You can lead a horse to water . . .

American Adults Just Keep Getting Fatter

American adults continue to put on the pounds. 

New data shows that nearly 40 percent of them were obese in 2015 and 2016, a sharp increase from a decade earlier, federal health officials reported Friday.

The prevalence of severe obesity in American adults is also rising, heightening their risks of developing heart disease, diabetes and various cancers. 

According to the latest data, published Friday in JAMA, 7.7 percent of American adults were severely obese in the same period.

The data — gathered in a large-scale federal survey that is considered the gold standard for health data — measured trends in obesity from 2015 and 2016 back to 2007 and 2008, when 5.7 percent of American adults were severely obese and 33.7 percent were obese. 

The survey counted people with a body mass index of 30 or more as obese, and those with a B.M.I. of 40 or more as severely obese.

Public health experts said that they were alarmed by the continuing rise in obesity among adults and by the fact that efforts to educate people about the health risks of a poor diet do not seem to be working.

. . . .

In recent NAFTA negotiations, the Trump administration has proposed rules favored by major food companies that would limit the ability of the United States, Mexico and Canada to require prominent labels on packaged foods warning about the health risks of foods high in sugar and fat.

While the latest survey data doesn’t explain why Americans continue to get heavier, nutritionists and other experts cite lifestyle, genetics, and, most importantly, a poor diet as factors. 

Fast food sales in the United States rose 22.7 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to Euromonitor, while packaged food sales rose 8.8 percent.

On 4/25/2015 I weighed in, stark naked first thing in the morning, at 297 pounds with a BMI of 40.3, putting me at the 98th percentile among men of the same age and height.

That was a lifetime max I reached after retiring on 3/1 of the same year.

Today I weigh 196 with a BMI of 26.6, putting me at the 49th percentile.

My doctor tells me firmly to not lose more.

Calorie control relying on nutrition information, a pyrex graduated cup measure, and a food scale from Bed, Bath, and Beyond was how I did it, and still do it.

Oh, and a little Cassio calculator my wife bought me to check my arithmetic.

And a cheat sheet on which I have scribbled the calories per ounce or gram of many of our favorite foods.

And one day a week, every week, on which we don't count the calories and eat meals we know are above our regular daily limits.

Things like surf and turf, ribs, Thanksgiving dinner, or pot roast.