To wonder what exactly middle class and upper class Mums do to be skinny

[Humpy84]

I am a Mum of a two year old turning three July. Not an age that he can be packed up for long walks in buggy.

I have gained weight and feeling overwhelmed by everything.

I have noticed and I think it is obvious that middle and upper class Mums tend to be slimmer.

I want to know if you identify this and if so what is your weekly shopping routine, meal plan, how do you exercise with or without toddler/s, tips and tricks etc, diet plans, etc etc.

I DO think this is a class issue: it’s clear that income affects how we eat and live in general.

I think this may be true nowadays but certainly hasn't always been the case. Looking at photographs and knowing people who were very working class in family past, not a single one of them was overweight the only people who were slightly bigger were from a higher class and income bracket and they wouldn't be described as fat by today's standards.

I am a "middle class" full-time mum of two - my morning and afternoon school run plus journey to/from work takes 2h each way. After the kids are sorted I log back into work remotely.
Errors in my work can lead to serious consequences.
We have a cleaner. We use a childminder on Fridays only.
I am saying all this to put into context of workload/ stress.

I realised over the past 5 year that my weight had crept up by about 2 stone. I knew it was hunger that would lead me to eat stodge.
I just couldn't figure out how to fit in exercise - there really was no spare time in the evening to fit a trip to the gym.

I have now shed 1 stone in 4-5 weeks. I fit in three meals between 10am and 5/6pm. No eating after 6pm. No alcohol to wind down anymore. Lots of fruit & veg, eggs (v.cheap).

Exercise DVD 3x a week - I can easily fit in a 30min workout in my living room and then jump in the shower. So much more achievable than going to the gym esp when it's cold and miserable out, plus all that gym membership fees saved.

It can be done.

It can be done was mainly in reference to the issue with having no time or money for exercise.

I think its about not snacking. I was having wine a few times a week, eating what I want and not meal planning...but I do not snack. I do not drink now, as I am pregnant with our third child. I also walk everywhere and do not own a car. I don't take the bus or tube. I walk. But I also live near a lot of things so do not walk more then 10-20 mins max to get to places. I spend 2-3 hours in the park with my kids/dog on a sunny day. Thats it. An example of my diet today:

Breakfast - oatmeal with honey and cinnamon, small bowl of strawberries, 1 rice cake with dark chocolate on top. Ella protein ball.

Lunch - home made courgette soup (with butter and cream cheese!), plus salmon en crout

Pre dinner snack - breadsticks with two slices of ham, two slices of cheese. Rice cake and humous.

Dinner - Burger with cheese and bun. Drink ginger ale. One chocolate ball and two pieces of candy snuck in.

I am 5'8 and 61kg or 9.4 stone.

You had a snack

Well I’m 5’9” 72kgs and haven’t eaten half of that today so feel very hard done by and I’ve been out at a snails pace of thenike for 8kms better than nothing .... with DS humming fat bottomed girls all the way

Lol at

You had a snack

Loving this thread btw. Very interesting.

She did, indeed, have a snack

I've just realised I've had 200mls of freshly squeezed orange juice and a latte today and I"m not hungry yet. Might order a takeaway now.

Eating nothing is easier than grazing on healthy snacks all day imo.

OP I haven't RTFT (yet...it's massive!), but apart from eating healthily being essential, you really don't need money to exercise enough to keep your weight down.

A while back I read an article about how various rich female 50-something celebrities kept their "amazing bodies". There were photos of them all in bikini shots detailing their gruelling daily/weekly regimes etc. Almost all of them actually looked unattractive - very sinewy, muscly, over-exercised and sort of masculine. The only one who looked lovely was Liz Hurley and I was pleasantly surprised to read the only exercise she does is a long, hilly walk with her dogs each day.

Ok, she could have just made that up but she was in way better shape than anyone else, and she was the oldest one featured.

Health is wealth here in London area. The more affluent the area the slimmer the residents. I've noticed it time and time again. Lived in a super affluent leafy suburb at one point and I swear you could not move for joggers/cyclists in the local park.

Btw I don't fit that mould I'm a bit plump which is why I have noticed so much i think!

It is a lot to do with class and income. The Health SUrvey for England collates health outcomes against a variety of parameters and there’s a clear link between obesity land lower incomes, especially in women.
files.digital.nhs.uk/publicationimport/pub22xxx/pub22610/hse2015-adult-obe-tab.xlsx
I also suspect there’s more self censorship in upper middle class women and a sense that being overweight is an outward sign of unacceptable self indulgence and lack of willpower. A la Kate Middleton. In all societies and in all times hard to achieve body shapes are considered beautiful. Such as the extremely fat Stone Age women represented in statuettes found all around Europe. In our obesogenic 21st century being thin is hard work.

Class??? Class? Are we in the 1970s? Reality check required

It shocks me how much people eat to be fat
Have to disagree with this wholeheartedly. Ive been really fat and really thin and theres not THAT much difference with the amount I ate. Its a few subtle tweaks that makes the difference between what i used to eat and my present diet eg using fry light, skip breakfast, drink tea instead of milky skinny lattes. I certainly wasnt gorging on food.

Hi @humpy84

First of all, you’re a new mum trying to juggle kid, house, and law study etc so let’s stop for a moment and celebrate that.

My own degree took five years to complete because I got pregnant and then lost my job in the last financial crisis. Don’t worry.

Long story short, I piled on the pounds and something had to give. I felt horrendous in myself and those chicks in their size 4 jeans don’t help. What I would say is you don’t see what they forego and how they eat in private. I’ve been out for dinners where girls have woofed but then it turns out they didn’t eat at all the rest of the day. That’s nonsense and I’d never suggest you starve yourself.

What helped me was Bootcamo/hiit classes 2-3 times a week. It’s become a habit now and I miss it if I don’t. I felt shit to start with as I was so out of shape but the weight came off.

I strongly suggest you try a weight based workout. Do Zumba etc for fun but for body transformation you need certain exercises.

Joe wicks does loads on YouTube you can do at home.

Please stop comparing yourself to others - you are already amazing 😘

They dont shop in Iceland

Well they need to update the connections between class and obesity in my opinion.

When I was not working (as a single parent) I eked out what little I had and did cook from scratch, fried lots of onions, pasta boiled with broccoli and then a dollop of tesco ragu with passata and a bit of grated cheese on top was a meal.

Now I'm working I seem to be always ordering takeaways. I'm so middle class my son eats sushi from the local takeaway but with chips.

I'm not unusual in ANY WAY but I know that when I was that much maligned figure in society, the single mother on benefits taht was the point at which I/we were living the most healthily

I’m sorry I haven’t read the whole thread but as someone who has struggled my whole life with weight, I’ve finally started to change my minds set and loose some. It’s still work in progress but I gave up bread as I was having it nearly every meal. Choose better options, eat much less for dinner, it’s better to have more earlier in the day so you can burn it off and not eat past 6pm most of the time. I feel for u with a non sleeper as all my kids still don’t sleep and it’s hard to motivate yourself to do anything when sleep deprived. Don’t buy junk food but also have something if you really want it. The changes you make need to be small so that you don’t feel deprived!
If u can afford to get a sleep consultant and negotiate with your dh for your own gym time. Good luck

I think people from all walks of life keep slim lot's of ways.
it's not reserved for any class.
If you are having enough exercise and not eating crap then you won't be fat.
Plenty of wc people doing manual jobs or running after kids all day and housework.
i'd have thought it was the upper classes who indulged too much.

In all societies and in all times hard to achieve body shapes are considered beautiful

Such a brilliant point.

Ive been really fat and really thin and theres not THAT much difference with the amount I ate. Its a few subtle tweaks that makes the difference between what i used to eat and my present diet eg using fry light, skip breakfast, drink tea instead of milky skinny lattes.

Yet you've just said you now skip a meal and have stopped drinking skinny lattes so, yes, there is a marked difference in the amount you consumed - you were consuming more calories than you needed.

''i'd have thought it was the upper classes who indulged too much'' more likely they try new things more often but smaller portions

a study in ireladn (under frances fitzgerald) did find that working couples who dropped their children everywhere in the 7 seater were as likely to have overweight (not obese) children as families in receipt of lone parent allowance. The media didn't leap on that funnily enough. Time is the advantage that the media don't really acknowledge

i'm being facetious there saying 7 seater