Vh's MOV: Weight Management For Veterans

As per Healthy People 2020 most Americans do not consume healthy diets and are not physically active at levels needed to maintain proper health. As a result of these behaviors the nation has experienced a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S with 1 in 3 adults (34.0%) and 1 and 6 children and adolescents (16.2%) are obese. In addition to grave health consequences of being overweight and obese. It significantly raises medical cost and causes a great burden on the U.S medical care delivery system ("Healthy People 2020," 2014, p. 1).

A common theme among the concerns of today’s American citizens is that of obesity. Obesity, identifiable by abnormal fat accumulation, can be defined in absolute terms by one who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30. It is estimated that over 30 percent of American adults are clinically obese. This number has shown a dramatic increase from the 15 percent of American adults suffering from obesity in 1980. Globally, 400 million adults are obese, while predictions place this number at 700 million by 2015. The major issue confronting this adiposity is the health conditions that accompany states of extreme obesity. These include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis among others. The escalating number of obese and

At the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) located in Durham, North Carolina, approximately one-third of the patients are obese. For the past ten years, studies were conducted that estimated, 25-35% of the patients at the VHA were considered obese or overweight. The VHA introduced the patients to a program called, “MOVE!”. The programs goal was weight management to help patients overcome short-term weight loss goals and create a positive reinforcement that encourages to stay at a healthy weight. It was introduced in 2006, and has helped approximately six million veterans lose weight. This program was implemented in 153 hospitals and 956 outpatient clinics. This program started when VHA clinicians noticed the rate of obese patients coming

What can Americans do to make a sedentary lifestyle change? Despite Americans unhealthy habits and the obesity epidemic plaguing the Country, a change in sedentary lifestyle such as: Regular physical activities, and better eating in conjunction with a better diet are steps that can be taken immediately to remedy the situation and put Americans on the path of recovery.

America, like any other country, has its assortment of problems: immigration, debt, or foreign affairs but one issue that is rather hard to overlook, literally, its obesity epidemic. The extra pounds have become a sight all too common in America’s society, “men are now on average seventeen pounds heavier than they were in the late seventies, and for women that figure is even higher: nineteen pounds.” (Kolbert). Obesity does not just affect adults in this way either, the kid population has been getting bigger, according to the numbers on a scale “the proportion of overweight children, age six to eleven, has more than doubled, while the proportion of overweight adolescents, age twelve to nineteen, has more than tripled.” (Kolbert). This issue has been a major concern to doctors and scientists for decades and in recent years, has even has the American Medical Association recognizing obesity to be a disease (Pollack). That is a highly debatable statement because obesity itself is a preventable lifestyle. Obesity is avoidable and curable to all (or at least most) of its sufferers. For some citizens, obesity is not a choice, rather genetics, but for the majority of the population, obesity is caused by an unhealthy diet and lazy lifestyle, and for these certain individuals, through a lot of work and discipline, the return to a healthy lifestyle is not as impossible as it may appear.

Have you noticed obesity has become a big problem in the Appalachians? According to M. Wewers, "Nearly 44 percent of the Appalachian population is obese" (Herath 129). For those who struggle with obesity, it is not just having a little extra weight. When you are obese, you are more prone to heart disease, depression, and high blood pressure. In addition, obesity increases the risk of premature mortality (Herath 127). As the number of people who are obese increases, the nation becomes unhealthier. For some of the individuals who are obese, it is not about eating unhealthily or being lazy. For these individuals, they have a medical condition that causes obesity. The amount of obesity in the Appalachians is shocking; however, there are

overweight/obesity in children and adults has become a concern and a threat to national defense

Compared to other countries, the United States was reported to have the second highest rate of obesity in the world after Mexico. Over the past decade, cases of obesity have triplicated in the U.S., affecting more than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of the adults (Ogden et al. 2014). Given the current trends, it is projected that 42% of the U.S. population will be obese by 2030 (Finkelstein et al. 2012). Aside from its nefarious impact on the overall quality of life of the affected individual on a micro level, obesity has an enormous economist cost on the US healthcare system. In their extensive annual medical spending report, Finkelstein et al. (2012) indicated that the annual medical cost for obesity in the US amount to $147 billion

Since the 1980’s, obesity has been a huge issue in America. Obesity is the condition of being extremely overweight. Several Americans today are eating too much food and not exercising enough. Americans today fail to realize how important it is to stay healthy and fit. Obesity is a result of the body receiving more calories than needed. Once a human consumes too many calories, the body stores these additional calories which becomes body fat. Over time, these excess calories will result in weight gain. Individuals will gain less weight if they ingest fewer calories. The obesity epidemic is getting worse day by day and it’s beginning to control the lives of Americans. Therefore, it is our job as Americans to rid of this epidemic before it seizes

Obesity has become increasingly more prominent in American society. The Unites States has even been termed an overweight nation. Some twenty to thirty percent of American adults are now considered obese (Hwang 1999 and Hirsch et al 1997). With this in mind, Americans constantly look around themselves determining their weight status as well as that of those around them. While some Americans do fit the healthy category, others enter the underweight, overweight, and even obese categories, all of which can be unhealthy.

The Army Body Composition Program (ABCP) relies on a basic form of body circumference measurements to determine a soldier’s body fat composition. Many people believe this standard of measuring is an unfair and inaccurate representation of their true body composition. There are several options that could provide a more accurate measurement such as hydrostatic testing, skin fold method, Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) only to name a few. There are many factors that influence the decisions of leaders such as availability, cost, reliability and accuracy of the method in which method they decide to use.

o address a problem with obesity, you cannot only focus upon how to discuss the issue but when. Especially in this generation, it seems that obesity is affecting our younger generation more than ever. Therefore, it is more beneficial to introduce more solutions in an earlier age rather than later. It is the same situation with the problem of obesity affecting military eligibility in 30% of men and women ages 17 to 24. Introducing solutions to this problem before applicants apply will decrease the percent of people being ineligible to join the military because of their weight.

Obesity rates in the United States are alarming, with more than one-third of U.S. adults and 17% of children qualifying as obese with a Body Mass Index greater than 30.0 (Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2015). Even more frightening is the growth rate of this crippling health epidemic; between 1980 and 2014, obesity has doubled for adults and tripled for children (CDC, 2015). The physical consequences of rising obesity rates in our country include an abundance of physical ailments including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, arthritis, elevated cholesterol, and even some cancers. Additionally, obesity-related health care costs to our country are estimated at $147 billion annually, plus the costs of productivity lost at

Attention Step: How many of you all know of someone who is overweight? How many of you all know of someone who is dead because of weight problems? Obviously, a serious factor that is going on across the United States is obesity. According to The Gale Encyclopedia of Fitness written by the authors Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt and William Atkins, the definition of obesity means that it is a health condition where an excessive amount of body fat is inside the human body. This excessive body fat can cause health related issues including illness, disability, and worst of all, death (Carson-DeWitt and Atkins 615).

Obesity has caused great dilemma in America. It was known as an adult disease. “Over two thirds of adults are over weight or obese.”(Obesity, Jerry R Ballenttne) these numbers are increasing rapidly. Obesity is not just a appearance