Just saw a Simpsons meme talking about weight and the changing standard of what would be called obese.
The meme is Homer on a weight scale where it says 260 pounds and underneath, the photo says “This is what was considered obese in 1990”.
Found that interesting, so wanted to see if we’ve really seen the average weight in the US go up so much from 1990, that 260 pounds would be moved from obese to normal.
Looked at that and found the average American man currently weighs 197 pounds.
Checked and that’s a 17 pound increase from 1990, where men weighed an average of 180 pounds.
Also, looked up the ideal weight and according to survey’s that changed also.
A man in 1990 had an ideal weight of 171 pounds, but now that’s 181.
Women rose from 129 to 138.
Obviously in 30 years, the standards have changed and average weight is up for both men and women quite a bit, but I believe there’s a pretty logical reason for a large portion of it.
The population of Americans over 65 is currently 17% of the United States.
The over 65 population in 1990 was 12.5%.
In the over 65 population, 29% of them on paper are marked as obese.
Comparing that, it was 25% in 2013.
My belief is the reason the average weight has risen so much is a much larger 65+ population in the US and many people who’d not make it to being over 65 are now able to live at that age and be heavier or obese.
Now, between 1990 and 2010, the obesity average rose from 12% to 23%, but likely that amusing thing is it didn’t actually change much in demographics based on ethnicity or age.
One factor was partially due to an increase in the US hispanic population, going from 22 million to 50 million in that 20 year window and statistically they have higher obesity odds. Not trying to sound offensive, but most backgrounds where people are statistically shorter, have higher odds of getting marked as obese on the current scale.
Quick examples of that, both Johnny Depp & Tom Cruise were in the 2000s marked as obese at one point.
So, did that Simpsons meme have a point?
Maybe a small one where average weight has gone up, but largely due to demographic changes and not just this giant waist size change.
The reason I believe that meme exist is just Flanderization.
A term actually created due to the Simpsons.
Reason was when Ned Flanders was introduced, he was designed more as the happy neighbor who was upper middle class to Homer’s lower middle class. The show gradually introduced religion into his personality and he went from fairly normal to effectively a cult member.
In 1990, I don’t think Homer Simpson was made to be this obese oaf, but was designed as the average fat guy.
All said and done, people should probably cut out the krusty burgers, squishes, lard lad donuts and duff beers to be healthy, but this meme seems more designed for a reaction over anything else.