Recognizing Being Overweight is Affecting Your Family
By Katherine Wells
Around two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, with around 60% of women and 70% of men falling into the overweight categories according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
That is an alarming statistic. Imagine this - if you take 2 people at random - one of them is going to be obese. There is a 1 in 5 chance(2 in 5 for women) that the other will be too. If these numbers don't scare you then perhaps you don't realize the implications of obesity. America is currently undergoing an 'obesity epidemic', a term which tries to say nicely what we are all seeing for ourselves - we're fat. The implications for the individual are dire. They have a higher chance of heart disease and failure, they have a weakened immune system, they are less able to perform even simple physical exercises, they can develop mobility diseases based entirely on their size.
To be honest - I'm sick of hearing about the implications for the individual, because recently a more important factor has been bought to my attention. Obesity doesn't just affect the overweight person, it affects everyone around them. The family of someone who is overweight has to deal with all sorts of challenges and difficulties. To begin with there is the overweight person themselves. Simply put our bodies have an ideal weight and when we venture too far above that the body begins to function differently. It becomes a vicious circle where the weight makes us feel lethargic and the lethargy leads to more weight gain. Children see an overweight parent instead of the Hollywood dad who will throw a ball around in the back yard with them. Kids should respect and look up to their parents, not feel sorry for them, or worse - ashamed of them! Weight gain affects the way we behave towards those around us too.
We are more likely to snap, less likely to pay them positive attention. We expect them to be sensitive about our weight issue, while we are oblivious to the personal and social problems our size may be causing them. Imagine a child so ashamed of their parents weight that they wanted to be dropped off several blocks from school just so they aren't seen with their Mum. It's not something to just think about, it's something that can and does happen.
No kid wants an overweight parent, but even more than that no kid wants their friends to know they have an overweight parent. So if all the personal reasons for weight loss and dieting aren'[t enough for you, start looking beyond yourself and seeing how your weight is affecting those around you. Does your husband have a resigned look when you sit down to watch a movie - knowing that's the last time you'll be off the couch for the night?
Does your child spend a lot of time at friends houses, but never seem to want to bring his friends to your place? Do your parents make comments about your weight, or compare you to an active sibling every time you see them? Are your parents or children also overweight - are you repeating a cycle here?
The battle against being obese or overweight is much easier if you confront it with a sense of humor and a great deal of family support. My own efforts to Weight Loss are jointly documented with my skinny husband on our blog - SkinnyHusbandWeightloss Come along for the journey as my wife and I work together to help her lose weight.
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