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.

I used to work in Singapore. Incredibly hot and humid..Crowded and very little public space to exercise. Women work long hours there too. Tiny living space
Always raining.

Everyone's very slim. Yes partly due to genetics but not entirely. We have more beautiful parks and public spaces in the UK than most countries really.

It’s still fucking miserable though. I know, I know, MN is all about ‘wrapping yourself up’ and ‘there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing’ but I fucking hate rain. I have lived in 4 different countries and I was far healthier and more active in the warm, sunny ones.

(I’m not fat by the way. Just hate rain).

I notice things like older school children going to school eating Greggs and McDonald's. I'm assuming this is their breakfast but children buying breakfast on the way to school is something that never ever happened when I was young. Also, when I was young (and very thin) there were very few takeaways other than the chippy. I didn't have a Chinese takeaway until I was 19. We only got fish and chips as a rare treat. The easy access to takeaway food has got a lot to do with the increase in weight I think

We live abroad and notice this every time we come back home for a visit. It’s not just women either, everyone just seems… big. The most obvious differences that we notice in food culture between the UK and where we currently live are the portion sizes (both at home and in restaurants) and the sheer volume of sugary drinks and ultra-processed brown food in people’s diets.

I think your sample base was skewed. All the thin and fit ones are walking or doing much more active holidays.

Yes I agree with this, I have just seen friends and we have all walked back in heavy rain that is causing flooding issues!

On the continent people have big family meals. The UK is individualistic and people eat individually even in families meaning more junk food. Among teenagers you'd often be ostracized if you don't eat sweets and take aways

I've worked in two different secondary schools over the last 8 years. The first one was in quite a deprived area and there were so many overweight children, it was actually worrying. Lots of families on benefits or very low income.

The school I'm at now is in a very affluent area and there are far fewer overweight children, I can only think of a couple.

I've no doubt of the link between income and weight. I also believe that the cycle just continues down the generations.

A certain amount of this is aspirational.

There is a middle class snobbery about cooking from scratch that exists. Read the infamous MN threads about sharing a chicken between 20 people. It's not purely about poverty.

It's cultural.

If you have certain interests and attitudes you are much less likely to be overweight.

If you live in a community where that's valued it's more difficult to become overweight. Because it's about the social aspects as well as the food.

It's striking if you go to a large out of town shopping place. There's occasions you can see certain types or brands of cars parked as close to the door as possible. Whereas other brands people automatically park at the far end of the car park because they know there's always loads of spaces there and they don't think twice about walking those extra steps. Once you notice it, you cant unsee it.

And think about how that pans out for every situation. Just that little extra walk or not minding putting on a coat and going out in the rain rather than thinking 'fuck it I'll just go in the car'. The weather is an excuse - not everyone is making the same decision to jump in the car.

Yes Denmark definitely @StrictlyAFemaleFemale (I'm in Copenhagen now!) So many people on bikes - heavy shoppers not going fast and no lyrics in sight! Looks of women cycling. The idea of women cycling around Manchester on shopper's is almost an alien concept. Again it's a social and cultural thing that doesn't entertain Brits heads.

It's too easy to hide behind the UPF thing / poverty to me. It's about a huge amount more and definitely social attitudes.

Often huge women are with skinny men so it can’t all be diet!

Also, having lived in 4 different countries, I find all this ‘in x country they do this’ and ‘in y country they do that’ quite amusing. Some people do those things, some don’t. Just like here some people walk in the rain, and some don’t.

Bollox, I'm on the border between overweight and obese , going down, and I eat a healthy diet but just too large portions.

I've lost weight because I have to be very careful what I eat, I can't tolerate fat, booze, and other stuff I can't remember offhand

Yes there was a programme on a year irctwo ago that tracked the correlation ifvupf convenience foods with riding obesity levels, and the 80's, when convenience foods and ready meals became a ' thing' was the start of the rising levels of obesity. The government are lobbied and feted by the good industry, who pay people absolute fortunes to develop hyper palatable food and advertise it. They are there to make money. The government should be working for us.

I kind of agree as it you don’t want to eat as much as well. I was in Spain for a holiday last year no it was so hot that I barely ate.

I'm fat. It's entirely my own fault as I am greedy, and I like way too many of the wrong things. I know what I need to do, I'm just not doing it atm.

I'm 50 now and all the little tricks that used to enable me to watch my weight and keep it healthy just don't work any more. Also, I'm not as fat as most of the people around me so that makes it WAY easier to kid myself that everything's not that bad.

I don't like seeing all the fat kids and teenagers round here as it will be so hard for them to turn it around and not be a fat adult. I feel sorry for them.

I agree it’s social and cultural to a large extent

We tend to make excuses and ime other cultures can be harsher about weight gain, which has an impact

Sounds like Bristol or Brighton. I have lived in both and people overall are thinner and do exercise more, especially in Bristol, which encourages cycling. There are also a lot of people that eat well, a lot of veganism/vegetarianism.

It's because the huge wimmin are eating the poor mens dinners.

I don't think you can tell the English as well as you used to be able to. People are getting fatter and scruffier everywhere.

Because I over eat , large portions and the wrong things.i also eat when not hungry. I'm a size 16 now and used to be a 12.
I have bad habits and I can never change them for long. That's why I'm overweight .

Well that is not quite true. Not everyone is fat. The reasons for being, as posters have said, are myriad. The thing that I find disgusting, is the Government's hypocrisy. They put a sugar tax on certain foods/ drinks. So the manufacturers then
use sweeteners, and who knows what else to replace the sugar. I refuse to drink those crappy drinks, that have ingredients that are so harmful.

Cheap take away food? I can’t afford takeaways so I make my own curries and noodle dishes from scratch. In fact I can’t afford junk food so I make most of my food from scratch.

There must be many thousands in the neighbourhood, you'd hardly out yourself if you named a city!
It's Wigan, isn't it? Most people there use public transport.

I wholly agree with this, I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb because of my fairly recent weight gain, I feel I’m almost pitied amongst my social peers. I bumped into a Dad from the school run that I hadn’t seen for about 2 years, we were in the W supermarket as it happens and he definitely did a double take and surreptitiously looked in my basket but I felt he was judging any junk that happened to be for my 17 year old son and friends!