Because I'm Like That
One child is off to school and the other is grumbling up in her crib about being expected to take a nap (fingers crossed that the grumbling will change to deep breathing in a couple of minutes or at least prior to crying).
Unfortunately the wee one is a very light sleeper and this severely restricts my available activities during nap time but then the computer is always beckoning and luckily is very quiet. So to while away the time I happened to pull up an article on obesity and the linkages between obesity between related people.
I guess this tweaked my curiosity as I'm having trouble losing the weight I put on right after my daughter was born (no, I'm not obese but I am flirting with the cut-off between normal BMI and overweight - ugh.)
Anyway, back to the article wherein it claims that an obese friend increases your chances of becoming obese far more than does an obese relative or spouse. What if I just don't have any friends - will that save me? Anyway, the part of the article that has me scratching my head is the following:
The study found close friendship strongly affects the spread of obesity, even more than sibling or spousal ties. If one spouse becomes obese, chances the other spouse will become obese increase by 37 per cent. If one adult sibling becomes obese, the possibility of the other sibling becoming obese rises to 40 per cent. But if one mutually close friend becomes obese, chances the other friend will become obese shoots to a whopping 171 per cent! Why does the risk of obesity increase to such a degree between friends? It is a simple matter of social ties.
Okay, I understand the notion of the chances of becoming obese increasing by 37%. Say the average chance of becoming obese is 5%, then an increase of 37% would take you to (5*1.37) of 6.85%. I get it.
Where they begin to lose me is in the next two sentences. If my sister becomes obese then the chances of my becoming obese is 40%. If there were 100 of me (perish the thought), 40 of us would be obese.
But then what the heck does the next sentence mean? If my best friend becomes obese, the chances that I become obese is 171%??? This makes no f'ing sense. Assuming that by "chances" they mean probability, a probability of 100% refers to a certainty (100 out of 100 times). So 171 times out of 100 times means exactly what? (other than the author needing some training in basic stats).
Me thinks they mean a 171% increase in the chance of becoming obese? This would mean a near tripling (roughly) of my risk of becoming obese.
That does it, any and all obese friends will immediately be dropped.
Damn, but when I think about it, I'm probably the heaviest out of all of us. Maybe what holds true for obesity also holds true for "nearly overweight" and so I am dooming all friends to the land of excess poundage.
Crap, maybe that's why they haven't been returning my calls.
And my sincerest apologies to those of you who have stopped by here and now realize you have been exposed to a hefty internet acquaintance. As you begin to pack on the pounds (a certainty of 171%) perhaps you can at least generate some sympathy by confessing (with plaintive tone) that you have been exposed to DinoD disease.
DinoD
One child is off to school and the other is grumbling up in her crib about being expected to take a nap (fingers crossed that the grumbling will change to deep breathing in a couple of minutes or at least prior to crying).
Unfortunately the wee one is a very light sleeper and this severely restricts my available activities during nap time but then the computer is always beckoning and luckily is very quiet. So to while away the time I happened to pull up an article on obesity and the linkages between obesity between related people.
I guess this tweaked my curiosity as I'm having trouble losing the weight I put on right after my daughter was born (no, I'm not obese but I am flirting with the cut-off between normal BMI and overweight - ugh.)
Anyway, back to the article wherein it claims that an obese friend increases your chances of becoming obese far more than does an obese relative or spouse. What if I just don't have any friends - will that save me? Anyway, the part of the article that has me scratching my head is the following:
The study found close friendship strongly affects the spread of obesity, even more than sibling or spousal ties. If one spouse becomes obese, chances the other spouse will become obese increase by 37 per cent. If one adult sibling becomes obese, the possibility of the other sibling becoming obese rises to 40 per cent. But if one mutually close friend becomes obese, chances the other friend will become obese shoots to a whopping 171 per cent! Why does the risk of obesity increase to such a degree between friends? It is a simple matter of social ties.
Okay, I understand the notion of the chances of becoming obese increasing by 37%. Say the average chance of becoming obese is 5%, then an increase of 37% would take you to (5*1.37) of 6.85%. I get it.
Where they begin to lose me is in the next two sentences. If my sister becomes obese then the chances of my becoming obese is 40%. If there were 100 of me (perish the thought), 40 of us would be obese.
But then what the heck does the next sentence mean? If my best friend becomes obese, the chances that I become obese is 171%??? This makes no f'ing sense. Assuming that by "chances" they mean probability, a probability of 100% refers to a certainty (100 out of 100 times). So 171 times out of 100 times means exactly what? (other than the author needing some training in basic stats).
Me thinks they mean a 171% increase in the chance of becoming obese? This would mean a near tripling (roughly) of my risk of becoming obese.
That does it, any and all obese friends will immediately be dropped.
Damn, but when I think about it, I'm probably the heaviest out of all of us. Maybe what holds true for obesity also holds true for "nearly overweight" and so I am dooming all friends to the land of excess poundage.
Crap, maybe that's why they haven't been returning my calls.
And my sincerest apologies to those of you who have stopped by here and now realize you have been exposed to a hefty internet acquaintance. As you begin to pack on the pounds (a certainty of 171%) perhaps you can at least generate some sympathy by confessing (with plaintive tone) that you have been exposed to DinoD disease.
DinoD
posted by DinosaurD at 9:30 AM
5 Comments:
Hey! Where is a new picture? ;) Oh and thanks, now I know why I couldn't lose the weight before I got pregnant, it was YOU!
That's it, no more of you for me. Oh who am I kidding, I have to hang onto you just to drive you nuts by being Pollyanna on occasion and my poor spelling ability. ;)
Remember, you are old now and just had a baby, the weight isn't going to fall off like it used to. ;) I felt safe saying that since I am right on your coattails for age and having a baby. You can always come to Wisconsin and slap me if you need to.
You are so funny!! I don't think I would put much thought into that article.
Oy, missus - if you are only "nearly overweight" you are still in the normal range, so don't even THINK about losing any weight, OK?
I've never found journalists and numbers mix very well. I'm assuming that, say, your baseline chance of being obese was 10%, if you had an obese sibling it would be 14% and with an obese friend 17.1%.
Well, I'll just have to demote all my obese friends to mere acquaintance level then. :-)
Always nice to have a new excuse. I am very much in the same weight band - good to know it's your fault.
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