Is it just me or are Londoners freakishly slim?

[manicinsomniac]

Not all of them obviously. And I don't mean that individuals are unusually thin. More than the population as a whole seems to be much thinner than the UK population in general.

I went in to London yesterday evening to meet a friend who was very late so I had lots of time to indulge my nosy, people watching habit (usually I just rush from A to B and don't look at anyone). And after a while it really struck me that almost everyone was slim.

So, now I'm wondering if it was a coincidental thing or not. And if not, then why is this?
Because so many people don't have or don't use a car?
Because, on average, the population of London is perhaps younger than the UK average?
Because, on average, Londoners are wealthier than the UK average?
Because so many artsy people whose weight/looks affect their jobs in some way live in London?
Because London is more multicultural than anywhere else and some ethnicities are genetically smaller and some cultures eat a different (better?) diet?

Or something else I haven't thought of.

I just thought it was interesting. Apologies if it really isn't!

I'm in central London and I very much agree with you op. I think it's a lot down to people are more image conscious, more active and generally wanting to be healthier.

So the rest of the country are all poor lazy fat uneducated lard arses?

I must be the only one't find the tube conmute slimming
Especially the bloody. Liverpool Street St.
The smell of melted cheese and ham croisants makes me hungry.

When I worked in London among my peer group I'd say it was down to the fact we worked a 12 hour plus day, and didn't get meal breaks. Half the time we didn't eat, at all. The job was also very high stress so we'd hit the gym after work to let of steam. Plus I walked everywhere, never used a car or cab, and only got the tube when absolutely necessary. It's a much more frenetic life and not a particularly healthy one. You burn out young.

I wonder is demographics play a part as well? It's a very multicultural society, and other races and cultures have slighter physiques.

Overall though I think it's part of maintaining a professional image

Agreed.

I work in a non-glamorous job (finance) and there are hardly any fat people. Maybe a few of the older partners (who are constantly having itsu for lunch but their round bellys never seem to shrink!) but hardly anyone else.

I agree. I'm in Central London. As far as I can tell there is no children or staff at my children's school and nursery which are at all overweight. All average. At both my and dh's office everyone is average also.

We also do walk miles everyday. Children stop using prams much earlier as pain on tubes/ full buses, and most friends seem to have similar ideas with food. Ie I can't say my children have ever been on a play date and been offered crisps/ chocolate etc, would always just be fruit.

I think people also make more effort to get outside as it's not so easy. Ie many live in flats so can't just open garden door and let kids choose to go out, they have to all make an effort every day to walk to local parks

This going to be a fun thread!

The poorer parts of the UK are eating themselves to death. Londoners instead remain at healthy weights. It is the rest of the country which is conning itself into thinking it's normal when women weigh 16 stone.

Yes you heard it here - for average height women 8 - 10 stone is actually a normal healthy weight and 14 stone is fat. Look in mirrors when you have nothing on if you think being heavy is fine.

When I give conferences I can tell just by clothes and weight half the time which delegates work in good companies where pay is high and entrance qualifications difficult to get and which (the heavier ones) have not done as well or are from poor areas. There is getting to be a huge divide. Yet being slimmer is not more expensive. Just cut a meal a day and eat no snacks. Only drink water. These things cost absolutely nothing.

Because they are much richer on average.

Greengrow, I find your position on obesity incredibly naive.

It's not really a 'London' thing. It's just going to be certain places where the incomes are higher and people have more money to spend on food and leisure, but also where people put more emphasis on image. Not saying that people outside of those areas don't do any of those things, just there will be a larger percentage of people like that in certain areas.

It's probably quite sadly got a lot to do with income. Of course you can easily be healthy on a limited budget - but it's easier to do it when you've got more money.

Green Whilst I agree with your analysis, I find it depressingly self-reinforcing. Especially this bit:

When I give conferences I can tell just by clothes and weight half the time which delegates work in good companies where pay is high and entrance qualifications difficult to get and which (the heavier ones) have not done as well or are from poor areas. There is getting to be a huge divide. Yet being slimmer is not more expensive. Just cut a meal a day and eat no snacks. Only drink water. These things cost absolutely nothing.

I work for a great company and boy was it hard to get my job. I am relatively successful. But the utterly, utterly depressing thing is that I view maintaining my weight and figure as an integral part of being successful at my job. Image matters to success in my field. For women that is. I think when you dig into it, it's linked to perceptions around discipline and control. I find the whole thing utterly depressing and yet I buy into it.

Yes to getting rid of buggy sooner. When we holiday in the rest of the UK people are amazed at how far my DTs can walk (at 21mo). I am salivating for the day I can ditch the fucking double buggy. Frankly my dreams centre around it!

So there are no overweight people who live in London then?

I find that very hard to believe.

Of course there are usual, but there are many less in central London - people who work in the city or up west / going for a night out, etc.

Being slimmer is much more expensive

If you had unlimited money every day and you were in Pret you'd likely pick the 3 quid tiny bag of pomegranate seeds and the 6 quid tuna salad because you wouldn't be thinking about 'value for money' - you'd only be thinking about you and your health

You wouldn't be thinking about how that 10 quid could pay for 3 days meals for your family - and you wouldn't be in Poundland buying 40 bags of crisps so your children always had treats

With unlimited money after a flurry of croissants and posh chocs we'd all be healthy as fuck and we'd be spunking our money on some other fucker preparing a little pot of exotic fruit instead of occasionally having a fight yourself with one of those really hard to get into, pineapples

I don't understand why people think that living rurally equals sedentary lifestyle, it doesn't always follow. Not all these thin people floating around central London live in London, many are there for work and will have commuted in. I live in commuter-ville and I see very few over weight people. I think its a wealth thing.

I'm from Blackpool, my brother lives in London. I've NEVER smoked, EVER, (my brother has!) I've recently put on 2 stone & have lost 1 stone 1 1/2lb since the beginning of September.
Putting on weight has nothing to do with being from Blackpool, but more to do with having a mastectomy & being disabled: spending 3 months in a wheelchair.
Before my accident & b. Cancer, I used to run, hike, cycle & ski.
I have a degree + 2 post-grad university qualifications.
I still have a broad Lancashire accent.
Where do I fit on the stereotype spectrum?

Oh, ps, I live in a very rural area & keep chickens!

I'm sure some Londoners on MN forget that some of us fat people live in other parts of the country.

As others have said I think its partly a socio economic thing, partly all the walking we do in London and partly an image conscious thing.

Other big cities are the same. I have travelled a lot in the US. Inland Florida has a lot of obese people - lots of cheap and nasty fast food outlets, a mall culture and nobody walks anywhere. NYC, though, is teeming with thin, fashionable people.

Greengrow there's always one..
Saying most women should weigh a particular weight is goady and not true and you know that.
Many people are highly educated but don't earn a lot. There are lots of professions that don't pay much but you must be educated to do. We aren't all money grabbing. There are also successful and intelligent people of all sizes.
Does anyone have any stats on Londoners or is this all guessing?

I don't think it's to do with where you come from. Just because you live in somewhere outside of London doesn't mean you will be overweight, just that there is a higher percentage of overweight people there.

It's partly to do with the way people working in jobs in London (not necessarily from London) are expected to look - think the City, bankers, lawyers, PA's, posh office-wear. And people working in shops, etc It's more the norm to look slim - very slightly overweight and people try to keep to the norm?

Its not to do with stereotypes the OP was merely wondering if people in cities like London are slimmer because they end up walking more whereas people in rural areas may not do as much because they need to drive to places.

Just like you couldn't exercise much because you were in a wheelchair.

I live in London and I know I walk more than I ever did when I lived in at home in Kent and that is because 1) everything is close by and 2) its much quicker to get anywhere in London by walking especially in central london

My sister regularly walks two miles from charing cross to her workplace and back again and it is rarely a leisurely walk more of a brisk walk especially when trains into London are late so she gets decent amount of exercise everyday. For her its quicker to walk than to get the bus as central is typically gridlocked in the morning.

Then it's not to do with Londerers walking everywhere is it?

It's more likely the expensive gym memberships and zumba classes or whatever the latest get fit thing is.

If you have an image to maintain I mean.

I don't think for a minute it's because Londoner walk more than anyone else.