To not know whether people are getting fatter or thinner?

[giantwaterbottle]

I am trying to lose weight (again!) and I can't figure out whether people (in the developed world) are getting thinner or fatter. I keep reading that the population is obese/getting fat but then it seems like their are so many gym bunnies and slim people around (although I will say this is mainly on social media/TikTok) but there seems to be such a weight loss/health kick about where everyone looks tiny and fit, and is wearing corsets and amazing cosmetics and just generally looks amazing, but is the opposite the reality? And if so how do people feel about this!? Does it make you want to just give up before you even begin? I don't know..I can't figure it all out. I do think when I go out I see quite a lot of larger people but also loads of young very slim and fit people.

I dispute that there are plenty of women in the healthy BMI range wearing a size 16! I'm classed as overweight (BMI 25.1) and I'm wearing a size 10-12 at 5ft 6. At my heaviest I was a 16 on my bottom half and almost into the obese range. People have lost track of what a healthy size is because we're so used to seeing people who are drastically overweight. I'm sorry, but in terms of body fat, a size 16 is big for anyone of around average height.

I agree with that. There's also a lot of paranoia about managing weight and triggering anorexia. While anorexia is a horrific condition, it's not the only eating disorder and we do have an eating disorder epidemic one way or another, but binge eating is culturally normal and often even encouraged.

Scales certainly aren't the be all and end all (tape measures can give useful data) but people are afraid to monitor their size until there's some kind of crisis point and you're then talking multiple stones and we all know the pitfalls of that.

It's huge and complex. You've got generational clash of "clear your plate" with tasty, calorific food, larger plates/ portions, easier and more practical to grab convenience foods than buy/ cook fresh. Foods like bread are not what they were 30+ years ago. People swapped smoking for comfort eating. Overweight is visually normal.

I've gained this year due to injury affecting my activity level, plus DS has a different injury affecting his time on feet so we're doing less at weekends. I had lost my lockdown gains and it's back again. I'm a short pear shape, size 10, most people would think I was pretty tiny and I am relatively small for 40+ but BMI is putting me in the overweight band and I can feel it. It takes a lot of personal drive to address and it is tough to sustain that when the odds of society are stacked against you.

Whichever pp said nobody’s allowed to say it any more - ‘fat shaming’ etc., too right - even MN is at it. The weight loss thread description says, ‘Big, slim, whatever…’.
Too afraid to use the F-word!

IMO we could do with a bit more fat-shaming in the U.K., and I say that as an ex size 10 who’s now a 14 and a half, and could certainly do with losing a stone or two.

I think people are generally getting bigger. Obesity is now pretty normal, I’m sitting here overweight but cba to lose weight as I still get clothes to fit and don’t stand out.
But yes, the shape has changed in thin people too. If you look at photos of actors from years ago, compared to actors these days, they are both thin, but modern day actors are more
muscular.

I am definitely getting fatter.

I really notice this when I come home to the UK - people are definitely getting fatter and even young adults are often obese. And I'm not judging anyone, it's just there to see! Where I live there are definitely some overweight people but not so many young ones.
So it's just food types and less activity that's making people fatter?
There's a thread (about a podcast) about Ultra Processed Foods which is really interesting. Evidence is growing that UPFs really cause a lot of obesity, more than lack of exercise.

Sorry but a size 16 is big, I think we are screwed when we don't recognise that.

Maybe a view that isn’t well liked but the body positive movement hasn’t done us a lot of favours. As someone who is now diabetic due to eating crap and allowing myself years of an unhealthy lifestyle and being overweight I can with my hand on my heart say there is nothing positive about being over weight and obese.
I have had a complete rethink now and got down to my weight down to more healthy levels and got control of my blood sugar but the damage is already done and I will always be diabetic now but hopefully with healthy diet and life style changes I can minimise further risks to my health.
Now people who knew me at my fatist( I was a size 18/20) rather than supporting me now like to say I am too thin and and will make myself ill and need to put on some weight. When in fact I am now a size 10 and the healthiest I have been in 30 years.

Exactly. When I say I am fat, people tell me I'm not. That's just lying, I quite clearly am fat. I maybe don't show it as obviously as someone with a big belly, I am tall so it's spread out well, I don't have a massive stomach and I can hold myself well, but I'm still obviously fat. I am big, I could easily lose a few stone.

People need to be more honest I think. You can be honest in a nice way. It doesn't have to be rude.

I think peoples perception of slim has changed. I am overweight, but I wasn't always. I've been terribly underweight (BMI 16), healthy weight and overweight. When I was a healthy weight, people used to still tell me I was too thin. Now I'm overweight, if I say no to a cake, or choose a salad, I still get comments about being thin.
"Oh have some cake, you must only be a size 8 at most!"
No, I'm a big size 12, bordering a 14.
So people definitely perceive me as slim, even though I'm 5 foot 5 and 11 stone, with visible wobbly legs and tum and a massive bum. Bonkers.

@Proudboomer well done loosing that amount of weight.

@emmathedilemma , average height is 5'4".
I'd agree that a size 16 on a 5'4" woman does sound big, but there are plenty of women who are taller than average. Their frame will be in proportion and they might even be underweight.

Size 16 isn't big. People may have lost track of what is normal, but your dress size is affected by your bone structure as well as your body fat

I do resent to people using euphemisms like curvy and big, when what they mean is obese or fat

I don't think enough is said about the effect antidepressants and other meds have on weight gain. Most of the overweight and obese people I know (myself included) are on heavy meds. One of the side effects of mine is binge eating which I struggle with anyway, but even when I was on a calorie controlled diet it was much harder to lose any weight whilst on the meds. Came off them, got thin, life stress, anxiety and depression resurfaced and back on the meds, put on 9lbs without consciously eating anymore. It's a nightmare and so many people are on meds these days, they hand them out very easily as though they have no side effects, and then people don't realise until the weight is already creeping on

At what height though? I’m 5’10 and when I was a size 16 I was right within my healthy weight range. Of course at 4’10 it would be a different matter.

One thing I wish they would do, is get rid of clothes sizes. Just have the measurements. Banish any ambiguity.

Dinoteeth Thankyou. I being diagnosed diabetic was the wake up call and if I didn’t want to die early with years of ill health before I got there I had no option but to change.

I am a small woman. Not fat, but would never be described as skinny. I am what would properly be defined as curvy; large boobs, small waist. I bet in the clothes sizes of my childhood, I’d have been a 10 or a 12. I now buy an 8 maximum; tried on a dress in a 6 in a high street shop last week and it was miles too big. Clothes sizes have got noticeably larger over the past 20 years, which presumably reflects people getting bigger.

I definitely think perceptions have changed.
Clothes sizes including children's clothes are really wide.

I have an average kid and a really slender kid. Trying to find stuff for my slender kid is a nightmare. School stuff not so bad Next & M&S do slim fit with adjustable waists but trying to find joggers and pjs is a challenge!

I think it depends where you live. Where I am in London, the parents at my children’s school are all slim. When I go to visit my family in the midlands, the town seems to be full of large people. It’s a different socio-economic group.

I’m surprised anyone would think the country is possibly getting thinner. We’re getting fatter generally, but it’s definitely worse in the younger generations.

Speaking as a teacher, the level of obesity in children and teenagers these days is staggering. I work in a girls school so only see it from that perspective, but I would expect anyone who works with boys would tell a similar story. We have pupils in year 7 and 8 who already struggle to do PE, and of our year 11 cohort this year I can think of about half a dozen who must be in the region of 20 stone if not already over it.

It really is quite scary thinking about what the future is going to look like if this carries on.

Those childs adjustable waists stop the trousers from falling down but the material is just bunched up around the bum and looks awful and must be uncomfortable.
I son had to put up with it for years until he reached his teens and was tall enough to go into mens trousers then I bought him black trousers for school from top man in skinny extra small as they were smaller than a 13 year olds school trousers from any of the high street shops.

of our year 11 cohort this year I can think of about half a dozen who must be in the region of 20 stone if not already over it.

😮20 stone teenagers OMG that's scary. And you say girls school so presumably private with higher income parents. That's really worrying.

I've always thought there must be a link here.

Well we can’t afford to keep people alive for as long so maybe this actually does the country a favour? Maybe that’s why no policies actually change anything?

@Proudboomer I know exactly what you mean. They can't be that comfy. And there is a limit to how much stuff can be pulled in.
I've had the defensive Granny say 'but they have an adjustable waist' but there is a limit to what you can adjust.