Americans are getting fatter and accepting their fatness in record numbers, according to a new poll.
Compared with 1990, Americans on average are 20 pounds heavier now and even put their “ideal weight” about 10 pounds heavier than before, the Gallup survey of 1,012 adults found.
Men reported an average weight of 196 pounds, compared with 180 in 1990, and an ideal weight of 181 pounds, compared with 171 pounds two decades ago.
Likewise, women reported an average weight of 160 pounds, compared with 142 in 1990, and an ideal weight of 138 pounds, when it used to be 129 pounds.
Still, just 39 percent of Americans classified themselves as overweight, with 56 percent reporting their weight was “about right.”
“The disconnect between the percentage who are over their ideal weight and the percentage who say they are overweight may come from Americans’ own reluctance to describe themselves using such a term,” the researchers wrote.
Roughly one-third of the US population is currently obese, according to government estimates.