Badly dressed and over weight English people

[Claustrophobiclown]

My sister, who has lived in Australia for years, was in England recently for an extended holiday. She was shocked at how many overweight, badly dressed and heavily tattooed people there were wandering around. I never really thought about it before, but looking at it afresh through her eyes I could see where she was coming from. I don't remember people looking like that when we were growing up, but we seem to have evolved into a race of very heavy and unhealthy looking people with absolutely no dress sense. Am I just misremembering my youth when I recall most people being a healthy weight and people generally dressing ok?

Im overweight because of my meds and I'm badly dressed because my nice clothes no longer fit because of my meds and because Ive realised after my brush with death and long painful illness that what I've got on my back doesn't matter in the slightest because when I collapse on the street the paramedics cut it off anyway

There's an obesity epidemic (not unique to the UK either) and many people can only afford to buy from cheaper clothes shops, and the options when you're fat are limited. Well, unless you're loaded and can afford alterations/tailored clothes/make your own.

I suspect a substantial amount of the obesity crisis is caused by prescription medications. It's a common side effect, and more people than ever are on long term medications. I presume public health advice won't touch that one, though, because they could be accused of encouraging people to stop taking their prescribed medications.

I've seen young influencers dress themselves pretty well from the likes of Primark and a friend of mine who shopped only in charity shops used to look fabulous when we were young and broke. I could never manage her style no matter how much I spent! If you look honestly at the clothes some people are choosing to buy, and at what's on the rack in even the cheapest clothes shops (or charity shops...) it's clear that there's something more going on than poverty.

Do people in the UK take more prescription drugs that lead to weight gain than they do in european countries though?

I think that might be comparable with america, overuse of anti depressants for example, I think we have that in common with america.

Are you and your sister Trinny & Susannah? 🤨 Who are you to decide what's well dressed and what isn't? I won't even go into your obvious bias on tattoos... Perhaps work on yourself and pay less attention to those around you.

I don't know. England is far more Americanized than the rest of Europe, so it wouldn't surprise me if prescription medication use is similar. Of course it's not the only factor either.

The OPs sister has it spot on. Just visit France or Italy and see the difference.

Do you have any verifiable links to substantiate that?

That would be a subject for a book, not a forum post. It's not my original idea anyway, it's well discussed. Have you ever looked at the leaflet of side effects of commonly prescribed meds? Antidepressants? Or have you ever spent time around chronic illness forums where people are on long term meds? Those are good places to start if you're curious.

Hmm, I'm not too sure. One trip to Maccies or Greggs will demonstrate how much we love eating crap as a nation. I popped in for a coffee recently whilst waiting to give blood over the road and the chubby woman next to me troffed back three pasties and a cream donut!

Its an awful catch 22 situation anyway, poor health and poor diet, leads to poor health, which leads to poverty, which leads to poor diet, which leads to poor health and round we go

I think we're generally physically less healthy than our european counterparts and so likely to be more in need of a range of meds. Perhaps

Sure. But medications can affect your appetite. It's very difficult to stop eating when your leptin and ghrelin or whatever it is are screaming at you that you're starving. I'm not saying this explains all or even most of it, by any means. I'm just saying that there isn't only one cause, and prescription meds are part of the picture.

I think it also hurts most people's self-esteem, so they then give up on dressing well.

I've no doubt it can have an effect but it still doesn't explain why countries that take more prescriptions don't have the same obesity problems. I honestly think we just eat too much crap. Fish and chips etc.

Definitely a problem with overweight but people don’t always want to hear it so the problem will continue

Tattoos and dress sense - yeah I hate the covered in tattoos look on both sexes and I also hate fat women wearing skimpy clothing and fat men with their belly hanging down. But ultimately these things are subjective because we are lead to believe that being fat is to be celebrated

Very over weight British men in football kits in Spain. What on earth do they think they look like? Pro ⚽️ players are some off the fitness men and women on the planet.

That comparison is not only eight years out of date but would only be valid if exactly the same drugs were consumed in every country.

But we were a fat nation eight years ago.

Do people really think that our excessive boozing and poor diet aren't a massive factor? Look at all the threads on overeating. Pack of biscuits every night etc.

And what about all the fat kids? Is that prescription related too?

People are getting a little hung up on this and not reading carefully what I said. No one is claiming that the entire obesity problem is the result of prescription medications, far from it. I was just commenting in response to one poster who said that's what happened to her.

Where are we in comparison to those countries in terms of obesity and are the figures on medication spending the same as medications per head of population? Does it take into account the NHS?

Am on an island in the Med atm, very popular with young Italians. A very large percentage of men and women have tattoos, a lot have full sleeves. Have never noticed this elsewhere. Lots of people enjoying themselves on beaches and plenty of larger folk, happy to wear bikinis shock horror!

Agree with her assessment, and we just bury our heads on the obesity front
But when I visited Oz a few years ago I was shocked by the number of fast food outlets and general slovenly nature. Definitely not all healthy@

Its an awful catch 22 situation anyway, poor health and poor diet, leads to poor health, which leads to poverty, which leads to poor diet, which leads to poor health and round we go

@bellac11 I think you are spot on here. A vicious circle. Breaking it, perhaps by taking more exercise, learning to cook cheap and healthy food*, stopping comfort eating etc. requires effort and willpower. We all know that these two things can be hard to summon up.

Then there's the fact that more people in poor health means more strain on the NHS which leaves little left for health promotion.

*Cheap and healthy food CAN be done. Yes, it may require planning, learning new skills and batch cooking but it is possible.

I was going to ask the same thing! I live in a large Australian city and that describes lots of us. 😄