was everyone slim in the 1950s/60s

[ambereeree]

I've been watching old films and it seems that everyone was slim in the 50s and 40s. Even women with quite a few children. Is this reality or just in films?

More nourished skeletons.. look how big feet are these days, that's the bones growing more.

Yes, it was very hard to get shoes my size (over an 8) in the 70s whereas now it is easy as so many teenagers and women in their 20s have long feet too. The main problem I have now is that shoes are usually too wide.

Rose tinted glasses, people

Quite.

I suppose just not posting on threads that become a bore is not a an option?

It's no wonder there is an obesity epidemic. Tough love is what is needed, not pandering.

Yeah, if only people were TOLD they were fat, as they really don't know it themselves. FFS. Losing weight is difficult enough, but shedding your intransigent ignorance will be an impossible task.

Suppose it is, Villers.

And yet, here I am.

Oh well.

I have family photos from the early 50s and everyone in them looked gaunt. Were gaunt, really. Just got through the war, food was still rationed, they were as poor as church mice.

Argh, not the Marilyn Monroe fallacy again!! She gets trotted out every time the obesity conversation happens. I saw two dresses of hers in an exhibition - she was TINY. A current UK size 6-8.

I grew up in the 70s/80s, middle aged adults put on weight but fat children were rare. Lots of exercise, fewer cars, less processed junk, being told not to be greedy and spoil your dinner and there actually was a stigma about being fat.

Fair dos.

Sounds like a way to drive yourself insane!

I was born in the 60's. No one I knew or have seen from old photos is overweight. As a teen in the 70's I didn't know a single girl at school who was overweight. However lots of the males I knew had 'beer bellies' by the 80's

I agree I wouldn't want to go back in time.

It's often asked why the Italians and French are slim despite eating so many carbs and fatty foods

Also because they smoke more than we do.

Bravo, Mawkish! MN is obsessed with the past and what a great time it was because people were slim (never mind all the other shite like domestic violence and marital rape being legal, limited access to birth control, women still not able to enter some professions, etc). But hey, people weren't FAT!

carbi my headmistress used to say that you work best when you are a little bit cold and a little bit hungry.

I don't think they were.

I work in archives and so see a lot of photos of normal everyday people from across the ages.

Film stars may have been skinny but normal women were just that - normal. I'd say, yes - there were fewer obviously obese people but not everyone was skinny or slender by any means.

The diabetes is hitting the following generations earlier though

Possibly, but also very large people who get it younger may not live long enough to enjoy 20+ years of state pension and NHS treatment.

The way you say that makes it sound like you think this is a good thing. All these public spirited young people getting fatally ill and dying before they can claim a pension as opposed to the selfish OAPs who insist on living to a grand old age before getting poorly.

A lot of film stars were given amphetamines and cigarettes in order to keep the weight down. They were also given strict diets on top of this as well.

To the person who pointed out elevenses and afternoon tea - elevenses doesn't compare with today's snacking - it'd be a cup of coffee and a biscuit, normally something plain like marie or nice or rich tea. I don't know about others, but we never had anything to eat with afternoon tea at 4 because proper tea was coming along at 6.

I think we could eat rubbish food with abandon because there wasn't that much opportunity for it. Then when pizzas and ready meals and sugary yogurts became available, and it became the norm to eat a whole mars bar by yourself, we just carried on eating unhealthily, which is why people are remembering the 80s as such a bad time.

I can certainly remember being distracted by hunger, running around like a mad thing to keep my mind of it because I could smell dinner cooking but there was still half an hour to go. It certainly gave me a good appetite! But in those days children were praised for "eating well". At 10 or 11 I was out-eating adults, but I was never overweight.

Dress sizes haven't changed that much. I am exactly the same now as I was in the mid 80s so I know. They have changed in places like M&S and shops marketed at older women but they are pretty much the same in places like Top Shop.

tinklylittlelaugh

I love your name!!!

We had a boy at uni who used to eat one or two snickers every bloody lecture. A lecture is 2 hours. He was fat, obviously. It used to really wind me up because 1) it was rustley, loud and distracting and 2) I was taught it’s disrespectful to snack during lessons and 3) he couldn’t wait two bloody hours for some snickers?!?

MN is obsessed with the past and what a great time it was because people were slim (never mind all the other shite like domestic violence and marital rape being legal, limited access to birth control, women still not able to enter some professions, etc). But hey, people weren't FAT! I don't think so. It's just that this thread is about whether people were thinner in the 50s, so the other things you mention, while true, aren't relevant.

The way you say that makes it sound like you think this is a good thing.

That was intentional. Usually people start these threads to point out how all these fatties are such a burden on the NHS.

Mere these threads come up every now and again and go exactly how Mawkish stated. They're not about anything other than moralising and being judgemental, hence, you never see threads such as 'Everyone wore hats in the 1950s-60s' it's always about size.

@sayhellotothelittlefella sorry didn't mean to offend but you have to agree you're hardly the majority!!!
Thanks for all the comments guys especially those with first or second hand experience of pre 1950s.
I know a few posters said they don't like these threads about how fat we are as a nation but my question was asking if the films depicted reality.

You would think that everyone was so healthy in the 50s and 60s with all the supposed exercise and "healthy" eating they used to do. In fact it was pretty common for men to have heart attacks and die in their 50s.

I was a teen in the 70s and a skinny one too. But l saw from elderly people that skinny wasn't good as it signified poverty. They would pass comments . I must look quite rich now!!