Obesity

Obesity

Did you know that 20% of Idaho’s population is obese? According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million adults are obese, and 9 million adults are severely obese. One-third of the American adult population is affected by obesity each year and is increasing. “The definition of obesity varies depending on what one reads, but in general, it is a chronic condition defined by an excess amount of body fat. A certain amount of body fat is necessary for storing energy, heat insulation, shock absorption, and other functions. The normal amount of body fat (expressed as percentage of body fat) is between 25-30% in women and 18-23% in men. Women with over 30% body fat and men with over 25% body fat are considered obese.”# Obesity is the second leading preventable disease in the U.S.. We chose this topic because as athletes representing Lewis Clark State College we think it is important to live a healthy life style.

Are you obese? This is a question that can be solved by a calculation. Divide your weight, in kilograms, by the square of your height, in meters.

Calculating BMI #

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[Weight (lbs) ч height (in)2 ] x 704.5 =BMI

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This is called your BMI (Body Mass Index). If the ratio is roughly 27 or more you are considered obese, but if the ratio is 40 or more you are considered severely obese. Other methods of finding out if you are obese is by your waist circumference, blood tests, or skin-fold measures. There aren’t any specific symptoms, but with obesity there are major health problems that contribute to the disease. Some risks from obesity are arteriosclerosis, sleep apnea, skin disorders, gallstones, type two diabetes, cancer (prostate, breast, uterus, colon, and gallbladder) arthritis, and depression. These risk factors will have a higher probability on an obese or overweight person with one or more of these health-related problems.

Obesity has been seen in America since the 1960’s, but now it has become a health concern. The CDC reported that in 2005 obesity would reach a 500,000 death toll , over taking smoking as the leading cause of death if the trend continued in 2004 of 400,000 deaths. There is no real reason or understanding why one culture will grow bigger than another, but it is obvious why a certain individual will gain weight. Some psychologists say that it is the age of new technology that brings less activity in the American culture with T.V., Video games, Computers, fast food, and cars. People are more liking to stay at home than to take a walk outside. Some risks of individuals gaining weight are obese parents, obese childhood, food, pregnancy, medications, hormone problems, activity level, and age. People may have passes down genes or learn inactive lifestyles from their older peers. Some children are able to store more fat than the average child. Some people develop eating disorders. Women are not able to lose weight after pregnancy. When people use medications like steroids or antidepressants to gain weight they are not able to lose the weight they gain. Hormones can effect the weight a person puts on because they are not able to control their body. When people are inactive the body is not able to burn off as much fat needed. A person will lose muscle to as they age adding to the risk of gaining weight. In some cases experts even believe that when a person is obese their body is able to set an ideal weight higher than it should be. This makes it harder for a person to lose weight and to keep it off. An article in the Breaking News tells a story of a child’s family in Britain