> Americans are more into protein and more into weightlifting than any other nation I've ever seen. And while there are a number of muscled-bound guys strutting around, there are a whole lot more fat people buying into the same pop weight-loss ideologies.
How on earth did you generalise from people who control their diet and training to become "muscled-bound" to the rest of population who clearly don't?
The concept of fitness in the US slants more in that direction. Living in Taiwan, I knew a lot of people interested in controlling their diet but not many who were interesting in building muscle mass. Health magazines weren't full of models showing off muscles, either.
For whatever reason, there is a very American tendency to focus on muscles. Men and recently more and more women on TV are muscular. The trend has been going on for the past 50 years and the effects even show up in toys!
Edit since I can't reply: Yeah, it's a lot easier to tweet about how manly you are living off of bacon and protein powder than it is to actually hit the gym regularly.
OK, sure, there's been a cultural shift towards muscularity as part of the conception of masculinity.
But that doesn't change the observed fact that most people aren't doing the hard yards to attain a muscular physique. Because it doesn't happen by accident.
How on earth did you generalise from people who control their diet and training to become "muscled-bound" to the rest of population who clearly don't?