Average Weight For American Women (And A Few Other Countries) Surprising!

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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The weights are broken down into categories by age, race and Hispanic/non Hispanic. What surprises me is that I thought the numbers would have been lower for each category. I'm also surprised that my weight is lower than what's shown for my age and race.
Average Weight of Women in America

I think their survey sample should have included way more women, especially when you consider they compared us with women in other countries. But the weights do seem more realistic than the weight charts they used to publish decades ago that were based on height and body frame.
 

OneEyedDiva said:
The weights are broken down into categories by age, race and Hispanic/non Hispanic. What surprises me is that I thought the numbers would have been lower for each category. I'm also surprised that my weight is lower than what's shown for my age and race.
Average Weight of Women in America

I think their survey sample should have included way more women, especially when you consider they compared us with women in other countries. But the weights do seem more realistic than the weight charts they used to publish decades ago that were based on height and body frame.
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Those average weights are shocking!
 
It's sad how the average 80 year old weighs 25 pounds less than women in their thirties. Something has happened and I don't think that video is right to imply that the fifties woman burned far more calories. Yes they did a little more manual house work, but nobody went to the gym or had a regular home exercise routine. They didn't drink as much soda, but they drank whole milk at almost every meal. they didn't have fast food, but those meatloaf and mash meals were very high calorie.

I think it might be a change at the cellular level, possibly from something as simple as our baby formula.
 
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Della said:
It's sad how the average 80 year old weighs 25 pounds than women in their thirties. Something has happened and I don't think that video is right to imply that the fifties woman burned far more calories. Yes they did a little more manual house work, but nobody went to the gym or had a regular home exercise routine. They didn't drink as much soda, but they drank whole milk at almost every meal. they didn't have fast food, but those meatloaf and mash meals were very high calorie.

I think it might be a change at the cellular level, possibly from something as simple as our baby formula.
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Meat and Dairy Production You're right Della and that link shows that meat production. has increased steadily since the 60's, and both dairy and meat are high calorie products. Plus the work people do is less physical. But there's another issue that I once heard talked about and it is that our world is filled with chemicals that have come to be called 'obesegens'.

Those are chemicals that have the ability to change the DNA of unborn babies and they seem to be turning on switches that make people's bodies begin packing on the pounds when they reach their teens. The inside of food tins are coated with BPA, the plastics that we heat when we microwave food, fire retardants, paints, etc.....and then when those females whose DNA is already affected, become pregnant in those same type of environments, their unborn are affected by both mother/fathers changed DNA plus the obesegens in the environment..... It's definitely not just lack of control in eating although the kinds of foods we eat is mostly far from natural when you check out ingredients lists, that is causing the obesity epidemic.
 
helenbacque said:
I blame the mass use of the elastic waist in clothes design.
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That only makes people more comfortable and has nothing to do with the body inside those clothes. After all, in the 40's and 50's, etc., big women used to wear large size dresses and men wore pants with big waists and suspenders. But there were fewer of them who needed those kinds of sizes.
 
Della said:
It's sad how the average 80 year old weighs 25 pounds less than women in their thirties. Something has happened and I don't think that video is right to imply that the fifties woman burned far more calories. Yes they did a little more manual house work, but nobody went to the gym or had a regular home exercise routine. They didn't drink as much soda, but they drank whole milk at almost every meal. they didn't have fast food, but those meatloaf and mash meals were very high calorie.

I think it might be a change at the cellular level, possibly from something as simple as our baby formula.
Click to expand...
Milk was never a thing in the Uk except for Babies.....and still isn't... Nor meatloaf and mash either...altho' it is now

The other thing I was thinking was that ..hardly anyone snacked between meals when I was growing up..
 
I've always weighed more, even when I was young, although I was thin in my photos. I think it was the muscle and bone density and that I was taller than the other girls. Athletic in my youth, I ran and did sports up until my 30s, but I started gaining the weight in middle-age (stay-at-home mother) and did some weight loss to help. I read somewhere that our fat genes and other genes tend to kick in later in life, like in our 50s. I have always exercised and continue to do so. My mother will be 90 this year and she's always been overweight, but is thinner now than her earlier years.

I saw a documentary from 60 minutes on longevity and one of the interesting findings of a long term study on people in their 90s and beyond in the US were that they tended to be a little overweight. So being thin is not recommended. I like that!
 
I was astounded by those numbers so web searched and found other links showing how much average North American weights have risen. So since I was 12 years old, average men have gained 32 pounds and women 30 pounds with North American beef and fries fed fat boys and gals 41 pounds above the world averages. This 75 year old Caucasian male remains at BMI 22 at 5'6" 138#. Had a half package of C&W broccoli florets with mayo plus salt for lunch. Am glad there are always fair numbers of smaller women like me. 5'4" 170 pound women are scary to this little guy. I could be squashed. :giggle:

How Much Does the Average Man Weigh?

The average American man 20 years old and up weighs 197.9 pounds per Trusted Source. The average waist circumference is 40.2 inches, and the average height is just over 5 feet 9 inches (about 69.1 inches) tall.

When broken down by age group, the average weights for American men are as follows:

Age group (Years) Average weight (Pounds)
20–39 196.9
40–59 200.9
60 and older 194.7

As time wears on, American men are increasing in both stature and weight. In the 1960s per Trusted Source, the average man weighed 166.3 pounds and stood at 68.3 inches (just over 5 feet 8 inches) tall. American women are also reporting an increase in height and weight over time.

In the 1960s per Trusted Source, the average woman weighed 140.2 pounds and was 63.1 inches tall. By comparison, the average American woman today per Trusted Source weighs 170.6 pounds, has a waist circumference of 38.6 inches, and is just under 5 feet 4 inches (about 63.7 inches) tall.

North America: 177.9 pounds
Oceania, including Australia: 163.4 pounds
Europe: 156.1 pounds
Latin America/Caribbean: 149.7 pounds
Africa: 133.8 pounds
Asia: 127.2 pounds

The world average for an adult’s weight is 136.7 pounds.
 
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palides2021 said:
I've always weighed more, even when I was young, although I was thin in my photos. I think it was the muscle and bone density and that I was taller than the other girls. Athletic in my youth, I ran and did sports up until my 30s, but I started gaining the weight in middle-age (stay-at-home mother) and did some weight loss to help. I read somewhere that our fat genes and other genes tend to kick in later in life, like in our 50s. I have always exercised and continue to do so. My mother will be 90 this year and she's always been overweight, but is thinner now than her earlier years.

I saw a documentary from 60 minutes on longevity and one of the interesting findings of a long term study on people in their 90s and beyond in the US were that they tended to be a little overweight. So being thin is not recommended. I like that!
Click to expand...
Oh, thank you! I have been searching for this video!! I couldn't remember Leisure World, just remembered it had a nice name. I also didn't realize it was featured on 60 minutes. There is a full original documentary I believe and they studied Alzheimer's/Dementia.
I really wanted to watch it again.
As I recall they never found any related causes of Alzheimer's as far as diet, lifestyle. I wondered if there were updates to their findings.
 
A major issue with this small person eating at restaurants are the large menu portions sizes that I've commented on several times herein. A quick web search had many hits explaining why that is primarily economic competition driven by an apparent majority of (obviously many already overweight) American consumers that prefer large portions. As someone working decades at Silicon Valley corporations sharing lunch meetings with others, the first thing that I notice is how so many people wolf down huge amounts of food like a big dog instantly swallowing a tykes accidentally dropped on the ground hamburger. In other words, less chewing and savoring and more gulping.

Basic issue is the more a person regularly eats stretching their innards, the more a person's digestive tract adjusts growing becoming larger. Eating less, the opposite occurs more slowly and for a short period one may remain hungrier on average. After a modest period, one will be just as satisfied with the smaller amount of food taken in while looking in a mirror will be more pleasant. So for you struggling overweight seniors, embrace self control during meals, eat smaller portions, chew more, enjoy more slowly, and of course eat less meat, greasy, sugary foods. For some of my own meals, I regularly split dry type package contents in half. For instance those Kraft Mac & Cheese boxes.

In my local very urban zone, I often walk streets and occasionally enter all manner of restaurants not to actually order anything but rather to look at menu prices and portion sizes. Almost all reflect the following ridiculous image so I've been calmly complaining about a lack of smaller portion offerings for kids and smaller folks, listen to what they might say, then walk out. I did just web search with "smaller restaurant portion sizes" and was glad to see there is actually a new trend with some restaurants offering smaller portion sizes.

obesity_charts05.0.jpg
 
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Fat Land book review:

Fat land: how Americans became the fattest people in the world

We are in the midst of a national obesity crisis, and Americans are getting heavier. Today, about 65% of adults and 15% of children and adolescents in the US are overweight or obese.

The physiological mechanism causing the increase in obesity is no mystery: Americans eat more calories than they burn, and the excess energy is stored as fat. Greg Critser’s book provides an insightful look at the reasons the energy balance equation has become so unbalanced. Critser delivers a comprehensive review of the governmental, agricultural, industrial, economic, and social factors that have contributed to today’s obesity epidemic. Despite its encyclopedic content, Fat land is a fascinating read because of his clear and entertaining writing style.

Critser’s chronology of obesity-inducing events begins with a review of the factors that led to the increased availability and consumption of high-calorie, large-sized food in this country. In 1971, Richard Nixon nominated Earl Butz as Secretary of Agriculture. Butz lowered the trade barriers that had limited the export of American products, which resulted in a marked increase in US corn and soybean production. At approximately the same time, Japanese food scientists produced a new sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup, which was less expensive and had a longer shelf life than sugar. New technology transformed palm oil into a viable and stable, but highly saturated, commercial fat.

Food manufacturers began to replace sugar and traditional fats in their products with high-fructose corn syrup and processed palm oil, which led to an increase in inexpensive, energy-dense snack and convenience foods. In the 1970s and 1980s, fast-food restaurants discovered the profitability of “value meals” (e.g., packaging high-profit drinks and french fries with low-profit burgers) and of “supersizing” (e.g., tripling the serving size of McDonald’s french fries from 200 kcal in 1960 to 610 kcal today).

Moreover, the percentage of meals eaten away from home doubled between the 1970s and the 1990s, and eating out usually meant eating more. Finally, school systems encouraged unhealthy eating practices among children by accepting soft drink and fast-food contracts because they provide large commissions for financially strapped schools.

The increase in energy intake has been paralleled by a decrease in physical activity. Critser identifies the many barriers to activity in modern society. Being active is no longer an obligatory part of daily function but rather a conscious choice. In the 1980s, television viewing became the predominant form of leisure activity. Computers and computer games, sedentary jobs, long commutes, sprawling suburbs with no sidewalks, and unsafe neighborhoods limit our desire and ability to move. School budget cuts have resulted in a reduction in sports teams and physical education classes; by the end of the 1980s, Illinois was the only state that required daily physical education.
 
90% of the people I know are overweight, and some of them are considerably overweight. I never bring up someone's weight. It's none of my business. There are those who feel compelled to comment on mine; who do they think they are? Sometimes I'd just like to punch them in the nose. It's none of their business. Please just STFU.
 


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