Nolte: Poll Says 42% of Americans Gained Average of 29 Unwanted Pounds During Pandemic

A survey of 3,000 U.S. adults shows 42 percent gained an average of 29 unwanted pounds during the pandemic.

Before we go any further, let me just say that those numbers, as well as the numbers you’ll see below, feel counter-intuitive. The poll is real. It’s a Harris poll with a 3,000 person sample size, but 48 percent of Millennials put on an average of 41 unwanted pounds?  If that’s s true, and maybe it is, it’s mind-blowing. Anyway…

Forty-eight percent of Millennials, those between the ages of 25 and 42,  said they gained an average of 41 unwanted pounds!

Just as stunning are those who say they unintentionally lost weight. For Millennials, 22 percent said they unintentionally lost an average of 26 pounds.

Forty-one percent of Generation X, those between the ages of 43 and 56, said they gained an average of 21 pounds, while 17 percent said they lost an average of 24 pounds.

Thirty-seven percent of Boomers, those between 57 and 75, said they gained an average of 16 pounds, while 14 percent said they lost 26 pounds.

On the racial front, 42 percent of black adults gained an average of 35 pounds, which is more than whites (30 pounds) and Hispanics (28 pounds).

Twenty-two percent of blacks say they unintentionally lost 38 pounds. For whites it was 17 percent and 22 pounds. For Hispanics it was 25 percent and 27 pounds.

If this is accurate, this — to say the least — is not good. When you are 20 percent over your ideal weight, you are considered “overweight” and therefore in the area where you  greatly complicate your health problems. We don’t know how many of these people were already overweight or how many moved from being at a healthy weight to being overweight, but 42 percent of the public packing on an average of 29 pounds… Wow.

The question then becomes, once these anti-science lockdowns end, how many people will hit the gym and how many people will party and drink with their friends?

What’s more… How many, after a year of sedentary behavior, have had their life habits changed to where they might never turn off the Netflix and get off the couch?

But what about that unintentional weight loss? It’s not as though those people used all this new time on their hands to get in shape. Those weight losses were not deliberate. What causes people to lose weight who aren’t trying to lose weight? Stress. Cigarette smoking. Certain types of narcotics.

In total, 61 percent of American adults reported unwanted weight gain or loss, while 42 percent of those 61 percent reported weight gain. So…

As of right now, fewer than ten percent of Americans have caught the Coronavirus, which the CDC says has a better than 99.5 percent survival rate, while 42 percent of Americans have gained an average of 29 unwanted  pounds.

In the long run, which of those is going to be the bigger health crisis and cause more untimely deaths? The virus or the weight gain?

Which will cost us more in the long run? The virus or this weight gain?

I don’t want to blame all of this on the lockdowns and the China Virus. People have to take some responsibility for their own health, and most weight gain and loss happens in the kitchen, not in the gym that happens to be opened or closed. My wife and I have maintained our weight. I have neighbors who are always out walking. Some do exercises in the yard.

Nevertheless, the depression that can come with this kind of forced isolation by way of these insane lockdowns, with being stuck at home with kids who need to be in school, that affects different people in different ways, and depression can certainly lead to stress eating and weight gain — or an increase in the bad habits where people lose weight.

Regardless, there is just no question our own incompetent and fascist government used the pandemic to create an insanely unhealthy climate where sloth (staying home and watching Netflix) is being portrayed as a virtue, as heroic, as “saving lives,” while Florida, a state that kept schools open and did not impose mask or closure mandates, pretty much proved lockdowns made no difference.

On a personal note to those of you feeling depression: I promise exercise will help. Exercise is a tonic. It’s hard to get going in a routine, but once you do, you’ll find that even 15 minutes of aerobics in your living room in front of the TV makes a world of difference.

It’s not a cure-all, but I promise it will help. I exercise four days a week for about forty minutes. I hate every minute of it, but feel better for the rest of the day. My wife’s back is broken in three places and she does chair exercises five days a week. Mentally and physically, it’s done her a world of good.

Because I live in a house with a yard and decks and a little land, I can’t imagine what some of you are going through locked in a small apartment with no access to the outside. That has to be horribly depressing. But I promise you, those 15 minutes will help. Just give it a try.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.