Diario de -Diablo, 11 may. 21

I personally have friends & family of all shapes & sizes. For 20 plus years 8 of us had dinner weekly. One of us is extremely overweight (obese), one of us is very slender....the rest fall in the middle at various weights. One of the guys still works out daily & he's 80 years old now. We all have multiple interests. I love to eat & enjoy a nice glass of wine. But, I also enjoy walking, gardening, travel, art, good conversation, etc. Some of my friends that attend exercise classes regularly are heavier than I am. Weight does not define us. 

I think a lot of what is seen in different countries, as far the average body weight, may even be considered to be “normal” in those countries. So if you just look at the usa and the average amount of weight ratios, you can look up how they have been increasing. Of course, as individuals, there are tons of factors that go into how we behave, how we choose to live, and even small things that can indirectly cause our body weight to hover around a certain % such as some people who are thin and think they eat “a lot” or can’t “gain weight”, usually have smaller stomachs or appetites. I know I would have more trouble controlling my weight if I wasn’t active like I am, my first job for 5 years was in a thrift store, everyday was unloading trucks, moving furniture moving around a lot, weight lifting on top of that, like I said before I purposely gained weight because at the time I actually thought I was a “hard gainer”, until i bumped my calorie intake by I dunno, maybe a few hundred or more daily, basically stuffing my face. Now I work overnight stocking, but mostly is walking around, so while I’m less active comparatively, I know better on how to track my food, and have more knowledge on things, which if I didn’t, I know for sure my weight would be harder to control, especially if I didn’t exercise on the side. Anyways I think that a lot of culture and traditions go into the food consumption issue as well, I mean Italy for example is very social and eating together as family in large amounts is considered normal to do, even eating a lot and being on the “heavier” side is not an issue, sometimes being thin in that regard is seen as being “underfed”. But I think another main contributor as I mentioned in my previous comments, is portion sizes, you can look at how the portions have increased in the USA compared to where they were 10+ years ago, but not only that, if you look at how food is prepared, McDonald’s for example, I think they use less oils in the cooking compared to here in USA. USA aside though, look up the obesity rates by country, currently we are ranked 12. But the thing is, there isn’t just ONE cause, it’s multiple things, and they could stem from anywhere, Japan in 2004 started teaches food education. but here? Nothin like that unless you go into nutrition/health business. For example I got a personal trainer certification in 2019, and although went into more depth relating to nutrition and how it affects the body, I really ended up knowing better just due to researching stuff myself far before that. But you can see just how much of that education is absent now, and it’s blown up so much to just become sales tactics and marketing that no wonder nobody knows where to look for info!, when some snake oil salesman is like “buy these weight loss pills for $300 a month!”. So I definitely see education being an issue simply due to its absence. But as for all of us on FatSecret, we are making the conscious decision to better our health and bodies, and that’s something that many people take for granted or just don’t care about. 

wow. 

@Deadpool: I agree that it can be a regional thing, even in the U.S. I used to have a job that involved constant travel, so I've spent time in about 3/4 of the states. Generally speaking, Southern states like the Carolinas and Louisiana, along with many Midwest states like Illinois and Oklahoma, I witnessed a high percentage of obese people. When I was in NYC and L.A., thin was normal. In Alabama my clients took me to a Southern Living convention and heavy people grazed on cake and fried foods. In Chicago our lunch break was spent with several boxes of deep dish pizza. In NY, everyone ordered salads. In L.A. we went out for sushi after a day's work. These instances were not isolated, as I had multiple clients in these states.