Pandemic Led to Increased Childhood Obesity

This really needs to be in the "Duh!" Forum, but it doesn't exist.

New study found that the pandemic led to an increase in obesity in kids! Really? Was the government the only entity too stupid that they needed to spend tax dollars to officially figure this one out?!

Has no bureaucrat ever heard the saying "I got the COVID-19" and understood it applied to poundage, not the actual disease? Because almost everyone the government made stay home got it.

A new study ties the COVID-19 pandemic to an “alarming” increase in obesity in U.S. children and teenagers.

Childhood obesity has been increasing for decades, but the new work suggests an acceleration last year — especially in those who already were obese when the pandemic started.

The results signal a “profound increase in weight gain for kids” and are “substantial and alarming,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Alyson Goodman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I'm not sure what they thought would happen when they made us all mostly housebound. People get bored. Bored people look for something to do and especially if you're already prone to overeating, you eat when you're bored. And when a child is sitting on the couch, bored or depressed or playing video games all day because he or she has no other real outlet, the results of a poor diet are going to be exaggerated. In this case, more pounds.

This is the natural result of no sports, no gym, no playing outside because ... COVID.

It’s also a sign of a vicious cycle. The pandemic appears to be worsening the nation’s longstanding obesity epidemic, and obesity can put people at risk for more severe illness after coronavirus infection.

And it's so nice of them to finally notice something some of us here have been saying all along. You want more COVID and worse outcomes from COVID? Make people fatter. Awesome to declare sports, and gyms, and all forms of exercise outside the home to be "non-essential" just like forms of therapeutic outside the vaccine are also verboten.

Sure they can only help you maintain a healthy weight and keep you from severe illness and complications, but they're "non-essential".

The CDC on Thursday released the study, which is the largest yet to look at obesity trends during the pandemic.

It found:

—An estimated 22% of children and teens were obese last August, up from 19% a year earlier.

—Before the pandemic, children who were a healthy weight were gaining an average of 3.4 pounds a year. That rose to 5.4 pounds during the pandemic.

—For kids who were moderately obese, expected weight gain rose from 6.5 pounds a year before the pandemic to 12 pounds after the pandemic began.

—For severely obese kids, expected annual weight gain went from 8.8 pounds to 14.6 pounds.

So you can see that even healthy weight kids packed on the pounds at a higher rate thanks to the pandemic lockdowns.

Thanks, government. Stop helping us into our graves.

a reply to: ketsuko
Kids can shed the weight fast. Are they back in school and working up sweats at recess and in gym class yet?

Unless the government is stuffing the fork into porkies gob I’m fairly sure the little tub-o-fun did it all by his/her self.

I would suggest feeding your kids less and this being a perfect opportunity to teach them how to chow down like someone who cares about quality of life.

I in no way am aiming this reply at you, just them parents of chunky kids everywhere.

a reply to: ketsuko

a reply to: Dalamax

It isn't the parents complaining here.

This was a government study in which they act like they are shocked, shocked by the result.

And this is me putting on my facepalm and wondering how stupid they are? Given the state of the adult population in this country, the outcome of the study should have been obvious without needing the study.

Ahhh! I see, yes it’s wasted money and time on the surface.

Perhaps it is the genesis of an alternative narrative in case the current psyop fails in some way?

Definitely a funding grab either way.

a reply to: ketsuko

a reply to: ketsuko

Maybe that is the real reason they are ending up in the hospital with covid more often now, instead of the delta variant.

a reply to: ketsuko

Absolutely right, Ket. I'm concerned across the board with this causing sugars, sodium's and additives, wacky reactions, weight gain, insulin resistance...in children to go nuts.

After an out of balance quarantined lifestyle, insulin, then high b.p., crashes, hypo-glycemia...that ying and yang on growing kids is hard.

Some, perhaps 10% will have a hard time losing any weight, and lifestyle changes won't be easy

a reply to: ketsuko

And for the adults;

But who's buying the junk food for the kids?

Parents raised on TV dinners for 20 please Owen.

a reply to: cmajlz448

Eating too much and not moving enough leads to obesity. Always has, always will.

People can watch what they eat, and exercise EVEN IN A PANDEMIC.

Just another excuse for the lazy and unmotivated to blame something else for them being fat.

a reply to: ketsuko

Well that means more money to be made on children health control by big pharma, statin drugs, hart blood pressure, diabetes medication plus anti depressants.

Yep they are the group that will keep the profits going for life.

a reply to: MiddleInsite

Except ... read it again ... this isn't the people themselves complaining. This was a study done by the government as though they did not expect the logical outcome of the lockdowns to be increased weight gain by people already at risk.

They discovered that even healthy weight people gained more than the norm for them.

It's like they were shocked by that outcome as though it were unexpected.

I mentioned myself in my OP that yes, you can stay active in your home, but also that it takes more self-discipline than the average person has.

The only reason our family escaped this is because I was moving into a rehab period where I *needed* to get my shoulder moving, and because our son *needed* the extra activity, so we were especially dedicated to making time and the effort for figuring both out. If it had been business as usual, we'd have picked up the COVID 19 along with most of the rest of the country.

I've been among several here that has said that if the government was really all about keeping us healthy they would not have been so quick to rule gyms and sports as non-essential like they did.

Wait! I think I may have the answer:



Chubby people are more likely to believe in socialism.