Americans Should Give Up On Losing Weight

As I look around in the modern world, the people around me are getting bigger and bigger and not in a good way. Obesity is on the rise in many countries and continues to rise, especially in America. Some will argue that being overweight or obese isn’t necessarily a bad, and that that people should just give up on losing weight. The truth is: Americans should not give up on losing weight, because life is so much better without having a lot of fat on your body.

For a person to be considered obese, their body mass index (BMI) must be 30 or above and to be considered overweight their BMI would have to be in between 25 and 29. This means that a person’s body fat in relation to their height and weight is far greater than what it should be. A person

Stanford Health Care, a hospital in California, states on their website “Each year obesity-related conditions cost over 150 billion dollars and cause an estimated 300,000 premature deaths in the US” (“Effects of Obesity”). Americans are giving away their money to those who can’t help themselves because they are too fat to do so. That money could go towards a much greater cause, but it can’t due to the rising epidemic in our country. The individual also pays a lot more for their own personal expenses than a person who would have a healthy BMI. April Dykman, a writer for Forbes magazine, writes “After tabulating various costs associated with being overweight or obese, the researchers found that being an obese individual in the U.S. costs $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men each year” (The Financial Cost”). Individuals who are obese costs more money than a healthy person each year because they must keep up with their heavy lifestyles. Although some people would tell me that being overweight or obese isn’t a bad thing and that we should let them be

However, it’s not impossible when your health is on the line. It would take a long time for someone who is 300 pounds to go to 135 pounds, almost 2 years if that person would exercise and eat properly every day. Even still, that person’s weight would fluctuate constantly making them feel as if they are doing things wrong. Giving up is not the answer to those small details that an obese person trying to lose weight may face. There is a trend in society now that every person should love who they are no matter what their size may be. I do not disagree with that statement at all and I happily encourage people to find self-confidence, but does loving your body really help your physical health in any way? There are people in the media today who have an unhealthy body weight like model Tess Holiday and real tv star Whitney Thore who make thousands on how big they are. There needs to be acceptance within society but not when a person is 100 pounds overweight and at risk for a