Want to lose 50 or more pounds within a 12 month period? Losing weight is as simple as cutting out empty calories from your diet; specifically, cutting out empty calories found in drinks such as soda, energy drinks, alcohol and sugar-filled fruit juices. As you’ll soon find out, research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown that it’s not uncommon for the average American to consume 800 or more calories per day through drinks alone–that is equal to 5,600 calories per week, or over 1-1/2 pounds of fat per week!

Empty calories in drinks

What is Obesity?

Obesity is defined as someone having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more. For example, an adult who is 5’ 9” tall and weighs 203 lbs would fall into the obese category with a BMI of 30.

BMI Categories:

  • Underweight = <18.5
  • Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
  • Overweight = 25-29.9
  • Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

20-30 years ago, obesity wasn’t a wide-spread problem. Between 1985 and 1990, the percentage of adult obesity in the U.S. accounted for 19% or less of the population in each state, which is far less than today’s obesity rates.

By 2008; however, obesity rates had jumped to about 18 to 32% of each state’s population with Colorado being the only state in the country with an obesity rate less than 20% of its population.
obesity in the US

Childhood obesity is even a bigger problem in the U.S.

The CDC reported that in a 2007-2008 study of U.S. children aged 2 to 19, 17% of them were found to be obese. This represents a large increase over the past two decades.
childhood-obesity in America

Here’s a quick recap of the alarming obesity statistics provided by the CDC. As you can see, obesity rates have increased significantly over the past few decades:

In 1990, among states participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, ten states had a prevalence of obesity less than 10% and no states had prevalence equal to or greater than 15%.

By 1999, no state had prevalence less than 10%, eighteen states had a prevalence of obesity between 20-24%, and no state had prevalence equal to or greater than 25%.

In 2008, only one state (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia ) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%.

Click here to read Part 2 of this detailed report on the effects of consuming empty calories in drinks