Are people still getting 'fatter'?

[NiceSausage]

Or has it plateaued?
I've done a bit of mooching for studies but only find conflicting articles. I am used to hearing people say we are all getting fatter as time goes by, but wonder what the real stats are for this.

I then thought, since we are all more aware of nutrition that we used to be, with so much info available online, etc, it seems strange that we would be getting fatter if more and more of us are cutting out carbs, bread, sugars, sat fats and so on. If knee jerk articles are to be believed It seems as if the more we exclude the worse it gets?
Simple dietary moderation rarely creates a buzz, unlike exclusion diets and fads (at least in the popular media), but if any of these contemporary/popular diets work, surely we would all be getting thinner?

Or is it something else? I understand that there are obviously strong connections between unhealthy diets and poverty, but taking a good look around me both online and in real life, people across all social strata appear to be as concerned with dieting as ever.

Are there any good sources for info on this? The tabloids and media will always over hype such issues so I would appreciate some unbiased, up to date news, if possible.

Well I've lost 1st 8lbs since January but it's taken effort. I was shocked to find I could go days without really walking anywhere if wfh and driving so I've had to make an effort to walk places. Spurred on by cellulite on my legs and bad knees.

And you get those snag tights adverts. Whilst it's good to be inclusive on there those women are morbidly obese and being congratulated for it.

Having said that though my dad was about 17stone and 6'1" when I was little and he had a manual job. He looked large but he used to say he was massive whereas I'm not sure if nowadays that wouldn't be so bad. He had lots of health problems related to obesity as I was growing up. He was 42 when I was born and died at 81 but his last 15-20 years he really wasn't well at all.

I think irrespective of affordability and lifestyle unfortunately the human race many of us lack the strong personal desire for good self care. It is as if it isn't fashionable in certain circles.

I'm 5 ft 2 and 9 stone 6 in my mid 30s. My BMI is about 24 or 25, definitely higher end of the healthy range. It's fine, I am healthy and my body has served me exceptionally well so far. I have to make active choices to maintain my weight - I try to walk journeys less than a mile and I try and only eat food that I really will actively enjoy and savour at that moment ie I am hungry (luckily for me this is things like fresh fruit, baked potatoes, salmon etc just as much as chocolate and cake) I am constantly being offered lifts, quizzed onto whether I'm "being good" and told I'm "skinny", "nothing of you" etc.

I do think that our perspectives have massively shifted in the last 10 years. Of course you can't eat lots of calorie dense foods all the time, wash it down with alcohol or sugary coffees and drive everywhere and maintain a healthy weight (past aged 25, anyway!)

I would love to see a move to body neutrality rather than positivity or obviously the toxic negativity of the 00s. My body is my body and it is the only one I've got. It is a tool and I'll continue to maintain it as such.

There wasn’t the availability of shopping in 80’s though. Shops were only allowed to open on Sundays in 1994. Supermarkets opening hours were much shorter. Snacks were relatively expensive for what they were. Very limited corner shops that didn’t really open late either.

So if you didn’t have simple basics in you’d end up with nothing in to eat. Also running out of loo roll was pretty common there were lots of references to it. Again because retail was nothing like it is now.

There are a lot of young mothers (you see them at the school gates) that are huge, why? They’re not sitting sedentary in offices, they are ‘running around’ after young children so why are they so big?

Lack of sleep is responsible for a lot of weight gain. It's not the be all and end all, but it doesn't help.

I'm sorry to say, but I think a lot of it down to ignorance rather than poverty.

Do you not think there may be a link?

You can use shopping or nice gyms/classes to make you feel better.

If you have no money a bar if Mollys chocolate 43p from Tesco is all there us. Gyms are expensive , running or walking needs spare time.

I remember going to Florida in the 80s and we were gobsmacked with how overweight/obese some of the people were there. As children, we were shocked as we’d never seen people at that size.
Now in the UK, obesity is extremely common, becoming more socially acceptable and, sometimes, glorified. I heard on the radio that 1 in 2 people will be obese soon.
As with lots of other things, we have copied the US.

Or you could write down 3 things you are grateful for, listen to some birds, light a candle, have a herbal tea.

The excuses on this thread are horrendous and shocking.

I say that as someone whose parents hate cooking, has at one point in life worked 3 jobs and been very very poor. I have always home cooked healthy batch meals.

I'm fairly well off now but spend very little on food, don't have a gym membership and work crazy hours. Shopping does not make me feel better.

In fact I even think healthy eating helps me perform at work and therefore is a particularly important investment.

'Congratulated' for modelling clothes designed for fat people? You know that fat people have to wear clothes too?

Having shit healthcare has really helped in America hasn't it?!

Such a pessimistic look at the world.

most people I know do exercise self care. But the world is set up around us to encourage us to spend money on junk, to spend money on sedentary activities, to encourage car use etc etc. So yes, we can make the effort to do things differently but when we have so little leisure time to actually be active then what do we expect.

Yeah I was at my biggest with young kids despite always moving around.
Pregnancy weight gain.. lack of sleep = eating whatever to function.

And yet France, Japan and Scandinavia seem to dodge this idea that we must gain weight after having children.

It's complicated:
Ultra processed food- even basics like bread.
Skimping budgets on food quality from school dinners to huge portions when eating out.
More sedentary lifestyles. No you can't outrun a bad diet, but an active lifestyle is great for helping maintain weight.
Less smoking inhibiting appetite.
Constant avaliability of food, particularly lower nutrition food.
Decades of poor nutritional advice and still peddled by the NHS. Lots of conflicting information.
"Diet" foods are more processed than their whole alternatives, plus people consume more of them to make up the difference.
More people living with poor health.
More people using medications that cause weight gains.
Drinking calories: alcohol, soft drinks, syrupy coffees
Access to affordable and desirable healthy foods and exercise facilities.
Time pressure
Lack of knowledge or resources to prepare nutritious food (including kitchen space, equipment, energy costs)
Lack of interest
Using food as an emotional coping strategy.
People fit to what is "normal" around them.

There's many adults who were raised with post-war attitudes to food and we socially haven't learned to live in what is for many, a food abundant society, or biologically!

The causes will vary from person to person.

Having lost a parent prematurely to their poor lifestyle, I try to look after my health within my means. It's not always easy and I find it hard enough at times now I'm not a youth.

I lost all the baby weight in a month with DS1.

By the time he was 18 months old I weighed 6kg more than before pregnancy. He just did not sleep (severe reflux and at the time undiagnosed lactose intolerance and ADHD). I worked FT. I was run off my feet.

However when my clothes were all ridiculously tight and uncomfortable I decided that enough was enough. I realised I was snacking at 5am (when DS got up for the day after a night where he didn't sleep more than 90 minute stretches). Then breakfast. Then another 2 snacks before lunch. Then more snacks. Then evening meal. Then bed (but not sleep 😥).

I cut down what I was eating. And lost about 5kg.

So I was exhausted and run off my feet. No time for exercise. But tight clothes told me that I needed to do something so I did. There is no magic wand. No magic pill. And it is MY body so MY responsibility.

(DS finally slept through aged 7 though carried on waking several times a week with various problems.)

You make a good point @LivingDeadGirlUK Well made. I didn't think that comment through.

Has the weight loss helped with your knees? @teaandtoastwithmarmite

I mean, obesity still exists with free healthcare, if anything I think it would worsen if people had to pay for it.

Just like in many countries where people have to pay for healthcare, those who can’t afford it literally just die

Schools don't have enough time to do it once a day 😒.
Maybe the parents should make their kids do a mile a day? 🤔
Private schools have more time in their curriculum and school day for more fitness and sport, and the funding for it.

Do it at lunchtime rather than sitting in the staff room eating biscuits and bitching about the parents, which is what my local primary school teachers used to do (as witnessed when I heard kids read there)?

They do it in the morning here- not sure where they magic the time from but I'd say it was actually one of the most important times of the day.

Our local primary school (different to the one I volunteered in) does it in the morning. The majority of teachers are healthy and fit looking also and not overweight so I guess they prioritise exercise.