If you are considered overweight, whether you know it or not, you are in the majority. In America, it has been recently estimated that 65% of the population is overweight with 30% being at least clinically obese. To add to this alarming statistic is the estimate that 15-20% of the nation’s children are overweight. Now, obesity is beginning to spread more and more to countries that have always had a relatively low rate of obesity, like China and Japan. This is one case where being in the majority is not considered a good thing. What really matters is, how being overweight or obese affects your overall health.
According to the body mass index, you are considered overweight if your index is between 25 and 29. If your index is over 30, you are considered obese. The American collage of sports medicine defines obesity as an amount of body fat that increases the risk of disease. As a general rule, more than 25% body fat for men and more than 32% body fat for women is considered obesity.
Let’s look at some of the most likely reasons that so many people are obese.
1: overeating
2: lack of exercise
3: genetic predisposition
4:...