Why are the British so comfortable being overweight?

[lookforthespace]

When it seems there is a lot of chit chat about now 'oh, you've lost weight!' People obviously want to be slim. But they can't do it?

Yet so many people, including myself,
seem to fluctuate and remain overweight

Is there a psychological difference between us and Japan/South Korea? It is it just because those countries will outright tell you 'You are fat'. And it isn't seen as rude or impolite to say so

It's not psychological so much as societal pressure to be slender.

I don't think 'the British' are! I don't know of any women that are overweight that are happy and comfortable about it, truly. My friends and I have over the years constantly been on diets, Healthy eating stages, exercise regimes. All with the aim of losing weight especially after children.

I have been overweight, obese, and a healthy weight. People do treat you differently depending on your size. There's nothing comfortable about that!

Food culture is entirely different in Japan and the UK for example.

As a rule they don't have the 'bad' food that we do.

Look at school packed lunches / hot meals in school across different countries and look at special / National / cultural foods. You'll find ours are much 'worse'

Also if I had £10 to feed a young family I'd be tempted by the super cheap nuggets / sausage rolls / chips / white bread / processed ham etc. decent fruit and veg and good meat / veggie proteins are either more expensive and/or require skills to cook them.

I could bung nuggets and chips in the oven for pence per meals (if value brands) I'd need time and some level of cookery skills to turn dry lentils and veg into a meal.

((To caveat I actually don't eat any of the foods above or struggle with bad nutrition or weight - but that's how I understand it))

I know a young mother struggling with money. She tends to spend her days eating biscuits whilst looking after her young children. It staves off her hunger / keeps her going and a packet of value biscuits can be 20pence from Lidl's or aldi.

I think a lot of people who are overweight in the UK live in communities where they see themselves reflected.

When I go (on v. rare occasions) to somewhere like Holland Park or Kensington or central Paris, I feel like a heifer. My BMI is actually just under 21.

For me personally my vanity does not outweigh my greed

Britains’ economy runs on the leisure industry.

This basically means that the restaurants, bars, pubs, and clubs are what keeps a large portion of the workforce in employment.
Remember how disastrous for the economy closing down these places was in lockdown we even had Eat Out To Help Out. All those boozers and junk food addicts are keeping the economy going which is another reason I feel that the government doesn’t properly address the obesity epidemic. A huge prooortion of people who die of Covid are overweight
. We don’t have a manufacturing base anymore .

There are fat people all over the world. Always have been, always will be.

I don' t think anyone is comfortable being overweight. There's not some British "I'm fat and happy" thing going on last time I checked.
And there are overweight people in Japan and S. Korea too... BUT their diet is better and I think that they are homogenous societies with good, traditional diets and also healthier, traditional rituals very much tied to their culture.
I lived in Japan and would leave for work at 5am and always see the factory workers by my flat gathering early to meditate before the start of a long day. These small practices like meditation, yoga breathing, shavasana, prayer if you want, are very good at helping us to establish a better sense of inner calm and balance which, in turn, encourages us to nourish and nurture ourselves better.
Britain is a very diverse place and our diet is all over the map, really. So it's not a great comparison with countries like Japan. What IS the British diet nowadays, when you think about it?

I live in forrin climes.
The main thing I have noticed is there is no such thing as vanity sizing in clothing.
In the UK I was a size 14 in some shops, here I am an XXL.
Also confectionery is very expensive here.

10/10 on sweeping statements.

You also have to consider that children in Japan are being raised by a SAHM in almost all cases, who has time to prepare healthier food, as it is made almost impossible for women to work after having children.
Most women work after childbirth in the UK.

I think the UK is mimicking US more and more. Much more junk food, much more car dependant than some of the Asian countries for example.

I am Swedish and people are getting bigger there too but the diet is much better than here and people are a lot more outdoorsy and active so it’s just happening slower there than in the UK.

Social norms definitely play a big part. I don't think British people are comfortable being overweight but because so many people are, there isn't the same pressure to do something about it that you find in other places.

I definitely felt more pressure to be slim when I lived in France and Germany. I'll never forget the humiliation of being told in a French clothing shop that they had nothing in my size (I was a British 14 at the time).

But even in those countries there is a big variation in norms, e.g. in the middle of Paris or Berlin it feels like everyone is really slim but you go out of town a bit and that's definitely not the case.

@1940s

I know a young mother struggling with money. She tends to spend her days eating biscuits whilst looking after her young children. It staves off her hunger / keeps her going and a packet of value biscuits can be 20pence from Lidl's or aldi.

I get that. But eating biscuits and nothing/not much else won't make you fat if you're not actually getting calories elsewhere

@Thegreencup

There are fat people all over the world. Always have been, always will be.

Yes of course but they're much rarer in some places

For example, visiting Japan I just about fitted into the very largest ladies jeans they had. I'm was a size 10!

Well padded arses - they're comfortable.
And cake tastes nice.
Happy to help.

She isn't massively overweight. But I'm highlighting our food culture / food poverty.

She will eat biscuits all day then put cheap totally unnutritious oven food in and binge in the evening. So she's having a pretty big calorie day on shite food.

Our version of cheap ''peasant'' food is highly processed / fatty / salty. Other cultures living on the breadline tend to be more in touch with rice / beans / cheap meat cuts and vegetables. We don't have that food culture as a rule

Between the countries you mentioned, a lot of it is the difference in the types of foods usually eaten I'd say.

Lots of Asian countries don't have the kind of convenience food or sweet treats that we have here, they just don't eat them. I remember being in Thailand and the only sweet things in the shops were cakes, all the chocolate bars were expensive as they were imported.

I'd say nowadays in the UK, it's the norm for many to get takeaways/eat out a couple of times a week, not to mention have things like chocolate or crisps every day at least once. I'd say it's at the point where it's more normal to do those things than not now, the 'normal' baseline diet in our country is no longer particularly healthy.

Everybody I know who is slim puts in effort to be that way, mostly through diet, sometimes exercise too.

I think the words 'being comfortable with being fat' was wrong to use, as it's often not the case at all and isn't for myself. But it definitely is accepted and we take great offence at anyone pointing out we're fat (I know I would!), yet we love to tell people with glistening eyes that they're looking slim lately etc

I suppose it must also tie in with self discipline. It's a very big thing in Japan and South Korea

For example they have a very hard working, often to the point of exhaustion, over in Japan

And children in South Korea have far longer school hours. You're also expected to do study time on top and it's seen as very normal for teens to get no more than 4/5 hours of sleep

Sleep is generally seen as a quicker thing in South Korea too, a few friends I've met living here have been shocked at how long we sleep for and our 'lay ins'

I've taught in high schools and universities in Asia, and it is painful to hear these already stick thin girls call themselves and each other fat and starve themselves on insane diets. They might be thinner but it's not like they're all just naturally thin because they eat healthy and never think about it.

I would also say that as the countries in Asia have got richer and more economically developed, the children are getting taller and bigger. For example, in Korea a man my age (mid thirties) would often be about my height or shorter, but a fair few of my 13 year old boy students were already approaching my height, because they have better diets and more food. So I'm not sure if they won't be as comfortably overweight as we are before long.

It’s what food you have access to and it’s cooked. I taught English as a foreign language in London and all the students gained weighed when they came to the U.K.

When I taught in Spain all the food was ingredients (no ready meals) so
Much easier to stay slim.

The uks shitty cold damp weather. In the summer I eat quite healthy.
In the winter I just crave stodge and carbs. Not the only reason but certainly doesn’t help!