Americans have a horrible diet and get almost no exercise at all. Fast food and junk food are all most people eat, and they eat wrong too.
Little or nothing for breakfast, sandwich or junk for for lunch, barely enough to keep going the rest of the day, then pig out for dinner...and how much exercise do we get? Pick up the remote and change channels...not to mention the types of foods people eat even when they do cook. Greasy, fatty, loads of gravy...hydrogenated oils help too, that's a type of fat your body does not know what to do with, unlike butter and animal fat. So it ends up clogging your arteries.
I read a report about this a while back, I don't remember which was the fattest state, but I think Louisiana was #2. Maybe #1...I can't remember.
People are doing the opposite of what they should. Eat nothing pre prepared. I hate TV dinners anyway. Grow your own or hunt and fish for it when possible. Yeah I know apartment dwellers in huge cities are out of luck. They can still buy better than they are now. Get a decent breakfast, a decent lunch that's not junk food then DON'T pig out at dinner, and get some stinkin exercise.
I had to lose weight when I turned 42 I think it was, my metabolism slowed down. I had always been too skinny, all of a sudden I was buying pants 3 inches larger than the 29's I had worn since high school. Had a gut hanging out, didn't like it. I had already cut out most of the greasy and fried food, except when I go to a Chinese buffet...that's still the only time I touch anything fried. Then I started to cut down on the amount I ate at dinner, that was the really tough part. (more later) Then I started to put my boat in the lake and paddle it, working up to 2 miles a day each way. 2 months and I lost around 30lbs. Got my weight down from almost 170 to the 140-145 range and still stay there now. Never was able to top 125 before that and I had to work at it, normal was 115 to 120. I've had to lose weight 2 other times, but only 10-15 lbs.
Eating less - Your stomach changes its physical size according to the amount you eat. Eat a lot, it grows to accommodate all that food. Start eating less and it shrinks accordingly. But when you do that, you STAY hungry ...it really sucks...I had to start bringing a couple of mini candy bars to work for the middle of the day, and sometimes late at night too. But one 2 inch Snickers will keep it at bay for a good while...and you can also use things like baby carrots or broccoli for munchies. And I love both...by the way I'm getting baby corn and carrots out of my garden right now...great stuff...
If you really need to lose weight, start eating nothing but salad for dinner. And get some exercise. Salad has no calories, only the salad dressing.
People gain weight because they take in more calories than they burn off, period. That's why we're a country of fatasses. Junk food diet, no exercise. To lose weight you reverse that. Burn off more than you take in. Simple. But not easy, it takes work and determination.
Had to edit, I forgot this. Pictures taken in Russia from 1909 to 1912, in color. Long before color was available, it was done by taking 3 shots of each with different colored lens filters. Very few fat people here either...
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/0 ... y_ago.html