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This interesting to me, because I feel like more Americans are working out than ever, but maybe it's just my environment. Naturally, working out usually has sec

This interesting to me, because I feel like more Americans are working out than ever, but maybe it's just my environment. Naturally, working out usually has second-order effects like watching nutrition.

goalieca 6y ago
I must work out because I have a desk job. There are many other kinds of jobs that aren't desk jobs where you don't get enough exercise.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  Jobs that require physical exertion have been disappearing. Even the guys putting in a new water main outside my house didn't seem to be doing much physical work. I didn't see them swinging a pick or using a shovel.
chrisseaton 6y ago
I guess it's bifurcated, like too many other things in our society are becoming. People are either doing no physical activity, or they're doing triathlons. People either have multiple degrees, or they didn't finish high-school. People either buy a house in their early 20s, or they're renting all their lives. People either read a book a week, or they never read a book at all. (Obviously there are practically many people in between these extremes and people are free to do whatever they want and many people are happy and successful on both sides of each of these spectrums.)
- thinkharderdev 6y ago
  Exactly this. It is astounding how extreme the difference can be sometimes. You'll be in a major coastal city and it seems like everyone is relatively trim, works out religiously and wouldn't touch a fast food hamburger. Then you go to the midwest or the south and it seems like everyone you see is overweight/obese, subsists on a diet of fast food and smokes cigarettes. I'm shocked just noticing the number of people walking around smoking cigarettes when I get out of East Coast metro areas. I literally don't know anyone where I live who smoked anymore and rarely see anyone smoking on the street.
  - MiddleEndian 6y ago
    It's not JUST regional differences though. In 1990, the state with the consistently highest obesity rate, Mississippi, only had 15% of the population obese. Colorado, the leanest state, surpassed that in 2003 with 16% and got up to 23.8% obese in 2019. As of 2019, Mississippi has climbed up to 40.8%. I imagine in a decade or two Colorado will catch up, assuming no systematic changes. Source: https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/ https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/
    - thinkharderdev 6y ago
      Right, there is definitely a broader change going on but I also don't think looking at state level data really invalidates the urban/rural variance divide. To take Colorado as an example, you see the same sort of divide I mentioned when you go from Boulder/Denver to rural Western Colorado (especially in the southwest in and around the reservations).
neverminder 6y ago
You can work out and still be obese. It's all in the diet. On the same subject, bodybuilders don't fit into BMI parameters, so body fat percentage is a lot more accurate to determine obesity, but it's much harder to measure, so for the wide population BMI is used.
- throw1234651234 6y ago
  That's a good point, though I do think that serious weight lifters are too small of a percentage of the general pop to skew the stats. A lot of them also "dirty bulk" - keep an unhealthy weight while being very strong / muscular.

goalieca 6y ago

I must work out because I have a desk job. There are many other kinds of jobs that aren't desk jobs where you don't get enough exercise.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
Jobs that require physical exertion have been disappearing. Even the guys putting in a new water main outside my house didn't seem to be doing much physical work. I didn't see them swinging a pick or using a shovel.

chrisseaton 6y ago

I guess it's bifurcated, like too many other things in our society are becoming. People are either doing no physical activity, or they're doing triathlons. People either have multiple degrees, or they didn't finish high-school. People either buy a house in their early 20s, or they're renting all their lives. People either read a book a week, or they never read a book at all. (Obviously there are practically many people in between these extremes and people are free to do whatever they want and many people are happy and successful on both sides of each of these spectrums.)

thinkharderdev 6y ago
Exactly this. It is astounding how extreme the difference can be sometimes. You'll be in a major coastal city and it seems like everyone is relatively trim, works out religiously and wouldn't touch a fast food hamburger. Then you go to the midwest or the south and it seems like everyone you see is overweight/obese, subsists on a diet of fast food and smokes cigarettes. I'm shocked just noticing the number of people walking around smoking cigarettes when I get out of East Coast metro areas. I literally don't know anyone where I live who smoked anymore and rarely see anyone smoking on the street.
- MiddleEndian 6y ago
  It's not JUST regional differences though. In 1990, the state with the consistently highest obesity rate, Mississippi, only had 15% of the population obese. Colorado, the leanest state, surpassed that in 2003 with 16% and got up to 23.8% obese in 2019. As of 2019, Mississippi has climbed up to 40.8%. I imagine in a decade or two Colorado will catch up, assuming no systematic changes. Source: https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/ https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/
  - thinkharderdev 6y ago
    Right, there is definitely a broader change going on but I also don't think looking at state level data really invalidates the urban/rural variance divide. To take Colorado as an example, you see the same sort of divide I mentioned when you go from Boulder/Denver to rural Western Colorado (especially in the southwest in and around the reservations).

neverminder 6y ago

You can work out and still be obese. It's all in the diet. On the same subject, bodybuilders don't fit into BMI parameters, so body fat percentage is a lot more accurate to determine obesity, but it's much harder to measure, so for the wide population BMI is used.

throw1234651234 6y ago
That's a good point, though I do think that serious weight lifters are too small of a percentage of the general pop to skew the stats. A lot of them also "dirty bulk" - keep an unhealthy weight while being very strong / muscular.