To think if we eat and adopted some of the lifestyle of the europeans we would not be the fattest country in Europe.

[WonderWendy1]

I went on a med cruise two weeks ago we stopped in Portugal, Spain, South Of France and Italy.

I think of myself as a fairly fit size 12 (14 in some things). I would say i'm on the slimmer side in the Uk. I go to these european cities and the women (and men) are much slimmer then me and dh.

I was then in Paris for a few nights a week ago and I can only say my gosh nearly everywomen I saw had the legs of Taylor Swift.

Aibu to think we need to be doing what the europeans do to avoid becoming the American country of Europe.

Want to generalise a bit more there?

What is it 'they' do that 'we' can adopt?

I think they must be much more active and not have the junk some of us eat in this country.

I dunno.
I've just got back from a fortnight in France and look like I had pain au chocolate for brekkie everyday.

This is dated 2013, but it's the most recent I could find.

Europe's obesity league:

UK: 24.9%
Ireland: 24.5%
Spain: 24.1%
Portugal: 21.6%
Germany: 21.3%
Belgium: 19.1%
Austria: 18.3%
Italy: 17.2%
Sweden: 16.6%
France: 15.6%

Smoking Gauloises?

The number of fast food outlets in Paris compared to Manchester or London was astonishing. We probably have double the amount of fast food shops.

Spain looks very much like the UK to me.

Are Italians very slim? I agree that there is not the same level of overweight and obese people in Italy as here, but a lot of Italians aged 40 plus are at the top end of the healthy bmi. Op I feel like you might be projecting some body issues here.

Worra At least We top something

Wonder what their secret is?

I've noticed that most of the Polish girls living in this country are a lot trimmer than our British girls.

There has to be something in their diet that they're doing right, or, dare I say it, they possibly have more self-control?

Also the French love their macdo! You probably spent your weekend in St Germain, the Marais and the louvre - funnily enough there aren't many KFCs in Knightsbridge or Notting Hill either!

The Swiss are the thinnest. Perhaps the UK should start charging £25 a chicken instead of 3 for £10 op?

I'd say if you went to the state schools in those countries and observed the everyday parents, coming and going you'd see there are tons of fat people.

They all seem to be catching us up.

I was in Portugal this summer... It was packed with French and Italian tourists (it was a wine-lovers' city). There were stylish, thin women but also plenty of larger locals and tourists eating francesinhas and drinking far too much port. (I belonged to the latter group). Most of the overweight people were French or Southern European.
Paris is a fairly skewed example... Women elsewhere in France don't all look like Parisians.
Yes we have more overweight people than elsewhere in Europe but not by the huge margins that is sometimes implied.

They smoke more to curb their appetite.

Greece have the heaviest children in Europe. I read recently that Ireland is predicted to become the most obese country in Europe and they project steep rises in obesity in Greece, Spain, Sweden, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

I know it won't be what you want to hear but unless you're very tall, with current vanity sizing, being size 12-14 doesn't make you slim.

I'm 5'5" and size 10 in most things according to the shops (even 8 sometimes) and I'm a long way from skinny.

I think (generalisation warning) the young Polish women in UK are so thin because they spend every hour working at physically demanding jobs

I live in France and the difference in obesity levels vs the UK is very noticeable especially among children and teenagers.

The big difference as far as I can tell is eating patterns - French kids don't snack. They eat breakfast then lunch at 12, a snack at 4.30pm and dinner at 8pm. It is almost unheard of for teenagers to eat at school except in the canteen at lunchtime (and they are in school 8am to 5pm). I suggested my dd take a snack when she had a 4 hour exam one morning and she looked at me like I was mad!

*Greece has

Oh and we don't live in Paris - we are in a deprived area of southern France. Thinness in France is much less correlated with income than in the UK (at least among young people).

I'm in France at the moment and there are plenty of fat French woman about, I went to the supermarket earlier and there are aisle and aisles of shit cheap food. ! just the same as ours.

What I haven't seen much of here is fat children.. All the children of all the Europeans apart from the British are whippety thin as children should be.

Scandinavians are really into fitness and health, so I'm told.

When I was in France, Spain & Greece it was amount of smoking across all age ranges that amazed me (and made me heave a bit). Wouldn't want to copy that.