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

What would be the equivalent in today's terms, something like UPF-free diet? 🤔

Yep you have pretty much described by mum in the 90s

With added Rosemary Conley workout videos

Yeah constantly on a diet. Took me with her to slimming clubs from about 16.
The 90’s was very focused on woman bodies

Yes that’s me too. I was in my sons school the other day for parents evening and I noticed all these girls with their mums and they had all matured from primary age in to young women . And it sort of made me well up a bit to think how nice it would have been for me at that age to have a mum who let me develop curves and not shamed me for it every step of the way. I was utterly consumed by it

My mum was overweight and always on a diet, Cambridge, cabbage soup, slim fast. I don’t think she particularly passed it onto us but I recall it being tiresome, and as a result I never mention my weight (slightly heavier than I’d like to be) in front of DDs.

Weirdly my mum was also obsessed with us finishing everything on our plate (starving children in Africa and all that) and even now makes no connection between overriding a child’s natural appetite and encouraging a tendency to overeat. I could cope with the diet chat, as it was all about her, but the enforced food finishing has stayed with me.

Never said anything obvious until I was an adult but I was somehow low-level aware it was an Issue. In fact she was locked in a grim battle with her weight all the time. I think she did well to keep it so low key. She was an astoundingly good cook and we all ate like kings, she didn't eat diet crap or noticeably small portions but I knew she didn't take seconds.

Not at all.
It’s not her style.
We also had an adult living with us at the time who had an eating disorder. So that kind of chat was a big no go area.

Grew up in the 80s and don't ever remember my mum dieting. She was always slim despite being a chocoholic!

My mum told me that I'd put on weight when I was 10 years old (in 1995). It shocked me (i hadn't realised I should be trying to lose weight), and from then on, I was extremely worried about my weight and struggled for a long time. She never spoke to me about it even though she must have seen I was struggling. Both my parents were very fat phobic. I worry about my kids, but try and remember that I am not my parents! Xx

I was 17 in 1990.

No, my mother never dieted. She was very slim but weight was never talked about in our house.

This is me. And yes I remember the cottage cheese, fat free yoghurts and constant observations that we needed to 'be careful' what we ate. I was a size 8 and rail thin 🙄

No, never, none of it. She always ate very healthily (lots of fruit and veg etc) I was always under the impression that was because she enjoyed those foods and they were nourishing. She did take care of her appearance and liked fashion etc but I can’t remember her ever mentioning anything about losing weight or dieting. Both her and myself are and were a healthy weight.

Yes!!!! She had all the books under her the sun!! Moaned if she got heavier than 10 stone and she was fit and active and young really!! Obsessed by what was on the scales 😩!

No, not at all, though she criticised my weight then and still does. 🤷‍♀️

Yes, throughout the 80s and 90s. I announced I needed to go on a diet aged 6 and I honestly felt that I was chunky because the tops of my thighs were 'fat'. I felt hideous.

Nope. Almost constant narrative about how huge, ungainly, fat, greedy and offensively obese I was, though. I was some sort of terrifying behemoth, going by the way she spoke about me and to me. Slimming magazines bought and left on my chair with newspaper features and diet plans involving eating 3 chips and 7 green beans, low fat, zero fat, ultra low fat spread instead of butter, diet ding dinners, no sugar, no fruit, no meat that wasn't dry unseasoned chicken breast distributed by the teaspoon.

She was overjoyed when I woke up after a week of meningitis to find I'd gone under 8 stone (I'd been a shocking 8 stone 6 beforehand).

I hadn't even had a drink before she'd got out her tape measure and dragged the scales into the living room.

OK, I wasn't the perfect teeny tiny my sister had been - six inches shorter and chronically malnourished due to uncontrolled asthma meaning she couldn't breathe enough to eat a whole meal - but I wasn't 4 foot 11 and 13 stone 9 like my mother was, either.

Yep. She was constantly “on a diet” doing weight watchers. She was sent notes in the post from the group leaders saying they were “watching her”. This was partly what set up my…strained relationship with food.

Yes and I have an eating disorder (undiagnosed but I’m not stupid and sure I have)

Yes and no. My mum can't see a picture of her younger self and not tell me her exact weight. I know she weighed herself every day and was very concerned with looking fat. Wasn't into the low fat stuff but she's foreign and very suspicious of processed/convenience food. Exercised a lot too as insisted on walking everywhere and always a walk a day for us. I was aware she ate less than us and was doing one meal a day/intermittent fasting from the 80s.

On the other hand, a complete feeder of us and my dad. I was quite shocked to find out other families didn't have seconds or desert every day. Always encouraged us to eat because we were growing so I don't think I ever felt pressured to match her dieting. I think she did us a favour, none of us have ever been overweight and enjoy food but understand keeping a healthy weight is conscious not just luck for most.

Mine was French so it was a permanent thing. I was a teen in the 80s though, so it was Rosemary Conley and The F Plan. There was a lot of bran, cottage cheese, jacket potatoes and grilled brie with peanuts. However as an 80s teen it was offset by copious volumes of Cinzano Bianco bought with my dinner money and whatever alcohol was in the drinks cabinet.

I dont think my mum ever mentioned dieting growing up, the food we ate was terrible and poor quality honestly, but I dont ever remember her talking about dieting and weight

Sort of. Late DM was always talking about how fat she was, and every now and then she'd do a specific diet (the Chemical Diet) which she said was the only way she could lose weight.

I've never ever talked about diet or weight or anything like that in front of my DC. We've talked about being healthy and so on but never ever about being fat.

Yes and she's still the same. She has huge issues around food and body image. Weight watchers was a permanent way of eating for my mum. She was constantly unhappy and battling with her body. She always had a different meal to us,.constantly doing excercise videos in the lounge. Having said that, she would encourage me and sibling to enjoy food and be happy
She never ever mentioned our shape or weight. It was as if she hated the idea of us kids ending up feeling like she did. It's sad what society can do to women. Some of the tv programmes back then were brutal!

I don't remember her explicitly talking about it, but I do remember her eating Ryvita with lettuce and cherry tomatoes for dinner.

I was a very skinny teen, and she did mention that A LOT, especially in front of her friends, like she was showing me off. It made me so embarrassed because I didn't want to be a flat chested skinny rake, I wanted to be a curvy hourglass shape like she was!

My mum was always on a diet. She barely ate. Ryvita, crisp breads, that horrible st ivel gold margarine. 🤮🤮