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.

Bodies are bastards really

If we fill them with crap we don't need...whether that's junk food/illegal drugs/alcohol or nicotine, they're quite happy to accept it.

As soon as we stop doing that and start filling them with healthy stuff, they throw a hissy fit and start to crash and burn.

FFS they're all bastards, they really are!

Then we take the hissy fit as confirmation we did and do need the crap.

Last weekend I filled my body with 4 pints of lager, a bacardi and coke and a glass of wine.

Not once did it complain. In fact it was all like "Go on Worra, you know where the kebab shop is. Take me there, we both know we need the greasy goodness".

Next morning I want to get out of bed, but my body's like "Err fuck off Worra. You abused me last night so I'm staying here all day and not helping you with the housework. That'll teach you to treat me badly"

Fucking bastard!

I agree with ldnmummy that it is an income issue. Fresh, healthy food is expensive compared to sugary rubbish. In our local supermarket there are about 2 whole aisles full of things that have zero nutritional value (crisps/biscuits/sweets/fizzy drinks). I'm not saying never ever eat a biscuit, but I think it is just wrong to give more space to food that will actively harm you instead of to healthy food, especially when you know they are choosing to stock items based simply on which supplier pays them the most. Also agree that in Scandinavia people move more. My partner is from Scandinavia and he tries to cycle here (we're in a city) and it's awful - dangerous and unpleasant because there are no local cycle paths, busy roads and motorists are aggressive. So I for example can't build cycling into my normal day because I'm not a confident cyclist and wouldn't dare be on the roads ( as a pedestian, have seen loads of accidents and know deaths have occurred). I couldn't believe the size and quality of cycle paths in DK - you can see at once how people can be more healthy there.
basically if you have loads of free time and spare money, you can eat organic, free range chicken and organic veg, you can go to exercise classes or run while the children are at nursery or school. If you are juggling work, childcare and just scraping by, it is extremely hard to afford either money or time for healthy food and active hobbies. You might happen to have a job that's active in itself, but most people don't these days, especially women - it is all sedentary computer/till focused work. Scandinavia is also a different situation because it is very rural compared to the UK (I mean obvs there are cities, but they are smaller than UK cities and more cycle friendly).

Eating organic food won't stop you from being fat if you eat too much of it though.

And no-one needs exercise classes if they're determined to lose weight.

Sure, having more money can help but not if you're going to overeat and not exercise enough, to burn it off.

The quality of food consumed doesn't necessarily cause obesity, as much as the sheer quantity.

My Dad is 83 years old and has never been to an exercise class in his life. My Mum never did while she was alive either. In fact I'd hazard a guess that hardly anyone of their generation, ever went to an organised exercise class and yet very few of them were obese.

I think time can be an issue, but tbh I don't know if cost is as big a problem as all that, McDonalds isn't cheap now, most adult fast food meals now are more expensive than say a jacket potato and a small chicken from a cheap supermarket, it's a bit all or nothing to compare organic free range with junk, I cant afford organic, but on quite a small budget I do get red tractor meat, mackeral fillets are £2, frozen salmon fillets are under £1 a piece, mostly frozen veg, token fruit for dc but that would make up maybe 1 portion of the 5 a day veg being the rest. I'm shocked by the price of just a portion of chips now I couldn't justify the price of fish and chips. I would buy it that a lack of time and cooking ability/ cooking confidence could be a valid reason to survive on rubbish.

i eat frozen veg I cant afford fresh as well as things like eggs.

I'm quite thin, at 8 stone 2 and 5'6", but I do feel unwell if I go too long without eating and yes, sometimes shaky and weird. I'd say lightheaded rather than dizzy. 8 stone 4 is the most I have ever weighed while not being pregnant (as far as I know, I don't own any scales). I am a person who needs food little and often. I also feel very unwell if I eat a really big portion of food (see most restaurant portions). So snacking works for me. I eat quite healthily by choice, though, and don't eat rubbish for snacks. I do like crisps, but am more likely to eat a handful of cherry tomatoes/berries or a piece of fruit or a yoghurt or toast or just a slice of cold meat if I feel hungry. I also don't have a sweet tooth so don't really bother with chocolate or cake.

Yeah eggs are so cheap, and quick and easy. I often wonder why the food banks don't ask for eggs.

I've always eaten frozen veg as it's much more convenient

I don't think there's much difference between frozen and fresh, is there?

Rabbit i was saying that they are expensive. I totally agree.

Some people say its better because it doesn't hang around the quick freezing locks in nutrient. I don't know but I'd say it tastes as good.

Yes if you Google 'Frozen veg versus fresh veg', there seems to be no difference.

Oh really? miss understood but I do have an aldi near me I buy 10 large eggs for 80p. I think that's cheap protein.

If weight loss classes told people how much of their body was fat - eg my body fat adds up to 19kg and my BMI is 21 ..... the classes would be empty in a week.

Do you mean because people wouldn't want to hear the harsh reality? I'm not sure, I think it's a more valuable measure than BMI and I think it might be more motivating to measure the loss by fat mass/% - if you increase exercise that makes you build up more muscle, wouldn't that mean your weight would drop slower? So people might think they hadn't lost enough - and therefore get disheartened - if they just went by overall weight, but if they could see that the proportion of muscle in relation to fat had improved, they'd see they were going in the right direction.

I don't know, I am pretty sickened that half my body is fat (and it's probably more, as the last time I measured on one of those special machines was a few years ago and I wasn't at my biggest then) and it's somehow more of a motivation than my actual weight. Maybe that's because I'm trying to build up my strength/fitness after illness so building muscle is as important to me as burning fat.

Frozen veg is flipping brilliant.

I mostly buy fresh veg for bulk cooking, and rely on frozen for adding to meals for the rest of the time.

Sainsburys or Tesco here Rabbit.

I don't always practise what I preach but eating extra apples and drinking extra water in meals can both help and shouldn't break the bank as such. Apples can be bought in e.g. Aldi or Asda and water can be filtered at home through the tap rather than drinking straight mineral water.

There is something in apples that makes me feel hungrier. I avoid them.

Some frozen veg is brilliant, some (like broccoli) is shit.

Rabbit you may be thinking of fish, which on average is much "fresher" if you buy it frozen from the supermarket (unless of course you live by the sea and can get fresh fresh fish from the morning market).

Frozen veg has the massive advantage of being cheaper than fresh veg (here in France anyway), we only ever buy fresh seasonal fruit and veg, the rest is frozen. Oh and onions, unless they're for salads, we tend to only use frozen because it's so much less faff as they're so much cheaper.

A lot of those Obesity Promoting videos own Youtube are very damaging in my opinion.
Has anybody noticed that they are nearly always done by very pretty, very young people.

If you're young and pretty, you will look good anyway (no matter what size you are) and of course you will get lots of 'likes' and 'positive comments' - .
Youth in itself is beautiful!

The truth of the matter, is that not everybody who watches those videos and thinks ''well she's let herself get in that state and looks really good so I will do the same'' is necessarily going to end up looking like those girls in those videos if they get to that size.
The reality will be much different.

Unfortunately a lot younger people are being brainwashed into thinking it's acceptable and OK to go down that road.
Very worrying.

good points Jenen!

I agree with that. I don't think problems with obesity really kick in until the 30's or even 40's.
I think a lot of people don't realise the long term effects of been ng obese. Also, once you have been obese it's very hard to get your body back to 'normal'. You can lose the weight but it's probably going to be a long struggle to keep it off, and it's not going to look the same as it would have done either.
That's why it's so important to tackle childhood obesity right through to adulthood. Once obesity becomes the norm for someone it's really difficult to overcome it.

I always wonder if all the people commenting on how gorgeous the obese women in those videos and blogs are actually think so? Because when I see them I don't think they look gorgeous at all, I just think they look enormous and must surely find many everyday activities (like walking) really uncomfortable.