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

My mum was always yo-yo dieting. The best one was The Cambridge Diet. Dry soups and stuff I think. More late 80’s. Had these sweet chocolate type bars that me and my sis would pinch as nothing else in the house! Slim fast. Slimming world. Constant!

Not at all. We (family of 7) were all very slim. Mum was painfully thin as a child (post war London, got sent to the seaside for sun or something like that), got teased a great deal. Dad was from India with fine bone structure.
I only learnt that my Mum was 9 stone when she was about 60.

I developed an eating disorder as an adult after a very difficult divorce. It was absolutely about control and coping, nothing to do with any sort of body image issues.

My mum has always been skinnier than me. It's not through dieting or exercise but she is a weird and fussy eater (sorry mum) I remember her doing some home aerobics and that's about it. Not sporty at all but always thin!

It sent me the other way (not necessarily in weight fluctuate between an 8-12 most of my life depending on life factors stress/ babies etc)
But FOOD!! She could cook a few things nicely (she NEVER ate this nice food btw) I became a CHEF! I feed people, I spend my life thinking about food and eating all kinds. I've never dieted but I have cut back and exercised more when needed.

My mum and I couldn't be more different for food and active lifestyle!

She would have been great on super size super skinny, even if we look back now and judge the show. I would love to know the psychological reason behind her eating. I remember thinking so at the time

Did have a mild stint of laxative abuse for 6 months when I was 17 and going through some stuff, more about control than food looking back

No. My mum was fantastic and never discussed her weight or anyone else's in front of me. She was always an extremely healthy eater due to bowel issues so would eat less bad food than us but wright was never mentioned. It absolutely rages me now when I hear parents talk about their weight negatively in front of small children.

Women's fatness was talked about a lot, all through the 70s, 80s, 90s. Food was advertised as "making you slim" - which is both horrendous and a doublethink, but the shops were full of products that could apparently rid you from the curse of fatness simply by eating them. Sometimes they were presented as a necessity (if you can pinch more than an inch you NEED Kellogg's special k), more often as convenient shortcut to slenderness (eg don't bother going to the gym, just eat a st ivel yoghurt - incidentally I've just googled and the range was actually called "Shape" - subtle eh).

Oh God - Yes

The Cabbage Soup Diet
Hips, Bums and Tums
The Cambridge Diet
The Zone Diet
Weight Watchers

... and most recently the Seafood Diet - if she SEES food, she eats it! 😉

Yes, despite being a size 10. My Dad was (and still is) equally obsessed. They would comment on other people’s weight constantly and every mealtime, would discuss the calorie count. Not a good environment and I developed a very serious eating disorder in my early 20s (now recovered.)

My mum was anti sugar. Sugar was the devil food...

Endlessly.

From late 70s onwards - the Scarsdale diet, Cambridge diet, the cabbage soup one, Slimfast, Weight Watchers, the food combining one, the one with loads of grapefruit, the Fast Until Noon one, the No Eating After 6pm one…

She took me to weight watchers, paid for my weekly subs when I went to uni, offered to buy me new clothes if I dropped a dress size etc. Lots of talk about disguising or covering up parts that were flabby, shapewear and all that.

I was 8 or 9 when she first told me to lose weight. She always looked fabulous and was never overweight but worried endlessly about a couple of pounds this way or that.

No wonder I’m so fucked up.

No but I knew it happened but no different with those now obessed with those weight lose injections or what other obessions are going on with weight loss and miracle cures

Yes she did talk about dieting, more when I was little in the 1980s, but didn't go on about it or talk negatively about me or say I should lose weight. When I was a (tiny bit) overweight as a teenager neither of my parents said anything about my weight, which is great as I would have been very upset about it, as I was already getting called fat at school. I slimmed down when I was 17/18 anyway. My dad talked a lot about the importance of regular exercise (from when I was little not just then) and took me to his running club with him, and we went to the gym together when I was older.

I was born in 1992, and my mum has been on a diet my entire life, same as my grandma, both obsessed with weight.

It seems generational, my grandma is always commenting on peoples weight, what they eat etc.

It affected me (and now my younger cousin who is on ozempic) growing up. I was always self conscious about my appearance, then I had an eating disorder in my early 20’s, but now im the biggest ive ever been at 4w post partum and im really struggling with my body image.

My DD will be shielded from any weight comments full stop.

My mum was always on a diet. She used to take pills from a slimming club (which were a form
of speed).

she used to wear a ‘sweat suit’ to bed to lose weight while she slept and created terrible boils under her arms because of it.

she rarely ate in front of people.

No. She never mentioned it. Apparently she did do the grapefruit diet soon after us kids but she's never been concerned about her weight. She likes her treats too much!

Both my Dsis and I still had body image issues in teens/ 20s and I'd say we watch our weight carefully now. We were surrounded by the messaging, even if not at home.

90's/2000's, my mam was always "slim" her words, also "I left hospital in my pre pregnancy jeans after having you" probably bullshit but you get the drift, she was awful about my sister when she put on a few stone later in life, saying she'd "let herself go"

I have an eating disorder, it's under control (ish) but I can't honestly say it's her fault because by the time I was a teen she'd succumbed to complete alcoholism so she had bigger fish to fry, my sister did not develop an eating disorder

Yes, all the time. She still does now and she's always been a size ten or smaller. I've purposely never mentioned diets around my children because I found it really difficult growing up. She is also very judgy,still, about other peoples weight.

I wish there was a "wow" reaction option... some of these posts are 😮

I have many memories of my mum crying in changing rooms because she thought she was 'hideously fat'. She's always been pretty slim and at certain points extremely thin but still always sees herself as fat. It's sad, she won't even go on holiday because she thinks she won't get in a plane seat, she's about 9 stone! It's sad really. She's somehow not passed on the issue to 3 daughters.

This thread is amazing, I've found my people!!
My mum has been on a diet or preparing to start a diet "on Monday" since I can remember, I'm now early 40's. I gained a fair amount of weight with my kids and she could barely look at me. She was still a loving mum but you could tell she was disappointed in me. Kept telling me to eat stir fry because she would lose 2lbs eating a stir fry, and do some Rosemary Conelly barely moving exercises.
I've recently lost 4st with the help of WLI and she's delighted with how I look, always complimenting me.
I think between what we had from our mums and what we were seeing in the press, I'm always going to have weight demons.
I look at pictures of celebs that were branded as fat in the 90's, Geri H, Mariah Carey, Renee Z as Bridget and can't believe what the narrative was.

No never, my Mum likes her food ( she was a tall size 12) and would happily tuck into crumpets or iced buns after school with us. We walked everywhere (London childhood, mum doesn't drive) so probably needed those calories. Didn't stop Dsis developing an eating disorder in her late teens.

I always think this if people hark back to a supposed golden age when Brits were slimmer. There weren't any fat people on the beach in the 70s etc etc.

In the further back past I think there were food shortages and disease.

But by the 70s/80s/90s food was plentiful and upfs already abundant. People were thinner than today but half the population either smoked or had developed some type of disordered eating under the strain of trying to stay slim.

Same here. Quite a healthy role model in hindsight.

Yes, my mother was constantly on a diet but didn't look overweight, probably 10-14. She would allow one day per week for treats/rewards for herself. I was underweight, and because I did a lot of sport/dance, and so she never suggested I diet, but mocked how slim I was instead, which I ignored.

She would try different supplements, Slimfast etc, What I did dislike was that she'd buy fat free everything, low fat, and we all had to eat that too

My mum never dieted and was/is overweight but she would comment on a person's appearance as the first thing to mention about them when talking about them. As in "you know Jean who works in the post office, such a pretty girl with a lovely figure. Anyway her dog died".
It made me feel inferior because I never thought I was pretty or slim (and she would never say I was to my face at least). Objectively I was slim (not skinny) so it makes me quite sad she gave me those hang ups when there's no need.
Even very recently she commented on a family friend's appearance saying she was beautiful, such a lovely figure (not to her face I should add). But said family friend has had severe disordered eating issues in the past so I don't think it's helpful to anyone to be commenting!!