Weight Loss Articles

Being overweight is one of these topics that we have all been talking about for the last couple years. It seems that all of a sudden we all woke up one day and found a doughnut in one hand and a bacon burger in the other. The U.S. has the most elevated obesity rate in the developed world. In the past 25 years the amount of fat adults and adolescents have risen by 100%. In 2004, seventeen percent of all kids were overweight and thirty-two percent of all adults past 20 were overweight. This means that millions are obese and risking their health. It is now thought of as one of the largest health risks in the country as the prevalence of over weight americans continues to rise. We're all huge; how did this happen? Many environmental factors that are now an American way of life are believed to be the causes of this general increased weight.

During the 1980's, Americans began to have several factors of daily activity change to make for a less active lifestyle. Eating habits was the primary problem. Restaurants and fast food chains started to be the most popular places for family dinner instead of at the home prepared the traditional way. Due to competition, eating establishments now have portion sizes that amount to three times that of the ones back in the early fast food days. A meal in most of our most popular sit-down restaurants can be two to three times the size of a McDonald's Big Mac, even though the popular chain has been blamed as the cause for our obesity problem. People that are accustomed to consuming the entire contents of their plates can get their daily amount of calories in one sitting with one of these combos.

The weight problem affects you whether you're in those demographics or not. An estimated 275,000,000 dollars a year is what we are paying extra in air fares due to increased fuel costs to haul the extra weight and lawsuits to make larger passenger seats brought on by overweight plaintiffs. In the medical field, health problems created by the weight problem now make up nearly 10% of all medical expenditures with a yearly cost of 78,500,000,000 dollars. The cheeseburger bill of 2004 was introduced by lawmakers to attempt to offer some safeguard for food producers after lawsuits with obese people became so prevalent.

Many Americans have a lazy lifestyle, another major factor of the weight problem. Most adults have vehicles and use them to travel anywhere they go, even if we could walk. Most people have difficulty finding the time to work out because of busy lifestyles or crazy work days. Most occupations are becoming less physically demanding as technology has advanced. This Causes people who come home from work and rest because they are tired from their job will get small amounts of physical exercise throughout.

Obesity has also grown because of American affluence. As citizens in wealthy nations acquire more and more money, the requirement or worry to save is diminished steadily. Larger and more varied options are now available to kids compared a generation or two back where a family's budget could control this. With parents that eat out all the time due to disposable income allows them to show their kids form their earliest age unhealthy eating habits with rich, high calorie restaurant foods. More of us are less concerned about where our food comes from and focus mainly on our personal desires in a country that makes nearly three times what it's whole population eats.

BMI, or body mass index is what we use to measure obesity. The higher the BMI, the more likely the person is to have serious health issues. There are three levels of obesity; mild obesity with a BMI of 30+, morbid obesity at BMI 40+, and malignant obesity with a BMI of 50+. An average person has half the risk of suffering a deadly health issue than an overweight person who is 40% overweight. Obesity kills an estimated 112,000 Americans per year. Just a few of the possible ailments that are associated with being overweight are; cancer, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and liver disease. Swollen legs, loss of bowel control, breathing problems, and depression are just some examples of symptoms of obesity that are not fatal but are able rapidly turn into that.