Are 2/3 of Americans REALLY overweight/obese?
 

I saw someone quote this statistic in another thread and I'm just curious--who really believes this? It's based on BMI, which is highly inaccurate on an individual basis. What about the BMI change in 1998 that made 25 million Americans overweight overnight? I know this horse has been beaten to death, but I am overweight by BMI but have 30% body fat and a 29" waist. I wear a size 8/10.

I'm not saying there's not an obesity problem, especially in children, but I think that the "epidemic" aspect is overrated. Just curious what others think :)

I believe my eyes. ive been to the states for visits. Really big people live there. not just like normal kinda big like say 200lbs or 250lbs, but like 600lb ppl..and 400 lb ppl are like normal to see. at least from what I saw. and the food portions are truely ridiculous as well as the types of food eaten commonly. imo.

I really don't think 400-600 lb people are the norm, and I'm from the south, where everything is fried. At 225 lbs, I am quite often the fattest person in the room on campus.

I definitely think there's an epidemic. When I was growing up, I was one of maybe two or three fat kids in my grade. In college, I started to see more people who were my size or bigger. Now I very rarely feel out of place. I always see people who are my size or much much bigger.

BMI isn't the best measure of health but it's the simplest for the masses. It gives at least some sort of standard against which people can measure themselves. As with anything, people need to take that and see how fitting it is for their own bodies. As for the switch in 1998, it brought U.S. standards more in line with the standards of other parts of the world. There are countries with standards that are even stricter.

They were the norm for me to see when I was there. But I was only there for 4 months. But do I think americans are overweight and obese? I think a lot are. Obviously not all. But 2/3 sounds about right.

Yes, but there's a difference between, "I've seen some very large people" and "The majority of the people I see are large." Does "normal to see" mean that 1 out of every 3 people you saw looked obese? Or does it mean maybe 1 out of 20, which is totally different?

I made that claim. I had heard it before, but didn't actually look it up. However,this link:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm


From the CDC states that about 1/3 of adults over 20 are overweight and 1/3 are obese. So unless I am reading it wrong, 2/3 of this country are overweight/obese!

Chickie, I was questioning the statistic itself, not your quoting--I know it's the official number from the CDC. I just doubt the validity of the method used to come up with those numbers. No slight to you intended :)

yea probably 1/3 of people I saw were bigger (ie obese) than a healthy weight. Not all were HUGE but a lot were say a size 14-18 range and probably 1/3 were way over that. I'd say that was the majority of women I saw. I think part of the issue is where we think overweight and obese starts and that could be a big cultural difference.

I didn't feel slotted. I just wanted to be sure I had heard it right in the first place!

I don't think a lot of people fall into the "my BMI puts me slightly into the overweight" zone. Some, but all 33% of overweight persons? What about the 1/3 that are statistically obese? There isn't much room to fudge that.... Even if we were being extra forgiving of the BMI numbers, I can't imagine the stats being even close to 50-50. When half or more of a country is overweight/obese, there is a problem.

The CDC says 2/3 people are overweight, and 1/3 are obese. So if only 1/3 of the people you saw were overweight, that's still less than the statistics say :)

Chickie, absolutely I think there is a problem as I said in my first post, I just feel like the problem is overstated frequently. It seems like the focus is on thinness and not health.

The norm will vary from location to location but overall, Americans as a whole are getting less healthy and more overweight/obese.

reread what I said lol. when I said bigger I meant obese. not all the 1/3 overweight ppl are necessarily overweight if we just use our eyes and not bmi but certainly a lot had some 'extra junk in the trunk' :P that could be just 20lbs over or 30lbs. But the obese people were reaaaaaaally obese. I was 335lbs I know obese when i see it :P

To start with, I think BMI is completely false. However, I do believe there is an epidemic of obesity. Maybe its just the area I live in, but I can easily say probably 1 out of 3 people I see is overweight or obese. I don't mean just a few pounds either. I mean at least a good 50+ over a healthy weight. I'm trying to avoid becoming a statistic. :(

I believe it. Seeing "normal" weight people is becoming less and less common. Almost everyone I know is slightly overweight, including myself, and I'm in my early 30's, and I'm also in one of the healthier ranked states.

I work with kids from PreK-21 years and they are markedly larger than I remember when I was that age. Even looking at my daughter's elementary school I'm shocked at the number of overweight kids under 11 years old.