Americans Still Fat
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James Joyner | Monday, March 1, 2004 |
Sizing Up America: Signs of Expansion From Head to Toe
For the first time since World War II, a national survey has sized up the average American body, not just by weight and height or even the standard chest-waist-hip routine, but in more than 240 measurements tip to toe.The results confirm what other statistics have shown: that Americans have grown. In their sheer detail, the measurements also show just how and where â an intimate portrait of the national body with all its Lycra-ed love handles, sucked-in stomachs and fashionably disguised spare tires.
The survey â called SizeUSA and sponsored by clothing and textile companies, the Army, Navy and several universities â measured more than 10,000 people in 13 cities nationwide using a light-pulsing 3-D scanner.
The article is chock-full of stats outlining just how fat the average American is. While I have little doubt that obesity is rampant–the evidence is everywhere–I’m a bit skeptical that the average woman is now a size 14. Also, given that the last study was in 1941, a lot of the variation is explained by better nutrition; Americans are much taller and muscular than they were 60 years ago.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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It's been a well known fact for more than 10 years that the average woman wears a size 14. We women have known this. Where have you been?
Those numbers are right on. Most women are in the 12/14 size range. I know that's shocking for some of you men to accept -- but it's the reality.
In the discussion of fitness, health and obesity I think it's interesting that the mass media still emphasizes the obsolete concepts of body-mass index and the old "Height/weight charts" which most people knowledgeable on the subject have long since debunked.
Body fat percentage is a much more valid measurement of health than weight (or clothing size) is. I agree with James that Americans are taller and more muscular than they used to be.
Of course, that's not to say that our fast-food culture hasn't also made a lot of people fat...just that absolute weight is not a good measurement of that.
As for women...I don't have any idea what the average size is. There are a lot of beautiful women out there (regardless of their size), including my wife, and that's all that matters to me. :)
-B-
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