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.

In the 60’s when my dm got depression the gp prescribed amphetamines.
Nobody will put weight on when taking speed!
Obviously it was withdrawn as an antidepressant once it’s addictive side effects were known.
Many current antidepressants cause people to put on weight.

I agree it's area & wealth dependent.

I'm an 80s kid, my mum & her friends were normal. Not gym bunnies with 6 packs.

I feel normal is gone if that's make sense. It's either skinny or overweight.

I'm not sure that vape suppresses the appetite as much as cigarettes. I quit smoking using vaping and put on a stone over a year.

My grandmother used to talk about how she would take something like that, prescribed by the GP, and be able to clean the whole house from top to bottom. It must have been the same thing.

TwinklingFairyLights Congratulations on quitting it was a worthwhile small weight gain

I do definitely agree that more people are overweight or obese now than when I was a kid.

I think vanity sizing doesn't help though as it seems to be used to fool people into feeling like they are smaller than they are.

Sizing is also extremely inconsistent from one shop to the next. I've noticed all the comments that a size 16 is fat, but it definitely depends where you shop. I can be a size 10 in one shop but a size 16 - 18 in another. My size didn't change between leaving one shop and entering another. My BMI is well within the healthy range, but I can well believe that if I was a size 16 in the shop where I'm a 10, then I most certainly would be at least in the overweight category.

Using measurements or standard sizing would certainly help people to understand whether they really are a healthy size or not.

The point being discussed above is that there is no height where a size 16 would be slim/healthy. Even someone very tall would almost certainly be overweight at a size 16.

would they definitely not be healthy? I'm sure my cousin wears a size 16 trouser. She is very broad but has less stomach fat than me. She's very active & probably about 13.5 stone. Also very tall

Thank you. I. Hoping black coffee and intermittent fasting will shift the stone 😃

I'd say that someone tall with a broad frame might well need a 16 in a tailored jacket regardless of body fat percentage. They'd pry the need the waist tailored in...

Perceptions have changed so much too. I was slim as a child, teenager and into 20s. Never particularly thin, not bony at all, just normal compared with my friends who were mostly around the same size give or take a few pounds. At 18 I weighed around 8 stone 7 (I.relember because I had to put my weight into a running machine and the coach commented on it). At 26 I weighed around 8 stone 10/12. I was about a size 8 trousers and 12 top. Looking at photos i was a healthy, not thin, weight. Now in my 40s I'm over 11 stone and wear size 12 trousers and 14 top so definitely vanity sizing. I'm 5 foot 5. If I was 8 st 7 now I think I would be seen as very thin, but in the 90s it was just normal.

There is definitely vanity sizing going on someone up thread commented they were 9st and a size 8/10.

It's circa 20 years since I was 9st and I was never a size 8/10, 10/12.
My mum was 5ft and 7st and a size 10. She might have gained but she's still a 10.

@MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler
It doesn't work like that. What you would end up with is people who have a larger percentage of their life as being unhealthy so it would cost even more in NHS treatment and sick benefits being paid out as people become too sick to work at a much younger age than retirement . Later on you question whether there would be less payment out due to people not living longer with dementia - don't forget that vascular dementia is triggered by heart disease / stroke - much more likely if someone is overweight, eating a poor diet and not exercising.

Agree with other's comments about the difference between lifestyles now and growing up in the 70s/80s.

Also agree people in lower socioeconomic groups/areas more likely to be overweight, and if everyone around you is bigger then this feels the norm.

I don't know if anyone else has been shocked seeing calories now on restaurant menus- just how many calories are in your average meal out. It's perhaps not so surprising that the giant cod and chips or gourmet burger has £1,500 cals - but a menu I was looking at recently even some of the salads were 800/900 calories!

I think people's shape has changed as well (as an average). When growing up I was a definite pear shape and I think that was quite the norm. I am now very much an apple shape - for me I know this is where my shape has changed as I've put weight on with menopause but an apple shape is definitely the norm now in younger people and the shape of clothing is different as well as vanity sizing .

Comments about people working longer hours now are interesting in that when I was growing up my mum was a primary teacher - she was back home at quarter to 4 every day unless a staff meeting - can you imagine that now!

@Dinoteeth , I have been 9st (and heavier) and been an 8/10. It depends on what the weight is. I was very muscly but looked a lot lighter than I actually was

People are definitely getting much fatter. Quite scary how so many people are in denial about it too. There are lots of factors at play but the kind of food we eat is definitely the biggest factor.

Is that a 2022 8/10 or a 2002 8/10?

I'm sure when I was 9st up until 2001 I was a 12. Including places like Topshop.

@Bighairydogs oh yes of course its that easy maybe tell the nhs and drs, MH issues have also gone up a lot simce the 50's

@Dinoteeth my friend is 9.5 stone always has been since the late 90's and wore a 8/10 even then , shes maybe 5 foot 5, carries her weight very well
Where you carry it can make a difference
My cousin is an 8 top but 16 in trouser, she has very wide hips but totally flat stomach
Bmi in healthy range , we aren't all the same shaoe

This has just turned into im a 8/10 at 6ft everyone a 16 is def overweight , no account that people can carry weight very differently , no accounting that MH can have an impact on weight both under and over
Just lots of judgement as usual

I honestly don't think we can say MH issues have got worse since the 50s.

An awful lot of people must have been suffering PTSD, just after WW2, either having been left struggling to raise children alone, men having seen horrors, they'd all have known someone who died.

I can remember people saying x is bothered with their nerves. It to a while for the penny to drop that would now be called MH issues.

@Dinoteeth why can't it? Different era , yes my nan suffered with her nerves and she wAs overweight also even in the 60's , not everyone was a size 10
But MH is more recognised etc , my nan smoked until the 60's and many people smoked so maybe thats relative to helping calm nerves
Medication can cause hunger and weight gain sometimes
MH I would say is worse , did you know many teenagers when you were at school needing treatment for MH ?

@Dinoteeth yet you can day for certain that no one who wears a 16 is healthy or is in the right weight for bmi
Despite people saying they know people of they themselves wear a 16 in some shops but have healthy BMI
What shape you are , what clothes you wear all make a difference
Im on medication and also have 1200 calories a day but can't shift much at all , its great to know everyone looks at me and thinks im unmotivated , greedy etc etc

MH might be more recognised but I honestly don't think we can say people have worse MH in the 2020s than they did in the 1950s.

I can't imagine the 50s lots of it would be 'self medicated', shameful, never discussed but that doesn't mean it didn't exist.

School in the 80s yes I do remember a couple of girls having MH issues but really it wasn't spoken about. ASD etc must have been there but not seen / spoken about.

Or you could say to hide their eating disorder. I've never heard it said in a way to make a fat person feel better but maybe you speak from experience.

People are definitely getting.much bigger, I remember going to the US in the early 90's and I was shocked by how big everyone was. Especially young people in their 20' s ( my age then). I think the UK has the same problem now.

I have always been slim , I have never been to.the gym .I am pretty active and have a good diet. In my 20"s I was about 7 stone ( I"m 5ft 2).
I am 53 now and I'm about 7 stone 10/12.