Why are there so many overweight and obese British women?

[EvaHara]

Genuine post and I promise I am not a weight troll. Recently I was on a cruise and couldn't help but notice that many other British women onboard - especially younger women - were considerably overweight or obese. Some were in fact huge and easily as big as some women I saw in the US when there a few years ago.

What has caused this rise in overweight people, particularly younger women? I don't remember there being this many overweight/obese people even 10 years ago.

I am not judging, just curious.

And she's probably right.

But also, virtually everyone looked old as f* years before they do now. And died earlier.

My Grandmother's (aged 92) wedding photos from 1954, her and my Grandads parents were in their 40s and they looked like they were in their 60s.

And mostly died in their 60s.

I'm 46. I'm not one of those MNetters who thinks I look like I'm in my 20s but I definitely look 20 years younger than my ancestors at that age.

Things change. Society and cultures change. Diets and lifestyle have positive and negative effects.

“I think something is going wrong with women’s hormones as well to be honest, I’m not sure if it’s caused by being overweight or the reverse but women seem to be so oddly shaped now. Like inverted triangles with narrow hips, closely set legs and wide shoulders. They don’t seem to have that hourglass shape they used to. And lots of PCOS, endometriosis and so on about.”

That’s not oddly shaped!

Welovecrumpets
I think you’re right about hormones, that’s sort of what I was thinking about when I said medication
also agree with cigarette comment
Im shocked by the amount of sugar, fat, calories etc that are in those creamy drinks in coffee shops!

Most of the world is way more traumatised than the UK. Most if the world doesn't have MH care. Most of the world is not a welfare state with free health care ( admittedly crumbling)..Most of the world is poorer. I am not buying that the UK is especially unlucky.

I think the shite weather has a lot to answer for tbh

Yep. Here we measure against a perfect society (which doesn’t exist) when really we should be measuring against the rest of the world (that does). Our ‘trauma’ is nothing compared to Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan.

You'll get flamed on here OP but I hear what you're saying.

I was on holiday a few years ago and I couldn't help but notice that almost every woman around the pool was not just a little bit overweight but morbidly obese. I stuck out like a sore thumb!

Interestingly, when I visited a luxury resort a few years back, I noticed the complete opposite... the women around this pool had bodies to die for! 😲

The difference? Hardly any Brits and wasn't All Inclusive. I suspect there's a connection...

I'm sorry if this offends people (bear in mind it's a choice to be offended), but more and more people are becoming ok with being overweight.
I see more plus size women out and about wearing leggings and cropped T-shirts than anyone else. Fairl play to them for having the confidence to give zero fucks about what they're wearing but should it really be the norm?

There is a heat wave in S and SE Asua now with an average temperature of 42 C.

A colleague of mine who was fairly overweight used to love her cruises out of Miami - mostly Americans on board. She was about a size 18 but said she always felt positively slim beside the Yanks, many of whom were enormous. She said many of them would spend much of the day going from one eating outlet to another - there were so many to choose from on board so you could eat virtually 24 hours a day.

I’m from an EU country and the British food culture still baffles me 20 years on.

The obsession with cakes, the drinking culture, the takeaway/ready meals culture. Very little veg. Thick creamy soups instead of light broth with veg. The ubiquitous stodge.

the British in general have an atrocious diet and pass it on to the children.

the reasons (excuses?) are just as baffling. We all work. Many of us do long hours and physical jobs, but cooking a healthy meal is just… basic adulting really. So I’m afraid that I’ll never understand it.

Well I’m not hungry when it’s hot!

Yes, but the idea that is easy to exercise and lead an outdoor life in other countries will be debunked by anyone who has lived in SE Asia. There is also very little public space.

Also, other countries work hard and sometimes even harder.

Agree. Look at the ‘food poverty’ threads on here decrying lentil and sweet potato curry as ‘slop’ and saying you’ll be malnourished if you live on it when it’s far more nutritious than the processed red meat and creamy fatty sauces they think we are all entitled to live off

I’ve always been a healthy weight so, whilst I can’t comment on why people are getting fatter, I can maybe comment on why I think I have never been overweight… and I think it’s a mixture of things. I’ve always had a fairly healthy relationship with food. I love food, it’s a source of pleasure but I don’t have an emotional attachment to it. I don’t ever seem to eat more than I need. I don’t like the feeling of being uncomfortably full. And because I don’t eat until I am uncomfortable, I can only ever eat a modest portion before I have to stop. I’m also a fairly slow eater.
When I go through periods of stress, I lose my appetite and can drop weight very quickly.
I would say genetics also play a factor.

Is this a joke?

Supermarkets are not our friends, its their BUSINESS, literally to get us to overeat!! Its their business model for goodness sake.

The more overweight we are, the more we need and want to eat, more purchases, more treats, more processed food that has a higher mark up.

Im a bit overweight myself still but not in denial about the problems our weight causes us, individually and as a society and certainly not about how much businesses want to feed us so that they can make money out of us eating too much

Yep, this is the answer, “unpopular opinion” though it may be.

too much “body positive” and not enough “being overweight isn’t a good thing and it’s something you need to make an effort to fix, rather than trying to tell yourself it doesn’t matter”

It would be rude to ask them directly. Obviously.

Doesn't stop OP being curious though and wondering if others might know why. So she has asked the question here.

If it offends you, just scroll on...

Nah you posted goady bollocks

I honestly think it is (in many cases) what you’re fed as a child.

We were v skint growing up but my mum was a bit of a hippy so rather than buying cheap junk she bought lentils, pickled veg and rice from Lidl (in the late 80s and early 90s). Never had pop or sweets, treat was a chocolate biscuit once or twice a week. We were like little twigs.

All 4 of us are now tall and slim adults who can eat a lot without putting on weight.

I think if you’re an overweight child you’re doomed to yo-yo or be obese forever.

So in the poorer part of town they're pushing the junk food, and Tristan and Cressida get the grilled artichokes?

I agree with Jeanne92 and Sallywd
ps I don’t know how to reference posters!
Pplus I’m old 67, wearing size 12 clothes with Lycra, whereas in the 70’s as a teenager 2 stone lighter, was wearing size 12 clothes without lycra
Chelsea girl skirts in 1972 size 12 was a 24” waist!

No, it’s an important discussion even if you find it uncomfortable

😂

I actually think a cruise holiday attracts people who are generally sedentary.

If you're training for a marathon you are probs not interested in being confined to a ship for 20 hours a day with 8 meals per day on tap!!! Haha