This USA Today article examines the four-part documentary series, “The Weight of the Nation,” which is on America’s obesity epidemic. Our excess weight is impacting our productivity as a nation. The simplest motto I know to attack obesity is “Eat Less, Move More.” Our meal size proportions are bigger than any country I’ve experienced and we are highly sedentary. I recommend that you weigh yourself at least once a week to keep yourself on target toward your weight loss goals or to make sure that you haven’t gained weight. I wouldn’t weigh yourself everyday because then you get obsessive about losing weight. Have a healthy and positive attitude toward your body image and remember “sedentary kills.”
Tokyo Nancy Snow 
Food in the United States comes in big proportions. Unlike Japan, they are able to receive free refills at any restaurant. Drinking five to ten cups of soda in one meal is definitely unhealthy. Also what I want to remind you is that the cup is so much larger than Japan’s cup, so one cup of soda in the United States is equivalent to three to four cups of soda in Japan. Having said that, the amount of food and drink that comes in the restaurant shows how unhealthy Americans are.
Also, the other reason they are overweight is that they are not active on their feet. As I mentioned before on my post, in the US, the major mode of transportation is through vehicles. Thus, people do not walk as much, which does not assist to burn off all of the calories that are taken in the American citizen’s daily life.
When I first heard about America’s obesity problem it was from the movie called “Super Size Me” eight years ago. When I saw it what I was thinking, “I want to eat at McDonald’s. They look so good.” That’s how much I knew about obesity. I knew nothing. What Morgan Spurlock was doing meant nothing and I couldn’t feel the seriousness of the problem in the U.S at the time. Obesity now in Japan is also increasing so sometime you see stout people on the street. However before I went to America I didn’t really know many people who were having trouble losing weight so when I actually got there and saw the people I was surprised. The food was gigantic but also people were huge too. (I mean they are tall too so they were giants to me.) Then I understand the obesity problem is really serious in the U.S.
Our lifestyles have changed dramatically because of the computer. We sit longer than we move. It is hard to “eat less and move more” because while we are on a computer people are apt to eat little sweets and when they are done with their work they are too tired and can’t exercise afterwords. Obesity is no longer only America’s problem but also Japan’s because our diet is influenced by America and we eat less rice and less Japanese style food nowadays.
I believe too many people are way too focused on numbers. Nowadays people calculate the number of calories they have eaten on that day and write it down on a nice chart that calculates the estimated lost weight in a month. Why do so many people worry about their weight when the the most important thing is to FEEL happy and just be satisfied with their own body? One reason for this kind of change in idea might be the influence from the media. People on TV look so pretty and so skinny, which triggers everyone to want to be like them.
I thought about the problems of weight in the US. I came up with two points. One is that the price of the fast foods in Thailand, for example, McDonalds and Burger King, are more expensive than America and Japan. Only people who are a bit richer go there, so they normally go to a booth and have Thai food which are spicy and healthy. The second is, I think, people eat more fish in Japan than the US. Japan is surrounded by the sea and I don’t have the images that America eats fish food.
I think the obesity in US is really a serious problem. I have gained my weight so much once in US. One reason was the heavy foods with fat. I think, however, people in US do not move in their daily life. Many Japanese people have to move even in their normal life. They usually go to work or a school on foot or by train. It may be because Japan is not so big. Housework also requires us to move. In US, on the other hand, they use a car and many other electrical machines to do their housework. I think people in US have to move by themselves, such as with exercise. I wonder if they could move and use their body more in their daily life.