Weight / Fat loss and the Importance of Families

Obesity remains a major public health concern in the United States, with 31.9%

of children 2 to 19 years old and 66.3% of adults older than 20 years who are overweight

or obese (10,11). Both the American College of Sports Medicine (3) and the American Dietetic

Association (14) have issued position stands on the respective roles of physical activity/exercise

and food intake in the management of weight. It is common knowledge that expending more

calories than consumed must occur for weight loss; however, this has been a difficult task to

accomplish from both a population and an in-dividual standpoint. It is esti-

mated that 33.8% of men and 47.9% of women are trying to lose weight; the most common

weight loss practices include exercising, eating less, eating

less fat, and/or replacing high-calorie foods with lower calorie

foods (15).