"Doctors" in general have always said that...but in a one-on-one meeting with a patient, most are too distracted, rushed, or uncomfortable to address this issue. It sounds like more are speaking up, and that's good.

A government survey found nearly 33 percent of adults who saw a doctor in the previous year said they were told to exercise... More than one third of U.S. adults are obese, a statistic that's held steady for nearly a decade.

Hmmm, one third... that's about... 33 percent. Sounds about right.

I can burn about 400 calories in a half hour on the treadmill. Or I can avoid 400 calories instantly by eating right.

I can burn about 400 calories in a half hour on the treadmill. Or I can avoid 400 calories instantly by eating right.

That's very important to point out. Exercise is important, but the biggest part of losing weight is controlling your eating. You can workout for an hour and completely undo that with a decent size bowl of ice cream or eating an extra 200-300 calories at each meal which isn't that hard to do.

I can burn about 400 calories in a half hour on the treadmill. Or I can avoid 400 calories instantly by eating right.

This should not be an "either-or" choice. People need to eat right and exercise daily.

If someone eats well but is inactive, chances are that they are not healthy.

It's not just about weight but also about cardio vascular health. Being an ideal weight isn't enough to ensure good cardio vascular health but it's better than nothing I guess.

Can you cite this? That seems like a really high number for an average across any significant portion of the population.

It looks like this may be the source: here

Notice the asterisk that states that the figure is food bought/served. Since we Americans waste tons of food each year, the real number is somewhat lower.

Thanks for the link.

oh - but if you're talking on 'average' shouldn't it be more like; Americans consume 15.5 poounds of food per day?

that would explain all the sofa-sized people out there...

Hope you are doing well financially and will be able to pay for your own medical needs in old age. I for one have no desire for my tax dollars to pay for the medical needs of some undisciplined glutton.

You don't have a choice, hs321.

I've personally never seen an obese doctor. Maybe slightly overweight, but obese, like what... around 30 some % of americans are now?

Maybe the doctors don't have time because they're too busy treating fat people.

Soon hearing "you need to exercise" from the doctor is going to be like hearing "you need to floss" from the dentist. Everyone says "Sure I'll do it" and "Yes I did that" when they come back in, but everyone knows they didn't do as much as they needed to.

I perosnally can't stand obese people. Sure, the 5% or so that have an actual medical problem is fine, but they other 95% are just lazy. Exercising isn't hard. You honestly can't spare a half hour every day? How about cutting back on the TV you watch and exercise then? Or better yet, exercise during the commercials.

Losing weight/changing your eating habits is about will power. If you WANT to do it, you will make it happen. I personally went through changing my eating habits recently. I used to eat a ton of junk for lunch, now I spend the time in the morning to make myself a decent lunch that will fill me up better than junk every could.

"I don't have time" is an excuse, which all fat people seem to be full of. Get off your butt and stop contributing to the increasing medical costs for Americans today.

You're absolutely right, Rado. America has become a nation of lazy, overfed cattle.

Rado, IDK where you live but I have seen few Dr.'s of proper weight. I had an OB-GYN who said women didn't trust thin docs. He was disgustingly over wt. My current doc is bordering on obese. Yes, I still get told to exercise and no I am under wt if anything (5'0" and 92 lbs).

Jenny, The other thing America has become is a nation dependent on antidepressents and bi-polar (probably overly diagnosed) medications many of which a side effect is weight gain---in some cases a lot of weight.

Can you imagine anything more awful than the doc prescribing a medicine that causes weight gain (they know the side effects) and 6 months admonishing you to lose the weight?

How frustrating.

Thanks for that info, lexiwords. My wife has been working very hard to lose weight and doing all the right things. She's had success but can't get past a plateau and we've been racking our brains trying to figure out why. Then I read your comment and looked up her med that she takes for anxiety and sure enough, it's one of the ones notorious for weight gain so it's quite possible that all of her efforts are being cancelled out by her med. We are going to investigate her taking a different one. Thanks again for your helpful comment.

No - we still blame McDonald's, Burer King, KY Fried Chicken, Sonic Burgers, White Castle, Arby's, Wendy's, trans-fats, frying oils, chocolate, bread.

oh, and our parents genome

all while craming that whole cheesecake down our fat throat and wondering what's on the other channel - can't....quite.... reach....... the.... remote......

whew! I was sweating while I was reaching - done with exercise today.

Then go for a 90 minute intense swim. There's always a way to get exercise.
But, if you're lazy, then you'll always find an excuse for not exercising.

A novel idea: get your foot diagnosed and treated and exercise in a different way until it recovers.

I used to have a lot of back & knee pain. I discovered Paleo style eating, ditched grains in my diet, most of my aches disappeared shortly after and I dropped weight easily as well eating this way and never had to count calories or go hungry. Before I started changing my diet (I used to try to follow the USDA's extremely flawed food pyramid not knowing any better) my BMI was right at the borderline of overweight & obesity and now it's in the normal range and I'm having no trouble keeping it there. I exercise but I'm hardly fanatical about it, 30-40min walks 3-5X per week and resistance exercising with weights 20 min 3X per week. I've found though that even when I put exercise on hiatus ( I was very busy during the holidays) I still have no problem keeping my weight in the normal range eating Paleo style.

or that you; or one of your neighbors on either side of you are the size of a sofa

Thanks for putting that out there. Great video.

You're right about the quality of calories being as important as exercise. If your diet is full of processed food and fast food you will still not become truly healthy just from exercising.

Exercise is the "cure" for many of the problems we go to the doctor for. You are telling the doctor to not do their job, just because you don't want to hear their diagnosis.

If you are overweight, there is no magical pill to lose weight. Eat less and exercise more should be the main thing that a doctor tells you.

Exercise is the prescribed treatment, so don't bitch when you hear it.