Report: 61% of Americans see undesired weight change during pandemic

[Macallik86]

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A year after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, more than half of U.S. adults report an undesired weight change.

The American Psychological Association (APA) reports 61% of adults have experienced unintentional weight loss or weight gain over the last year.

When you add staying home plus mental disturbance, the outcome is obesity, said Dr. Zaher Nuwayhid, Conway Medical Center’s bariatric specialist.

“Most of my patients have either been not losing weight or have been gaining weight. And every time I speak with them, they say, ‘Doctor listen, I’ve been home, and all I do is eat,’” Nuwayhid said.

According to the APA, 42% report gaining more weight than intended, while 18% said they lost more weight than they wanted.

The average amount of weight gained was 29 pounds, while the average amount lost was 26 pounds.

Besides eating more, medical experts say weight can be affected by a change in sleep and increased alcohol consumption.

“I always tell my patients you can turn the point around. I know you had a bad month, you stayed home, you quarantined, you gained some weight, but that’s fine, it’s not the end of the world. You can always lose it,” Nuwayhid said.

Doctors say the pandemic has also taken a toll on mental health. Stress can have a direct impact on undesired weight loss. Additionally, there is also a financial aspect.

Obesity ‘second greatest predictor’ of hospitalization for COVID-19, report says
“With the pandemic, you lose your job, so your income also becomes on the low side. So you tend to buy cheap stuff like high-calorie goods, snacks, chips, and this is also bad,” Nuwayhid said.

Medical experts report obesity as a risk factor for COVID-19, but acknowledge staying home is increasing the obesity population.

A recent report released by The World Obesity Federation links obesity with a series of health complications related to COVID-19. It found that increased bodyweight “is the second greatest predictor of hospitalization and a high risk of death for people suffering from COVID-19.”

Only age ranks as a higher risk factor.

https://www.woodtv.com/health/coron...ed-weight-change-during-pandemic-report-says/

 

[Macallik86]

Rebuttal article from Reason.com (Don't like them but it seems like the stats breakdown was incorrect with a lot of analyses):

Pandemic weight fluctuations go both ways. A confusingly worded write-up of a survey from the American Psychological Association (APA) and some viral tweets about it have spawned some panic about pandemic weight gain in the U.S. Many have been interpreting the survey to say that Americans have put on an average of 29 pounds during the pandemic, with American millennials putting on an average of 41 pounds. Yikes!

But let's look a little closer. Turns out, these are the averages among people who say they put on unwanted weight—so about 42 percent of the adults surveyed. That's not insignificant, but it's also nowhere near the dire situation the first statistics alone suggest. The average is also significantly higher than the median weight gain among the group that put on unwanted pounds, suggesting some extreme weight gain has seriously inflated the picture here. (The APA says about 10 percent of survey participants gained 50 or more pounds.)


The median weight gain among adults who put on unwanted weight was just 15 pounds—so, a large portion of that same group gained less than 15 pounds.

[...]

Most Americans Have Not Put on Pandemic Weight, Actually

 

[MushroomX]

I am in the lost weight category, though there are many reasons why.

• I have the finances to buy quality food.
• I haven't ordered out at all, and really make everything at home
• We have walking trails/biking areas and people use our side parking lot (Public Open) around my apartment to walk their dogs
  
• I have been working more, so at times I miss snacking a bit.
• But stresswise, while I feel more with work, I don't feel a ton of overall stress from the pandemic.

Interesting stuff though.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

i put on weight at the beginning between cooking more elaborate meals vs quick protein/veggie meals, baking and not having an office to take it to, and drinking wine - i don't drink at home often, don't drink a lot in general....then when my jeans didn't fit i got my ass outside to workout with a crew of people. i keep jokingly telling folks to do a once a week jeans check, put on jeans at least once a week to keep yourself on track.

but even with exercise and eating what you normally did, it's still hard to keep the pounds off when your normal daily movement decreases so much. i went from 15 min walks to/from the train, 5 min walks to/from the office, roaming around downtown SF for lunch, walking through a big ass building to get to bathrooms and kitchens to walking 10 ft from the bed to bathroom to kitchen to desk, you lose a lot of steps and movement working at home unless you make a point to go take walks (which my neighborhood wasn't conducive to that, too much shyt going on, loud music, people hanging on corners, etc)

 

[acri1]

Interesting, my weight really hasn't changed noticeably.

But then again, I'm one of those people who weighs around the same as they did in high school, guess I'm just not that prone to weight swings. I'm definitely in worse shape though, I'd probably struggle to run a mile.

 

[re'up]

Dropped a little, but not really pandemic related, just started doing crunches every morning, always been if not rail skinny since high school, pretty lean and trim. 175 now. A lot of people I know gained weight, generally speaking.

 

[88m3]

how tf is the average weight gain 41lbs for a millennial

 

[TheDarceKnight]

how tf is the average weight gain 41lbs for a millennial

Dropped a little, but not really pandemic related, just started doing crunches every morning, always been if not rail skinny since high school, pretty lean and trim. 175 now. A lot of people I know gained weight, generally speaking.

I'm a millennial and was just talking about this with my girl last night.

The only reason I haven't gained weight is because I'm on the intermittent fasting thing pretty heavy. It can be hard to gain weight with a large fasting window. But my diet has definitely been way worse the past year, and I've softened up and lost a good bit of lean muscle. @re'up 175 is a good weight. I've always been pretty lean too. I'm 180 right now and I'd like to drop 5 lbs of fat and build some muscle back up.

 

[who_better_than_me]

I’m steady. Was 160 in January 2020, 158 January 2021. 163 when I stepped on the scale this morning.

 

[FAH1223]

I gained 10 pounds from March - May last year. Wasn’t working out as intensely, and I was playing basketball on the regular before Covid hit

After Ramadan, started doing more long distance runs outdoors.

Dropped a good amount weight in the summer/fall. Went to the pool a bit too.

Winter been tougher. But my food intake isn’t high. I’ll eat out once or twice a week though.

 

[YvrzTrvly]

What these fat American sweat hogs don’t understand is health and fitness is an always evolving aspect of our lives...

Obviously circumstances dictate temporary aberrations from the norm but if you stay fit you’ll stay fit..

Don’t be lazy brehs

 

[Sinnerman]

I've cut 20

 

[el_oh_el]

What these fat American sweat hogs don’t understand is health and fitness is an always evolving aspect of our lives...

Obviously circumstances dictate temporary aberrations from the norm but if you stay fit you’ll stay fit..

Don’t be lazy brehs

 

[the cac mamba]

dropped 30 went from 200 to 170

shyt was a once in a lifetime opportunity tbh. i figured if i was gonna go a year without going out to eat/going out drinking every weekend, then itd be an absolute waste not to go on a strict diet. ate nothing but chicken and tuna

that plus working from home, and doing pushups and situps all day with the time and freedom

 

[Gains]

fast food and binge drinking