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

@Mifacagare

I have thought about this a lot since moving to North Italy, where people constantly discuss their weight and health around the dinner table.

I'm 5'6 and 70kg (11st?) and I have been told several times by my Dr/DH/MIL etc etc that I absolutely must lose weight and watch what I eat to make sure my liver is kept in a good condition, I agree with them.
We don't eat anything processed every meal is made from scratch ( and I work 9 hours a day!) and butter is very much frowned upon. I love butter and a pack lasts me months, so I wouldn't say I eat much. I make a cake once a month with olive oil and not butter. I buy one bar of chocolate a week, 80% cocoa and have a cube a day. In the UK I had a dairy milk and crisprs daily as part of my 'lunch'! I've noticed that none of my Italian friends crave or even like chocolate and I'm the only one who ever orders dessert when we're out.

DH & his family are appalled at the size of some of my British friends, and how much bad stuff they eat, especially cake, he's asked them several times if they ever consider what it is doing to their bodies, they genuinely don't seem bothered they're overweight or care about their hearts, livers etc, they're usually just shocked that he's asked them.

When I lived in UK around 20 years ago I was around the same weight as I am now, in fact now I'm lighter. Then I was a size 14, now I go there and I fit into a 12, here in Italy I'm an XL-XXL and that is where the problem lies for me, clothes sizes are wrong, misleading women into thinking that they're smaller than they are and portion sizes being huge.

Interesting. I live in Spain and it's the opposite. They eat mountains of processed meat, pastry type foods, a lot of white bread and put way too much salt in food. There are a lot of overweight children here too.

was given a leaflet from the health visitor about childhood obesity and was told portion sizes are the problem. It wouldn't be all the takeaways built near the school

It’s both of those, and all the ultra-processed food. Plus the snacking culture. You never saw children eating in the supermarket trolley seat years ago. Now loads of parents will give them bread or something from a little plastic pot. It’s as if they’re not allowed to get hungry.

Are the British really big eaters? Compare to Americans, no. The likes of the Italians have a really big eating culture, as a family.

Our diets are less healthy with the advent of takeaways, fast food and ready meals. People have less time to cook and also less incentive given the ease of having food already prepared for them.

Alcohol has to be a big factor. We're a nation of lager louts and winos.

"Are the British really big eaters? Compare to Americans, no."

No, but look at the portions at somewhere like Weatherspoons. Look at the size of a cheap fish and chip from a chippy or a breakfast at a greasy spoon. Look at all the 2 for 1 things and all you can eats. Look at how big drinks in cafes are now compared to a few decades ago. When people on modest incomes go out for food they're looking for value for money. Go to fine dining and you'll see much smaller portions, but many ordinary people would feel cheater by those portion sizes.

"Alcohol has to be a big factor. We're a nation of lager louts and winos."

Well, we don't call them beer bellies for nothing.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Are the British really big eaters? Compare to Americans, no."

No, but look at the portions at somewhere like Weatherspoons. Look at the size of a cheap fish and chip from a chippy or a breakfast at a greasy spoon. Look at all the 2 for 1 things and all you can eats. Look at how big drinks in cafes are now compared to a few decades ago. When people on modest incomes go out for food they're looking for value for money. Go to fine dining and you'll see much smaller portions, but many ordinary people would feel cheater by those portion sizes.

Someone earlier in the thread said that are economy pretty much runs on food and drink these days, with our service economy and no manufacturing base. Therefore there's so much more temptations.

The downside, economically, is the amount of money obesity and unhealthy lifestyles costs the NHS, so it's a double edged sword.

"The downside, economically, is the amount of money obesity and unhealthy lifestyles costs the NHS, so it's a double edged sword."

The same NHS that puts junk food cafes in its hospitals.

@Gwenhwyfar

"The downside, economically, is the amount of money obesity and unhealthy lifestyles costs the NHS, so it's a double edged sword."

The same NHS that puts junk food cafes in its hospitals.

The same double edged sword. The economy is built on food and drink.

I have a friend who suffers from depression. Her shrink has her on a med that’s notorious for weight gain.
So the shrink also has her on a med that counteracts the weight gain.
She looks emaciated.
Too thin is not ideal either, although some women think it is.

I think a lot of it is to do with mental health, which impacts on physical health. If you feel depressed or anxious, undervalued, are worrying about money, about your job, etc etc then it can lead to disordered eating.

We have an unhealthy culture and attitude to food. I put on weight during lockdown. Can*t do much exercise due to a disability. But have changed what I cook now...more protein and vegetables, less carbohydrate, and have lost weight. Also eat much more fruit. You have to get your head round eating a healthy diet and keeping shacks and sweets to a minimum.

Because we have crap weather, no lunch hours to eat healthier food

When I visited Australia the variety of food available in shops,cafes, restaurants and bars were amazing and it was much easier to make healthy choices than our pub meals , I’ve never seen so many lovely salad bars with such a wide range of choice. I’m sure if we had those choices here we would be less overweight.

I don't eat out often but did the last two days.
I think eating out is a 'treat' in the UK, not the norm, therefore is seen to have to include chips and fattening food. Pub meal was curry - but no veg with it, cafe meal was toastie and soup. Again no salad option.
It is party the cold weather but I would eat a good salad at lunchtime in preference to stodge given the chance.

"Are the British really big eaters? Compare to Americans, no."

I don't think Americans have our sweet eating habit. They eat (or get served) huge amounts but there aren't sweets in shops to the same extent. They drive mostly so kids aren't walking past sweet shops etc.

I don't think people are comfortable at all just as underweight people know they need to eat overweight people know they need to eat healthier.
I think we are cash rich and time poor so have to eat whatever is available as we work such long hours. There is also a slick advertising that promotes junk food as all fine and dandy. All tv adverts after a certain time push food at us. Glossy mags like cosmo are now having covers that feature obese people who are championed as 'loving her curves' but there is a world of difference between a Marilyn Monroe'curvy' and morbidly obese 'curvy'. I know people that have had near panic when told they have dangerously high blood pressure but then been outraged that the advice is to take some exercise and eat healthier. It's as if personal responsibility doesn't exist. So there does need to be a shift in culture to stop accepting being overweight as something to be celebrated. But that view is very simplistic, I recently saw a tv show where someone that was overweight was asking for help and the issue resolved around the fact that they had very little money so had to buy what they knew the kids would eat, junk food basically as the kids would leave salad and veg. If they didn't eat that there was nothing else in the cupboard the kids would go hungry. No parent wants to see their child go hungry. I think we are also to some degree pawns ina game of 'fatten em up' with glossy marketing over socializing which primarily is about eating and drinking, then guilting people into paying into the lucrative diet/gym industry. It all goes round in circles. Someone gets rich and we get fatter. Don't even get me started on alcohol, do supermarkets really need to have drink in 32 separate areas of their shop at Easter/Christmas/any big sporting event/red wine with the ready meals in the chiller cabinet? No they don't. The misery that alcohol use in excess causes is well documented yet shops are effectively drug pushers. It's morally indefensible IMO.

@YourenutsmiLord

"Are the British really big eaters? Compare to Americans, no."

I don't think Americans have our sweet eating habit. They eat (or get served) huge amounts but there aren't sweets in shops to the same extent. They drive mostly so kids aren't walking past sweet shops etc.

They put sugar in everything and portion sizes are enormous. Check out YouTube for vids for comparison videos. The sugar and fat content of a popular fast food chain burger buns is massively different between the uk and USA.

@DreamTheMoors

I have a friend who suffers from depression. Her shrink has her on a med that’s notorious for weight gain. So the shrink also has her on a med that counteracts the weight gain. She looks emaciated. Too thin is not ideal either, although some women think it is.

What med counteracts weight gain? Never heard of that. Are you sure it isn't just an appetite suppressant?

Some scientific research...
It's striking that Canada, USA & UK are all > 50% of total calorie intake from UPF. Australia hardly better.

However, no country is super low. Mexico & Korea are both around 29% yet their obesity levels should hardly be more different.

Compared to other countries there is a general lack of cooking culture. Cooking is not taught by older generations to the younger. Sadly not taught in school either. There is also a prevailing myth that you have to well off with loads of time to cook. Perhaps coming from a dependence on meat. Cooking non meat dishes can be quite cheap and easy. Overall it is a lack of skill thing and makes people believe they cannot be a healthier weight even they aren't pleased about it.

@Lockdownbear

One thing I'd like to see is a NHS / not for profit, Weight Watchers / Slimming World program that actually works.

Loads of people particularly women loose weight on WW/SW then pile it back on and more.
I'm convinced those diets are designed for you to fail, them to get repeat business.

So the group sessions weight ins must help motivation but the actual diets seem to fail people.

Have you thought that this might be because diets just don't work? There's evidence to suggest that for probably 95% of people dieting doesn't work and is likely to make you larger, overall. I read 'Anti Diet' recently and it was eye opening.. What if the main problem is actually people's attitudes towards different body sizes (and throw in food poverty, lack of good education around nutrition and healthy movement that isn't weighted down in diet culture).. There's nothing wrong with different sizes and shapes, people should not be treated differently for being larger or smaller (it's a very poor indicator of good or bad health), and the obsession with trying to shrink body's needs to stop!

I think the recent news article about the higher BMIs in people gravely ill with Covid in ICUs shows that weight has a lot to do with health.

www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2021/dec/overweight-people-at-higher-risk-of-mortality-and-lengthy-icu-admission-if-infected-with-covid-19-evidence-reveals.html

I always find the alcohol argument interesting. A few years ago I was really unwell and living on about 500 to 800 cals of food but way too much booze. I lost weight at an frightening and alarming rate but I wasn't snacking whilst drinking. I'm sure I read (I think it was Paul Mckenna) who said booze itself wasn't the issue calories wise but the snacking that comes along with it. For me that was certainly true.

Fast forward a few years and I am a million times better and I have actually managed to keep the weight off (I was obese to stay with) but its bloody hard work.

I have to workout 5 to 6 times a week.
I have to watch everything that I eat or I pile it back on (1200 to 1500 cals a day)
I have little time in the week so I have to plan, prepare and freeze homecooked meals.in advance.
It's exhausting and you have to be consistent and for a lot of people too much on top of everything else.

And yet people at work (no so much home) still say to me oooo just have a biscuit/cake/fall off the wagon. They don't understand that one leads to an entire packet.

And despite all this I'm still classed as overweight by bmi despite having muscles like Jean Claude Van Dam

People will freely comment if you are thin but nobody can say to anyone’s face goodness you are fat! I’m thin and in my family it is commented on but I’m not allowed to say to my extremely large SIL my word you are huge and if you don’t do something about it you are going to die. I’m am not going to die but she just might yet still we can’t say anything. Crazy. And nobody came out of Belsen fat, you are fat because you eat more than you require. It isn’t magic. Eat less move more get thinner.

'Associated with' is not the same as 'caused by', though, it's not well understood. The biggest issue is that the impetus is put almost solely on the individual (which leads to loads of the weight stigma we see in society, diet culture, people wasting their whole lives being miserable about how they look), when actually health outcomes are largely determined by genetics, where we live, environmental factors and not anything in our control. (See e.g. www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/determinants-of-health). The problem with this is it's very likely that the way people feel about their body size, and e.g. being marginalised for being in a larger body, being treated treated differently by health care for being large, are much worse for your health then the direct impacts of being a larger size (mental health issues, the physical effects of yo-yo dieting which is really bad for you etc. etc.).