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 agree with this to an extent - people in many (wealthy, touristy) areas of London do seem to be slimmer than the UK average. Partly I think it's the lifestyle (busy, competitive, pressurised, more self-aware and looks-focused), partly it's a culture of walking/cycling/using public transport rather than drivin everywhere, and partly it's simply wealth-related.

Having said that, I live in a pretty untrendy area of Zone 5, and there's much more of a range here - childhood obesity rates are sky-high, and people in general seem much less bothered about diet and exercise. Really notice the difference when I commute into central London for work - people in central areas are generally much slimmer and more polished-looking. Assuming you were visiting Central London, you would probably have been seeing a mix of wealthy people who can afford to live centrally, plus lots of driven, high-achieving (and stressed!) people commuting in from naice leafy Surrey/Hertfordshire towns - so not necessarily the 'average' Londoner (not that there is such a thing!)

I actually experienced a similar jolt to you when returning to London this summer after spending three weeks in Italy - people here in the UK seemed much larger, paler and 'fleshier' than those I'd got used to seeing there!

Thurlow - I've noticed that too, I'm one of the hords of middle class londoners who've moved out when they had DCs, to a good commuting area. You can tell the ones who've moved from London, they walk everywhere, whereas the more local people will drive shorter distances. The idea of driving less than a mile seems odd to me, that's the distance to DS's school. The woman next door has DCs at the same school and while there are no mobility issues, does just automatically get in the car.

I didn't grow up in London, but a couple of years there and it's just automatic to walk everywhere if possible, and your view of what is possible is greater. Looking back, I'm shocked that my childhood home, so many people drove to the train station from under a mile away, that would be a bizare thing to do in most of London/London commuter towns.

If you look at crowd scenes of ordinary people from fifteen or twenty years ago, there is a noticeable difference in the numbers of overweight or obese people.

Agree that people walk so much more in London. We go most school holidays for a week and I always lose weight. Here in South Derbyshire I am considered skinny, in London I look average (BMI around 20).

Yes, Mary. SIL will get in the car to go to 10 min walk to MIL's house. Amazes me. Bit of fresh air, stretch your legs... And I'm not much of a walker myself. It's very easy to get reliant on a car when you use it all the time. I'm not anti-car at all, but surely 10 mins of fresh air is nicer?

It's the first time in world history that more people are dying of obesity related conditions than starvation and that children are dying younger than their parents due to diabetes, overweight and the rest. It's the descent of man who had got taller and stronger and now is short fat and dying due to the junk he eats (food more than exercise is the problem - lots of large people think exercise will lose them the weight but in practice it's 80% what you shovel in rather than walking)

We live in London and do have a car but we only use it when leaving London. Absolutely no point using it in London (other than for supermarket visit) because you can't park anywhere.

I wore a FitBit recently on a day when I had a lot of things to do in various parts of London and I walked 8 miles in a day.

However, all the walking wouldn't make people thin if they were then going home and stuffing their face with donuts.

A lot of Londoners I know skip breakfast.

Where I live in an expensive village on the outside edge of commutability to London, it's pretty much mandatory to have a dog so even non-commuters walk miles a day in the beautiful countryside and people seem to spend weekends on the water or on a horse.

All this costs money.

Also, as a teacher ime weight and class status/wealth are closely correlated - as a rule, the more middle class and 'pushy' the school I've taught in, the lower its rates of obesity.

There's also increasingly a cultural element, though - my own borough is very diverse, and there are specific ethnic groups (in addition to White British) that are seen as having issues with obesity that are culture/tradition-based rather than poverty-related.

Yes, as another London teacher, I agree with that, TempsPerdu

Yes, my point above. Lots of Indian children and Ethiopian or Somali are still slim and indeed Chinese and Japanese. They are eating good foods at family meals, lots of veg and non processed stuff.

Slightly off topic (as a study in demographics this is interesting reading) but I think this is all quite a strong argument for the importance of walking and its effectiveness! I live in the country and walk the dog briskly for at least an hour per day (up and down hills) and it keeps me at a toned size 8. After years of unsustainable fad exercising such as gym, Zumba and aqua aerobics this is the one exercise that I've actually stuck at.

I will use the 'Londoners are thin because they walk everywhere' argument every time I defend my choice of exercise to my fitness freak dh!

Isn't the eating and exercise ration 70:30 though? I think it's more about cultural and class differences towards diet and exercise. Education and what everyone around you does is critical.

I caught a bit of a programme called The Kitchen last week, silly fly on the wall thing about different people cooking and eating, there was a family living in Wales and they just ate crap from dawn til dusk, it was totally normal in their community and house to do so.

Three blokes living together in a flat in London, all ate good quality freshly cooked food, clearly worked out in the gym. Peer pressure is unwittingly the biggest factor I think.

sulawesii it's not about the ratio, it's just about using that little bit more energy up to stay in balance, in the course of the normal day.
People over think weight nowadays. We didn't used to , because we were more active. Most people don't really overeat that much, and they could get their weight under control (albeit slowly) just through eating a little bit less and being more active. I know some people hate to admit it on this forum but it's the truth.

I live in Hackney and was born and bred here. I think that one of the influences is the abundance of green space we have. I have a choice of 3 parks within a 10/15 walk and loads more if I allow a bit more time. I've found that in the countryside a lot of land is privately owned, so maybe that cuts down on the available space to go for a nice walk.

DH and I don't have a car and we walk everywhere - 10-15k for a weekend potter isn't unusual at all. Anything under 2 miles is a walking journey.

I think that if you get a lot of exercise and feel fit then your food choices change. I've found that feeling fit makes me want to eat well - both DH and I have a BMI of about 21, so we seem to be making fairly good choices - not because we're anything special, but because our bodies help us to.

fatlazymummy I think it is though, it's more about what you eat rather than how much you exercise. As Greengrow (I think) said, it doesn't matter if you work out at the gym for 2 hours if you then go home and eat tons of rubbish. It takes an awful lot of exercise to burn off even a small amount of calorific junk food.

Of course the walking helps, I have a pedometer too and my average is a good 13,000 steps a day. I'm very active but I also don't eat much which is a good combination (just lucky that I'm built that way rather than having anything much in the way of willpower if I'm honest). I have team mates on my pedometer app who eat crisps for lunch and cereal for dinner and barely move an inch all day. They are overweight - quelle surprise. This is out in the sticks too with plenty of opportunities for dog walks, riding, cycling etc.

I think it's less about walking more in cities, and more about social norms and what is valued.

And immigration which can bring in a focus on fresh real food.

It's income related. Obviously not all Londoners are rich but incomes are higher in London and the south east than the rest of the country.

There is marked difference in poorer areas of London though and in poorer areas of the country. People are visibly much fatter and average life expectancy can differ by as much as ten years.

Such is our vastly unequal society.

Have you also noticed the height difference as well? I am 5'7" and feel tall in most areas of the country. But average/short in London.

I've noticed that since moving here.

It's also the more competitive job market which means people can make decisions on the extras. Who will clients respond to best?

In some industries, it helps.

I do think that cars are a large part of the equation. According to my pedometer app the difference between a driver's daily steps of (say) 3,000 and a public transport user's daily steps of (say) 8,000 is about 100 calories. Not a lot, but over the course of years and decades that really racks up.

I went to visit Birmingham last weekend and noticed people were shorter than I'm used to in the SE. I'm not sure why.

Most people you see in London are not Londoners.