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?

@SerenDippitty wow what a fantastic picture. They all look fit and healthy- which is what i mean when i say slim.

Not read full thread as it's now 7 pages! But recall being at school in the 80s and there was one or two tubby kids in the school but now, when I've taken my daughter to swimming lessons, I've noticed a lot more overweight kids.

Multi packs and personal transport plus the over reliance on effing takeaways.
We are turning into a nation of fat wobbling slobs!!

Speak for yourself dear.

I agree food is more readily available and people just don't tolerate or expect to be hungry in the way they used to. A pp made a good point about height and dress size though. Like the Dutch and the Americans and other well fed post-war nations we are getting taller and therefore bigger all round. My mum was considered a giant in her family (born just after the war) because she had size 5 feet and was 5'2. Her mum (born in the 1920s) was about 4'11 with size 3 feet. I am 5'7 with size 7 feet. My daughter is going to be taller than me and already has bigger feet. We are all very slim but there's no way I'd fit into one of my grandmother's miniature 1940s dresses. I'd have to be proportioned like a Barbie doll.

It's probably already been said on one of the previous 12 pages but plates and dessert bowls, plus cups and mugs were all much smaller. Therefore portions were automatically smaller, as has been said above.

I remember going into the newly-opened Pizzaland in Leicester Square in the mid-1970s and eating pizza for the first time. I couldn't believe the size of the pizza on the plate and remember saying "I'll never get through all of that!" In actual fact the pizza would have been smaller than a current Pizza Express model, but the portion was far in excess of what I would normally have eaten meal-wise back then.

Slim wasn’t necessarily healthy back then. Most people died well before 50 (often suddenly) despite being perfect size 10/12s.

Cherries we’re talking about 1960s not 1860s

Someone who were adults in the 60s would have been born between 1920-1940. Most of those women did drop dead in their 50s.

I can relate to lots on this thread - our Mars bars were divided into three.
I wonder if heating played a part. I don't remember being hungry but I do remember being cold, maybe we burned off more calories in that way.

My mother was born in the 20s. She died at 93. Ditto MIL. My gran died aged 85.

Just looking at a class of 15yo from 1984 not one is over weight no one on a class of 26

Re weight and infectious diseases: many illnesses cause weight loss which can be very long-term. Serious illness in childhood can cause lifelong problems with maintaining a healthy weight.

Before the 20th century, it was less common to survive diseases like measles or polio. I mentioned before that my dad's friend still can't put weight on or stand quite straight due to having polio 60+ years ago.

Conference pear, central heating was not so common and calories are used keeping warm

It's surprising out view of it. Interesting thread.

Pure gluttony.

I lived abroad 29 years. Right at the beginning I took a holiday to the US and was left slack-jawed having never seen people that large - and it had been some time since I myself had seen 8 stone.

I'd visit the UK every couple of years or so and was shocked every time. Motorway service stations selling croissants and muffins 5" diameter. Giant megastore supermarkets with aisles upon aisles of junk. All you can eat troughs. The normalisation of pigging out in front of the TV after dinner. Takeaways at the drop of a hat.

It's possibly far more noticeable for those of us who were removed from the insidious creep.

My mother was born in 1918, she was 97 when she died. Two of her older sisters lived to be over 100. My gran, born 1884, was 95.

I remember reading a great article in the new scientist which suggested it is a combination of factors:
Central heating (we all used to be colder so we’re using energy to stay warm)
Smaller portions and less snacking
Fewer cars
More housework, particularly the laundry and lack of dishwashers and good vaccum cleaners
Less screen time

My mum gave me a skirt she wore in the 60s. I think it was a size 10 (that's what I wear in modern sizing), but there is no way I could get into it now - it was about 24" waist.

try and get in a medium sized dress from the 60's and unless you are a size 8/10 no chance

We ate very healthily at home in the 80s, no ready meals, some exercise but not loads... but there was always pudding! We were all very slim... but I was often so hungry that I couldn't focus. It wasn't until I was older that I realised that I didn't need to eat so much at mealtimes because I was able to space the food out a bit more. ..

So 3 meals and no snacks didn't work for me!

I'm still slim-ish but I think that's just luck and slim genes... the crisps will catch up with me eventually I suppose!

I was at secondary school in the late 70s and there was just one overweight girl there out of about 850 students! I also remember in my first week there seeing an older girl in the changing rooms with quite bad cellulite on the backs of her thighs and being quite freaked out about it, as I thought she had some sort of genetic disorder!

I do remember having a big appetite but I always ate proper food, not snacks (as they weren't readily available). After school I'd always have two bits of toast with jam at home, but then I went and burnt it off playing with friends in our local park.

my impression is pretty much yes

they say marilyn monroe was a size 16 but her measurements would make her an 8/10 with how sizing has changed for expanding bodies and vanity

I am currently a size 20 and if it was even as late as the 80's I'd have had to have clothing specially made or worn actual tents

My measurements going by an 80's size chart make me size 32

the 'fat' kid in the original willy wonka now looks barely even chubby and he was considered fat once upon a time

again in the 80's my mum had a friend who was considered ridiculously huge, her weight has not changed but she looks pretty normal now about a 16/18

any very slim woman now is talked about as if they are ill when they are a perfectly normal healthy bmi

it's all pretty mind boggling and worrying

I think we’ve lost sight of what a healthy weight should look like now. Particularly with children.

Most of these women did drop dead in their 50's
Absolute rubbish.