Obesity: The Biggest Threat to America
Obesity is rising to become the biggest crisis in the history of the United States. Now, more than 66% of us are overweight or obese and there is no end in sight to that growth. The number of obese or overweight active-duty members of the U.S. military has doubled since 2003. Roughly 30% of American children and teens qualify as obese. The longer-term healthcare, economic and cultural implications of these numbers are staggering. There can be no arguing that this building crisis will fundamentally change the future of America.
Of the thousands of companies, organizations and individuals that make up the $60 billion diet industry, there is not one that has a long-term track record of success, according to the U.S. government. Not one. You’ve likely heard or read some of the never-ending stream of advertisements and “studies” commissioned by weight loss companies touting “success”, but you must understand that they measure success on a very narrow, short term set of variables in order to portray their programs in the best possible light. What all these studies are really measuring is weight that has been misplaced temporarily, not lost. Something lost is something that is gone forever.
The only reasonable definition of weight loss success is: significant weight lost, that’s not regained. It’s really anyone’s guess as to what percentage of diets meet this definition of success, but in all our research the best we can come up with is 1 in 500. 0.2%. These long odds are almost insurmountable. More so if you consider that the 1 person is probably totally random. He/She may have been a member of a popular weight loss program. They may have lost the weight all by themselves. They may have taken diet pills. They may have fallen prey to a classic diet scam. Regardless, that person had a short-term weight loss by way of some strategy, and something just clicked. One thing led to another and they transitioned into a new lifestyle of healthier living and sustained weight loss.
So what are you to do when there is almost universal long-term failure by dieters and diet companies alike? Non-random creation of long-term weight loss success is achieved by becoming your own weight loss expert. We know it is possible, because we both did it. You can do it too, but it starts with being completely honest with yourself about whether you really do want to change your life, and no longer just dream about it.
