"Success leaves clues."

Don't panic. No, the editors didn't mistakenly reprint last week's column, but, yes, that quotation started it. Last week, that quotation was used as a clever way to segue (I hope!) into the converse - that failure leaves clues, too - to illustrate why our country's increasing rate of obesity is no mystery.You were "clued in" to the lack of mystery from statistics the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released. They show that not only do Americans now eat nearly 2,600 calories a day, about 20 percent more total calories than in 1970, but that they also eat fewer total calories of vegetables and dairy products, about the same amount of meats, eggs, and nuts, and only a marginal bit more of their cals comes from sugar.Which means, if you follow the clues, Americans are eating more fats and refined grains, two things this column has always advised you to eat sparingly - although the way of the world today makes it easy for you to do otherwise.Much of the increase of eating fat, ironically, results from America's attempt to decrease body fat. Low-carb, high-fat diets now dominate when Americans decide to diet. Much of the increase of eating refined grains, obviously, results from America's preference for processed foods - in grocery stores, convenience stores, or fast-food restaurants - when Americans decide not to.I needed to remind you of the USDA stats and my clever segue (I hope!) using the success-leaves-clues quote because you may have recently come across information that seemingly contradicts last week's column. For instance, Medical News Today.com, one of the dozens of health-and-fitness sources found on the Internet, recently published "Rise in obesity - due to decline in exercise, not over-eating‚" and "Expanding waistlines likely caused by less exercise rather than more calories" - both based on research done at Stanford University and published in the American Journal of Medicine.Before making these assertions, the Stanford researchers studied the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey results from 1994 & 2010. They found that calorie consumption remained steady during that time but that exercise dropped dramatically.In 1994, just over 19 percent of American women participating reported doing no leisure-time physical activity. By 2010, the percentage had jumped to nearly 52 percent, an increase of about 270 percent. For men, the increase in the percentage of non-exercisers was greater: nearly 350 percent. In the 1994 survey, nearly 12 percent claimed to do no leisure-time physical activity, but by 2010, nearly 44 percent men respond that way.So it's easy to see why other news sources also ran articles similar to the ones Medical News Today ran, and it's easy to see why any of those could have confused you in light of last week's article. Especially if you encountered the quotation provided by lead author Uri Ladabaum that some sources cited: "We found a significant association between the level of leisure-time physical activity but not daily caloric intake and the increases in both BMI and waist circumference."Furthermore, Ladabaum reported that their research found that the daily percentage of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, along with overall calorie intake, had not changed significantly in the last 20 years.That directly contradicts the premise of last week's column: that a 20-percent increase in calories over a 30-year period coupled with a 92-percent increase in calories from fats and the simple carbs in processed grains are the reasons that 69 percent of American adults, according to the latest from the CDC, are obese or overweight.So do I need to print a retraction?Hardly. Just as there's more than one way to skin a cat, there's more than one way to become fat.Increasing total calories as well as the bad calories you consume as you age - what the USDA claims happened - will definitely cause you to gain weight. But even if you eat the same amount and type of calories as you age, you'll gain weight if you don't exercise - which is, in essence, the Stanford University researchers' claim.And it's a claim that makes perfect sense since your percentage of muscle mass decreases as you age and muscle burns far more calories to sustain itself than fat.But I did want to write a follow-up column because acknowledging the seemingly contradictory information makes a valuable point. Don't pack the proverbial spotlight for your ongoing search for optimal health and fitness. Carry a floodlight.If you're battling obesity, for instance, you can't spotlight a single element, like a reduction in calories, an improvement in food choices, or a new exercise regiment if your goal is weight loss maintained over the long term. You need to cast a broad light.You need to see not only how your eating and exercise habits affect your body weight, but also how your sleep habits, mental state, and social situations do so too.