Everyone is so thin?!

[weeducky]

On holiday at the moment. I swear that a good 80% of the women here with their kids are very very slim with flat stomachs, walking around confidently in low waisted bikinis. I thought the average was a size 14, but I'm not seeing it at all! I'm a 10- bit of a tummy from pregnancies and wouldn't wear a bikini because of stretch marks and honestly I'm feeling quite the chubby one here! Does everyone just diet for holiday or something or am I at some highly unusual resort? It's nowhere particularly fancy, just a standard TUI resort in Europe.

A bit of a generalisation, but I think this is true. There have been many studies showing correlations between income levels and obesity (and lots of discussions and theories as to why).

People who have enough money to holiday abroad are therefore less likely to be overweight.

I also agree that slim people are more likely to be confidently walking around in swimwear, so you notice them more.

Thank you.

I notice the same when going to different areas of the UK to be fair. In our local city centre there are far more overweight people, in the smart suburbs there is a reallt clear visual shift. A lot of it is down to lifestyle- food, activity etc and also I think people do normalise what their peers look like whether that’s slim and healthy or larger. There’s also a massive socio-economic divide.
I noticed the same in Spain- the women were just gorgeous! Obviously not every one but for the most part slim, healthy, tanned, lovely clothes. I felt very very British 😳

Ha @weeducky We are the same height and weight I have found it so much harder post menopause to not put on weight.

Does anyone remember the name of that website where women post pics of themselves and their weight and height and statistics? It shows how variable we can look even in the same dress size. Really it’s all about measurements.

I agree about the wealth thing.

I’m British but live in a very wealthy area of Spain. You never ever see overweight people here, you see plenty of sports going on. At a (modern) size 10, I always feel like the fattest on the beach. They eat loads but move even more.

I holiday in a beautiful but poor part of Spain, it isn’t a resort and it’s about 50/50 locals and British/German/French tourists, and I am one of the slimmest on the beach. What IS nice is that nobody cares and everyone is in bikinis, because it’s hot and it’s comfier. And stretch marks, don’t bother about your stretch marks OP, I see mine as decorations!

How is the average measured? Is it median or mean? Because if dress sizes go right up to 30, and only a few people are this size and many more are size 10, the size 16 thing could be skewed? Certainly when I am in Britain I feel pretty average compared to those around me.

I read somewhere the other day that the UK is the fattest country in Europe. So, if you're elsewhere, it's quite likely you'll see much slimmer people.

Size 14/16 might be the average UK weight but that doesn't mean its the optimal weight or the 'right' weight. It means we've normalised being overweight.

Women happy to wear tiny bikinis on the beach are going to be slimmer because the rest feel too self conscious.

One of my male friends described me as 'svelte' the other day. I laughed at him. I'm quite comfortable with the extra stone I'm carrying but I'm not, in anyone's imagination, 'svelte!

But I am slimmer than a lot of British women.

Similar Mallorca. I always feel super slim on the beach there.

I have similar feeling on our holiday (Spain): lots of people were slim with nice beach bodies etc esp. around the pool in the hotel and actually most of them were Non Brits.
Disclaimer: it wasn’t me at all, I’ve gained lots of weights recently and bought myself a bikini one size up (14).
I think that it’s combination of factors: as someone noticed poor people can’t afford looking after themselves and can’t afford abroad holidays plus weather and lifestyle. Also maybe for some richer people it’s a second holiday over summer (June half term was the first) so they looked more nicely brown.
Plus those with slim perfect bodies are more confident and parading around more.

You've found a very ordinary package holiday resort, full of slim and flawless women, who are mostly British? I wonder, is it only visible for the one week every one hundred years? Did you pass through mist to reach it? Can you actually leave?

Exactly what I was about to post .

I'm currently at a caravan holiday park in the uk and I'd say more than 90% are overweight. It's a very cheap and cheerful holiday so probably attracts people on lower incomes. Sadly we know that in the UK those on lower incomes are more likely to be overweight. That is very evident here. In contrast I went to a very middle class campsite in Norfolk recently. 90% were slim.

I went to a very naice hotel in Greece a few weeks ago. Hardly any overweight people there - I only saw a couple all week.

It had a very well equipped gym which was always busy. Full exercise classes too. Lots of people out jogging and doing sport.

Although all inclusive I did not see people drinking or eating to excess either, no piled up "I'm getting my moneys worth" plates of food. Most women looked slim and fabulous. (Not me - slim but bedraggled in a boring cozy is my daytime

Saw loads of very overweight people in the airport in Manchester though.

The only slender toned people on the beach on my recent holiday were the under 18's. There were a lot of very overweight but super confident women around, of all ages. Men too, very few muscular torsos in sight, alas.

Was at the Fringe Festival last week and stayed in Morningside, I commented to my husband how slim most people were. It’s so obvious that wealthier people have better access to good food and exercise that poorer people don’t have. And for those that say people where slimmer in the past we didn’t have access to cheap ultra processed food or fast food.

I've been to several caravan holiday parks in the UK and would say the older women there would be on average a size 16 (which is apparently average in the UK). The young women, mothers of small children, were mostly huge. At least half of them were vastly overweight with only a handful looking a healthy size.
I don't see so many fat people where I live in London.

You're holidaying abroad in the English school holidays at a time when people are more strapped for cash than ever. I bet if you eavesdrop on these thin people they will be middle class. It's absolutely about socio-economic status. Wealthier people do tend to be thinner.

What do the men look like, out if interest?

I'm morbidly obese and would have a lot more money for holidays if I spent less on food!

That's what I never understand when people say 'poor people are more likely to be overweight' and then go on to cite high consumption of things like takeaways, fizzy drinks and extras like crisps/chocolate.

That's a very expensive way to eat so surely people who don't have a lot of money can't afford to eat those things a lot?

I think that poorer people are more likely to be overweight and poorer people are less likely to be able afford a holiday abroad.

This.

If they can afford to be on holiday then they are less likely to be overweight.

The poorer you are the more likely you are to be malnourished - resulting in being over or underweight.

In places like the UK or USA the cheap food is overly processed and packed with empty calories so they’re more likely to be overweight than malnourished people from other countries.

I've wondered this too. Some ultra processed food might be cheaper on the surface, but I'm always hungry far sooner after eating and reach for additional snacks that I wouldn't eat when I eat non-processed stuff for meals, so it's kind of a false economy.

I suspect it's a higher social economic group that you usually see around?

That's what I never understand when people say 'poor people are more likely to be overweight' and then go on to cite high consumption of things like takeaways, fizzy drinks and extras like crisps/chocolate.

Some of that's cooking/heating costs - less cooking time with processed food- but some is cheap treats - can't afford day out/after school activity but can a bar of chocolate or fizzy drink I think this idea is mention in Road to Wigan Pier - I have no idea about takeways though as they are pricy perhaps that could be time related if working long hours or two jobs but most I know have those rarely as treats.

The Lancet: Trends in childhood height and weight, and socioeconomic inequalities

There is some social pressure - it's less socially acceptable to be overweight in higher social economic groups and they have more incentive monitor and more resources intervene.
BMJ: Socioeconomic status and weight control practices in British adults

I'm a 5'5" 12.5 stone big size 16. I wear a bikini, because I really want to be body confident for my daughters. It's excruciating though as at the moment, my confidence is all fake and I can just about do it on a beach where I know no-one. But I am definitely 'the fat one' on the beach.

I think PP are right, the idea that a size 16 being the average, is rubbish. Most people are thinner or at least toned.

I only wore a bikini for the first time in my life at 38, when I realised I had always felt too fat to wear one even as a child. Most of my adult life I was a size 14, started exercise and got toned from the age of about 30. One day I just thought 'fuck it' and bought one.

Wearing a bikini at that size felt wonderfully liberating! I felt I was being brave as I wasn't thin, but also it was so nice to feel the sun, sand and sea on my tummy that had never felt it before. (sorry if that sounds a bit pretentious but it was a big thing for me).

All was fine until lockdown when I stopped exercising and put on about a stone and a half. Obviously I was right at the top end of being 'ok', now I am fat and flabby and I don't like it, but I need to find real confidence not fake to exercise and get toned again. 😔

I think it depends, not all poorer people spend loads on takeaways, but highly processed foods do tend to be cheaper.

2 punnets of grapes are 2 for £3 in Morrisons, whereas a pack of custard creams is about 40p. 4 choc bars are £1.25. I know there are cheaper fruits and veg, that was just an example, but I can see why people with less money buy foods that are cheaper and will go further.

I think we also need to look at the families those people grew up in, were their parents overweight? Did they learn about nutrition? What example was set to them? If they grew up not knowing how to cook, it's far more likely they'll stick to the same kinds of food, or get takeaways.