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!

Fluffy40 -

What to you constitutes being a Londoner?

MaryWestmacott -

This is a great analysis of why the OPs observation is true.

People who live in London.

All the walking and constant rushing around. No time to bloody stop and eat either. I'd be a size six if I lived there, every time I go there I walk 20k+ steps every day. Most people don't drive everywhere, jump and run from tube to bus to train to tube all day. It's bloody manic.

I think it's to do with all the things that have been mentioned already but particularly with the walking everywhere.
It's not that walking is some magic form of exercise that those that live out of London haven't discovered, it's because we do it everyday consistently.
I read a stat years ago that said on average dog owners weigh less than people with gym memberships, because of all the dog walking, because they do it everyday, unlike most people with gym memberships.

Oh and not just the walking, the running up and down all those escalators! My commute in London would be one set down at blackheath, 3 sets down at London bridge, 3 sets up at green park, then in reverse on the way home, and I always rushed as always running a bit late! Although I still make an effort to walk 2-3 miles a day at least now I'm no longer commuting, nothing quite gives you the "buns of steel" like a daily run up from the jubilee line to London bridge overground. In heels. (I need to buy a stair climber machine...)

That's true brokenhearted. I have a 27" waist and everyone comments about how tiny I am, yet in the 50s it would have been average to above-average, and I believe the aim was to get it down to something more like 24".

A lot more Londoners wear sky-scraper heels when shopping compared to up North, I've noticed. That and plleather trousers.

I'm from a poor inner London borough originally and my dp is from a leafy, suburban area. One of the big differences I noticed in our families is that mine walk and use public transport everywhere and none of us drive; his family members have a car each and some of them wouldn't get on a bus if you paid them.

Even after over five years together, the 'drive to the corner shop' mentality his parents and siblings have is a massive culture shock to me!

I dont know why people are proud of skipping breakfast, running up and down the escalators, not having time to eat, eating standing up, living on coffees or having to stay slim in order to be successful at work.?

bangs on I was born in Hackney, still live here - I have breakfast every single day of the year, never wear heels and am not in the slightest bit manic. I just wanted to stand up for the normal Londoners.

I dont know why people are proud of skipping breakfast .... having to stay slim in order to be successful at work

Um no.
Lots of us stay slim because its healthy

The three meals a day stuff was manufactured by the food industry.
Most healthy adults need one large, one small and one teeny meal a day at the most.
For anybody who is under 5'5 and slim, 1600 calories is a reasonable daily intake

Well I've had a play with the link that JessyRadclett posted at the beginning of the thread ansd it seems that Londoners (as a whole) are anything but 'freakishly slim' -61% overweight or obese. That's worse than Sheffield and we're not noted for sveltness round here!

Talking not always.
For example if you stay slim by smoking as someone has mentioned then it is not healthy.
Or staying slim due to stress.
Or staying slim by living on K cereal bars.

I dont think a hectic lifestyle and 'having no time to eat' is smth to be proud tbh. And i am saying this as a Londoner. Some posts here are a bit smug.

I think a lot of Londoners also work long hours [17% over 49 hrs a week v 10% in NE/ 12% in Yorkshire] and probably eat very little in the evenings.

Restaurant and takeaway food portions are definitely much smaller in London than outside it.

There is more food choice and the traditional British diet is not a healthy one.

There are plenty of overweight people in London, just not as many as in other places. it's because we're all walking so fast probably

According to the census, more people cycle to work in London than in the rest of the country, and of that they are twice as likely to cycle more than 2kms to work

Median age in London is 34; its 49.2 in SW. We were mostly ALL thinner when we were younger.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-trends/region-and-country-profiles/region-and-country-profiles---key-statistics-and-profiles--october-2013/key-statistics-and-profiles---london--october-2013.html

I'm said that Londoners are seen as maniacs who chain smoke their way from their stress-filled media meetings, barging up escalators, eating the cucumber out of a sandwich and throwing the rest away, having a quick heart attack then sprinting off to another media media.

The photo is my journey from home to the post office. In the middle of Hackney. It's not all twats in high heels.

"Sad," not said.

As has been said, it's not that Londoners are thin, it's that they're not fat.

I think it's a combination of

• higher socio economic bracket (which is linked to being slimmer for all sorts of reasons)

• more walking, more rushing around, more stress

• youth

One that's not been mentioned so much is the peer group effect. If all the people around you are size 10, and you are size 18, you will stick out and might be more likely to try to lose weight than if you were surrounded by size 16+ people. Also if all your friends have salad for lunch, go to the gym etc, you are more likely to feel that is normal and do the same whereas if all your friends get KFC then you will likewise feel that is normal.

I think walking is an often underrated form of exercise.

I currently live in a European city and have no car. I am walking 5+ miles a day and have never been slimmer and more toned. The children complain a lot but tough, it's good for them! (They don't walk that far, I obviously do the school run twice a day and they do it once).

I hate gyms and sport, except a gentle swim now and then or an occasional yoga class.

I have also noticed dog walkers are usually slimmer than average.

But I agree with many of the posters who cite socio-economic factors and levels of education.

And if you live in a city with lots of slim people, it is the norm to be aspired to. Equally if you are surrounded by overweight people, that is the norm and so you don't feel too bad if you gain weight, and of course the weight slowly goes on over the years, gradually, until you have a real problem.

x-post minipie!

they have more pride in how they look.

Last time I went to Blackpool I saw a LOT of fat people. This month in London, I saw hardly any fat people.
Why is that?

Yes to all the explanations above but also to the fact that most Londoners live in flats, not houses. Even when they live in houses, they're usually three or more storeys because of lofts etc.

So stairs, and lots of them, at home, at work and on the tube, are a big part of our daily life. Great cardio.

Used to live on the fourth floor and now live on the first floor and am convinced I've gone up a dress size as a result.

Culture and peer pressure.

Was recently in a small village in Forest of Dean, overweight women in rollers, jogging bottoms, fag and pastie in hand.

Home counties town where I live close to London is like being on a totally different planet. Very slim women drinking skinny lattes fresh from the gym, all dressed in Sweaty Betty exercise gear - zero chance of seeing either populace in their opposing places of residence.

Is it a youth thing? I'm a middle aged getting fatty and when I was young, single and skinnier (never that thin tbh) I lived in Fulham. Where there was lots of others the same. To do with certain types of jobs etc?? Very unscientific view there....