Many people underestimate how fat they are, maybe including you....
Today's Post: Thursday, 9-2-2010
Earlier today, HealthDay ran a story twice under two different headlines. The one that fit the content of the story best was:
“Many Americans Don't Even Know They're Fat.”
The HealthDay organization was even a part of the study!
Here are some key quotes.:
“As part of the Harris Interactive/HealthDay survey, respondents were asked to provide their height and weight, from which pollsters calculated their body-mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height. Respondents were then asked which category of weight they thought they fell into.
Thirty percent of those in the "overweight" class believed they were actually normal size, while 70 percent of those classified as obese felt they were simply overweight.
Among the heaviest group, the morbidly obese, almost 60 percent pegged themselves as obese, while another 39 percent considered themselves merely overweight.
These findings may help to explain why overweight and obesity rates in the United States continue to go up, experts say.
"While there are some people who have body images in line with their actual BMI, for many people they are not, and this may be where part of the problem lies," said Regina Corso, vice president of Harris Poll Solutions.
"If they do not recognize the problem or don't recognize the severity of the problem, they are less likely to do something about it."
And that means that obesity may be becoming the new norm, raising the specter of increasing rates of health threats such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.”
One key to this is that the word normal has two meanings.
Desirable is one; and typical or average is the other. So, if everyone around you averages 30 pounds overfat; and you only are 20 to 25 pounds overfat, you are NOT normal by the desirable definition. But in the group of people you know, you certainly are by the typical or average definition.
Here are some other key quotes.:
“Most respondents to the poll who felt they were heavier than they should be blamed sloth, rather than poor eating habits, for their predicament.
"In the mindset of most Americans, they're not looking at this as a food problem as much as an exercise problem," Corso said.
According to the poll, 52 percent of overweight people and 75 percent of both the obese and morbidly obese felt they didn't exercise enough.
"We're seeing the couch potato stigma [syndrome]," Corso said. "Three out of five Americans overall are saying they don't exercise as much as they should."
Added Gans: "It is sad that 59 percent of people who responded know they should be getting more exercise but yet aren't. “ “
“Food appeared to be a lesser culprit than lack of exercise in people's minds, with 36 percent of overweight respondents, 48 percent of obese respondents and 27 percent of those morbidly obese feeling they ate more than they "should in general."
A third of overweight people, 55 percent of obese people and 59 percent of morbidly obese people felt they ate too much of the wrong types of food.”
Before I comment on this further, there are two OTHER reasons people underestimate by how much they are overfat.
Both of those have to do with visceral fat.
Research has found that many people who are only overweight have health problems as is they were obese. If for a man, their waist is over 40 -- and for a woman over 35 or 36 inches, their health problems rate as obese or even morbidly obese even if they are only overweight by bodyweight or BMI.
Secondly, the perception by many of these people that getting enough exercise IS partly correct.
Separate research has shown that somewhat fat people who exercise are healthier than totally sedentary skinny people.
In addition, a study found that even people who rate as being of NORMAL weight by BMI but who are totally sedentary are actually fat INSIDE and have dangerously large amounts of visceral fat.
All this together means that only people who are:
normal by BMI or are above normal only because of being very heavily muscled;
AND who are NOT large waisted;
AND who exercise regularly –
are of normal weight by the definition that normal means desirable.
Among other things, this means the problems of obesity and being too fat are also sharply UNDER-recognized.
For example, I’m an example -- take my case!
On BMI, my recent 15 pound fat loss dropped me from definitely overweight to being right on the border between normal and overweight.
And, I get almost enough exercise and exercise vigorously every day virtually every week.
But, by my waist measure and what my belly looks like, my recent 15 pound fat loss only dropped me from obese to significantly overweight.
That’s why I’m making a strong effort to lose fat off my belly and take inches more off my waist measurement.
Yet if I went by how much I exercise or my BMI alone, I’d figure I was in OK shape. It could be a lot worse. But, my waist measurement shows I was in real trouble before I lost the 15 pounds that I lost recently and that I’m NOT yet in good shape.
I suspect that as many as 90% or more of the Americans who still eat junk food, drink soft drinks and never exercise are in trouble and overfat by one of these three measures, BMI, waist measurement, or internal measurement of visceral fat.
How about you?
Do you think of yourself as too overweight or too fat?
If not, are you correct? If not, do you still think so after reading this article?
And, if so, are you doing anything about it?
Note that the majority perception in this study IS partly correct. People who exercise will be less fat and be healthier than people who don’t.
Recent studies even found that’s more true if they have more ”thrifty” and obesity inducing genes. Such people are helped MORE be exercising than people who don’t have that handicap.
But, they are completely wrong on two counts.
First, since most of the people who know they should exercise more aren’t doing any exercise, they are unaware of the health dangers they are subjecting themselves too or they have no clue how to actually fit in exercise & probably both.
Judging by the health effects, both being too fat and being totally sedentary are health emergencies. Yet these people do nothing.
This is NOT good!
Second, despite being partly correct about exercise, these results also show they are completely ignorant of how much more critical eating quality foods only and having sustainable calorie restriction are than exercise is in keeping off or losing excess fat.
Weight Watchers has been doing this long enough, you can use their point system to see this. Using that to calculate, you can see that if you cut back on what you eat and exercise more, both will help. But well over half the results will depend on your eating less and less than half will depend on exercising more.
Fat loss expert Tom Venuto even has had specific experiences to back this up.
Someone who does a LOT of exercise but does no calorie restriction may even gain weight. They certainly won’t lose very much.
But, if they maintain their exercise and cut back their calories in a sustainable way to less than the calories they are burning, they WILL lose fat and weight.
Based on his comments on this in his recent book, he has seen this repeatedly.
The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot to get started.
Both eating less and less fattening foods AND exercising more can each start with a small step.
Eating less can be as simple as eating a dessert food twice a month or three times instead of 5 to 7 times a week or drinking green tea or tea or club soda instead of one or more soft drinks a day.
Exercising more can be as simple to start as doing one minute of push ups every other day and one minute of freehand squats or deep knee bends every other day or adding two or three brisk, 10 minute walks to your week each week.
You can even combine them. Two days a week, bring two healthy and moderately small snacks to work and eat one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon and skip lunch and exercise instead. Go to a gym close to work and do a few minutes of strength training or use your lunch hour to take a brisk walk for that time.
Skip a TV show you can do without two or three evenings a week and spend that time exercising. (If you were also eating fattening snacks while you watched that you skipped, this is even more effective.)
Start somewhere and do a tiny bit. Then find ways to do a bit more that you can also keep doing and build on this.
Today's Post: Thursday, 9-2-2010
Earlier today, HealthDay ran a story twice under two different headlines. The one that fit the content of the story best was:
“Many Americans Don't Even Know They're Fat.”
The HealthDay organization was even a part of the study!
Here are some key quotes.:
“As part of the Harris Interactive/HealthDay survey, respondents were asked to provide their height and weight, from which pollsters calculated their body-mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height. Respondents were then asked which category of weight they thought they fell into.
Thirty percent of those in the "overweight" class believed they were actually normal size, while 70 percent of those classified as obese felt they were simply overweight.
Among the heaviest group, the morbidly obese, almost 60 percent pegged themselves as obese, while another 39 percent considered themselves merely overweight.
These findings may help to explain why overweight and obesity rates in the United States continue to go up, experts say.
"While there are some people who have body images in line with their actual BMI, for many people they are not, and this may be where part of the problem lies," said Regina Corso, vice president of Harris Poll Solutions.
"If they do not recognize the problem or don't recognize the severity of the problem, they are less likely to do something about it."
And that means that obesity may be becoming the new norm, raising the specter of increasing rates of health threats such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.”
One key to this is that the word normal has two meanings.
Desirable is one; and typical or average is the other. So, if everyone around you averages 30 pounds overfat; and you only are 20 to 25 pounds overfat, you are NOT normal by the desirable definition. But in the group of people you know, you certainly are by the typical or average definition.
Here are some other key quotes.:
“Most respondents to the poll who felt they were heavier than they should be blamed sloth, rather than poor eating habits, for their predicament.
"In the mindset of most Americans, they're not looking at this as a food problem as much as an exercise problem," Corso said.
According to the poll, 52 percent of overweight people and 75 percent of both the obese and morbidly obese felt they didn't exercise enough.
"We're seeing the couch potato stigma [syndrome]," Corso said. "Three out of five Americans overall are saying they don't exercise as much as they should."
Added Gans: "It is sad that 59 percent of people who responded know they should be getting more exercise but yet aren't. “ “
“Food appeared to be a lesser culprit than lack of exercise in people's minds, with 36 percent of overweight respondents, 48 percent of obese respondents and 27 percent of those morbidly obese feeling they ate more than they "should in general."
A third of overweight people, 55 percent of obese people and 59 percent of morbidly obese people felt they ate too much of the wrong types of food.”
Before I comment on this further, there are two OTHER reasons people underestimate by how much they are overfat.
Both of those have to do with visceral fat.
Research has found that many people who are only overweight have health problems as is they were obese. If for a man, their waist is over 40 -- and for a woman over 35 or 36 inches, their health problems rate as obese or even morbidly obese even if they are only overweight by bodyweight or BMI.
Secondly, the perception by many of these people that getting enough exercise IS partly correct.
Separate research has shown that somewhat fat people who exercise are healthier than totally sedentary skinny people.
In addition, a study found that even people who rate as being of NORMAL weight by BMI but who are totally sedentary are actually fat INSIDE and have dangerously large amounts of visceral fat.
All this together means that only people who are:
normal by BMI or are above normal only because of being very heavily muscled;
AND who are NOT large waisted;
AND who exercise regularly –
are of normal weight by the definition that normal means desirable.
Among other things, this means the problems of obesity and being too fat are also sharply UNDER-recognized.
For example, I’m an example -- take my case!
On BMI, my recent 15 pound fat loss dropped me from definitely overweight to being right on the border between normal and overweight.
And, I get almost enough exercise and exercise vigorously every day virtually every week.
But, by my waist measure and what my belly looks like, my recent 15 pound fat loss only dropped me from obese to significantly overweight.
That’s why I’m making a strong effort to lose fat off my belly and take inches more off my waist measurement.
Yet if I went by how much I exercise or my BMI alone, I’d figure I was in OK shape. It could be a lot worse. But, my waist measurement shows I was in real trouble before I lost the 15 pounds that I lost recently and that I’m NOT yet in good shape.
I suspect that as many as 90% or more of the Americans who still eat junk food, drink soft drinks and never exercise are in trouble and overfat by one of these three measures, BMI, waist measurement, or internal measurement of visceral fat.
How about you?
Do you think of yourself as too overweight or too fat?
If not, are you correct? If not, do you still think so after reading this article?
And, if so, are you doing anything about it?
Note that the majority perception in this study IS partly correct. People who exercise will be less fat and be healthier than people who don’t.
Recent studies even found that’s more true if they have more ”thrifty” and obesity inducing genes. Such people are helped MORE be exercising than people who don’t have that handicap.
But, they are completely wrong on two counts.
First, since most of the people who know they should exercise more aren’t doing any exercise, they are unaware of the health dangers they are subjecting themselves too or they have no clue how to actually fit in exercise & probably both.
Judging by the health effects, both being too fat and being totally sedentary are health emergencies. Yet these people do nothing.
This is NOT good!
Second, despite being partly correct about exercise, these results also show they are completely ignorant of how much more critical eating quality foods only and having sustainable calorie restriction are than exercise is in keeping off or losing excess fat.
Weight Watchers has been doing this long enough, you can use their point system to see this. Using that to calculate, you can see that if you cut back on what you eat and exercise more, both will help. But well over half the results will depend on your eating less and less than half will depend on exercising more.
Fat loss expert Tom Venuto even has had specific experiences to back this up.
Someone who does a LOT of exercise but does no calorie restriction may even gain weight. They certainly won’t lose very much.
But, if they maintain their exercise and cut back their calories in a sustainable way to less than the calories they are burning, they WILL lose fat and weight.
Based on his comments on this in his recent book, he has seen this repeatedly.
The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot to get started.
Both eating less and less fattening foods AND exercising more can each start with a small step.
Eating less can be as simple as eating a dessert food twice a month or three times instead of 5 to 7 times a week or drinking green tea or tea or club soda instead of one or more soft drinks a day.
Exercising more can be as simple to start as doing one minute of push ups every other day and one minute of freehand squats or deep knee bends every other day or adding two or three brisk, 10 minute walks to your week each week.
You can even combine them. Two days a week, bring two healthy and moderately small snacks to work and eat one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon and skip lunch and exercise instead. Go to a gym close to work and do a few minutes of strength training or use your lunch hour to take a brisk walk for that time.
Skip a TV show you can do without two or three evenings a week and spend that time exercising. (If you were also eating fattening snacks while you watched that you skipped, this is even more effective.)
Start somewhere and do a tiny bit. Then find ways to do a bit more that you can also keep doing and build on this.
Labels: effective ways to begin fatloss, effective weight loss methods, Many people underestimate how fat they are, why so many people underestimate how fat they are
posted by David at 3:11 PM
2 Comments:
I just came across your health and fitness blog. Your article about the importance of different aspects of weight loss and health was especially interesting. I especially liked your comments about the use of your BMI properly. I am adding you to my favorites. We're in the same industry, the business of encouraging health and fitness. We market a product called The AbStand: http://www.theabstand.net. We would love for you and your readers to check out our ab workout product. Any feedback would be appreciated as well. Thanks!
The bad news about working out your abs or abdominal muscles is that even if they are strong and solid from exercise, you'll not see them unless you lose the fat over them.
That said, however, the faster and/or more vigorously you do you ab exercises and the more regularly you do them, the easier it will be to lose fat. As a bonus, those kind of ab exercises build fitness and help control blood sugar.
I like the video on the abstand.net website since you can see ab exercises done at that kind of pace.
And, although it's the exercising that counts more than the equipment, for some people, the standing ab exercises you do with her Abstand product will be an easier and more doable way to get started than doing the exercises on the floor.
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