Overweight and Obese as Victims?

Two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are either obese or overweight. This is according to the fourth annual report from Trust for America’s Health, titled “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America.” Just last month, the report was featured in an online article on CNN, calling for a national strategy to combat the obesity crisis. Why? Because, people can’t be expected to handle this problem on their own. It’s not their fault!

Looking at the numbers, maybe we’ve come to a point where federal intervention is necessary. In 1991, only four states had obesity rates above 15 percent. Today, 32 states have obesity rates above 60 percent. The question is, what will federal intervention be, and what would it mean for the health/fitness industry and for society as a whole?

In the CNN article, Jeffrey Levi, who is co-author of the F as in Fat report, says that a national plan needs to be put in place, much like the federal government’s plan in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. “People can’t exercise personal responsibility in a vacuum,” he says. Levi cites such examples as government being responsible for ensuring that schools have physical education programs and nutritious meals for children, and local zoning boards providing things like sidewalks to ensure that people have a “place” to exercise.

I agree that physical education should never have been pulled from schools, and we’ve all seen what’s being served in cafeterias. But, giving kids a healthy start is one thing; bailing out obese adults is quite another. If the federal government is left to take charge of the obesity epidemic, we need to ensure that a national plan is aimed at changing lifestyles while instilling personal responsibility at the same time. Overweight and obese adults aren’t victims here, as could be interpreted by Levi’s statement that our society has “created an environment that doesn't make it possible for people to exercise that personal responsibility.” I don’t buy that at all. In fact, I think even if offered free workout facilities and a personal nutritionist, the majority of adults still wouldn’t work out or stop eating junk.

So, what are we really talking about if the government is to be responsible for implementing a national plan? Is it going to come down to subsidized fitness facilities and fitness facility memberships? Because we’ve all seen how well other government subsidized programs have helped to fix problems! That’s just scary.

The dialog has started, so fitness facility operators and professionals, to be sure, should have a pivotal voice. In my opinion, the government’s role should merely be to put national objectives in place, and provide healthy lifestyle incentives, such as tax and insurance rebates. The foremost national objective should be to publicize how much of a detriment obesity is to our society. The CNN article cites a Duke University study that found “184 lost work days per 100 obese full-time employees, versus 14 lost work days per 100 normal-weight full-time employees.” And, it says, the average obese worker has up to 21 percent higher healthcare costs.

Our industry’s role, on the other hand, should be to coordinate efforts with local governments and other organizations, and to make it clear that options are available to individuals in their efforts to be fit and to maintain a healthy weight. Trust me, if being obese felt as awful as having the flu, I’d bet overweight and obese individuals would be exercising their butts off and making a lot healthier food choices to get well.

Let’s not be fooled here. It will always come down to personal responsibility. The effects of a national anti-obesity effort, if approached responsibly by our government, could be good for our industry and all of society, provided we keep personal responsibility at the forefront.