According to the 2005 Yankelovich Preventative Healthcare Study, almost 75 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Only about one-third of Americans are actively attempting to correct personal overweight conditions. Obese Americans are concerned about losing weight to feel more healthy (84%) and to avoid ill-health (74%), while normal weight individuals are more likely to cite staying slim (64%) and looking more attractive (57%) as primary motivators.
One target group, married women with children, tends to be stymied first and foremost by time management concerns, such as finding time to cook for themselves when they typically cook for others (25%), not having the time to exercise (19%) and not having time to plan and shop for a diet (17%)
According to the 2005 Yankelovich Preventative Healthcare Study, there exists two main barriers to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight: motivation and education.
Major motivation barriers include:
-- Dislike of exercise - 22%
-- Enjoying junk food too much - 21%
-- Lack of will power to stick to a plan - 15%
Major educational barriers include:
-- Inability to afford a successful weight loss program - 20%
-- Insurance not covering weight-loss programs - 19%
-- Inability to figure out the best way to lose weight - 14%
Obesity causes the following clinical and physiological problems:
Clinical Problems
Heart disease
Hypertension
Certain types of cancer
Type 2 diabetes
Stroke
Arthritis
Breathing problems
Sleep apnea
Psychological disorders, such as depression
Physiological Problems
Decreased insulin sensitivity
Increased fasting insulin
Increased insulin response to glucose
Decreased growth hormone
Decreased growth hormone response to insulin stimulation
Increased adrenocortical hormones
Increased cholesterol synthesis and excretion
Decreased hormone-sensitive lipase
Cause of Obesity
The major cause of obesity is too many calories in the diet and too little calories in daily activity and exercise, which is complicated by the timing and type of food consumption and the timing and intensity of activity. In other words, weight control is not simply the balance of caloric intake and expenditure, but involves the timing and type of intake and expenditure that best controls the physiology and metabolism related to fat storage, fat release and carbohydrate storage and carbohydrate energy expenditure and protein acquisition for body structure. The pro or con of this balance and timing of caloric intake and expenditure may positively or negatively affect insulin function, which may be crucial to weight and body composition control..
Endocrine and genetic problems can also cause obesity, but these causes are not involved in the majority of the population.
Quantitative and Qualitative Descriptions
While some people have body self-image distortions, most people can honestly look in the mirror or consider the fit of their clothes to understand if they are overweight or obese. Nevertheless, for more objective scientific purposes, medical purposes and educational purposes, overweight and obesity are defined quantitatively and qualitatively.
Quantitative
Height/Weight Tables
Tables are used most often as an insurance guideline, but are not particularly helpful to people concerned with weight control. Several innaccuracies are possible with the estimation of clothing and shoe weights, and with the estimation of frame size. You're considered overweight or perhaps obese if you are well above the table guidelines.
1999 METROPOLITAN HEIGHT AND WEIGHT TABLES FOR
MEN AND WOMEN
According to Frame, Ages 25-59
WOMEN
Weight in Pounds (In Indoor Clothing)* Height in Feet and Inches
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4' |
10" |
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4' |
11" |
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5' |
0" |
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5' |
1" |
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5' |
2" |
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5' |
3" |
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5' |
4" |
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5' |
5" |
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5' |
6" |
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5' |
7" |
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5' |
8" |
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5' |
9" |
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5' |
10" |
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5' |
11" |
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6' |
0" |
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* Indoor clothing weighing 5 pounds for
men and 3 pounds for women. Shoes with 1-inch heels
1999 METROPOLITAN HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
TABLES FOR
MEN AND WOMEN
According to Frame, Ages 25-59
MEN
Weight in Pounds (In Indoor Clothing)* Height in Feet and Inches
MEN AND WOMEN
According to Frame, Ages 25-59
MEN
Weight in Pounds (In Indoor Clothing)* Height in Feet and Inches
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5 |
'2" |
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5' |
3" |
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5' |
4" |
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5 |
'5" |
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5' |
6" |
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5' |
7" |
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5' |
8" |
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5' |
9" |
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5' |
10" |
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5 |
'11" |
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6' |
0" |
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6 |
'1" |
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6' |
2" |
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6' |
3" |
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6' |
4" |
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* Indoor clothing weighing 5 pounds for men and 3 pounds for women. Shoes with 1-inch heels
Source of basic data Build Study, 1979. Society of Actuaries and Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America, 1980.Copyright© 1996, 1999 Metropolitan Life Insurance CompanyBody Mass Index or BMI
Body Mass Index is figured by calculating your height compared to your weight.
BMI = weight (kg)/height (m)2
or
BMI = (weight (pounds)/height (inches)2) x 703
The results are interpreted as follows:
- In adults:
- Healthy weight 18.5-24.9
- Overweight 25.0-29.9
- Obesity
- Class I 30.0-34.9
- Class II 35.0-39.9
- Class III >40.0
- In children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years, overweight has been defined as a sex- and age-specific BMI at or above the 95th percentile, based on revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts (www.cdc.gov/growthcharts).
- BMI has some limitations in that it can overestimate body fat in persons who are very muscular, and it can underestimate body fat in persons who have lost muscle mass, such as many elderly.
- An actual diagnosis of overweight or obesity should be made by a health professional.
Percentage Body Fat
Percentage Body Fat is the most helpful to individuals concerned with weight control because it best defines body composition (the ratio of fat to lean body tissue). Other guidelines do not recognize muscular body types as a source of excess weight and therefore overestimate fatness.
There are several methods to measure or estimate percentage body fat:
These methods are often available at health clubs, physician offices and colleges and universities.measuring skin-fold thickness with calipers, which uses linear regression equations to estimate body fat from comparisons in scientific studies hydrostatic weighing, which compares underwater weight to dry-land weight to determine body density, which is inversely proportional to body fat (note: hydrostatic weighing is probably most accurate) the impedance system, which measures the body's resistance to electrical current as it compares to scientific studies of impedance and lean body mass known by other scientific methods
Body Fat Percentage Categories
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Classification |
Women (% fat) |
Men (% fat) |
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Essential Fat |
10-12% |
2-4% |
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Athletes |
14-20% |
6-13% |
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Fitness |
21-24% |
14-17% |
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Acceptable |
25-31% |
18-25% |
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Obese |
> 32% |
> 25% |
Qualitative
Overweight and obesity can also be described as a phenotype or by fat cell morphology, which is done by physician diagnosis.
Phenotype
- Type I -- Excess body mass or body fat percentage
- Type II -- Android Fat or excess subcutaneous truncal-abdominal fat (more common in men and post-menopausal women)
- Type III -- Excess abdominal visceral fat
- Type IV -- Gynoid Fat or excess gluteal-femoral fat (more common in females)
Hyperplastic obesity describes many fat cells and Hypertrophic Obesity describes big fat cells.
Body Fat Distribution
Body fat distribution may be more significant to health than total body fat. Upper body fat is associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease, hyertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and hormonal dysfunction. Fat cells in the trunk are more associated with glucose intolerance, sodium retention and hypertension, increased LDL (the bad cholesterol), increased tryglycerides, and other deleterious effects.
Waist-to-hip ratio (minimal waist to largest gluteal diameter) is used to measure body fat distribution. Figures are standardized as follows:
Predominantly Lower Body Fat Distribution
< 0.776 Men
< 0.776 Women
Predominantly Higher Upper Body Fat Distribution
> 0.913 Men
> 0.861 Women
Summary Tips for Weight and Body Composition Control -- Know your RMR
Understand your resting metabolic rate (RMR, the calories you spend at rest in a single day). Many of the formulas that estimate RMR are off by as much as 15%, so it is best to have a direct measurement. HealtheTech, has developed BodyGem, a simple, hand-held breath test that measures oxygen in and carbon dioxide out and is used for metabolic assessment at gyms and spas nationwide (check metabolicfingerprint.com for locations).
Know Your Daily Caloric Intake and Expenditure
Most people underestimate their caloric intake and forget snacks and meals. Get help from an objective third party. If you are trying to lose weight, you must have an average daily calorie deficit, which only happens if you eat less and/or exercise more.
Overcome Your Barriers of Motivation and Education About Weight Control, then Fine Tune Your Intensity and Quantity of Exercise and Understand the Timing with Meals, Food Type and Food Quantity
A lot health information appears contradictory because it is directed at 'the general public' instead of for your specific lifestyle. There are many different specific reasons that lead to overweight conditions, but the bottom line is that if you are trying to lose weight you must work off more calories than you eat. You need food for energy. If you don't have enough food or the right type of food, at the right time as fuel, you will be too tired to get an effective workout. If you don't burn enough calories with an effective workout, you won't contribute to the calorie deficit that you need to lose weight and your body won't adapt to select stored fat as a fuel (the more fit you are, the better your body uses fat as fuel for exercise). Many overweight people crave carbohydrates. For most people, the best time to eat simple carbohydrates is immediately after an intense workout. Insulin is more effective at getting sugar into muscle cells as glycogen immediately after a workout. Getting those carbohydrates into storage in the muscles helps your energy level for the immediate future workout. Compare this to eating too many carbohydrates and simple sugars without a workout -- that is the worst time to eat excess carbohydrates. The excess is more likely to go to fat storage than glycogen storage.
Think of your meals and exercise as relating this way:
You need a good balanced meal (a meal that focuses on protein and complex carbohydrates) about an hour or two before exercise. During your workout, recognize the feeling of hollowness or weakness from lack of food intake.That feeling of hollowness should not be a regular occurrence. Days where you push it through on a low tank will take their toll on future workouts and tend to cause eating binges.
Your need for simpler sugars is highest immediately after your workout. You need enough for energy for tomorrow's workout, but not too much that you sabotage your calorie intake control. Then about an hour after your workout you need a balanced meal. On some days you need to restrict calories a little more, but if you restrict too often you will lose energy and motivation to workout -- and your metabolism (RMR) might actually slow down so much that it slows down your weight loss. If you skipped a meal (namely breakfast) before working out, you probably shouldn't consume a high carbohydrate fuel right after the workout. You should probably go direct to a balanced meal with protein and carbohydrates; otherwise, your body will dump amino acids from muscles and you will lose the muscle that you want to keep. When you are doing this right, you will learn to feel better, have better energy and better mood control with proper eating and exercise activity.
The intensity of your workout is another important factor. It is true that lower intensity exercise burns relatively more fat as fuel, but the total calorie expenditure is lower, and therefore less effective. The best intensity is probably about 75% of maximum heart rate as some research suggests that you get a better post-workout with an extended period of burning of calories when you workout at higher intensities. With experience (self-judging how you feel and monitoring your heart rate) you will learn to have harder and easier days of calorie expenditure. Some slow, long distance days mixed in the week with high intensity bursts. Higher intensity workouts definitely affect your body with more impact, which can put bones, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments at risk of injury. Discomfort may be a little higher during the harder workouts and you may feel more physical disruption in the recovery and aftermath of the harder workouts. Part of becoming physically fit involves understanding the difference between the discomfort of a good workout and the disomfort of risking or causing injury. Keep in mind that at higher intensities, your heart and muscles work harder, your endocrine system responds to the extra stress to promote adaptation, and your fuel storage systems (stored carbohydrates, fat and possibly protein) are affected. Some days you will need total rest (for mind and body), but preferably not more than two consecutive days of rest are needed. Other days you will need to take an active rest workout ... that is, lower intensity cardiovascular endurance training, light-to-medium abdominal work and/or lower leg training (e.g., dorsiflexion lifts and calf raises). At all times you must monitor how your musculoskeletal system is holding up. Watch especially for symptoms of pain near joints, in bones, in tendons near the joints or in the muscles themselves. Watch for swelling, too. There are times when your metabolic engine is fired up to go, but your musculoskeletal system may need a rest and recovery period to prevent a disabling cumulative trauma injury.
SOURCES:
NHLBI Obesity Guidelines
NIH Obesity Electronic Textbook
Surgeon General's Call to Action on Obesity
Yankelovich, Inc.
More About Yankelovich and the 2005 Yankelovich Preventative Healthcare Study
A 35-minute online survey was conducted among 6,000 U.S. adults ages 18+ during March 2005. Yankelovich has developed a series of segmentation profiles that help marketers and healthcare professionals target specific audiences with precise and relevant products, services and messages that help guide Americans to healthier lifestyles. For more information about the study, please contact Susan Lee Simpson at 919-932-8654 or ssimpson@yankelovich.com.
Even though 72% of Americans are overweight -- and 39% are considered obese -- weight loss remains a relatively low priority for U.S. consumers, according to the 2005 Yankelovich Preventative Healthcare Study released today. The Yankelovich research reveals that only 30% of Americans are actively trying to lose weight. Equally surprising, when respondents were asked to rank the top 10 ways to maintain health, diet (39%) and exercise (34%) didn't even make the list. Instead, "maintaining personal hygiene and cleanliness" (64%), "maintaining a positive attitude" (58%) and "maintaining/cultivating good family relationships (53%) topped the list, with diet and exercise placing a distant 13th and 17th, respectively.
Steve Bodhaine, Group President of Yankelovich and Director of The Segmentation Company (TSC), a division of Yankelovich, which provides proprietary needs-based segmentation solutions, presented the findings May 6, 2005 at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association's Regulatory and Scientific Conference in Washington, DC. At a time when consumers can turn to more than 100,000 sources for healthcare information, Bodhaine said the findings clearly indicate the need to sift through the clutter and look beyond the numbers to combat high rates of obesity and other preventable diseases, improve overall wellness and control rapidly rising healthcare costs.
"Mass marketing techniques are ineffective in motivating the
general public to adopt preventative healthcare behaviors," said
Bodhaine.
"If you succeed in helping an additional 5% of Americans
adopt a preventative healthcare program, you can improve wellness and
decrease healthcare costs by tens of billions of dollars. Precisely
targeted information and tools are the requirements to drive this
effective, lasting attitudinal and behavior change."
"Once there's an understanding of how the barriers affect each individual, then there can be meaningful improvements in education, information and hopefully motivation for change," Simpson said.
Finding Solutions -- Segmentation SolutionsThe quality and content of healthcare information varies widely and is often contradictory, particularly when it appears in popular media. Contradicting information leads to dissonance and consumer apathy, which then leads to resistance. This can be reversed by targeting each segment group with personally relevant messages that resonate with their struggles, worries and personal barriers, Bodhaine said.
"This is the first step in creating momentum among the prevention oriented," Bodhaine added. "Even though there is a healthcare crisis in this country, we can help correct it. By segmenting groups and linking rational arguments to the emotional ones, healthcare companies, marketers and employers can create targeted incentives and programs to attack healthcare illiteracy in the schools and the workplaces."
