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.

Yes it’s wonderful in FRANCE where about half adults smoke. We need to be more like them 👍🏻

They do that in the UK.
Last week I was at Pizza Express and all the dishes had the calorie content labelled.

Yes, WFH, I’ve put on weight since taking a job that is mostly WFH and the end of the school run at the same time. My car broke down last week and I have actually lost about 5lbs pretty effortlessly as I need to get everything for a family of four on foot and take my DD across town after work for some music lessons and get to the office when not WFH twice a week.

My Mum have up her car when she was 61 and lost about 2 stone without changing her diet at all, she was actually worried she was unwell but it was all the walking.

Is that a typo, did you mean processed food is more expensive? Personally I think it is, which is why I can’t afford to buy it over fresh ingredients. (I do though buy pizzas as I don’t like making those).

Yes I think it's great it's starting to happen. It does make me pause and think.

If it helps even a small % of people that's useful.

Processed food isn’t more expensive 😂😂

Yes a taste the difference ready meal might be but not beans and sausages with white bread.

I remember what a fuss there was when it was introduced, but I find it useful.

Or it may add to eating disorders and general misery. But misery is what a lot of mumsnetters actually want.

I do, too.

I can't stress the walking thing enough.

People think they have to take up a sport or running to get fitter.

No. If you must go to co-op to buy some food, even junk food, say to yourself you have to walk there. It either starts to change your mindset about walking and you get the benefit of that or you decide you don't actually want that ready meal from the coop cos it's an arse and might as well do something from the cupboard afterall.

I was raped, I was told it was because of what I looked like and he threatened to kill me. That made me overeat as a trauma response to change my appearance to 'protect me' from further attacks and stop him from recognising me. Illogical I know but at the time I was told I was to blame and so I took action to rectify what others saw was a problem. It made me feel safer, more invisible, disguised.

sedentary life styles
too many adverts for dominos

ny weight has fluctuated slightly over the years (I lost loads of weight after breastfeeding DC1 and was probably my heaviest after DC2 because I just expected the same thing to happen again and it didn’t). I’m 51 now and I’m slightly lighter than I was for much of my 20s and 30s. I’m size 8/10 (depending on shop) and generally my friends seem to be the same. One of my friends was extremely slim in her 20s and has had some complex health problems so is now a little heavier but in the main everyone is pretty much the same.

Types of work, hours and commuting undoubtedly have a bug impact. Only in the last few years have I had a job that involved driving to work but I was able to get out for a walk at lunch time. WFH since covid and the obligatory “Covid puppy” has been really helpful.

There are more obese and overweight people in the UK than people with eating disorders. Obesity adds to general misery.

We've given each other permission to be bigger. We are generally polite about fatness.
The huge anti-smoking campaigns in the 90's as the smoking levels plateaued did work, and significant numbers of us at that time started to give each other permission to snack on rubbish - as we were 'giving up smoking'. Ironically, the gym culture from the 80s/90s on also encouraged snacking: It's fine eating throughout the day if you are an athletic type eating healthy planned mini meals, but few of us were/are.
General life has become more sedentary over the last few decades. Fewer manual jobs, more cars, even office jobs used to require a LOT more walking around prior to internet/emails. Remember getting up to turn a LP or the television channel over?
A lot of shop workers seem to be slim. Probably as their job involves walking/lifting/bending standing for hours. But there are fewer shops as commerce goes more and more online!
Ironically, some studies show that people eat LESS sugar today than decades ago. The food in the 60's - including bread - was full of preservatives! There are studies that show we eat far fewer calories on average than in the past, too.

Once upon a time, way back in adolesence, we would unashamedly stare at obese persons because they were rare. Now they are stared at simply because they are everywhere, in increasing numbers too.

I blame eating on the street - people emerge from Greggs, and the like, stuffing down sausage rolls and pies......then go home to plough into a "proper" meal.

There seems to be a wierd idea that eating whilst walking about in public means the calories don't count! Just as broken biscuits don't really count either.......

How harrowing. What a vile man.
I hope you are recovering and have been able to access help.💐

I wasn't talking about France

Obesity is an eating disorder.

Every country has its foibles - as I said above the French smoke. That isn’t better at all.

At least you said ‘people’ not ‘women’ as per the revolting OP.

I walk a lot because I don't drive. I also have a very physical job. I'm still fat.

This is so so true, we have made use of stuff and there’s less waste as my DC are having cheese and crackers or just crackers or fruit etc

I have found it very useful and quite surprising.

I was in a chain restaurant recently and the salady type dish I would probably have chosen had a significantly higher calorie count than I would have thought. I ended up with something I preferred. Apparently I just want overweight people to be miserable though, when in fact they might eat more enjoyably.

Possibly not, but you were making out that the U.K. is somehow the worst place in the world. It isn’t.

We might eat far fewer calories than we used to but more people have much less physical jobs.

Genuinely don't know but it's strange, I'm 5'4 and 8.5 stone. That feels unusual.