Average weight, finally America is above average at something!

America is getting fatter! I don’t think there is any one in the country who hasn’t noticed, but if you have noticed just go to Walmart and look around. The Walmart I shop at could be a recruiting ground for a very successful co-ed Sumo Academy. Now I am not going to lie to you, I am not exactly in danger of being blown away in a strong wind, more on that later. Many say that America is only fatter because the government’s means of calculating that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is flat wrong. I agree whole heartedly, BMI is delusional, I have a BMI of 31 which makes me obese. However, I am a male, that stands nearly six feet tall and can bench press more than my own weight and sled (leg) press substantially more, I wonder was my body type statistically represented in a calculation made in 1960? (A time when a Hall of Fame defensive lineman (American football) only weighted 250 lbs.) So, perhaps you will agree with my doubts as to the merits of the BMI based conclusion that I am obese. Yes, I could stand to lose some weight since I don’t exactly have wash board stomach, but I don’t think I am obese.

Never the less America is getting heavier, and some of that is people are reaching their full height since malnutrition has kept people short for eons. However, not enough of it is increased height, we are increasing in width faster. The average American weights 24 lbs more now than in 1960.

Here is why I bring this up. Average weight is used for everything from rating elevators, and restaurants to determining the loading of buses and planes (and boats). They all assume that with a 50/50 mix of men and women the average weight 150 lbs and load accordingly, the problem is that is it really 177lbs (plus clothes and shoes, I don’t fly naked, do you?) On a 50 person boat, the difference is 1600 lbs, on a 200 person plane the difference is 3 tons assuming the people are average so if the people are from a population that is above average difference rapidly grows. (In the plane situation if there were no women on the plane but the men were average the difference between actual and expected in 5 tons!)
I think the capsizing of the Ethan Allen (and unfortunate coincidence for the high end chain furniture store of the same name) and the death of 24 people will bring the problem to the media’s attention. Sure they have gotten lots of mileage from “America the Fat” now they have a whole new angle.