It's not just food that's making us overweight

The good news: Eating habits may not be the chief reason America, and Idaho, are overweight.

The bad news: Inactivity likely is. We sit too much, and we sit more than we used to. The simple answer is what few want to hear - that we need to get off our tuffs and move more. A lot more.

Idaho ranks 20th among U.S. states in overall obesity rates, with 29.1 percent of its adult population classified as obese. Unfortunately there are no reliable, established state statistics for adult activity levels - which is a large part of the problem according to recent Stanford University studies. These establish inactivity as the primary culprit.

The most dramatic increase in Body Mass Index in the last two decades? Women aged 18 to 39. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the BMI of American women reporting no regular exercise leapt from a healthy 19.1 in 1994 to 57.1 percent. Men increased from 11.4 percent BMI to 43.5. According to Medical News Today, a BMI of 25 or above is overweight; 30 or above is considered obese.

Americans spent more than $2.4 billion on diet programs and another $14 billion on weight loss supplements last year, yet we are more obese now than ever before. Sure, the "super-size me" mentality, snacks, and soft drink obsession don't help, but if we got out and about more, we'd burn more. Our overall caloric intake hasn't changed much in 20 years, according to the study. At the same time, the decline in physical activity has consistently been as persistent as the growth in technological convenience.

Same calories, less burning equals fatter us.

Will empty suburban streets fill up again with chatty neighbors and hopscotching kids? Will office workers, teens and tweens break away from work and play that shackles them red-eyed to all manner of screens? Unless the planet's electricity goes out, unlikely. Progressive employers are adding ping pong tables and treadmills at the office. One innovative company called TrekDesk even created the convertible treadmill-desk - just what it sounds like. Email while you exercise at a desk that curves around you and your treadmill.

So if the boss frowns on this idea, and a gym membership stretches limits of budget or schedule (bet it doesn't if we swap it for Facebook), then what? A brisk walk after dinner is good for body and soul, not to mention abdomen size. Sounds simple, but those little pedometers in fashion 10 years ago aren't such a bad idea. Walk or bike to the convenience store. Don't keep the printer next to the laptop or the remote at your fingertips. Walk to the printer and TV. Don't text the family member downstairs; have a face-to-face.

As the Stanford study so starkly confirms, every little bit helps, especially habitual bits. For your BMI see BMI-Calculator.net.

Sholeh Patrick is an overweight columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.