The Skinny on America’s ‘Fat Facts’ – guest blogger

Suzanne Holman

A recent study has revealed that most Americans are getting it all wrong when it comes to their body weight issues. According to the survey which had respondents giving their height and weight and pollsters calculated the BMI (body mass index) which is a relation of weight to height.

Out of those considered to be ‘overweight’ 30% believed they were of normal size. Another 70% of those classified as obese thought they were simply overweight. The heaviest group which is of the morbidly obese had 60% in that category classifying themselves as obese while 39% thought they were merely overweight. With these kinds of perceptions, it’s no wonder why overweight and obesity rates in the United States are on an upward climb.

There are quite a large number of people whole body images aren’t in line with their BMI, only a small minority are. This could be a contributing factor towards the problem because if the majority of them don’t acknowledge there’s a problem and the severity of it, then chances are they are not going to work on rectifying it anytime soon. Obesity seems to be becoming more of a norm and this can only mean an increase in the rages of health diseases like heart diseases, diabetes and even certain forms of cancer. Obesity is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease as well.

Having grown up in a culture surrounded by overweight people, some people grow up with the mentality that overweight is the norm. The same applies to those who grow up surrounded by celebrities and influenced by the media and fashion industries who embrace the idea that being very thin is the norm.

Asked what they thought was the reason for their predicament, most respondents said it was the fact that they didn’t exercise as much as they should have been. They didn’t see the overweight and obesity issues as a result of poor eating habits.

While most of them knew they were supposed to exercise, they didn’t do anything about it. Perhaps this is because they thought exercise meant high intensity exercise like running or something like that. They forgot that even simply walking around the block or in the park counts as exercise!

Suzanne Holman is a speaker, writer, and consultant. She has a masters in education specializing in counseling and has been an educator of psychology and technology.  She’s had extensive coach training through Thomas Leonard’s Graduate School of Coaching and the University of Texas, Dallas. Suzanne is also an Emotional Intelligence Certified Coach.