Go Colorado!!! But to read the rest it is really sad. I think we have lost the value of what it means to work hard these days. Back in the days people worked on farms, they didn't have time to watch tv. They were active. Now days you have tv, games, to keep you inside. I think parents need to work harder at getting their children involved with healthy activities. I started figure skating when I was 4 years old. I have always remembered being active and I couldn't imagine my life without it.
I thank God everyday for biking, hiking, running, the gym, my dogs and beautiful COLORADO. Do you that there are lots of people in Colorado who do nothing active as well?? I know people who hate to be outside. It is sad. We all need to educate our younger societies.

i'm confronted with this problem every single day on the subways. most rides to and from work i can't sit down because there are so many overweight people that take up 2 or more seats. it quite common to have a subway car where 1/4 or 1/3 of the people are obese. taking up a couple of seats may not sound like a big deal but when you consider that 50 obese people on a train are using 100 or more seats that's pretty unfair for other users. i feel a mix of frustration, anger, and sorrow for the situation. they're sick. and it's shocking to see so many sick people in our society.

^^^^^^ Think about the health costs in the future too?? YIKES.

My ten year old and thirteen year old are so fit compared to their classmates. Our normal family activity is swimming, biking hiking, etc., while a lot of others are content to sit on their butts and watch the tube!

Regarding colorado, I notice quite a difference when I visit my mother in Ohio. Hence the reason she says weight watchers is very popular there. She leads group sessions there.

I grew up in more of a downtown area, and was pretty free to roam around and I was still a fat kid (though I am from and still in one of the "fat states"). Looking back, I peg most of my weight problems on the TV. I mean, what good could possibly come from unrestricted access a device 50+% of whose programming is aimed at making you want something, which requires no effort to watch?

second to television...I blame gravy...not the brown stuff you can get out of a can, but that white sausage or bacon grease derived stuff you eat for breakfast. I'm still suffering from withdrawal of that stuff since I went vegetarian.

in speaking of the tv...I wonder if the computer is so much better...at least its less advertising.

This thread reminds me what I seen last week. I was riding on a mulit use trail and right before I get to the spot I turn around from around the corner a family of three (I think they were a family), the mom, dad and what looked like a 13 y.o. girl. All were a bit on the heavy side I would not say obese but defiantly overweight with the 13 y.o. being the heaviest. They all looked healthy otherwise.

What was shocking was they were riding those electric scooters (the kind you stand on). All I could do was shake my head. Even worse when I caught up to them on the trail, they were pulling over to the side. Apparently standing that long is a bit taxing on the legs

that'll change in time. don't worry. they always find a way.

My favorite is the kids who ride down the subdivision sidewalks on those battery-powered mini-Jeeps and mini-cars. Usually with mommy right alongside to make sure little precious doesn't get stuck in the grass.

Get that kid a big wheel! Lazy kids grow up to be lazy fat adolecents.

Preaching to the choir on this bulletin board, though....

Computer was where I gained my weight...went from a 155lb twiglet to 290lbs at the worst.

Just sitting there, with a 2 liter of soda, and a large bag of corn chips....enough of that, and anyone will swell up.

It's not the computer or the TV, it's just how lazy people are becoming...they want nothing but pampering 24/7....go out, get dirty, and get some excercise.

Reminds me of a thread I started in the A&S Forum a while ago: "Active Kids: Freaks of the Future?"

https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-safety/125191-active-kids-freaks-future.html

I gained alot of weight playing online games of various types. From 1999 until 2004 I spent most my free time playing on the computer. early in 2004 I bought and bicycle and have now lost 30+ pounds and still losing.

I like being that kind of loser!

or play video games!

good for you, nachoman! you are instilling good fitness values in your kids!!!!

can i just go out and get some exercise? i don't like to get dirty! (miss priss here!)

I have a few friends who have kids between 7 and 10yrs, I also have a 9yr old nephew. Every time I go over their houses, and they all live in nice neighborhoods, the kids are ALWAYS home. Never out playing with friends in the neighborhood, if they want to play with a friend, their mom will call the friends mom and set up a play date and then drive the kid over. WTF. If I was 9 and my Mom called a friends mom to set up a play date, I'd be getting my ass kicked at school the next day when word got out about it.

From the article:

The government equates obesity with a body mass index, or BMI, of at least 30. Someone who is 5-feet-4 would have to weigh 175 pounds to reach that threshold.

The index is calculated by dividing a person's weight in pounds by his height in inches, squared, and multiplying that total by 703. For some people, particularly athletes who exercise a great deal, the BMI index could show them as being obese when in fact they are in excellent physical condition.


Notice it is just the SQUARE of the height. But if you scale up someone say from 5 to 6 feet the weight would go up as the CUBE of the height. Result - people that are just bigger, not fatter, have a higher BMI. There are some more sublte reasons why someone taller should actually weigh more that a scaled up version of a smaller person. (Bones have to be thicker to support the added mass).

One has to wonder why it was done this way? Perhaps because it is asking too much for people to do more than squaring a number?

Tend to agree... I recently have increased my cycling and swimming milage and my weight has gone up... but my clothes are looser.

Go figure.

BMI is as useful as the 220-age forumla for figuring out max heartrate. which, to say, isn't very useful.

Yup.
Cyclists tend to find BMI about as useful as a nail in the tire. We are just shaped oddly
It is also worthless for regular persons as well.
I went to my doctor and asked him to tell me what a good weight would be.

BMI by itself is not useful, but it's the TREND in the CHANGE of BMI that's the problem Regardless of what measurement metric you use, be it weight, BMI, body-fat%, cholesterol-level, etc., we're getting fatter, more obese and out-of-shape as a population. There's no denying that part.

at least we as cyclists can choose any day to ride more and eat less. THere is hope for us? Just don't break up your ride at McDonalds.

^^^ Starbucks instead.

when they say 'we are losing' they mean that we will all have to face the fallout in the future- like the health care costs. Kids in their teens are getting type 2 diabetes. And kids who develop it before age 18 can lose up to 25 years of their life span. Think of the future of arthritic,overweight adults who aren't even 50, who are always sick, who don't work half the year, etc etc. We are all going to pay the price.

Even tho I hate chains. Starbucks has some great diet appricot crum cake squares..

quite simply there is no pressing immediate need to get exercise. very few people actually use their bodies to earn a paycheck. it's mostly computer based these days. in our office, for example, i have no need to actually get up from my chair. i can use email, phone, and the computer for 99.9% of my job. if only i didn't have to go to the bathroom. heck, we even can host meetings online now. it's kinda weird. excerise has been an optional\extra thing for years now, but now even walking from one place to the next is optional\extra.