A few years back I read a new article stating that, suddenly, over the course of one year, something like an additional 10% of the American population became obese.
The story smelled, so I did some digging.
What was at the core of that change in America’s percentage of “obesity” was the fact that the federal government changed the weight categories for men and women by 10 pounds.
That’s right. If you were a man of average build and weighed about 190 lbs with a typical amount of fat, one year you were “average” the next year you were overweight because the federal government decided that you should weigh 180lbs.
I did some more digging and found out that, according to the categories defined by the federal government, Tom Cruise was considered overweight and Russel Crowe was obese. I looked at the charts the federal government had put together. The ideal American man, as they defined him, would be shaped like a woman (narrow shoulders, slim hips, a waist that is curved inward). The ideal American woman, as they defined her, would be shaped like a starving Ethiopian.
At the time, I was weight-lifting, training in the MA, running, and in very good shape. But I weighed over 200lbs. I, too, was a fatty.
Make no mistake, folks. The “obesity” Nazis are just like the Eco-Nazis and the Socialist-Medicine Nazis. What they want is control over your liberty, punitive taxes on our lifestyle, and to subvert America to third-world standards.
If they were using BMI tables, they are useless...especially for someone well built. BMI is merely a ratio of your height to your weight. It does not take into account what that weight is made up of, i.e., muscle versus fat.
your post reminds me of my experience as a college athlete.
Our coach was concerned that many on the team were officially “overweight” according to some chart.
She knew something couldn’t be right because she saw how hard we working - and we didn’t look fat to her.
So she decided to send us to the water tank for body fat testing where we ranged anywhere from 4% to 11% bodyfat.
Because of this experience I have always ignored this BMI garbage.
Some people are very fit and carry a good bit of muscle on their frame - they may weigh the same as someone carrying around too much flab.
So - I go by what size clothing - does the person look flabby?
Out of my 7 kids, 5 of them look pretty good, with 1 borderline, and 1 definitely overweight.
But even when we manage to deal with his flab, he’s still going to officially register as “overweight” on those darn charts because of the type of build he has. I’ll just be happy when we can get rid of his pooch.