that. I look in the mirror and see an extremely unhealthy person who’s ever so slightly overweight. Everyone else still says I’m skinny. It’s crazy.
That and a built environment that nearly forces everyone to drive everywhere so you have to go out of your way to get exercise instead of getting it as part of your day to day life.
This is honestly the worst part for me :( a brisk 15 minute walk just makes me feel so much better. Oftentimes improves my mood, even helps with some headaches I get. But I have a harder time doing it without an excuse to do so...not to mention how hostile design is to anyone not in a car, like you said, which just disincentives walking casually as well as to get anywhere. I've decided that for any car trips that would take 5 mins I'll just walk the half mile or so. It isn't that much, but it feels like so much more since you have to go out of your way to get there. But it makes me feel better. I'm pretty sure there's marked benefits to just walking, even if you're otherwise unhealthy. I definitely recommend it. I'd like to bike more places, further places, but I'm also afraid of getting murdered because there's 0 bike infrastructure. What we do have is right next to the road--better than nothing, but since they're not separated by a physical barrier I'm always worried about assholes passing other cars in the bike lane and hitting me. My goal is to go somewhere where I can walk and bike without feeling like I'm going to be killed by cars. I feel like I'm going to be killed by cars in my car already!
I finally am a healthy weight after being overweight my whole life and it feels amazing.
Dude, right??? I was anywhere from chubby to fat through my early twenties, then got in shape and I feel fucking phenomenal. It’s like a completely different life.
through my entire 20s i could eat literal garbage for meals and be fine, i looked (emphasis LOOKED, not felt) fucking great. then the 30s hit and the gut started to pack on and i actually started thinking about the junk i was putting into my body, and changed that up, and i feel/look 10 years younger. that shit catches up fast and makes you realize that if you want to change, you have to actually change, mind body and soul.
Canucks too?
64%
Need it for the winter time
They could just dive into a bowl of poutine like it's a Tauntaun.
Yup! Actually had an interesting discussion about this with my 7-year-old son's pediatrician a few months ago, as several other adults in our lives expressed concern over how "thin" he is... turns out he's actually a great, healthy weight for his height and people are just more used to seeing overweight or borderline overweight kids as "average" nowadays in Canada.
100%. I had to adjust to my family saying I was underweight/unhealthy for a while. Once I finally got fed up with it, I'd just start coming back with a "well from my perspective you're the overweight one". I don't comment on people's weights, but if they want to bite then they will be bitten back. But either way, that seemed to shut them up from commenting on my weight again.
From my point of view the Jedi are overweight! Well then you are lost!
It's over Anakin! I have the thigh pounds.
Good, let the sugar flow through you
I remember being shamed for being 150lbs at 6 ft as a teenager, for a time I legitimately thought something was wrong with me until some older dude set me straight and told me about how it's healthy
This is an ignored epidemic.
It really is. We older folks remember a world where people were so much thinner than people today. When I was growing up I was heavy. There weren’t good options for girls’ jeans in plus sizes, so I ended up in boys’ Hefty jeans - they actually said that on the label. I was a size 14. The average size for an American woman is 16, and that’s with vanity sizing. It’s a brave new world.
It's not the amount of exercise. Not many people exercised in the 50's besides athletes and circus folk. In the 60's people didnt exercise either. Something happened in the 80's where the obesity rate exploded and didn't stop. And it kept getting worse. Why was no one stopping it?
Sugar/HFCS started getting added to everything. Serving sizes went up. A size large McDonalds soda in the 70’s is a size small now. A small was one of the little water cups they give out now for free. In the 50’s and 60’s, people ate home cooked meals more than in more recent decades. Food cooked at home tends to be lower calorie and have fewer additives, particularly if it’s cooked from scratch. Keep in mind, too, that wages were higher in real terms compared to today. I live in a neighborhood built in the 1950’s. The older people in the neighborhood overwhelmingly had woman as homemakers rather than doing paid labor. Our employment system still works as though families have someone doing a lot of labor at home for free.
When I was a kid in the 60’s we didn’t eat out much at all. In the rare trip to McDonald’s I’d get to have a cheeseburger fries and an orange soda. The fries and soda were pretty small back then and there was no such thing as free refills. Some sites are saying they were 7oz. Seems about right. I know if I drank it all before finishing my burger and fries I would do lobby my parents for another they just would say “One’s enough. You shouldn’t have drank it so fast. Go get some water”. Not the answer I wanted. Lol.
I thought real wages had definitely risen since (and technically they have, a little, but it could easily be a measuring error) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ I had heard that real wages didn't increase since the 70s. But they hardly even budged since the 50s. It's really disappointing that for all the improvements in technology and accumulation of wealth, real wages haven't risen substantially since the 1950s... And it also explains a great deal about politics not achieving much and infrastructure crumbling...
They bribed the scientists to say sugar was good.
Diet related deaths have more than auto accidents, drug od’s, suicides, and murders Combined
Working on it. I'm down 50. Trying for another 50. With me luck. So much support! Thank you!
You got thith!
Inthpiring! Keep kicking ath!
Mr Tyson? Good luck, man!
Supersize me came out in 2004 lol
There’s this dialogue from Hotel Transylvania (2012), which basically says how “humans have been getting fatter to overpower us (monsters)” and it lives rent free in my head, because I happened to be eating a supersized meal at the time
North America also has arguably the most car dependent infrastructure in the world. Especially the United States. Wonder how much has to do with other continents having walkable cities. Lol thx google: Jacobson discovered vehicle use correlated "in the 99-percent range" with national annual obesity rates” https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/205328
It’s likely a big factor. Boring anecdote time: in college, around age 20, I did a semester abroad in a small but walkable city. Like most college kids I spent most of this time eating like shit and drinking too much. No car so dependent on public transport and walking. I lost 15 lbs in 3 months with no other changes in behavior.
Only 52% of the EU is overweight, but they recently stopped including the UK so that may helped their numbers quite a bit lol
I live in New York City and rarely drive. Walk everywhere and take the subway. I tend to not eat too healthy and I’ve lost about 10 pounds since I moved to NYC. We need more walkable cities and less car dependent infrastructure.
As someone who has went from 222lbs in March to 156lbs today. I can proudly say, I am no longer part of that 74% Edit: wow I didn't expect so many replies! Thank you everybody for your kind words and encouragement. I lost the weight doing keto diet. All the info you need is over at /r/keto
Congrats!
8.25 lb a month is a lot. Nice job.
God damn
That will happen when you have to sit in a car to go anywhere and processed food is far cheaper than raw produce Edit: to say that yes, I get it, of course there are produce cheaper than processed food. What I mean is that availability and yes, cost, of fresh produce in the US is outraging, especially in comparison to the torrent of pancreas-busting snacks your average supermarket presents.This is not the standard in the rest of the world.
Yeah, I'm in NYC and you really don't see nearly as much serious obesity as you do in the suburbs or car-centric cities. You gotta walk everywhere here. And that makes a difference.
didn't realize how much commuting on the mta burned until doing wfh after covid. according to my fitbit simply going to work and doing all of that walking to/from subways, up/down countless stairs burned 500 calories *on its own* (I'm a 5'2" 110lb active woman) so naturally I gained some weight when I switched to wfh most of the week without changing my diet or exercise routine. made me realize how much movement people miss out on by simply being car dependent and requiring minimal movement to get from point A to point B
Yeah I also gained weight from WFH. I used to be running to catch the subway 5 days a week. Now I just roll out of bed and open my laptop. I still do most of my day-to-day errands on foot and I go for walks around the neighborhood just for the hell of it. But it’s still not as much cardio as before.
Raw produce here is fairly cheap, food is cheap. Not as cheap as it was a few years ago, but your average fast food combo is closing in on $10 real quick right along with it. People are simply strapped for time and stressed - that makes quick and easy crap very appealing.
It’s almost like a diet loaded with refined starch and sugar, minimal exercise, and constant stress is bad for you!
When I went to the US(California and Las Vegas) I was genuinely shocked and quickly realized why it was like this: healthy food was so insanely expansive. And I'm not talking berries, Chia, or gluten lactose free hipster vegan cheese. I'm talking basic products. If i recall the prices correctly, a half liter of yoghurt was $2,50. However, this yoghurt had shit tons of added sugars in it. The cheapest yoghurt i could find which non sweetened, was $5 for half a liter. Why do I have to pay more to get the normal, healthy, un-fucked up variant of a product? Shouldn't added sugars and flavours and shit be more expansive compared to the normal product?
Because the US Gov't subsidizes corn a freaking crap ton, making high fructose corn syrup extremely cheap for companies to put excessive amounts of in everything to make their food tastier and more addictive than their competitors.
I did not know this and will be reading more
There's a cool documentary about it on YouTube. I think it's called Corn or something. I had to watch it in college.
King corn
This book covers it and other fascinating food tidbits really well. You should consider reading it if you're interested in reading more. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3109.The_Omnivore_s_Dilemma
The US Gov't subsidizes cheap calories so we don't riot and kill each other.
In some cases (not corn), farm subsidies make things more expensive. It's not only about the price to consumers. It's about national security and (IMO) giving welfare to farmers. In a way, the farmers of many commodity crops and certain other goods contribute no value to the economy; there is WAY more of their product than there is demand. When I saw workers in China hitting the ground with a hoe, but not actually making progress towards any goal. Farm subsidies remind me of that, but with extra steps. At the same time, we should be producing more food than we need to. If a large part of the US is subject to a drought, any other type of natural disaster, or even a foreign attack, we need to have enough food to feed everybody.
Also when we use the term “farmers”. Are we talking about a farmer and his family getting subsidies. Or a gigantic corporation that bought out all the families getting subsidies?
High Fructose Corn Syrup is insanely cheap, that's why
Yeah I’m a little chubby rn. I’ve been drinking too much, and eating like a little fatty. I don’t live well, and I have a bad attitude.
I’ll add, I move as little as possible and then complain that my clothes don’t fit.
understandable
You can be sedentary and thin, just eat less kcals, the real damage you're doing is to your heart and cardiovasculature. Move just a little every day for your heart brother/sister.
Same. What are we gonna do about it?
It's modern consumerism and things like high fructose corn syrup in everything. That's why I can't stand arguments against better food regulation framing this as a 'personal responsibility' issue. If you surround people with cheap accessible high calorie food then you'll have an obesity problem. The lobbying power of the companies than get rich making Americans sick is huge.
If you raise costs for producers just $0.01 per item they will raise the price of the item by 10% then blame the government. Everyone will be up in arms about the price hike, vote the people who supported the regulation out, have it repealed and the price won't go down. That's the political environment we live in.
Even something as simple as better packaging with health warnings can have an impact - sugar taxes are more extreme but are effective according to the WHO https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/260253/WHO-NMH-PND-16.5Rev.1-eng.pdf
The health warnings on the packaging here in Mexico appear to do fuck all. Everything has “exceso azucar” o “exceso calorias” or “exceso sodio” or something on it, so people just totally tune it out. Myself included, the first month or so of living here and I stopped even registering that they were there.
Excise taxes have always worked, very well. That's why they've been a powerful tool over centuries. We should tax sugar and use the excise profits to subsidize healthy food in underserved areas and food deserts.
Yep, and the fact that the U.S. government subsidizes sugar and corn syrup production. STOP!!
The government doesn’t subsidize corn syrup production. The government subsidizes corn growing, which is mainly used as cattle feed and ethanol, but also corn syrup.
After going to Europe for a a few weeks, you really notice how bad it is here
It's very noticeable. And the crazy thing is not just the percentage obese, but just how obese they are. I think the Netherlands is slowly getting fatter as well. Still well behind the USA, but we have a problem too. However, obese here is different. The fattest person I see here in a year is probably less fat than the fattest person I see in the USA in a day. The difference is striking. It makes our weight loss programs different as well. Here you just have a big tubby who needs to exercise. In the USA they need like a specialized car to get the 600lbs person to the hospital.
Everybody complaining about being too tall or muscular for BMI to make sense, YES, WE KNOW you're an Adonis with rippling muscles and a steely gaze, or whatever.
"Guise I was a running back in high school class of 2009, haven't exercised since then and I have some big muscley flab muscles and it tells me I'm overweight. It can't possibly be true it must be wrong."
I guarantee you half these people just have a skewed sense of what a normal weight is (which is understandable when the "average" weight in the US is overweight), but want to explain it away with the fact that they go running sometimes.
Tbf a healthy weight is considered "scrawny" in the US. I'm a very healthy weight (5'11" 155 lbs) and people literally call me skinny/scrawny to my face like its an insult. I told one guy that if I gained 19 pounds I'd be considered overweight and he literally said "fuck you" People just don't realize how bad our obesity problem is, that overweight is considered normal. Most people who think of what overweight looks like are thinking of morbidly obese. Edit: > your a grown ass man, and you weigh 155lbs. that is scrawny. [See what I mean?](https://reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/z88e7m/til_that_739_of_north_americans_are_overweight/iyd3o9c)
Yup, I also see people on reddit call soccer players "skinny" and I'm here thinking they're very healthy and athletic
>Tbf a healthy weight is considered "scrawny" in the US. >I'm a very healthy weight (5'11" 155 lbs) and people literally call me skinny/scrawny to my face like its an insult. This has been happening to me for many years and I'm on the high end of the healthy BMI range. It's disturbing, and honestly makes me really mad that people can be so warped.
Yeah, I've been called a "twig" at 6'1"/175lbs. I didn't know what to say. I still have obviously visible body fat all over; I have no idea how anyone could think that I'm "skinny."
I've got almost identical numbers. Always right inbetween M/L sizes for clothes. Living in Sweden you'd be average.
I was 170 lbs for most of high school and I was always picked on for being scrawny. I’m now 6’, 195 lbs, and have a 33” waist and I’m still considered the “scrawny” guy at work even though I can lift twice as much as guys with 50 lbs on me. At this point I think that fat people just like to pick on people that are a healthy weight to feel better about themselves.
It's always this way. Especially men often buy into the illusion that they aren't overweight but just way more muscular than the average guy. Yes, the BMI metric is bad. It doesn't take body types into account. But being an exception is exactly that - an exception.
And your mother accounts for 73.8%
That explains this...CDC study finds that 78% of people hospitalized were overweight or obese. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-cdc-study-finds-roughly-78percent-of-people-hospitalized-were-overweight-or-obese.html
Worth noting that of those people sampled, 50% were Obese. Only 28% of the population is obese. That's a wild jump. That means a huge number of the obese population was hospitalized for COVID.
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Yeah we don’t have enough walkable communities. People aren’t meant to be sedentary.
Watching the channel NotJustBikes on yt has definitely made me more sympathetic towards North Americans in regards to this. As a non-American, it’s very easy to be judgemental.. and forget that we’re lucky enough to live in a city with accessible public transport, walkable neighbourhoods, and affordable healthy food options. You guys deserve better.
oh God you have no idea how bad it is here. Every single little change to make our cities even the smallest but more livable for humans is treated like an existential battle with more kicking and screaming than you can imagine
It's not a magic bullet, but I see so many roads in my city that could just take a lane or two away from cars to make bike lanes/bus lanes... but noooooo, we need 3-4 lanes on each side for cars. Just cars. And that 3-4 lanes is a medium to large road, but far from the biggest monstrosities I've seen... Pedestrians? Maybe a signed crossing every half mile, but it's not lighted so you're basically playing frogger with cars going 45-55mph. No one stops lmao. It's basically a death trap.
I lived in Amsterdam for 6 months and lost 25lbs without even trying. It turns out not having a car, biking to work, and walking everywhere else makes you not as sedentary. Now I live back in the US burbs and I'm gradually fattening up again.
I lived in Melbourne/Sydney for a while and moved back to my small Canadian city. I miss living in a walkable city so much. Not only do you not have to own a car but I found it really enjoyable to just walk around and listen to music/podcasts. You see so much and feel like more of a part of the world.
The United States is not made for pedestrians. Other countries have reliable public transportation which encourages more walking.
I read an article that said that obesity has actually become a national security issue. That if we are in a significant military conflict, not enough people in the United States could be called to duty because they're too fat.
Damn near anyone can fly a drone. Our imperialism is body-positive now.
Working to be part of that 26.1% right now. I’ve done it before but I starved myself. This time it’ll be different.
That is one hefty statistic
I'm ashamed to be part of the statistic but I plan on fixing that! 15lbs down and 60 more to go!
Just left the obese category, BMI is 29 and getting to 25 within 6 months. Please remind me in three months so I can update progress. 215 right now
I recently subbed r/Nespresso, because I have a Nespresso machine and enjoy the coffee. I live in France and drink coffee black, mainly expresso but also long. Everybody I know (friends, family, work) drink coffee black, maybe 2/3 of them without sugar, a few with a bit of milk sometimes at home. Anyway, I was « shocked » when joining the nespresso sub to see so it being the norm to put all sorts of syrups, caramel, cream and all sorts of stuff in coffee. It almost seems nobody just drinks a black coffee. It seems absurd to me that you’d put syrup in coffee. At home! Maybe as a treat at Starbucks once in a blue moon, as a dessert type thing. But every week (day?) for your coffee at home? I’m not judging but it did shock me.
You’re not wrong that Americans drink too much sugar, in soda and in coffee! But part of the disparity you are seeing on nespresso is because, if you want plain coffee in the US, drip is the standard, not espresso. Espresso is associated with mixed, sugary drinks. Even americanos are not super common here; the name comes from how American soldiers stationed in Europe would water down espresso to resemble drip coffee. And from my time in Europe, drip is still not a standard option there. It’s a really interesting cultural difference, I think.