If two thirds of adults in the UK are overweight...

[heynori]

Then how is everyone on MN a skinny rake? Because in the 'what have you eaten today' threads people are listing an apple and gasp of fresh air as a whole days worth of food, and when talking about clothes sizes everyone seems to say they're a size 8

FWIW I'm a healthy size 10. Always have been, and probably always will be as I've already had my DC, but I eat like a normal person!

Also, I wouldn't say two thirds of my friends are overweight at all. They're my size or slightly smaller/larger but not by much. Where are all these two thirds of overweight adults hiding?!

I've no idea what I weigh but I know I'm a monster. If I listed everything I ate on a daily basis you'd all gasp, even the larger ladies. It's just so easy to gain satisfaction from food, cigarettes and alcohol when there's nothing else going on in life. Sure the effects are short lived so you reach for more, but it's effortless. I actually have a physically demanding job but you'd never know by looking at me.

Ooer I'm in danger of making an essay out of this.

@Headshoulderskneesandtoes22

The average wedding dress is a size 14, and they probably slimmed for it.

Right, but wedding dresses haven't been subjected to vanity sizing like high street shops have, so if you're a size 10-12 usually, then you'll still be a size 14 in wedding dresses. The wedding dress industry is one of the most body shaming, catty and spiteful industries I've come across. It's deliberately set up to make you feel fat. Even the comments from the people working at the shops were full-on telling you you look fat. Some really nasty people about.

you are right TwilightPeace.

I am on some post cancer hormone drugs which have really messed with my appetite but to be honest that is kind of an excuse, I was never very good at eating healthfully mindfully.

Yes my 11 year old daughter is pretty self sufficient and she is also very slim build like me (amazing considering the amount of chocolate she seems to scoff! and I do get her to eat healthy meals as well) I agree it is not an excuse.

Ironically I did find it much easier to eat healthily when I was working full time before sick leave (having a proper lunch hour etc provided I took food with me to work which most days I did and it was fruit and veg. (although it was open plan and the cleaning was appalling so in the current climate if I had not been diagnosed with cancer it very likely would have been the dreaded virus....)

I don't post on threads about weights or affluence (coz I'm fat and don't earn 80k a year).
I bet there are many like me.

This is 'Mumsnet', so the demographic will be for younger women. When you are younger it's (marginally) easier to lose weight if you go up a few pounds heavier than you like.

Go over to somewhere like Gransnet and you will probably find a LOT more people who are heavier and really desperately struggling to get and keep the weight off. You think you will be size 10 forever because you've had your kids - wait until the menopause strikes!

In my social circle most of us are slightly overweight, I wouldn't post on the What I've Eaten Today threads simply because I've no interest in them. The people I know who are a seemingly healthy weight are on permanent diets, talk about food and dieting every single time you see them, and make sure everyone knows exactly how much exercise they've done that day. It's tedious as fuck.

A couple of friends are underweight, but they live off black coffee and cigs, do no exercise at all, and seem unhealthy to me.

I'm in my 50s and probably a couple of stone overweight. It definitely creeps on as you get older and is harder to lose. I was slim until mid forties, and don't eat more now than I did then. I'm reasonably fit though and I think if you move in circles like gym classes etc then you will see a higher proportion of slimmer people.

I live in a London suburb and see lots of overweight people. It's particularly noticeable that there are a number of very overweight young women, and although they carry it off as they are young and pretty, I do worry for their health as they get older. It's hard enough on the body getting older without carrying extra weight - I'm definitely feeling it!

*In my social circle most of us are slightly overweight, I wouldn't post on the What I've Eaten Today threads simply because I've no interest in them. The people I know who are a seemingly healthy weight are on permanent diets, talk about food and dieting every single time you see them, and make sure everyone knows exactly how much exercise they've done that day. It's tedious as fuck.

A couple of friends are underweight, but they live off black coffee and cigs, do no exercise at all, and seem unhealthy to me.*

I used to have an ED, now a healthy weight, and even I find the "what have you eaten" threads boring AF, but think that they would appeal to a lot of competitive borderline (or full blown) ED women. Otherwise I cant see how its remotely interesting to see 15 pages of what complete strangers allege say they have eaten in a day.

@Lalala205

Fruit and veg aren't necessarily cheaper in France, though there is a much wider selection and people are generally spend more of their income on food there. I think a big part of the problem in the UK is that processed (junk) food is so cheap that it makes the veg and salad seem like a really expensive choice, so I guess you are correct in a way- it is relatively expensive. You shouldn't be able to buy a steak pie for 4 people that costs a £5, while a tiny bag of rocket / salad leaves costs £2-3. That's just ludicrous. Oh and Greggs / Tony Macaroni / Franky and Benny generally don't exist in France. There are chains, but that whole pile-it-high, stuff-your-face-with-junk-as-a-treat vibe does not exist. Unless it's seafood - people go mad for all-you-can-eat oysters here ;-)

I genuinely was stunned: last summer was the first time in 10 years since we had been back to Scotland in summer (usually just at Christmas, and we are mostly with family) so we were out and about a lot more. Even people that I remember as being skinny are overweight now - cousins and other relatives, old friends and family. One old friend had gone from a size 12/14 to a size 20 since I saw her last. She described me as slim - I'm not, I'm a 14-16, in France I am easily one of the largest mums at the school gate. But to her, I looked slim. And TBH I felt it. I went to a Golden wedding anniversary of old family friends, and the great majority of people in the room of all ages were a little or a lot overweight. I felt slim by comparison and that doesn't happen very often in France!

I could go into lots of details of why I think this is the case, but that's going a bit OT. Scotland, especially the poorer parts, is a horribly obesogenic environment.