September 24, 2024 Share Obesity is high and holding steady in the U.S., but the proportion of those with severe obesity — especially women — has climbed since a decade ago, according to new government research.

The U.S. obesity rate is about 40%, according to a 2021-2023 survey of about 6,000 people. Nearly 1 in 10 of those surveyed reported severe obesity, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Women were nearly twice as likely as men to report severe obesity.

The overall obesity rate appeared to tick down vs. the 2017-2020 survey, but the change wasn’t considered statistically significant; the numbers are small enough that there’s mathematical chance they didn’t truly decline.

  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    The western capitalist diet has too little nutrition, too many addictive harmful chemicals, (corn syrup, sucralose etc) and too much meat/egg/dairy product in it.

    Everyone’s fat, but that doesn’t mean they’re well fed.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Everyone’s fat, but that doesn’t mean they’re well fed.

      The most insufferable le Redditors relish the opportunity to say “heh… um… if the poors are starving… why are they fat?” smuglord

  • EatPotatoes [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    Obesity is a such a deceptive disease. The majority of people regain significant or even more weight after losing it, even with surgery and the long term dependency on drugs to maintain loss is very telling.

    We need better quality food, much more physical activity and a far less chemicals in our everyday lives but shaming fat people is so much more idealistic than the fat acceptance everybody dunks on. The material reality is so much more grim when people are going to just regain weight again.

    • vegeta1 [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      2 months ago

      It is remarkably easy to regain weight. 90 percent of people who lose weight end up regaining most of it back. It really is a struggle. You’re absolutely right about the need for quality of food

      • EatPotatoes [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        Would even go so for to say a lot of the “treats” as hexbear often put them should probably be banned from production and just be something home made. At least effort is involved then to make stuff at home and with won’t be engineered with the sweetness bite point that makes easier large quantities of ultra processed foods.

        • vegeta1 [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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          2 months ago

          It seems we crossed that point. Smokings death toll directly and indirectly is catastrophic. Some say it will kill 1 billion. Diabetes will affect 1.3 billion people in 2050. Guess how many of those will be able to afford treatment I mention smoking because like the other treats they’re pretty addictive. So many aren’t gonna give it up. Even if it kills them which unfortunately it is in large numbers

          • EatPotatoes [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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            2 months ago

            And the levels of disability from bad spinal health and joint injuries. The bullshit they can lose the weight if they get off the scooter that saved them from becoming a shut-in.

    • ItalianMessiah [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Majority of people regain significant weight after losing it.

      The majority of people also don’t make meaningful dietary changes. They just eat the same things but less for 2-3 months and act surprised when going back to the old lifestyle results in weight gain. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight and have kept it off. It was very easy to lose the weight if you avoided ultra-processed stuff but maintaining while still occasionally eating that shit is nearly impossible.

      Childhood obesity is abuse. Ultra-processed food should be illegal or severely regulated, institutional changes should make a good diet and exercise easier. But the fat acceptance movement is not our ally in this. Anymore than drunk driving acceptance or smoking acceptance should be.

      • EatPotatoes [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        I did say that we should ban that shit being mass produced.

        While not calling for an “alliance” with the fat acceptance “movement” from which I can tell is a long gone movement in the 70s and some instagram accounts. It mostly exists in the imagination of chuds.

        If telling them getting off the junk was going to work it would have worked. Same with smokers. You have to deal with all people as they are. Unique and complex neurological train wrecks that will sniff paint cants and chew lead paint if there was nothing better is available to temporarily escape the human condition. Change the environment as much as possible but people are going to find ways to fuck themselves up and socialism will just need to scale with it.

        Child obesity is a a horrible byproduct of the collapse of social reproduction and advertising that affects the poorest and minorities first. Just calling it abuse is dangerous when we need real solutions like reduced working hours, healthy communal meals, sports programs for all.

        • ItalianMessiah [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          2 months ago

          If telling them getting off the junk was going to work it would have worked. Same with smokers.

          My comment was in response to people who did lose weight but gained it back. The point is that people can lose weight, but most can’t handle ultra-processed food in moderation. Rebounding is not fatalistic, it is a consequence of returning to a previous diet. Saying 90% regain their weight doesn’t tell the full story.

          Child obesity is a a horrible byproduct of the collapse of social reproduction and advertising that affects the poorest and minorities first. Just calling it abuse is dangerous…

          You can make the same argument for alcoholism and domestic violence. We can acknowledge societal factors of behavior while still calling a spade a spade. Childhood obesity is abuse, domestic violence is abuse, I don’t care why people do it. The fact that you won’t label this is just disgusting. Permanently fucking up a child’s growth, hormones, and self-esteem would be considered the highest form of abusive if the method was anything but food.

          To be clear, I’m not saying these parents should be arrested. But it is abuse, full stop.

  • LGOrcStreetSamurai [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I always think about how obesity creates a negative chain reaction in health outcomes, and then I think about how America’s healthcare system is nothing but a network of negative chain reactions. It doesn’t take much political theory to understand it’s unsustainable.

    The thing I find must upsetting about obesity in America is that it’s a considered a failure on the Indvidual (like everything is) and because of that they don’t deserve help. The popular response and institutional response to obesity is literally just “Go on a diet Fat-ass!”. That’s it. i-love-not-thinking It’s an iron-clad thought-terminating cliche i-love-not-thinking. They’re fat, they’re fat because they ate too much, it’s their problem, go the gym loser. I don’t need to empathize with them at all because they did it to themselves. Boom! Done!

    You don’t have to do any more investigation or thought on why a nation-wide issue exists. It’s their fault because they are bad people. Of course, the same applies to just about every major public social issue in America. Especially Poverty and Addiction. It’s the same logic chain for people. It’s a “you” problem, and it won’t happen to them because “I’m special, I’m built different, I’m uniquely blessed to overcome the hardships of my fellow man” (NOTE: You are in fact not built different.)

    It’s so stupid that Amerikkka cannot even parse the idea of public health. It’s truly one of the most vile morally bankrupt nations in history.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      The popular response and institutional response to obesity is literally just “Go on a diet Fat-ass!”. That’s it. It’s an iron-clad thought-terminating cliche .

      One of the most horrid misuses of scientific concepts by Redditors is chanting “Calories In Calories Out” at people struggling to lose weight. It’s the health equivalent of this.

      • LGOrcStreetSamurai [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        Exactly dude! It’s horrible and really just reduces a person to math and that’s the most dehumanizing thing ever. I hate the word “just”. “‘Just’ go on a diet”, “‘Just’ get a better”, “‘Just’ do X”, “‘Just’ stop doing Y”. I hate it so much. It’s so reductive and erases all the friction that comes along with being an existing person. I hate that shit bro.

        • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          2 months ago

          Same, as a personal story I’ve been trying to build muscle and eventually bench 225 so I can say with full confidence that there is a conspiracy to make fitness a luxury for the idle rich.

          Let’s look at some of the most basic lifestyle traits. Walkable cities are for rich people and some people are stuck in car-dependent podunk ‘towns’. This means a good chunk of the population might as well be barred from getting enough steps in. It’s literally a thing where if someone is ever lucky enough to go on vacation, they will get told “practice your walking”.

          If you’re poor but lucky enough to have a job, porky will do everything in his power to make sure you’re too busy to even think about the gym. You wake up in the ass crack of dawn, have to battle busy traffic (some people even commute an hour both ways daily) get worked to the bone and have to battle busy traffic again only to have enough time to prepare yourself for the next day. Try getting any exercise in, let alone time for hobbies, reading, or anything that makes life worth living. But many people also have to deal with having two full-time minimum wage jobs because employers collectively refuse to pay more than minimum wage. I’m mooching off my parent’s family plan to the gym right now as I’m struggling with underemployment, so thankfully I have that privilege, but many people don’t have that luxury. Also, why WOULD a capitalist country without universal healthcare want a healthy workforce? That’s “leaving money on the table”, a healthy population might pay less in insurance and rely less on pharmaceuticals among other things, a healthy population is bad for the economy.

  • ItalianMessiah [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    Obesity will probably be the biggest crisis of the future. We’re watching the equivalent of 40% of a generation taking up smoking a pack a day.

    I do have hope that Gen Z will be a better but even my formerly fit friends are starting to look a bit chubby after college and they’re not slowing down.

  • krolden@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    What drives me bananas is that instead of trying to make food healthier they are all up in arms over the high price of ozempic.

    It takes a drug to keep people from being fat while eating the same garbage for any real attention to be paid to insanely overpriced drugs. Thats such an american thing.