If you were a teen in the 90s did your mum spend a lot of time telling you that she was on a diet?

[Bartg]

Quoting her current weight. The weight she was at school. Whether she put in weight over the holidays or not. And also going on fad diets. Ryvitas, slim fasts etc.
And saying things to you about how you should watch your weight and whether or not clothes are slimming etc etc
this is what my mum did. And her weight was fine. Slim. Basically size 10 I would say.

i am just wondering how normal this was for that generation. It really messed me up and I feel sad for my teenage self

Yes that’s it. I worried about putting in weight and her being ashamed of me. I ended up with eating disorder. It was such a relief to go to uni and heal

My mum point blank refused to discuss anything at all to do with image & quickly shut it down if I ever brought it up. Never talked about diets, never went on diets as far as I know. She would just say there’s more to life than what we look like, be healthy but treat yourself and beauty isn’t all about your body & your face.

She was an alcoholic but my word, she brought me up to have high self worth.

I do the same with my DD.

Edited to add - my friend is constantly dieting/talking about being fat & her DD 9 is exactly the same, even t this young age.

Yep, and she still is on a diet and still talks about it. And has only ever got fatter. Very boring but her mother was the same.

Oh yes and constantly doing exercise videos in front of the TV. Who remembers Mr Motivator?!

Ah yes, the fatphobia too. Her mother was the same. Always talking about ‘the fatties’. We called her Angry Granny for a reason!

Yes constant. You’d be so pretty if you lost some weight.

Yes! I remember the feeling when coming home and I could smell from outside that the cabbage soup diet was happening again. Obviously we all had to do it. Deep deep joy that was.

Those of you with mums who didn’t do this. And taught you that you are valued regardless of your weight were very lucky to be brought up in that environment

Oh god yes; that brought back memories!

This was my experience from the age of around 8. She’s still weight obsessed now.

Yes also this! Going on holiday and her ‘needing to find a fat friend’. Utterly bloody awful. I hated it.

Yep and she’s 78 and still at it! We’ve had words about it around my DD, she knows I won’t stand for it.
She also took me to slimming club with her, weekly, from about age 6. God only knows why a room of grown women thought it was appropriate to allow a child to be publicly weighed and then celebrated or shamed!

I can’t remember my mum mentioning weight - hers or anyone else’s - even a single time growing up. We were all healthy weights and ate treats sometimes etc.

One of the greatest gifts she ever gave me.

Not really. She mentioned a period when she was overweight and unhappy in her 20s but I never really thought anything of it.

We did have ryvita and avocados at home...hmm... maybe there was more of a thing about weight than I realised!

She only once made a comment that I'd put on weight when I went to sixth form. Stuck in my head for about six months.

Other than that I feel pretty lucky as I saw friends aged 10-15 struggle with bulimia. I prided myself on not knowing how many calories were in anything or how much I ate until around my early 30s, and never had any sort of body complex really.

Actually it was probably in my early 30s when I did start to watch calories that I felt less positive...

She also wore ankle weights whilst hoovering and the fridge was stocked with low fat versions of everything. Red milk, fake butter, low fat yoghurts. Probably not surprising I have weak teeth and bones

That’s horrendous

You were very lucky to have this

I was a Mum in the 90s and I never talked about weight etc . I encouraged healthy eating, allowed rubbish food many times . Myself and my friends were great Mums and our children are happy,functioning adults!

Yep! Cambridge diet, rosemary connelly, cabbage soup, to be replaced with weight watchers, sliming world. Looking at her photos in late 80s early 90s she was always within weight, often fabulous but she was very preoccupied with diet. I'm knocking 50 she is mid 70 and nothing changes

Oh yes. For her a woman's weight = her worth

Yes, for sure! It’s only long after growing up and slowly seeing how few people had this that I realize.

I'm worth loads 😊

Yep, mine was on the ryvitas and cottage cheese band wagon. And the Rosemary Conley diet - I think we had every recipe book that went with it. And she went to the weekly meetings at the local church hall too.

She kept saying how having 3 kids would do that to you and we were to blame, so we all had to support her on her diet by joining in, solidarity, and that she used to have a flat tummy and be skinny etc etc! She wasn't fat then either though.

I just stopped eating in my teens, basically. My best friend had anorexia bulimia so I was very acutely aware of eating, alongside my mum's diet. I used to toss my packed lunch in the bin as soon as I got to school. Didn't want to end up 'fat' or let others see me eat, that wasn't cool if course.

I feel so sad for my teen self, writing it out now. I really want to raise my children differently, they're still young, but I'm not looking forward to the teen age.

I am 60 and my darling Mum if she was alive would be 92 and she did use slim fast but that was way before the 90s !!

80s teen. Yes constantly on one diet or another and still obsessed. I can't have a conversation with her without her mentioning either her weight, the fact she's bought something in a size 10, that she put in a 1lb so is being good ..... it's definitely given me major hangups about my own body and weight, I feel constantly judged when I see her.

All the fucking time.