Obesity in America

“Roughly 93.3 million adults (39.8 percent) and 13.7 million children and teens (18.5 percent) in the United States are obese.” We, the consumers, must monitor and be cautious of what we eat to avoid the diagnosis of illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease which could lead to death. Not adequately incorporating some sort of physical activity into your everyday routine nor consuming a healthy diet is an outcome of obesity. Unhealthy food eating is a contributive cause for an upsurge in cases of obesity within the United States. “Obesity and overweight are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States, close behind tobacco use. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year are due to the obesity pandemic.” A BMI of 30 or above is categorized within the obese scope meanwhile a BMI ranging between 20 and 24.9 is the most ideal span to reach. This is a serious matter that needs to be addressed seeing how it affects various individual’s health and self-esteem. There is an array of options one can implement into their daily life that not only assists but likewise helps maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. To live a fit regime, one must exercise regularly alongside consuming nourishing meals at proper times.

Doing physical activities on a daily basis provides the prospect of being healthy long-term and avoid chronic diseases in the long-run. In addition to this, it benefits in getting rid of extra weight gain concurrently to sustaining one’s weight loss journey. A positive and reinforcing effect to exercising is burning calories. Engaging in a more challenging exercise routine will increase the number of calories burned. Do your best being involved with anything that comprises you to be physically active. Below is a table depicting a daily exercise routine that will help consumers achieve a significant reduction in body fat/weight loss. Besides this step-by-step routine, the following link (https://youtu.be/CBWQGb4LyAM) leads to a 30-minute cardio workout video.

Daily Exercise Routine *Do the following for a month*
Day 1 (30 minutes)	v Warm up (stretching) – 10 minutes v Cross Arm Crunches – 3 sets of 10 reps v Standing Bicycle Crunches – 3 sets of 10 reps v Reverse Crunches – 8x v Leg Raises – 8x v Superman – 8x v Plank – 2 sets of 30 seconds v Cool off with final stretches – 10 minutes · Rest 20 seconds in between exercises
Day 2 (40 minutes)	v Warm up (stretching) – 10 minutes v Cross Arm Crunches – 4 sets of 10 reps v Standing Bicycle Crunches – 4 sets of 10 reps v Reverse Crunches – 10x v Leg Raises – 10x v Superman – 10x v Plank – 3 sets of 30 seconds v Cool off with final stretches – 10 minutes · Rest 20 seconds in between exercises
Day 3 (50 minutes)	v Warm up (stretching) – 10 minutes v Squats – 3 sets of 10 reps v Sit-ups – 3 sets of 10 reps v Reverse Crunches – 4 sets of 10 reps v Leg Raises – 15x v Plank – 4 sets of 35 seconds v Cool off with final stretches – 10 minutes · Rest 30 seconds in between exercises
Day 4 (60 minutes)	v Warm up (stretching) – 10 minutes v Participate in Zumba, weight-lifting, cycling, running, dancing, or any other sport that involves being active v Cool off with final stretches – 10 minutes · Rest 30 seconds in between exercises
Day 5	· Rest; No Exercise for Today
Day 6 (60 minutes)	v Warm up (stretching) – 10 minutes v Participate in Zumba, weight-lifting, cycling, running, dancing, or any other sport that involves being active – 40 minutes v Cool off with final stretches – 10 minutes · Rest 30 seconds in between exercises
Day 7 (60 minutes)	v Warm up (stretching) – 10 minutes v Participate in Zumba, weight-lifting, cycling, running, dancing, or any other sport that involves being active – 40 minutes v Cool off with final stretches – 10 minutes · Rest 30 seconds in between exercises

The images presented illustrate approaches to make use of in one’s day-by-day routine. For instance, the image shown above depicts a pyramid listing from top to bottom how beginners can go about on the right path towards reaching their goal of weight loss. The figure shown on the right demonstrates healthy guidelines we consumers can apply to attain a drop in weight loss. Those of you who are beginners ought to note which activities should be restrained and be avoided so you can work your way up to challenging exercises.

Steps to Reducing Obesity:

1. Exercise regularly.

2. Cut down on sugary drinks/snacks, salty/fried foods, fatty meat, and carbohydrates.

3. Eat more fiber foods.

4. Count your calories.

5. Eat 5% of fat, oil, sweets.

6. Eat 20% of meat, fish, milk, eggs.

7. Eat 35% of fruits, vegetables.

8. Eat 40% of bread, pasta, cereal.

9. Limit yourself to eating fast food.

10. Eat at your hours (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) so you avoid overeating and allow the food to digest properly.

Notes: Estimates for adults aged 20 and over were age adjusted by the direct method to the 2000 U.S. Census population using the age groups 20-39, 40-59, and 60 and over. Crude estimates are 42.5% for total, 43.0% for men, and 42.1% for women. SOURCE: NCHS, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2017-2018.

Following a proper diet is fundamental in maintaining your ideal weight. Creating an agenda based on the application of MyPlate will ease in lessening excess body fat. MyPlate is a great foundation to apply in each meal consumed given that it illustrates suggested servings. In conjunction to this, it assists towards developing a nutritious eating style and applying it towards your future. Moderation is a key component to utilize when consuming food. The primary focus is on variety, amount, and nutrition. An essential feature MyPlate offers is the availability to keep a look out for your calorie’s intake, research what nutritious components are found in certain foods, and the choice of creating meal preps. By clicking on the following link (https://www.choosemyplate.gov/) will not only help boost one’s confidence but similarly uplift motivation to go onward with their weight loss goal/objective. A useful tip to go along with creating your MyPlate is utilizing the MyPlate application which can be downloaded through the Play Store in both Android and iPhone. Illustrated below is a table representing the daily recommendations of each specified food group that is a great measure to incorporate when serving your plate.

MyPlate Recommendations
Food Group	Foods Included	Daily Recommendation
Fruits	o Any fruit or 100% fruit juice o Fruit can be fresh, canned, frozen, dried, or pureed	o 1 ½ - 2 cups of fruit
Vegetables	o Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice o Raw or cooked, fresh, frozen, canned, or mashed	o 2 ½ - 3 cups of vegetables
Grains	o Wheat, rice, oatmeal § Bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, grits, tortillas	o 6 oz. – 8 oz. of grains
Protein	o Meat, poultry, seafood, beans, peas, eggs, nuts, seeds	o 5 oz. – 6 ½ oz. of protein
Dairy	o Yogurt, cheese, milk/soymilk	o 3 cups of dairy

The figure displayed on the left-hand side depicts a great method to employ seeing as it helps with moderation. Moderation lessens the likelihood of overeating which is a negative effect of weight gain. On the right-hand side, the image details maneuvers to prevent obesity. Although there are countless reasons to the cause of obesity, lack of exercise and constantly eating unhealthy food will increase the probability of gaining excess body fat around the waist. The image placed on the bottom right-hand side represents the Food Pyramid that catalogs how individuals should distribute accordingly.

Diana Raymundo takes full responsibility for the information posted. The information on this page represents that of Diana Raymundo and not that of California State University, Sacramento.