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.

UPF and sedentary lifestyles. The changes in how we live and eat compound over time to weight gain. Generations of families are now overweight, we have a skewed view of what is a normal weight and being fat is commonplace. The reasons are complex and not easily fixed.

If I don’t actively make myself walk twice a day, I could easily do less than 3000 steps (I work from home). I have to work quite hard to ensure I stay fit and watch what I eat very carefully. I can quite understand how many people become overweight quite easily.

Clearly it's not poverty

It's lack of education around food

And 'treat' culture

The Government are actively working against us, where food is concerned.

Also, more people wfh.
I had a colleague who had never left the house in two weeks.

No, I’m a southerner!

The idea of women cycling around Manchester on shopper's is almost an alien concept

^

And the weather does not help

Are flaming hot wotsits the same flavour as flaming hot monster munch? I’ve never heard of them! *misses point of thread….

I blame Jaffa Cakes. Best snack in the world.

It's the whole culture around food that's wrong in the UK. People don't learn to cook cheap, healthy meals from scratch, from a young age. Contrary to popular belief, processed food is not more expensive than raw ingredients. We have avery tight budget, and my shopping bill is always much bigger when I've bought processed, readymade foods as opposed to raw ingredients which go much further and cost less.
I've stayed and lived in poorer countries where women learn from a very young age how to cook, and even how to grow food when they can't afford to buy any (and yes, these are people with children and full time jobs). In the UK we just don't have these habits.

There are so many reasons but for cruises in particular- they attract many people who like a lot of value- wall to wall food and snacks - AI holidays have similar thing going on.

A lot of people place size and 'being full' very high - rather than quality of food. That's why in the US you get vast plates at the lower end of the hospitality sector- but it's vast plates of shit in a lot of cases- triple portions of fry's, buckets of coke etc - if you eat higher end in nicer places it's actually really expensive to eat out and many Americans eat out 'a lot'

Then there is the coffee shop culture here- I admit to having a coffee out most afternoon as work for myself (americano with oat milk) but so many people will have a coffee and then pieces of cheesecake or carrot cake or chocolate muffins etc mid afternoon as 'a snack' and 3 normal size meals too I guess.

Trolleys full of snacks and nutrition free stuff- am always amazed how many people have trolleys loaded with crisps, Doritos, cupcakes, chocolate stuff - and many on here are always talking about 'snacks' -the amount of unecessary snacking seems a bit nuts and kids get into the habit of it if it's always offered- I stopped having really nice snacks in and my son stopped constantly grabbing stuff for the sake of it and waited till dinner. If he wanted anything I had bananas and apples, malt loaf and oatcakes and yoghurts in- that was it.

Places like Greggs and Maccy Ds being marketed as 'cool' and fun in culture. They encourage eating cheap fast food that's not particularly great for you and often leave you still hungry- so get used as'snacks' rather than an actual meal and yet have the calories of a meal.

And finally as someone else said the rise of vats of wine and Prosecco in female drinking culture.

And I say this someone who has lost 2 and a half stone with 3 still to go- caused in my case by age creeping on, not enough exercise, too much wine and afternoon cakes etc - as a treat- so I do know what I'm talking about !!

People are obese because they eat too much. They put in more calories than they burn. It's not the government's fault or anyone else's. Take a job in any fast food establishment or bakery and there you have it.

It’s because today’s Britain is an obesogenic environment. Obesogenic environments are the collective physical, economic, policy, social and cultural factors that promote obesity. For example, they may have a high concentration of fast food outlets and encourage driving over walking.

As for you noticing fat women more than you notice fat men, where it’s clearly both sexes that have this issue, it’s just the patriarchal lens that makes you notice and comment on women’s appearance more than you would on men’s appearance.

The one that drives me nuts is school actively TEACHING the kids to snack.

DSs school has morning and mid afternoon snack in addition to lunch. It doesn't help the cultural attitudes.

I do get if that's the only food kids get due to FSM but that's still teaching kids that snacking is normal and not problematic.

I do think it's one of the worst things we can do. These kids don't ever learn to be hungry. And that being a bit hungry sometimes is a good thing!

One of my gym instructors is a larger lady but us slim b*ches can't keep up with her! So I don't always assume that overweight people are less fit.

However, it is a well-known issue in the UK as well as many other countries. Less manual jobs and more jobs sitting behind computers, people work further from home so drive instead of walk, supermarkets are full of processed, rubbish food. There are lots of reasons. I was slim in my 20s but age and a desk job have caused me to put on a bit of weight recently....which is why I've started going to the gym but it's not easy finding the time as a single mum.

I think it's definitely cultural.

Food isn't really important to a lot of people. Quantity over quality seems to be the mantra here.
And to continue with food, also convenience seems to be more important than decent cooking skills.

From there we can move on to working hours, with the average being 40 hours/ week. Although a lot of jobs do offer 37.5...
And when we talk about work, we have to talk about wages which are notoriously low. So to complete the circle, we are back at food which needs to be cheap and filling, so back to quantity over quality.

Ah yes, "the patriarchy". Let's blame it on that.

Dunno (currently eating Digestives while typing this)

Flaming hot GIANT wotsits 😋🤣

Overeating
Greater access to takeaways/fast food
Plentiful UPF
Uber instead of walking
Obese “body positive” role models
Sitting on our arses watching Netflix/Prime/Disney+
Cheap clothes to replace smaller sizes

So eating more shit, doing less exercise

The coffee culture is definitely a big one.

In California they have to display the calories and it put me off coffee shops for life seeing the cake and drinks calories.

Yabu why pick on women. The blokes are hardly all sporting six packs are they?

Disgusting OP 💩

I think it's because it's because it's been normalised.

No they do not taste the same as the Monster munch ones , flaming hot cheetos do though 😋

I think a lot of people put weight on in lockdown - boredom eating, lack of exercise, stress.

COL - if you can't afford your usual social/leisure/sport/holiday/hobby activities and face yet another night in front of the TV, a bar of chocolate feels like a treat you can afford. And a lot of people emotional eat, so if you are worrying about the bills...

Here's my opinion as someone overweight. My husband is foreign and I've spent a lot of time in his county. Overweight people are a minority.

1. It is a hot country, people don't want to eat big stodgy food

2. They eat 2-3 meals and no snacking. I really notice this and feel so hungry as I'm used to constantly eating whenever I feel like it.

3. lots of water-very filling

4. they eat as a family all the time and meal times take longer. Therefore food digested and fuller for longer.

5. everything is home cooked, grown by themselves or from local sources.

6. village effect. Even if mum is working, children are looked after by relatives who help cook and do housework. Pressure is not on the woman to do absolutely everything.

Compared to my life in the uk. I'm busy all the time, meals are a necessity and although I cook home cooked food 80% of the time they are rushed and quick.

I can pick any food up I want at the drop of a hat.