Playing chess is making people fat?

How much time do you spend playing chess. Almost all the people at my chess clube are fat? Chess maybe?

Tiago Atwi                                                                                                                           8-29-2010

Fat America in the 21^st Century?

In the 21^st Century one of the most critical and easily avoided health problems is obesity. Many obese people suffer from hypertension which spawns stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Also obese people are threatened by colorectal cancer which causes 655,000 deaths a year, type 2 diabetes, and osteoarthritis which are some of the most serious. 90 million Americans are obese. The incidence of obesity is roughly 20% of people of all ages. 300,000 deaths happen each year directly from obesity according to The United States Department of Health and Human Services.

            Americans eat an average of 4000 calories a day. If you are a 5’7”, 160 pound person, which is about 25 pounds overweight, you must run at the pace of 8mph for 1 1/2-2 hours of a day to not gain any weight while still consuming 4000 calories a day. Most Americans are not willing or able to spend this time exercising. Most people find there are much more pleasing things to do. The average person spends 4 hours watching TV each day. Countless more hours are spent surfing the internet or working on the computer.

                        One of the most disturbing facts is that minorities suffer the most. African American children are 1.4 times as likely to be overweight than Caucasian children. From 2003-2006 roughly 4 out of 5 black females were fat. By far the worst is seen in African American females of all ages. The prevalence of obesity for them is around 2 times the national average. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia are the most at-risk populations for obesity. Those states contain the most African Americans.

            Eat and exercising habits are determined by your genetics and environment that you grew up in or live in currently. It is still possible to counteract this if you are disciplined enough, unfortunately the average American is not. With around 17 million people in the US that are depressed, many turn to eating to comfort themselves.

            While losing weight is hard; it can be very easy to change the average American’s life style. For one reason whole wheat bread is not much more expensive than white bread. It takes longer to digest so you will feel satisfied for longer. Bread to this day is the most eaten food in the US. Also milk is the third most commonly consumed food in America. If Americans would simply refrain from drinking whole or 1-3% milk and resort to only consuming fat free milk then their calorie consumption would be less. Unfortunately generations of Americans have enjoyed whole milk and white bread and it will take long to reform them. Also the consumptions of soft drink is really getting out of control. It is the 2nd most consumed category of beverages in America. Over 55 gallons are consumed by each person each year.

After observing my eating habits closely for a whole week I found on average I only consumed 1115 calories a day. Candies, white bread, soft drinks were not common in my diet. The unhealthiest food I consumed was a donut. Even if a person who ate like me did not exercise much as I am accustomed to, it would still be very easy to maintain the right weight.

            All of these factors give the U.S the title of the highest rate of obesity in the world. It is more than 6% higher than Mexico, which is second. The truth is that most Americans have access to healthy food but do not select it because of its less aesthetic qualities.

Used on 8/21/10

About 4,270 calories according to the USDA General Survey of 2008 - 2009 

4000 calories???? Who the hell eats that much?

This topic is going to be interesting.

I look at the top players of the FIDE list and none of them look unhealthy. (Anand may be on the overweight side though.)

Challenge question: What excuse do lesser-rated players have?

How about playing chess in between two treadmills? That should allow players to burn some calories while playing chess!

Forget exercise bikes and elliptical machines as the players may get tempted to stop moving their legs.

What a goofy argument.  Of course if all you did was eat and play chess you would get out of shape.  To suggest that there is a causal relationship specifically between chess and obesity is just asinine.

you haven't made even the loosest connection between obesity and chess. all you "research" was about obesity in general

plus america stinks at chess. so by your reckoning, it should be the skinniest nation in the world and the european countries and india (good god) would be fat as hell

That's a weird looking brain. I cannot see the separation of the two hemispheres.

Exactly. Diets of heavily processed foods and drinks loaded with sugar are making people fat. But no of course it must be chess. That's why all the world champions look like sumo wrestlers.

Do they make weighted mouses? Think of the cardio work out after just a one hour session of blitz chess using a 20 pound computer mouse. For bullet, I would suggest a 5 pound mouse. How much does a computer mouse weigh?

I'm not too excited about playing chess in a Wii way, jumping up and down. What if the pointer thing points to the wrong piece, or you slip and move the wrong piece?

Weighted mice = carpal tunnel = surgery = not cool

I agree that playing chess on Wiimotes, Sony Move, Nintendo Power Gloves or any other gaming console is a horrible experience. The mouse, trackball, tablet or touch screens are the way to go after DGT electronic chessboards!

EDIT

Good point. I don't want any more surgery. I'll look for an even lighter mouse. 

TRY playing on a tablet laptop while walking/jogging/running on a treadmill.

EDIT

Looks more like intestines to me.

I was about to say the same.

At least it is a healthy gut! Lean and flexible.

I think it is a combination of burgers, pizza, and many other things make people overweight, not chess.

Whenever I'm in a tournament irl 99% of the people are either super skinny or fatties. There isnt a single ''fit'' person there.

Which is awesome, I'm the only one there w/o glasses and with visibile muscles 

Oh wow, as a chronically skinny guy, I better start playing much more chess, this is great news!

I'm gonna be faaaaaat!

interesting article. Let's sue Erik for let us play chess.

The pieces themselves contain only small amounts of calories plus they're full of healthy fibre, so I think we'll have to look for the cause and the effect elsewhere.