Only in America?

Question

I have heard people say that only in the USA do women have trouble loosing weight. I'm from Romania and not many of the women there have weight problems. I can't remember when the last time I heard of one from my country complaining about their weight. I mean we have the same foods and restaurants that you have here. Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Macdonald's, KFC, and many of the same soda's. But what is it about the weight issue that makes it so hard for women in the USA to loose weight?

Answer 1

It's not just Americans. The US in the 9th fattest country, and obesity is on the rise worldwide. And it's not just American women. Actually, American men are more likely to be obese. However, the reason why the US has such a high obesity rate is because of a few reasons:

1. Lack of emphasis on physical activity, especially for adults.

2. Large portion sizes in meals.

3. A lot of emphasis on meat, particularly red meat.

4. A lot of snacking.

5. A diet heavy in processed foods (pop tarts, Doritos, etc..)

6. Healthy food is more expensive. You can get a double cheeseburger and large drink at McDonalds for $2, but a veggie sub and small drink from Quiznos is around $8.

Answer 2

People fill themselves up with food when they are unhappy.  Unfortunately it is a sign of great unhappiness, emptiness  and an inability to cope with/change these feelings/realities.

Answer 3

Lack of physical activity.

Answer 4

because people in america are lazy and love fast food and try to take the easy way out when it comes to losing weight (i.e. lipo, plastics etc...) whereas people in other countries tend to be more active in sports and in life in general than us in the US. I know many people will hate to hear it, but Americans are slobs. :(

Answer 5

It just hard because we have so many fast food stuff and what not but the thing is we are always on the go. Hahaha my friend went to enland for like 5 years when she was little and someone came up to her and said are you one of those fat americans the eat potato chips and watch tv? Well that rude! Yea we just have a bad rep

Answer 6

RoVale is correct. America is now almost entirely built around the car.

Local amenities have been replaced by one-stop hypermarkets (situated out of town where the land tax is cheaper) and convenience food is heavily marketed and consumed.

We all know that people can make decisions about what they eat, but the effort it takes to try and shop and eat decently in an economy overflowing with rubbish is difficult. This is why the 'take control of yourself' gurus talk so much c**p.

In countries where fresh produce is mostly what is available, it's less a choice than it is a given. Marketing and availability does make a difference. Imagining that it's always the fault of bad choices is as backward thinking as always blaming McDonald's (even though I think McDonald's is as guilty as h**l, what can you do when every other food outlet has been closed down by the 40 McDonalds in one town?).

Answer 7

We are an overindulgent nation with a victim mentality.  

If someone is obese, the only logical conclusion is that McDonald's is at fault...and this the point   where our obsession with litigation steps in.   It's absurd isn't it?

Answer 8

There are many factors for that i guess |:

-Americans tend to have alot of money, and easy life makes fat storage big \:

-Americans tend to be consuming.

-Fast food, greasy chicken, pizza, soda, highly sugared stuff make people gain weight.

-Americans are tall, and have large bone structures sometimes, this helps with weight gain.

-People fromother countries tend to have a different diets(example;hard to find a japanese woman with fat problems, they are small in complexion and the japanese eat more sea food and vegetables than meat.

Answer 9

I live in Europe and I assure you there are fat woman here also. They however do not seem to be as cenerd on the media image of a perfect body.

Answer 10

do you walk to places or drive [ even short distances ]

I know in Japan only the rich own cars [for tax reasons ]

and walk every where

do you eat those foods and sodas for all of your meals?

[ I eat and drink those but like once a week while my friend eats nothing but fast food]

different countries do these things different no to mention the higher acceptance of being lazy adds to it

Answer 11

Food is plentiful here, it's just we eat alot. I am not fat, and where I live there aren't many.

Think about it though, would you rather be fat or starving?

Also, people can eat alot more if they're depressed or stressed. It's a coping mechanism.

Answer 12

I have never been to France; from what I know about France and perhaps Romania is the same; they have McDonalds and all of that; only difference is their serving size is much smaller than in the states.  In the States you have those - what do you call them <snapping fingers> upsizing and that is an excellent way of putting on wieght.  You ought to see how they eat in Saudi Arabia.  What a grown man eats is actually enough for all six of us, that includes my husband and four kids and we are just right; not too fat type of people.

Answer 13

We're given conflicting messages:  food prepared by a good wife/mother/friend/hostess equals love, and not eating that food makes you a good and healthy woman.  Check the covers of the magazines that you see in every supermarket at the checkout.  Every single one features a fabulous recipe on the cover along with the latest way to diet.

Answer 14

I have met several Eastern European women. They tend to eat fruit and healthier foods.   I do not think women in the U.S. realize how many "bad" calories they ingest each day.  The U.S. does not encourage a typical female to be physical as is the custom in eastern European and the Nordic  countries.  It is a problem with portion control in my opinion.

Answer 15

It's not the food. It's the lack of physical activity and stress on top of that. We live in a society where it's very difficult to get around without a car. Almost nothing is nearby and in many areas, there are no sidewalks that people can walk on. Not only that, but many people have very stressful jobs and they turn to comfort eating as a way to cope. Overeating is a bad thing but it is much preferable to other ways of coping such as drinking too much alcohol or smoking.