American government researchers said that obesity is quickly overtaking smoking as the country's number one killer. In fact, obesity is becoming such a problem that many experts now say it is compromising all the benefits of recent improvements in health care and medical breakthroughs.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) smoking in 2000 was the biggest cause of death - 435,000 people died. 18.1% of everyone who died in that year died of a smoking related disease.

- Obesity (bad diet and no exercise) was the cause of 400,000 deaths.

- 129.6 Americans are overweight or obese. That is a staggering 64% of the population.

- If obesity continues to rise, by the year 2020, 20% of all health care spending will be
  on obesity related diseases and conditions. This is according to the Rand Corporation.

The American Health and Human Services Secretary, Tommy Thompson said 'Americans need to understand that overweight and obesity are literally killing us. To know that poor eating habits and inactivity are on the verge of surpassing tobacco use as the leading cause of preventable death in America should motivate all Americans to take action to protect their health. We need to tackle America's weight issues as aggressively as we are addressing smoking and tobacco.'

You are obese when your BMI (Body Mass Index) is more than 30. One in three Americans is obese, says the CDC. When your BMI goes over 30, your risk of heart disease, strokes and diabetes increases dramatically.

- MedicalNewsToday.com

RESOURCE INFORMATION By:
© 2005 Tanja Gardner, Optimum Life Ltd.

'Muscle and Weight Gain
Another reason my clients have given for not wanting to build muscle is that they've heard muscle weighs more than fat. If that's the case, they ask me, won't putting on more muscle just get in the way of their goal to lose weight?

If all that the clients want is to reach a certain weight on the scales, then they have a point. For some people - competing jockeys, gymnasts or martial artists - the scales must register a certain weight or below, for them to work at their chosen level. Most of the rest of us, however, have no such need to fit into a certain weight class. Certainly, height-weight charts do exist, but many experts nowadays query just how useful those charts can be. In reality, how we look and feel is a far better measure of how healthy we are than a number on a scale. In fact, it's exactly because muscle weighs more than fat that an active 65kg person can often wear clothing two sizes smaller (and look better in it) than someone who's 60kg and doesn't exercise. The muscle may be heavier, but it takes up less space - thus the difference in dress sizes. It's important to be aware as well that, unless your training programme is designed to increase muscle size, you're unlike to gain more than a kilogram or two before the amount of fat you lose begins to cancel out the weight increase, and then numbers on the scale begin to go down again.

Muscle & Metabolism
We also need to keep in mind one of the golden rules of weight loss. Muscles burn calories. Repeat this to yourself a few times. Muscles burn calories. Many people don't realise that we don't only burn calories when we exercise. Our entire bodies are energy furnaces, constantly burning fuel to keep us alive - to keep your heart beating, your lungs breathing, and all the 1001 biochemical processes that your body requires happening. The amount of energy you burn during a workout is actually a fairly small percentage of the overall energy you burn during the day just to stay alive. The rate at which your body burns energy when you're not moving is known as your basal metabolic rate' - or what most people would call metabolism'.
Not only this, but unlike fat (which is just stored energy waiting to be used) muscle is hungry body tissue. It needs energy just to exist, which means even when you're sitting still, your muscles are burning calories. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, and of course, when you're moving, you're burning even more. Since weight loss happens when you burn more energy than you take in, more muscle ends up helping you lose weight despite weighing a little more itself.

Building Muscle & Health
There are other health reasons for strengthening your muscles, beyond the weight loss benefits of the muscle itself. Many of these can be summed up as Use it or lose it'. There's now clear evidence that many of the things we associate with aging - slowing down and loss of strength and flexibility - are due more to inactivity than they are to aging. Studies carried out with the elderly by Yale, Tufts and Pennsylvania State University very clearly show the benefits of strength training (which builds muscle) in regaining health and functionality that had been assumed to be lost as a natural consequence of aging. Additionally, most women are well aware now of the dangers of osteoporosis - a loss of bone density - once they pass menopause. In various other studies, strength training was shown to reverse this loss, strengthening the bones, and making those who train less vulnerable to injury.'