The Thinnest State needs a Larger Belt.

[Alastor]

It's common knowledge among Coloradans that we're the thinnest state, with the lowest obesity rate in the entire nation.

For a while, we were the only state in the country that had less than a 20% obesity rate.

While Colorado is still the thinnest state, we're now over the 20% mark for obesity.

It turns out we're getting a lil' chunky too, along with the rest of the nation.

Source.

Further, it turns out that people, at least in Colorado, don't even know what "obese" means. It turns out that over half of all the people in Colorado cannot identify an overweight person, and less than 25% of us can correctly identify an obese child.

For more on our ability to identify that which is sitting right in front of us, click here.

Oh, and in case you're curious as to whether or not someone is obese... Here's a handy calculator to help you check.

[ebsoria]

I was at work the other day and there was a father and his daughter. He was a big, big man. Easily pushing the 350 mark. His daughter.. tragic. She could not have been more then 4 or 5 and easily reminded me of the "peanut butter and jelly time" dance girl. It was sad... so sad. My first thought was- "That's a parent that needs his daughter taken away from him". I felt for her..

[Alastor]

I have to admit, I'm fortunate.

Almost every member of my family on my mother's side is obese. My father's side though... Incredibly good health runs in that family.

I lucked out on the coin flip.

I have a BMI of 19, which is where one wants to be.

I have a very health conscience friend though, and she watches me. At first she was just amazed at how much I drink alcohol, smoke, don't sleep, and how I can eat more than any three random people at a given time, or at least give them a run for their money.

Over time she's watched me a lot to try to figure out how this absolute disgrace to healthy living remains in very good health. It turns out I have a bunch of very healthy habits that easily (so far) off-set my unhealthy choices.

It's not because I ever cared about the consequences though, it just turned out that I do those things as a matter of choice for other reasons. What I eat, when I eat, how often I eat, how often I sleep, the nature of my sleep, my activities, and so on.

It's just good fortune.

I often try to look at it as... For all of the good fortune I have in my healthy behaviors, I could have just as easily gotten the other side. I completely lucked into having exceptionally healthy habits. What if it had gone the other way?

What if I didn't like to sleep the way I do? What if I didn't like the foods I do? What if I didn't like coffee and milk? What if I was one of those people who is not constantly active?

I could just as easily be on the other end of the spectrum as I am right now.

And I didn't make any of these choices based on anything other than the pleasure they bring me. What if by some stroke of luck, the things that brought me pleasure weren't healthy? How hard would it be for me to give up the things I now enjoy doing?

It'd be pretty hard for me to give up the things I do currently. Fortunately the things I do are pretty healthy, but what if they weren't?

[Foez]

I was at work the other day and there was a father and his daughter. He was a big, big man. Easily pushing the 350 mark. His daughter.. tragic. She could not have been more then 4 or 5 and easily reminded me of the "peanut butter and jelly time" dance girl. It was sad... so sad. My first thought was- "That's a parent that needs his daughter taken away from him". I felt for her..

You wouldn't believe how many times I've seen that. I wouldn't doubt if Texas was the obese state in the nation. I used to deliver pizzas and I honestly think I helped kill a couple people because one guy needed a walker and another needed an electric wheel chair to get around and I would deliver to them every single day! After bringing them pizza and wings and sodas every day they randomly stopped ordering and my best guess is they ended up in the hospital. Sad but true.

[Alastor]

Mississippi is the worst, followed closely by West Virginia and then Alabama.

Texas is pretty bad though.

It's in the link.

[shawinkerpoppin]

I was at work the other day and there was a father and his daughter. He was a big, big man. Easily pushing the 350 mark. His daughter.. tragic. She could not have been more then 4 or 5 and easily reminded me of the "peanut butter and jelly time" dance girl. It was sad... so sad. My first thought was- "That's a parent that needs his daughter taken away from him". I felt for her..

the peanut butter jelly girl thing made me laugh im sorry.

But on the real its not hard to lose wight or atleast not as hard as people think. You just have to give it time. I lost over a hundred pounds in less than a year no pills no surgery just good old fashioned diet and exercise. Not even a diet that starves you just switch everything from fried to baked or grilled and cut yourself down to one desert a week and drink water all day and allow yourself a sweet drink at dinner only and just one. The elliptical is much easier than a treadmill and burns more calories. An hour a day while watching TV or listening to music or both can burn like 700 calories. Add some weights if you like to keep yourself from looking like one of them flying squirrels and your good to go. Just do something that works for you and you will be fine and then work on bringing balance to your day to day life. I eat pizza and stuff now but just not in excess or everyday I do it in moderation and I still workout and that allows me to keep the weight off.

[CoryWinget81]

I decided I didn't want to be unhealthy anymore.

My BMI went from a 40 to a 30. I'm 6'2. I went from 320 now down to 235.

I'm apparently still "obese", but I'm still working on it. I ran a 5k on back to back days last week. I'll do it again this week.

Processed food and fast food are the devil. I gave it up. I rarely eat out, and when I do I try to make smart choices. Sometimes, like when I was at Village Inn and I asked for a light dressing for my salad, I get ribbed for it.

I used to hate Dr. Phil and how he would say "You're fat because you want to be fat".

You know what? He's right. Sure, there are people with endocrinology issues, diabetes, etc...but there ARE ways to manage your weight. It might be hard, but there are ways. If you think those ways are too hard, then you're fat because you want to be fat.

I don't want to be fat. And my kids won't be either.

[CoryWinget81]

I should add, I don't care if you're fat or not. I'm not suddenly prejudiced against heavy people now.

[Alastor]

I gotta admit, the flying squirrel comment made me chuckle.

Cory, I'm really sorry about making fun of your dressing.

[12and4]

Colorado actually looks a little pudgy... i'd say california is thinner than colorado


but really, heres a map

[on2]

These are facts. Do not attempt to deny:

I recently lost weight due to better eating habbits, like cooking at home, not drinking alcohol (some of you just went wth?), no soda (ever). I dropped weight.

I went back to fast food simply because it had been a really long time and I wanted my McD fries and chocolate shake. I got the Big Mac meal. I went to fast food about twice a week over the last 3 weeks (usually incapable of consuming much more that half of the meal with a soda). I gained 5 pounds that will not drop even days after ceasing to eat at fast food places and going back to healthier food.

The weight will eventually come off over time if all things remain the same, my point is that fast food put the pounds on really fast and stayed there.

Anyone who wants to lose weight needs to just stop the fast food completely (your wallet will appreciate it), alcohol reduction and absolutely no soda/cola. Unfortunately it includes restaurant food too.

Careful some of you not to compensate with more alcohol. That's a good way to lose weight and a whole lot more. And if you intend to lose weight be sure to keep working out. Exercise or lose your muscles along with the pounds and look like a twig.

Lots of good advice in these other posts. :thumb:

[#87Birdman]

I really never liked the bmi due to the fact it doesn't take into account how the body holds the weight. I am slightly over weight due to getting a desk job and not doing anything to work off some of the weight I gained but according to this I'm almost obese which might be true for people my height but being in the military I have put on quite a bit of muscle. So while the bmi might give a rough estimate I can't take it to seriously

[CoryWinget81]

I really never liked the bmi due to the fact it doesn't take into account how the body holds the weight. I am slightly over weight due to getting a desk job and not doing anything to work off some of the weight I gained but according to this I'm almost obese which might be true for people my height but being in the military I have put on quite a bit of muscle. So while the bmi might give a rough estimate I can't take it to seriously

I was considered overweight right before MEPS, but my neck measurement put me in the right bracket.

I agree with you, BMI isn't a constant.