Red, white and huge — Americans are fatter than ever

(nydailynews.com) - Americans are living large — and not in a good way.

The body mass index — a measure of body fat based on height and weight — for people across the U.S. has blown up in men, women and children over the past 20 years, according to the latest National Center for Health Statistics bulletin released Wednesday.

Every family member has seen his or her waistband expand, although females are carrying more than their fair share (what else is new?). American women tip the scales some 16.2 pounds more on average than they did 20 years ago — and the heaviest ladies of all are the 20-somethings, averaging 20.7 extra pounds today.

Non-Hispanic white women in the U.S. tip the scales some 17.6 pounds heavier on average than they did 20 years ago, It’s even worse for non-Hispanic black women, who are on average 22 pounds heavier than they were two decades ago.

Men have put on 15 extra pounds overall, although seniors ages 60 to 69 were the heftiest fellas at nearly 17 pounds more.

And the numbers are just as scary in our kids, with 11-year-old boys weighing 13.5 pounds more than they did two decades ago, and girls the same age weighing 7.4 pounds more. At least the boys are growing into their weight a little bit, since they’ve added an inch of height on average over the previous generation. Girls have stayed the same.

Researchers compared measurements taken between 2011 and 2014 during the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and compared them to those taken during the CDC’s 1988 to 1994 report.

Overall, the average American man is now 5 feet, 9¼ inches tall and weighs 195.7 pounds, while the average woman stands 5 feet, 3¾ inches and weighs 168.5 pounds today.

This puts them both squarely in the overweight camp on the BMI scale, actually just a point or two away from being considered obese.