Do fat ladies become “ little old ladies”?

[Leflic]

Most females find they put on weight before puberty, lose weight more easily in their late 20’s and then put weight on more easily around menopause.
So why are old women generally small?
Is it that the larger ladies have medical issues and aren’t getting to old age or we just eat less and get smaller.
I’m asking as a not obese but definitely overweight woman...will I go back to thin by default?

I suppose obesity shortens your life. I havent seen any obese 90 year olds.
Part of being little is the height shrinkage due to back going/curving.
As you age you might not be able to eat as much due to teeth, lack of motivation to cook for 1 person, perhaps conscious of your health, not enough pension to fritter on food and bigger clothes ao live frugally.. maybe you become more aware of twinges and joints going so you focus on not adding extra weight on your body..

Very overweight people don't live as long.

Also very tall people don't seem to live ad long either.

More strain on the heart I suppose.

I used to work in a nursing home and some people had difficulty swallowing and every mouthful was an effort. They were in their 80s at least though.

Each generation is getting taller on average, so elderly ladies are always going to be little compared with the young folk of today.

You lose over an inch in height as you age, more with osteoporosis and if you stoop etc.

Another thing to consider is that many elderly people have only a small pension to eke out, so even if they used to eat a lot, they have probably cut back on food due to the cost.

I have seen quite a few fat older people, but maybe it depends where you live. None of the females in our family will ever be little though, none of us are shorter than 5 10

It tends to go one way or the other doesnt it?

They arent, there are plenty of overweight in their 80s.

I think when people reach 80/90 they do tend to eat a lot less. And as a result obviously lose weight. Plus if you are very overweight you are obviously mroe likely to die younger

Previous generations were generally shorter, plus you start to stoop a little as you get older. But equally I think you dont notice taller old people because you are only really noticing 'little old ladies'

Overweight/obese people live shorter lives, so by 80s/90s a lot of them are dead. I see a fair number of overweight folk in their 60s and 70s but very few older than that.

But equally I think you dont notice taller old people because you are only really noticing 'little old ladies'

I think tall old people really stand out!

Most older ladies I know and see are skinny malinkies and look like little birds. Maybe the obese ones are stuck indoors?

This thread is a bit horrible.

the overweight old relatives of mine either dropped dead of stroke or cardio issues in their 60s or became immobile due to creaking joints and dropped out of public life.

I understand that your appetite reduces quite dramatically in old age so that might account for it. My mum was obese all her adult life but is about average weight now in her 90s.

My Granny lived til 94, was fat all her life. She was also tall but definitely shrunk a bit with age.

It is isn't it LunaNorth

Honestly? Obesity is a fairly modern thing. So that might be a factor. Plus obesity shortens your life on average.

This thread is a bit horrible.

We are all getting old. Why is old horrible?

Old isn’t horrible. But some of the comments about obese old people being stuck indoors or not making it out of their seventies just come across as really unfeeling and glib.

And I know of many larger octogenarians, as it happens.

My lovely granny was still very solid at 90. She was little because she was poor and old, so very short compared to her grandchildren, but wide, I'd say! Just a sturdy person. She only got thin when she got ill, towards the end.

I progress steadily towards sturdiness myself, though unless human average heights increase DRAMATICALLY I will never be a little old lady in any sense. That's fine. I'll be happy enough with achieving the old part.

Statistically, the generation currently in their 80s / 90s didn't have anywhere hear the numbers of people in it who were fat / overweight / obese as people in their teens / 20s / 30s now. Or even 50s and 60s tbh.
So that might be another factor.

My guess is because very obese people don't make it to very old age. It's certainly true that whilst we all have an example of a 90 yo smoker, I can't think if anyone of that age who is fat.

My Mum was slim and beautiful well into her sixties but is a rather stout 87 year old.

I also know several other overweight-all-their-lives women who got to approx 90 without losing weight.

Sorry that should have said into her fifties.

My grandmother was obese and lived into her 80s, although didn't seem to go out much as she suffered with several health problems and obviously being obese didn't help, so she was confined to a wheelchair for most of the time I remember her and she died when I was in my early 20s. So probably from her early 70s onwards she was mostly housebound.

Loss of appetite. Loss of partner so less desire to cook. Health reasons so less food options or medication. Poor digestive system. Less interest in food. And so on.