Are older people obsessed with commenting on other peoples weight?

My dad is like this and always has been. He’s obsessed with weight and has always had disordered eating. His mum was the same. I pull him up every time he comments on my son who struggles with eating due to being ND. It really affected me as a teen and I won’t have it affect my child. I do think some of the older generation can really lack boundaries sometimes.

You appear to be the sensitive one because you don't seem to be able to cope with people disagreeing with you.

We will all be old one day.

As an “older person” I can honestly say that I couldn’t care less what other people look like.

I’ve got better things to think about. 🤷‍♀️

🤣🤣
if this was my neighbor i would totally be nipping in for a weekly cup of tea!

Your post proves it has nothing to do with age as you say your mother has been like that since the 70's

A lot of people are very fat these days and it's not 'normal' to older people as it wasn't the case throughout most of their lives.

When I see prejudice and bigotry I call it out - love.

PS - I’m not older.

DM who is in her 80s used to regularly find a way of telling me I was fat without telling me I was fat eg when folding some laundry "oh are you sure these are you knickers?! They must be VERY stretchy.". In the last few months I have lost about 3.5 stone and she hasn't mentioned it.

You aren’t alone, every single conversation I have with my Mum (75) she comments on someone’s (usually a strangers) weight. Her current favourite target is anyone who’s larger and on a mobility scooter and god help us if we have to go to a hospital apparently everyone is there because they are so fat. I just stay quiet and make non- committal noises, I’ve tried calling her out on it so many times and it’s just not worth the argument anymore

I just think she has a massive eating disorder and it’s utterly warped how she sees food and ‘fatness’. She has been on a stupid diet or another since 1974 and weighs herself at least once a day. One of my first memories is her drinking some diet shake instead of eating and the only food in the house being bloody Ryvita. Growing up in the 60s with completely unacheivable body types like Twiggy and then the diet industry in the 70s and 80s seem to have done a complete brainwash on them. She’s horrified I don’t own scales and my 22yo has no idea how much she weighs.

Oh and one more comment - a lot of younger people do look horrendously overweight to over 50's Size 16 - 18 for an under 30 has been normalised but isn't what I'm used to seeing.

Some older people.

Unfortunately my DM (now in her 80s) is one of them and always has been. But then she got it from her mother who was absolutely awful about making comments about weight.

It helps to know that she is just as horrible to herself about her own weight, as she is about other peoples. It all comes from a crushing lack of self esteem and childhood training that you will only be valued if you meet certain criteria - one of which is being slim.

My dad is early 90s , as are in-laws and they think nothing of commenting on weight and physical appearance. They also eschew food portions they think are too large. All born in the 30s. It’s a moral failing to be fat and have bad credit as far as they are concerned.

It isn't your experience though, unless you've spoken to most of the over 60 "mainly women" population.

never heard a 60+ woman talking about it...heard loads of 20+ men and women banging on about it though.

HTH

Why don't we just lump 60+ women into one big blob and attach a stereotype to them 🙄

No younger people talk about people's gender instead - another ageist made up stereotype for you !

DD24 has recently got engaged and they are planning on getting married next summer. Last week she went for a wander round our local charity shops with MIL and DD21 (I was WFH and MIL talks non-stop and is very loud so DD24 didn't want her in the house). One of the charity shops has been having a wedding event and has had wedding dresses in the window. MIL suggested that DD24 could buy the one in the window. When DD24 said it was too small MIL's reply was "you'll want to lose weight before your wedding". DD is a size 8 and has to maintain her weight at that level for health reasons.

Of course we are. We sit in our upright armchairs, peering through our net curtains, only leaving to eat our one salad a day, and tut away to ourselves about how the woman in No 32 is at least a size 12 now, and the bloke with the big car must have been on a diet, and oh, it’s sad what happened to Jane’s sister, I expect it’s grief that’s made her look so gaunt, and blimey, I think whatserface from the big house has been on them injections I’ve read about in the paper, oooh, my grandkids are coming for tea, I’ d best hide those biscuits I bought for the workmen because the middle one was looking a bit porky last month…

All of us, all the time. FFS.

I'm 68 and haven't found this to be the norm. I've known people of all ages past and present comment on weight/appearances and many who don't. I actually think the world has become waaay more obsessed with image, especially since the advent of social media. In fact it's gone into overdrive. In the 70's we were largely left to our own devices as far as "image" went and most people would've been horrified at the thought of pumping fillers into their face. Although you'd probably be the topic of discussion if you got a bright green Mohican, just as you would now.

Whenever I lose weight my mum always says "Don't lose too much!". I have no idea why. We aren't in postwar ration land any more!
Her and my dad have been overweight for at least the last 30+ years. Not massively, but they're both large around the middle.
I was a bean pole until my 30s, she never commented until I'd gained weight and began to lose it again. It's so weird.
I lost 2 stone recently, so I'm sure I'll be hearing it again soon...

What a ignorant post, I am over 60 and could not care less about other people's weight.
Ageist shite, I would be embarrased to post this.