Overweight and obesity are often in the news, with dismal headlines about the fattest states, the heaviest cities, and the rise in our collective girth. Once a problem for our nation's adults, not even our children or babies are immune to uncontrolled weight gain these days. It's hard to miss the headlines, but even harder not to notice that the people around you seem to be getting larger. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, a new online survey of 2,418 adults conducted by Harris Interactive and HealthDay shows that Americans don't view themselves as overweight, even when they actually are. Even worse, when respondents were asked which weight-loss intervention was most effective, diet and exercise didn't even make it into the top three.

In the survey, respondents provided their height and weight, which pollsters used to calculate their body mass index (BMI). Calculate your BMI here. They were then asked which weight classification they thought they fell into: normal weight, overweight, obese, or morbidly obese. Here's what the pollsters found:

• 30% of the "overweight" individuals believed they were actually normal size.
• 70% of the "obese" individuals felt they were simply overweight.
• 60% of the "morbidly obese" individuals labeled themselves as obese, while another 39% considered themselves merely overweight.

Could this explain why overweight and obesity rates continue to rise in the U.S., since people don't recognize their weight as problematic? Experts are saying yes. According to Regina Corso, vice president of Harris Poll Solutions who conducted the poll, "If they do not recognize the problem or don't recognize the severity of the problem, they are less likely to do something about it." Still, most poll respondents recognized that they were heavier than they should be—just not the degree to which they were overweight.

With overweight is the new norm, it's easy to see yourself as "normal" (or not too far from it), even when you're overweight or obese.

So Why Do Americans Think They're Overweight?
Most poll respondents blamed lack of exercise for their weight problems, while far fewer recognized poor eating habits as a culprit. According to the poll,

• Among overweight respondents, 52% felt they didn't exercise enough, but only 36% blamed their diets.
• 75% of both the obese and morbidly obese felt they didn't exercise enough, but only 48% of obese respondents and 27% of morbidly obese individuals reported that they ate more than they should.
• Overall, almost 60% of people said they were aware that they should be getting more exercise.
• Only a little more than half of the obese and morbidly obese respondents felt they "ate too much of the wrong types of food."

Obviously, obesity is the result of a complex array of factors and decisions, not a single cause, but both food and fitness matter for weight control. If you're eating more than your body can burn, then you're probably eating too much and moving too little. Yes, exercise alone can help with weight control, but both dietary and exercise inventions are needed and recommended for weight loss. Considering what it takes to burn off just one small food item through exercise alone, we're facing a tough, slow, uphill battle against the bulge if we don't recognize that what we eat matters, too—and in my opinion, more than whether or not we exercise.

Why do we put so much credence in exercise and shy away from taking a good, hard look at what we're putting into our mouths? I have two theories.

First, this is the example we are given. We're constantly told that we don't exercise enough, but we are more seldom told that we eat too much. Weight-loss infomercials rarely talk about food—usually they hawk fitness gizmos that miraculously helped people melt away their fat in just minutes a day. (Read the fine print, though. Exercise alone and that device alone is never the sole cause of someone's svelte body.) Weight-loss reality TV shows depict people killing themselves in the gym for hours a day, not weighing their food or talking about how hungry they are from eating less. Fitness magazines primarily talk about workouts, with headlines about losing your gut or de-dimpling your derriere. It's no wonder we think a lack of exercise is what's to blame for our increased girth.

But what about food? People are always told that there is no such thing as good and bad foods, but can that honestly be true? Realistically, there are bad foods—we all know what they are—and they become especially bad when you eat too much of them too often. But it's more than that. Food is deeply personal to us. It reflects who you are, from your culture to your personality. I think people do really know that they eat poorly, eat too much, or eat the wrong things, but probably don't want to face it. For something that says so much about you, to admit that the food you choose to eat isn't so good might mean that you're not a good person either. It may signal that you're weak, that you lack willpower, that you don't care, or that you don't care what others think of you. Because food matters that much to us, and we want freedom to eat whatever we want. We don't want to be told what to eat or how to eat. We especially don't want to be told what NOT to eat. For some reason, there's not much stigma associated with a sedentary lifestyle, but people become very defensive and protective if you try to change, control, or analyze their food choices. It's easier to just say we don't exercise enough than to dissect something so personal to us.

How Americans Rank Weight-Loss Methods
According to the respondents, neither diet nor exercise ranked highly as the "most effective" methods of weight loss. Instead, people ranked other interventions in this order: 1- surgery (such as gastric bypass or stomach stapling), 2- prescription drugs, and 3- over-the-counter drugs and diet pills. Faith in these remedies seemed similar, regardless of the respondents' weight.

We love our quick fixes! Despite the insight that some people expressed about their diets and lack of physical activity, they turned away from those very culprits when asked about losing weight. But the cause is also the solution! Still, it may be easier to avoid changing your own habits by these means, even if they're riskier, potentially less effective, expensive, and downright unsafe at times.

Perhaps we don't want to change because we think it's too hard or aren't sure how to start. I can see how people feel overwhelmed by it all. I've been there myself, struggling to lose weight and failing, trying to exercise more without changing how much I was eating, wanting nothing more than to lose weight but not being ready to truly look at myself and the reasons why I was overweight in the first place. I'm sure many of you felt the same way before embarking on your own weight-loss journey.

That's why I love working for SparkPeople. Because it's real, it works and it's simple. And more than anything else, it's educational. SparkPeople's tools, programs and resources open people's eyes to what they're doing right and what they need to work on, and then we (not just our experts, but our amazingly supportive and smart members) help you get from where you are now to where you want to be, one small step at a time. You don't have to give up anything you don't want to (although you will eat less), and you don't have to run a marathon (although you will find clever ways to become more active each day). When I see news stories like this one, I feel devastated for the poor state of America's health and the future of our children. I feel sad that people don't seem to know what to do or understand how to get out of their weight predicament. But then I remember that SparkPeople is a beacon of hope that has the potential to rewrite the story of America. It's time to get real about our weight, what causes it, and what we can do about it. It's time to join forces with SparkPeople!

How do you explain these poll results? Have you ever experienced denial about your weight or your lifestyle?