Perceptions of 'healthy' or 'overweight' are really skewed by the area you live in?

Have you never been to America then?

We’ve lost sight of the restrictive logistics of mass catering 😭

We went to a concert recently at Wembley and there was a box place that you could go to and you could pick up a normal manner of foods Thai curries pizzas pasta
Not massively healthy but more healthier than chicken and chips

Aot of it comes down to parental behaviours and education.

Fat parents tend to beget fat children. Positive role models and healthy life goals help with positive body image.

A limited life where food becomes the main pleasure leads to what we might call "fat Labrador syndrome"!

Because parents can not always be trusted these days to know intrinsically what is healthy we need more education I am afraid. I see so many fat parents mollifying their children with sweet snacks. It's disheartening.

There are lots of studies about the strong links between poverty, education and obesity. More deprived area = more obesity. Clearly there are always exceptions but this is the proven rule.

Similarly the normalisation of obesity is more prevalent in deprived communities because of the education gap and the lack of money to do anything about it once you become obese.

Yabu to comment as if people who are overweight aren't allowed to wear shorts or crop tops. They are allowed to wear whatever they want same as anyone else.

No literally no one has said that, how have you drawn that from this discussion?

Nobody said it was an affliction. There are many ways of trying to maintain and lose weight and some are healthier than others. It's just an acknowledgement that for some people it impacts their thoughts and enjoyment of life more than others.
I'm by no means suggesting that it's a bad thing to be mindful of it nor that it isn't an attractive concept to not have to really think about it at all.

But from a personal perspective , I'd sooner cut out/down on UPF's and eat more whole foods, home cooked foods if I was trying to maintain.

It is tricky, and it wasn't my intention to offend anyone who makes different choices to me. I just have a couple of friends who are a bit of an eye opener on how they stay slim.

So we saying rich are all using WLI?

Some really offensive assumptions being made on this thread.

The sneering attitude is solely down to lack of education and ignorance. I pity people like this.

I was shocked recently. Where I live I feel very normal if not slim. My size 12 clothes started to feel a bit tight and so weighed myself and was horrified to see that I was in the overweight category. I’m back in to normal BMI but now feel slim when in reality I’m only just not overweight. Aiming to lose another half a stone and then I’ll be happy.

So in summary, yes, I think areas of the uk have lost sight of the healthy weight/shape

As my philosophy teacher used to say, trying to state what is “normal” is never a good basis to an argument, you can’t define normal and it’s a slippery slope. There is no normal, we live in a society where food is heavily industrialised and our society is incredibly unhealthy as a result. It’s offensive to use terms like “disordered”, it is not automatically a mental affliction to struggle to maintain a healthy weight and want to do so.

London is affluent and has a higher proportion of young educated professionals. There is more public transport usage and therefore walking. There is a wider selection of food and money to afford it. Culture is different. There is a huge range of health in London and life expectancy has a higher range in the boroughs after linked to diet and well being

Agree that fast food is served in stadiums and a portion of chips once in a while is fine and won't make you fat.

But crop tops and fat bellies don't really work together....

Where I live you rarely see a really obese person, maybe a few people who are a bit overweight.

But where my mum lives is very different to the extent that many shops stock clothes accordingly so if you are a size 8 you find it harder to find clothes.

I was in the Netherlands recently and most people are slim there, because they cycle everywhere - it also helps when you are taller. If you see fat people there you can guarantee they are British, American, or German.

Maybe it’s just Harry Styles fans?! I work in state secondary schools and the vast majority of teens are a healthy weight. Maybe a couple in each class are overweight. I wouldn’t expect fancy food at a concert either. They generally serve fast food!

As a nation, we are increasingly overweight. We have all read about ‘The Obesity Crisis’ - rocketing type 1 diabetes and a generation of children whose life expectancy is lower than previous generations - in the papers. Your concert was a reflection of this.

Your area of London may be an unusual geographical pocket in having largely slim people, especially young. It’s a cultural thing.

Certain areas of London are expensive to live in. So the people - especially young people - who live there have to have higher than average salaries in order to be able to afford to live there. In order to earn higher salaries they likely have higher levels of education. Likely come from higher social-economic groups where healthy/ nutritious food, sport and exercise are prioritised and (for them) affordable. Brought up with an
’eat your greens’/ ‘get out for a walk’ culture within their own family and amongst family friends.

In geographical areas with lower socio-economic demographics this is not always the case. Fast and ultra processed food is cheap, prevalent and and readily available. Maybe within these demographics there is more of a culture of watching tv/ playing video games rather than getting out for a walk.

We have also made ‘body positivity’ much more prevalent in the UK. In many other cultures (eg French, Eastern European) your mother will not shy away from telling you you are getting fat.

I agree with you Op. I was in Alderley Edge recently which is an affluent area. The vast majority of people there looked slim and healthy. Conversely I had to go to Crewe town centre where the majority were overweight.

Maybe quite a lot of behaviours I see women doing are considered normal to a lot of people, but it isn't normal.

I don't see many men eating one meal a day, weighing food at every meal, limiting carbs etc unless they are on a training programme. I certainly don't think it's especially normal for the control of food to be occupying so much brain space that you are considering GLP1's so you don't need to think about how hungry you are all the time.

I think that the types of food on offer, additives to processed food, and portion sizes that have been normalised mean we have issues that we just didn't have 50 years ago. But no, I don't think considering GLP1's to maintain a healthy weight you have already been maintaining is normal behaviour.

Whilst i kind of understand what you're saying it feels a bit like must fight to stay at this BMI range at all costs 🤷‍♀️ Nothing worse than being overweight. It isn't just for health, it's fear of the judgement (this thread being proof of why).
Plus, no licenced private provider would prescribe it to you, which is rather telling.

@AfogatoFirenze well that is up to you but I can tell you that is exactly how it is where I live. Prep schools place a lot of importance on outdoor activities and sport plus we live in a rural area so children learning about outdoor education and farming as it is part of the community.

Completely up to you what you want to believe but I have no reason to make any of it up as that would be an awfully odd thing to do.

Is your concern their health or their appearance? If they were still overweight but wearing caftans, would that be ok with you?

I’m silly to reply as these type of posts keep popping up and it’s hard not to think it’s trolling.

1. Brighton and Hove
2. Richmond upon Thames
3. Kensington and Chelsea
4. Camden
5. Wandsworth
6. Westminster
7. Hammersmith and Fulham
8. Islington
9. Kingston upon Thames
10. Wokingham
11. St Albans
12. Elmbridge
13. Guildford
14. South Cambridgeshire
15. Hart
16. Mole Valley
17. Waverley
18. Brentwood
19. Windsor and Maidenhead

1. West Lindsey
2. Hartlepool
3. Bolsover
4. Wigan
5. South Tyneside
6. Stoke-on-Trent
7. Doncaster
8. Sunderland
9. Barnsley
10. Knowsley
11. Blackpool
12. Middlesbrough
13. Rotherham
14. Blaenau Gwent
15. Redcar and Cleveland
16. Kingston upon Hull
17. Wakefield
18. County Durham
19. North East Lincolnshire

Why Brighton and Hove comes top, is it that it has a younger demographic? Wealthier?

I’ve looked up statistics the least overweight place in the uk is Brighton and Hove followed by parts of London and the most is Wigan, South Tyneside etc