I’m always amused by the way they cut off the heads of obese people in news stories. When the demographic is shown walking down a city street, its like an army of decapitated corpulence making its way for something. More food?
I wanted to do a little research (or simply dissect other people’s research) and see just what the statistics said. A division of the National Institute of Health publicized the statistics at this site and shed some light on exactly what America faces.
For those not too interested in doing the detective work, the benchmark study, dubbed the National Health Examination Survey (NHANES) provides us with the following statistics. The percentage of overweight and/or obese adults is right around 66%. The corollary, less than 33% are in the “healthy weight” category.
The logical question we draw from here — how is obesity/overweight defined? The NIH provides us with a simple equation to find out our Body Mass Index (BMI). Take your weight (pounds), multiply by 704.5, divide by your height (inches), and divide by your height again. You should have a number falling somewhere between 15-40, dubbed your BMI.
I argue that using this as criteria for overweight and obesity guidelines is a gross oversimplification. I tested the equation out on the most convenient subject, myself. I checked in this morning at 186 lbs and 74 inches tall. That gives me a BMI of just under 24. “Overweight” is defined as a BMI of 25-30. I’m on the verge of falling into the 66% group of overweight/obese people. Most people would describe me as skinny. It gets worse from there.
The guidelines set by the NIH for a “healthy weight” are a BMI of 18.5-24.9. This, at my height of 6′ 2″, is a weight range from ~148 lbs to 194 lbs. If I had 148 lbs of body weight on my frame, I’d be in miserable condition, and probably appear on the verge of starvation. Where did these numbers come from? To call less than 1/3 of American adults a “healthy weight” is simply a farce. On my current weight training program, I’m on my way towards exiting this healthy weight classification while improving my overall level of fitness.
The one aspect of the NIH’s BMI that I can nearly agree with is the obesity category. A BMI of 30+ is considered obese. At my height, I’d be obese at 233 lbs. A fair estimate. I would have to be carrying NFL-esque muscle to be in good shape and consider myself healthy at 233. Mind you, some of the fittest and quickest men in the country and world fall into this obese category. For example, the NFL’s leading tackler, the Atlanta Falcons’ Curtis Lofton, has a BMI of 33.
In the 20-74 year old demographic, 32.1% of people are obese. This in itself is a frightening statistic. Most of the increase from the 13.3% level in 1960 has occurred since 1980. The mortality rates for the obese are 10-50% higher than the non-obese, mainly as a function of cardiovascular illness. Tell this to author Michael Gard, who argues that obesity is a “moral and ideological construct, rather than a health problem,” in his book, The Obesity Epidemic.
The information collected on exercise habits is also curious. In leisure time, only 1/4 of us exercise three or more times a week in our leisure time. That can be accepted; committing oneself to three workouts a week can be difficult. But, a whopping 59% of adults DO NOT EXERCISE in their free time. Not enough leisure time to devote to exercise? Perhaps for the busiest or poorest. But before we use that excuse, muse over a 2009 Nielsen survey that tells us the average American watches 151 hours of TV per month. Three hours per day. Some of this time must surely be devoted to exercise. Our priorities are skewed.
While I’m not saying that the diet and exercise regime of America is all right, I do contend that the stats we are given by the NIH are skewed. The BMI is too convenient a measurement, oversimplifying a complex calculation, and making it appear as though we are worse off than we really are.
It’s easy to walk around and say 2/3 of people are fat. It’s the number that’s fed to us, and is a misrepresentation of the facts. The lesson learned? Understand how things are defined, and question conventional wisdom. And stop watching TV.
