Jon,

The classification of NFL players like NC State’s first
pick in the draft as obese, however idiotic, is not the reason for
ballooning numbers of Americans becoming overweight or obese. There
simply aren’t enough pro athletes to move the numbers much.

It’s
also not due to how BMI-defined overweight and obesity has become a
tighter standard — percents increase even keeping the standard
constant. We really are getting heavier for our height, and it is a global trend.

The problem comes at the next step, when researchers try to link excess weight to health problems and how to improve health.

Dieting doesn’t work. Even if simply cutting weight made one healthier, diets actually leave people heavier afterwards.

The
trick is to focus on health. Obesity can be, but is not always, a sign
of other unhealthy choices. Focusing on weight, however, ignores the
problems of inactivity that occur regardless how thin a person is. It
also leads, mostly young women, to develop eating disorders such as
anorexia.

Rather than sending home BMI grades, as in Arkansas,
schools can get students moving and allow them to enjoy recess again.
Some of the increase in childhood weight is simply due to better
nutrition. Kids today are bigger all the way around than we were.
Consider that 33% of adults are obese but only 5% of these adults were
overweight when they were children. If the same pattern holds for
today’s children, 99% of them will be obese — not likely.

The inclusion of Mario Williams as obese does illustrate the
problem of focusing on whether we’re heavy instead of whether we’re
healthy, but it’s not the reason why so many people are considered
heavy.