I know this is an extreme title, but what I’m going to talk about here is important. In the United States obesity has become an epidemic. Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index study in 2009 found 63.1% of adults are obese or over weight. This means that at least 6 out of 10 adults are overweight! There are about 32% of children who are overweight in our country, that’s 3 out of 10 kids! If things continue the way they are, this means that 3 more out of these 10 kids will become over weight or obese at some point in their life, and these numbers are on the rise. These numbers are scary and can be changed if we start to teach and educate our kids on eating healthy and being active at an early age.
With the numbers out of the way, I want to teach and educate you on why and how people become over weight and why it’s important to teach your kids to live a healthy lifestyle while they are young!
I’m going to keep this simple. We gain weight because we consume more calories than we burn off! This means that we are eating more food than our body needs; therefore we store fat! When we are doing this for a long period of time, we are creating unhealthy eating habits, and habits are hard to change.
Now I want you to picture a 17 year old teenager who is normal weight and in good shape. Up till this point, they could eat whatever they want and stay thin and somewhat fit. Now between the ages of 17-18 they gain 3 pounds. Then the following year they gain another 4 pounds. That’s 7 pounds… not a big deal right? WRONG!!! Even though they have only gained 7 pounds and they still look great, they have started creating a habit that will lead to being obese by the age of 37. Let me explain:
Over the next 8 years they continue the same cycle of gaining 7 pounds every two years, and by age 27 they are 35 pounds overweight. They are now unhappy, frustrated, and confused how their weight has gotten out of control. They are unaware of the fact that they have created the habit of eating foods that are unhealthy, high in calories, and have little to no nutritional value, and in turn has caused them to be in their current dilemma. (This is how the actions we take today affect us in the future)
Now lets fast-forward another 10 years. They try many quick fix diet programs and fail (because they are impatient and don’t want to put the time and necessary work into changing their habits) and pretty much continue the same cycle. However, now they are getting older and their metabolism is slowing down, causing them to gain another 10-20 pounds on top of the 35 they have already gained. By age 37 they are 80-90 pounds overweight, they have been diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes and their doctor is telling them that they need to make some serious lifestyle changes because they are at serious risk of heart disease!
Think about how this person probably feels now… unhappy? Depressed? This is a very reasonable explanation of how someone becomes overweight and then obese!
See how 3-4 pounds of weight gain a year can become a problem?
Take a sec and think about how that person would reflect on their year… It would probably be something like this, “I only gained four pounds, and it’s not really a big deal!” Most don’t think outside of that year, so, they are only seeing the 3-4 pounds gained during that particular year. They are not taking into consideration the combined years and pattern they are creating. They have developed “BAD EATING HABITS”, and I can tell you from the hundreds of Santa Monica Personal Training clients I’ve worked with, it’s not easy to change these eating habits. This is why it’s important to start teaching your kids to eat healthy and exercise at an early age.
If someone needs to teach this to our countries education system and put it in our school curriculum … I volunteer!!! Let’s give our kids the future they deserve!
Teaching your kids to eat healthy and exercise at an early age may prevent them from ever having to deal with the challenges of being overweight or obese when they grow up. Think about how this can make such a big difference in their life!
I need you! Help me get this information out to the masses! Send this to everyone you know and also join my Likes page on Facebook at Custom Body Fitness.
Chris