Basic Fitness
Basics
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Obesity Across America
Now more than ever it is critical that Americans step up and take their health into their own hands. Currently, over one-third of the American population is considered obese based on body mass index (BMI). Obesity is linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, stroke, and certain types of cancer. In 2008, the United States spent an estimated $147 billion dollars in annual medical costs directly related to obesity.
Visit the Center for Disease Control’s website. Towards the bottom of the page you will see a visual representation of obesity rates rising across the United States from 1985-2010. Pay close attention to what you see. Notice the prevalence of obesity in the State of Georgia 2010.
Take a second and brainstorm… What has caused this dramatic change in weight status in the past ~25 years?
Let’s go back a few hundred years to the days of hunting and gathering. Back then it was not possible to walk into a grocery store and select everything needed to feed a family for weeks within a few minutes. You had to perform physical work (and burn calories) to get your food.
People everywhere are sitting more and moving less due to technological advancements. Elevators, escalators, self-propelled lawn mowers, computers, the internet, and video games are just a few factors which contribute to the obesity epidemic. These days, we literally have the world at our fingertips.
The Reality
Emerging research suggests that a single bout of exercise is not enough to counteract the amount of time we spend sitting in a given day on our health. As a nation we need to get up and get moving. We also need to closely examine our dietary intake habits. Again, by engineering our physical work out of our lives, we have created more health problems. It is all too easy to swing into a drive thru and order a day’s worth of calories without ever leaving your car. People everywhere are looking for weight loss solutions. The average person all too often invests their time, energy, and money into the “quick fix,” “magic pill,” or latest exercise fad with “guaranteed results” without ever questioning the validity of this weight loss “solution.” Some people are relatively successful with weight loss in the short term, but what happens several weeks after we close the diet book or stop taking the weight loss supplement? Typically, the weight loss results that are obtained are not sustainable over the long-term. We need to re-focus our energy (and money) from these quick-fix solutions and start investing in our health for the long-term. What long-term weight management really means is managing your daily nutrition and physical activity.
The Equation
Fat does not appear or disappear overnight, and one high-calorie meal is not going to result in a significant change in body composition. However, if you continuously consume mo