I stumbled across some CDC statistics on American averages:
- Men:
Height in inches: 69.0
Weight in pounds: 199.8
Waist circumference in inches: 40.5 - Women:
Height in inches: 63.5
Weight in pounds: 170.8
Waist circumference in inches: 38.7
I was born with three genetic conditions on weight. One is that if I eat more calories than I use or excrete, I put on weight immediately, mostly fat if I don’t do muscle-building exercise. Another is that I have tremendous difficulty stopping eating until I feel full. A third is that I love the tastes of salt, sugar, and fat and find it hard to resist convenience. If something I find tasty is within reach or view, I generally think about it and want to put it in my mouth.
By contrast, I believe the science that being overfat is unhealthy, lowers mood, and lowers life expectancy, so I prefer to keep myself fit. Given my conditions, I’ve developed ways to live to achieve fitness. Mainly, I keep only healthy foods around me and I categorize doof as different from food. Developing feelings of disgust for doof makes it easy not to put it in my mouth.
I can’t afford to spend what the average American can on food and doof, nor do I have extra time, so I can’t pay extra for food, programs, gyms, etc. I’ve shared my food budget and it’s below the average American’s, even without economies of scale I’d get if I weren’t living alone. My largest single food expense doesn’t even have a category on the chart: dried beans and legumes.
Someone is paying for all that doof, apparently with time and money to burn that I don’t have. Other Americans choose to live differently. Perhaps as a result, according to the CDC I weigh 6% less than the average American woman. My waist is 13% smaller. Apparently the average American man in 1960 would weigh less than the average woman today, so maybe I’m a dinosaur, living an outdated lifestyle. Maybe I should earn more money to be able to afford doof and catch up in weight to American women and men.
Apparently, those numbers for women mean over 45% body fat, the bottom row on the right below.
The American average is too fat, and the American beauty standard is impossibly skinny with a large bust.
I recommend you stay where you are.
I’m happy with my body. This morning I benched and pressed more weight than ever. I have a little less definition on my abs than I like, but I like my resting heart rate. I’ll probably mostly stay where I am, but may put on more muscle. I might lose a little fat when the weather warms up. My body results from living by my values, mainly the Golden Rule, which precludes doing things that cause suffering, like buying or consuming doof and included avoiding packaging. I also don’t have the budget in time and money for those things, as I noted.
I support others living by their values too.