Overweight Brits abroad

[Artyfart]

I know this will upset people but it’s time to face facts and I’m talking about myself here too. Just got back from second holiday abroad this year when once again it was painfully noticeable how overweight British people are compared to our European neighbours. We stand out a mile! Every time I saw someone fat I’d wait for it and…. British accent. We look a state and it’s time to do something about it. No wonder the NHS is on its knees. I came back more determined than ever to lose weight.

I have managed to lose quite a bit of weight since coming off the steroids (only after my 3rd fracture). But now I am in constant pain and can't walk far. I eat far less than my DH and he is as skinny as a rake. I am not obese by any means, but I am overweight, which is depressing as I always used to be slim. I hate it. I hate the assumption that I must be greedy and lazy.

This is a perfect example of how a classist society continues to screw over the less privileged. Affluent areas have less chicken shops etc and Middle class children have better health outcomes for many reasons. It’s time to address health inequality in the UK.

Exactly. I agree with every word of this.

Sorry it cut me off- you do get plenty of middle classs comfortably off overweight people too (I'm one) but it's often through age creeping on- good living- wine, nice meals out etc rather than living on cheapish filling processed food. I see it here in Bath- posher tourists sat with trays of sushi or poke bowls, less well off tourists queuing at Greggs or the pasty houses- and it's not being snobbish, I defy anyone to come here and not say it's factual . There are lots of fat Germans and Belgians by the way too- we go a lot with work- although big Germans are often still very outdoorsy- they just like very big meaty portions!

I'll ask you again, OP - how do you know whose weight gain isn't their fault just by looking at them?

And it's not just steroids (love your scientifically sound 1% figure though - do you have a source for that?). Eating disorders, inactivity due to illness, various medical conditions and more contribute to weight gain. How do you know who is living with what condition when you're judging indiscriminately?

Isn't it better just to mind your own business?

Do you generally have difficulties with dividing your attention? Is it really hard to imagine that someone might be able to make an observation whilst enjoying normal holiday activities? If so I’d be a little concerned.

Do you also worry about smoking, vaping, drinking is a massive problem, porn watching, screen time in general…
Or is it just the weight, strange?

People living on low incomes tend not to holiday abroad or even holiday at all.

And drugs.
That’s on the rising.

I doubt the single mum working two jobs has time for a run in the morning. The runners will be the white middle class city workers who now work from home. No doubt there will be a cortado on the way home after the run. Lower income families do not have the luxury of a pre work run or a gym membership.

I can only go on what my food tech colleagues are doing. I see many displays about healthy eating and food prep, but this may well vary school to school.

Oh no the fractures must have been horrible . I hear so many stories of the battles of people on steroids.

Yes it's horrible when people make assumptions about you, when you are fighting all sorts of battles to just keep going.

Yeah Brits tend to do extremes. So either it'll be obese or it'll be into running marathons/going to the gym compared to other places where the norm would just be slim people not overeating and leaving it at that.

You were on a holiday and spend it talking about other people’s weight? 🫨

Unfortunately malnutrition is one of the leading causes of obesity.

If you are poor you are much more likely to become obese.

If you were poor as a child, you are also much more likely to be obese as an adult. Because of the physical lack of nutrients you had as a child which messed up your gut biome/metabolism and the mental side where you overeat because of your survival instincts.

I think as a society we need to be teaching healthy eating in schools, not by policing pack lunches but by teaching people how to cook healthy meals on a budget.

When I was in school we were taught cooking but it was things like making an apple crumble, which is great but didn’t really help me as an adult when I had X amount to spend on food and needed to come up with 3 healthy meals a day.

Not just abroad. I’m on holiday in the U.K. and we have been amazed at how fat people are. Whole families of obese people. Went to an attraction yesterday, not a huge one but had about 80 people there. Everyone was obese, not just a bit chubby but outsized. Kids with fat bellies and chunky arms. Sad to see.

No one owes you thinness or health.

I agree with this.
In my lifetime (I am in my fifties) the number of overweight people has noticeably increased. In the seventies people overall were a lot slimmer. I think ultra processed food is to blame for the rise in heavier children, but there was also a definite social trend in the 70s and 80s for women to be on a permanent diet. Smoking to keep weight down, eating very little, Slimcea bread and Aids toffee things, saccharin pills instead of sugar. This was horrible in itself, adult women saying they’d been “naughty” because they had eaten a biscuit, the pressure on women to not eat. My very slim aunt smoked all the time (which killed her) and throughout the seventies ate mainly tinned tomatoes on a small slice of dry toast.
As a species we are not designed to be so sedentary and to have a constant food source, to be able to eat much of the time if we want to. It is really almost impossible to shut down biology, animals eat as much as they can, most of us have too much food available so we eat it, and now a lot of that food actively makes us crave more, and affects our physiology in hugely detrimental ways.
The only way to stop this is to not buy processed stuff. I am trying to buy a lot less of it, but it is so hard to resist completely, because it tastes nice !
It isn’t fair to demonise individuals for their weight when we are social animals and it is a social problem, parts of the world have too much processed food, and other parts have not enough food at all.

Totally agree with you but the fact so many replies have had a pop at you goes to show the real problem with todays society is ‘no one wants to take responsibility for themselves as individuals whether fat, thin, smoker, non smoker etc’. Much easier to blame someone or something else or point out where another country has a problem that is worse

What a horrible post. You are sitting on holiday , staring at people and sorting them into nationalities/weight? How sad . Can people not go on holidaying for sale at least without being blamed for the NHS falling apart? Please leave people alone to enjoy their holidays! I bet you are gorgeous, Op

You think the NHS is on its knees because of fat people? What about alcoholics, drug addicts, weekend drinkers that get in to accidents, diabetics, cancer patients 🤔

Actually it's none of those. It's the chronic underfunding by this tory government

@TragicMuse No they owe themselves it and their children. As part of a functioning society with a welfare state actually people have a responsibility to look after themselves if the cost of taking care of them due to poor choices falls on other members of that society.

Oh so Brits,are also very thick and don't understand anything about sunburn as well as being fat ?

i didnt hear French or Italians are obese.
especially it is interesting with Italians with their love of pasta and pizza.
i think they dont snack much.

I'm just astounded by all the people on this thread who go on holidays and day trips and spend their time observing people's weight.

When I go on trips I'm far too busy looking at art, enjoying the scenery, reading, going to the theatre or whatever to notice other people. What dull lives these people must lead.