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.

Here is a really fucked up thing about England (my range of experience)
If you go to a leisure centre to watch your child participate in an event - including those at an elite level - the food available to buy is utter shit.

What's that about?

I do a lot of moving looking after the children and working. I am under 8 stone at moment and this is fat for me.

Iamralph, I'm 8st 3lb and I physically couldn't pack that volume of food into my stomach in one sitting, and nor would I try because then I'd have no room for anything healthy later on.

But we're all different.

If you go to the supermarket in a non resort south european town
and compare it with the supermarket in a non resort north european town, the explanation is perfectly clear

processed food
snack food
fizzy drinks
cheap booze

you can either buy it or leave it on the shelf
nobody else puts it in your trolley

What I think is really fucked up about England is the vast amount of people who literally do not seem to have taste buds, and eat utter crap.

Just googled mayo chickens are 315 calories so 2 of them and cheese bites are less than 1000 calories.

It all depends on your build I was 6 stone 12 pre kids still had loads of mcdonalds even back then

I mean 'salad creme'? just wtf?

But just because you exercise it does not negate the effects of eating shit -surely?

I could lose a load of weight drinking coffee all day and wine at night - both totally dull my appetite - but it's still a bad idea.

DD has to take on a lot of calories because she's a swimmer.
I wouldn't give them to her in crap for the sake of her health even though she totally works them off.

all slim people think they are slim because they have superior will power and make better choices.

Many fat people think they are fat because something else makes them so (their mums telling them to clear their plate, their genes, their medication, the supermarkets, their friends, their work).

Some people are more prone to putting on weight, for whatever reason.

to congratulate yourself on weighing 6 stone, or 8 stone or whatever and attribute it to your amazing will power shows an inability to understand that other people may be wired differently (combination of genetics, upbringing, experience, medical history and class).

I never ever stop exercising or moving is what has always made me slim. I couldn't sit for an hour an watch a tv show without moving and getting up a few times. I think that is the key to it tbh. I don't do it on purpose I was born like it.

That doesn't make sense to me Baby because (medical conditions aside), surely those people who are wired differently, still lack the willpower to eat less/eat healthier and exercise?

I am another fidgeter, ralph. I even have a walking desk. I'm walking right now as I type!

Can't bear sitting still. In another context this is also framed as a lack of willpower.

I find my body regulates itself. I went out for lunch yesterday and had a starter and main, cocktails and wine. I didn't eat for the rest of day though, and I always prepare on eating out days by having no breakfast. I would have no desire to eat again

ralph
The multiple of anecdote is not data.

The point of the thread is that the data shows that British people are the most overweight in Europe.
That is caused by

• the availability of crap food
• people choosing to eat it
• increasing the market forces for its provision

If everybody skipped out the crisp, sweet and fizzy aisles in the supermarkets, the shops would not keep them there for decoration

I have read threads that you have posted on before talkinpeace I think it is different as because you have been overweight you have to deny yourself, whereas if you have always been slim your body/brain does it without you even thinking about it.

which might be the case except that all of my lean friends at the gym and through my life have to watch what they eat
constantly
until we were in our mid 30's most of us did not
but as 50 fades into the rear view mirror, every single one does - including the ultra fit former competitive athletes

I have slim friends and can't say it is the case for us as you just eat when your hungry. For example yesterday I wouldn't think oh better not eat after all that. It just didn't even cross my mind. It is just the way you are brought up I think.

Eat when you are hungry and don't when you are not. I have heard that is hard for overweight people as they don't know when they are hungry.

I'm from a country where women are generally slim. It's not because we eat much healthier and loads of veg and don't snack. It's because looks are still the most important thing about women, and if everybody is slim, there's quite a lot of pressure to keep your figure. Not saying this is a good thing, but that's the reason.

Hazlenut, I used to live in Argentina, it was like that!

I never ever stop exercising or moving is what has always made me slim. I couldn't sit for an hour an watch a tv show without moving and getting up a few times.

Iamralph.
So true.
I have 'people-watched' slim and fat people - in dentists and doctors waiting rooms etc and I have noticed that, on the whole, slim people move around a lot, even when they are sat down!
They will constantly move/tap their hands. Cross their legs, stretch them out then cross them again. Maybe have a stretch. Move their heads, get up and fetch a magazine. Have another stretch. And repeat.
They fidget a lot.
The overweight people on the other hand often sit like lumps of wood. They don't change position even once.

I watched one overweight person, who didn't even move his head or lift a finger once! In an hour of waiting. There was such stillness.
How is that possible?

That's the difference between fatties and thinnies. We thinnies fidget - a LOT.
We are always on the move.

Genetics have a lot to do with it too. Growing up, my BFF and I ate and moved pretty much the same as each other for years, yet our figures couldn't be more contrasted.

Genetics have a lot to do with it too.
Not on a population level its not.

Look at pictures of football crowds or festival goers in the 60's and 70's
Look at the same crowds today.
Same genetics, different eating habits.

^Look at pictures of football crowds or festival goers in the 60's and 70's
Look at the same crowds today.^
Same genetics, different eating habits.

A lot more people smoked then - about half the adult population.
Smoking suppresses the appetite, so you had more slim people when more people smoked.

The obesity levels have started to rise at the exact same time that smoking levels have started to go down.
Strange how the Health Departments keep quiet about that one.
We have swapped one addiction for another.

Agreeing with Worra as I always do on this topic; also TalkinPeace and Running.

The proliferation and sheer appetite for fast food is a huge part of the problem. It's one thing to eat fast food as a meal, why is it even considered as valuable for a snack? Most fast food is just too calorific to eat as a snack and it's not dense enough to keep you going.

I think many of us have just become addicted to the convenience and let's face it, 'taste' of fast food. It's not a coincidence that it's a multi-billion pound industry where considerable resources are dedicated to finding out what makes people buy this product and what can be done to keep them buying it. It's not a million miles away from the tobacco industry in terms of cynically cold hard planning and merchandising BUT, as Worra and TalkinPeace said, we ultimately have control over what we put in our mouths. Understanding the industry is one thing, trying to circumvent it and render that industry 'invisible' is very difficult to do.

I was a kid in the 70s. Money wasn't in great supply and there weren't the convenience foods that there are now. Kids were out and about all day long and after school - there weren't the sedentary hobbies that there are now, kids were out playing. It's very true, I think, that things become a habit very quickly - if it only takes 15 repetitions to make a habit, well that door swings both ways.

I don't know what the answer is; we can't halt these industries overnight and perhaps they have their place but we don't have peer pressure or enough cognisance of what is 'normal' (size, appetite, portions) to make the change so it will just have to come down to personal responsibility. There's no other way.

It worries me that so many people congratulate themselves so wholeheartedly for their fatness, referring to this as 'curves'. It's damaging and giving a massively distorted picture of what is healthy. If you go to countries where overweight isn't celebrated, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy because there are either natural or societal 'brakes' that prevent acceptance of fatness, so people ultimately take control of this themselves. It's tribal. Again, that door swings both ways and the mechanism needs changing in the UK.

As a skinny person I eat loads, and mainly carbs, the difference is I eat because I'm hungry. And being hungry makes me crave what I need, whether that's fat, carbs, protein etc. I usually eat sandwiches with 4 or even 6 rounds of bread for lunch, but when offered a chocolate or biscuit often say no, because if I'm not hungry food has no interest. And while I do eat crap, most of my calories come from meals home cooked from scratch. And like now when I'm in plaster, my appetite dropped of its own accord.
The big difference is metabolism though. I do have a naturally fast one, but, my body has never felt the need to prepare for famine and slow down/ store, as I've never followed silly diets, everything is converted to energy. I don't stay still much, or sleep much, and have a fair bit of muscle that's eating calories even at rest, and I love sports.
But much as I love my food and consume plenty, it just doesn't motivate me. Basically I eat to live, I don't live to eat.