There is no sex discrimination when it comes to being overweight—it is an issue for both women and men. With two-thirds of adults weigh- ing more than they should, the need to take action is enormous. For- tunately, there are signs that the gap between the genders is narrowing when it comes to who is taking up the weight-loss challenge.
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that tracks what’s happening in the United States on a variety of health-related topics. One of the areas that the survey deals with is weight loss. In 1989, 23 percent of the men and 40 percent of the women reported that they were attempting to lose weight. Those numbers had risen to 29 percent and 44 percent when the question was asked again in 1996. The ques- tion was asked most recently in 2000, when 31 percent of the men and
45 percent of the women said that they were working to reduce their weight. Obviously, the 1990s saw an increase in the percentage of men working to lose weight, suggesting that the gap between the genders is closing.
We don’t know all the reasons for this shift, but can surmise that it is a reflection of the increased rates of excess weight as well as progress in the recognition of the benefits of weight loss. Still, until the rates of
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