Big and Getting Bigger: Americans Fine with Fatness

250 is the new 200. Americans are getting fatter, and we seem to be accepting our new girth as OK, according to a new poll.

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Compared to 1990, we're about 20 pounds heavier now, and we've lowered our expectations further, by putting our "ideal" weight at about 10 pounds heavier than two decades ago.

On average, men weight 196 pounds, compared to 180 in 1990. What we think of as ideal has gone from 171 to 181.

If you're an average woman, you tip the scale at 160 pounds, up from 142 in 1990. What women now perceive as ideal is 138 pounds, up from 129 two decades ago.

56% of us think our weight is "about right," and only 39% of us classify ourselves as overweight.

“The disconnect between the percentage who are over their ideal weight and the percentage who say they are overweight may come from Americans’ own reluctance to describe themselves using such a term,” the researchers wrote.

Roughly one-third of the US population is currently obese, according to government estimates.

[NY Post]