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.

My daughter has two friends that are underweight, one that is very slim and the rest are all overweight. My son has a lot of female friends, only two are a healthy weight. His male friends are all slim though.

I also think weather plays a part, if you have dry crisp weather it's much nicer to be outside doing stuff.
Than in damp miserable weather.

The weather changes people's mood and its not about wearing jackets if it's dull and dreary it's horrible. Cold and bright you can wrap up against it.

You are right about the bread in France. You could brain a person with a day old baguette! I suspect more preservatives in British bread?

It's absolutely the Government's fault that so many people live in poverty so can only afford cheap highly processed food over a healthier diet.

Just under 3 million use foodbanks. It's a disgrace.

People always say it's food, but I think the massive shift in the amount of exercise we do has an impact. People work from home - that's a commute of about 20 steps instead of a walk to and from the station twice a day. If we do go out to work we either drive or use escalators and lifts at work instead of stairs.

People have food delivered, they don't walk to the supermarket daily. They order clothes on line instead of spending Saturdays walking up and down the high street in search of the right thing. For entertainment they sit at home and watch TV instead of walking to the local cinema. They have robot vacuums and lawnmowers instead of pushing heavy machines around, dishwashers, instead of standing at the sink. It's lots of tiny changes from forty years ago, but it all adds up to an incredibly sedentary lifestyle. And sedentary adults raise sedentary children.

Meanwhile, portion sizes have quadrupled, snacks are cheap and ubiquitous, and food is designed to make us want more than we need, with the exact blend of salt, fat, sugar and 'mouthfeel'.

@Hartley99 Stop eating junk or processed food
Live on nothing but fresh, whole foods (bananas, potatoes, nuts, eggs, fish, etc).

Yes, but that's it. You don't need yoga, Stephen Fry podcasts (lol) or special breathing to lose weight. Just stop eating shit - simple and effective.

Yes. I would have spent the Bank Holiday gardening, but I'd have needed scuba gear with the weather. So I mostly stayed in the house instead.

(Mind, FB reminded me a few years ago I was as desperate for rain as I currently am for sun.)

Nearly 50% of the French population is overweight or obese according to this

https://www.c3health.org/blog/obesity-is-on-the-rise-in-france-according-to-the-latest-epidemiological-survey/#:~:text=Nearly%2050%25%20of%20the%20French,doubled%20between%201997%20and%202020.

Would you use proper blocks of butter. Or some sort of spreadable ?

My mum a tiny wee thing always uses blocks of butter, usually lurpak . I use lurpak spreadable

Cheap?? My DH would very much argue that the food I buy is not cheap. Organic food here isn’t cheap and I found when we visited Denmark it was comparable to my sipping bill, everyone was telling me how expensive it is- it wasn’t IMO! Equally, on holiday in a part of Spain where we were the only British people that I heard at the holiday apartments, we visited a supermarket and it was so so cheap. I equally found an abundance of chocolate, cakes and crisps and very cheap alcohol, it was a good £20 cheaper than an equivalent shop for us back home!

So it's normalised now to be overweight.

I do think women are just so time poor these days.. especially women who've had kids. Certainly for me I managed to kinda keep a lid on my weight but then past 35 and on my 3rd child it just went out the window... I was working 12 hour night shifts throughout my pregnancy in a hospital.. I'm caring for my elderly mother who is disabled.. my own health massively took a back seat. Me and my dh would argue about who gets to go out running as there's just not time for both of us to go..and it's usually him that wins as I'm so shattered all the time I don't really want to ho anyway.
And the cooking, the meal planning... it's just like spinning plates. Trying to earn enough to keep the family afloat, trying to be present for the kids, looking after my baby who still wakes in the night and is exclusively breastfed.. trying to keep a big house clean, the laundry etc... then there's going and doing mums laundry and cleaning.. taking her to the shops.. and just life administration.. then working nights..
I just about manage to get the kids their five a day but then any energy I had for cooking is gone. I might eat what the kids eat but if they are at school I eat crap and if they are in bed I eat crap.
I do not want to cook for myself at the end of the day I want to binge eat crisps and drink wine and lie there watching true crime documentaries. I know I should be doing something about my weight but the energy just isn't there... something had to give and it was that.
I think many women are in the same situation.. cost of living crisis.. lack of childcare. Women just don't have that much time for themselves.
You can clearly see that with the statistics about wealth and obesity. It's massively linked to poverty. Because people are exhausted trying to keep afloat they aren't finding that hour to go to the gym or cook from scratch... if they can even afford proper ingredients..
Or good cooking equipment! For example our oven is a piece of shit it's terrible.. just one more thing that makes it hard to cook from scratch.

Endless work - both home and outside home. The types of food available. Weather. Boredom - fun things are expensive. Stress and worry, nothing to be motivated about.

I do wonder how much better everyone would feel if the same energy and focus was put into being a decent person. There are so many excuses these days for being a total arse ( it’s “ having boundaries” , other people and their concerns are constantly written off as narcs, passive aggressive etc). I do wonder if the MH benefits of being a more principled society, rather than a superficial, judgy one, might even impact issues like comfort eating, medication weight gain etc.

Being Miserable.

@EvaHara

because the country is depressed because brexit and the tories have destroyed hope.

Uber Eats. It used to be that you would walk to the fish and chip shop etc. for a takeaway on a Friday night. That was a treat.
Then with Uber Eats, it's just delivered. If you have 2-3 of those a week plus maybe a bottle or two of wine, there's a massive amount of excess calories that you can't burn off.

Plus for years we had all the snack food next to the tills at supermarkets etc. UPF. High cost of fresh food. The UK spends a disproportionate amount of income on rent, much less left for fresh expensive food. Working long hours.

Very simple: they're eating too many calories. Fat people never want to acknowledge that universal fact.

They're eating too much! And drinking too much milk in their teas, and alcohol - both highly calorific, and people don't think they count.

Meat eaters are eating more meat than ever, because they've been convinced that only sugar makes you fat, and that protein suppresses your appetite. This is partially wrong: because protein is harder for the stomach to digest, it makes you feel full initially, but the higher stomach acid creates stronger hunger pangs after it finally goes through. I'm aiming to gain weight, and if I intend to eat a big dinner, I eat a protein-rich lunch to improve my appetite later on.

I agree. I know people of all different body sizes. But something that is constantly coming are conditions often controlled through diet such as IBS and even high BMI.

The UK, compared to other counties, has so much food imported in and therefore they are often pumped with preservatives and all sorts. I live in London and people around me are constantly complaining about the food quality - especially if you go abroad often and can compare the freshness. most people buy from supermarkets. Frozen food section is massive.

Yes there is a movement where more people are going to farmers markets, locally grown, while food. I find people who live outside the city have this embedded in their towns.

Yes you are right. Our bread (nearly all of it) is ultra processed food. I know this because I have watched lots of documentaries on UPF recently and while I have learned lots and been shocked at lots, one of the most shocking was that our bread is UPF. If you make it yourself at home using traditional ingredients then it's fine ie not an UPF. Next time you are in possession of a loaf of bread have a look at the ingredients.

Here is Hovis sliced wholemeal bread from sainsbury. All the items you don't recognise are chemicals or additives to make the bread taste better, last longer and make us crave more of it. UPF are created, not to be nutrious but to make the most money for the manufacturer and to make us eat more of them.

• Wholemeal Flour (Wheat), Water, Wheat Protein, Yeast, Granulated Sugar, Salt, Soya Flour, Wheat Flour (with added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Preservative: E282, Emulsifiers: E471, E472e, Caramelised Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Palm, Rapeseed), Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid

6 months ago I would have agreed with this statement and of course it is true that people need to make good choices themselves. 6 months ago though before I watched any documentaries on ultra processed food I was clueless.

Lots of foods I thought were good for me are actually full of chemicals, additives and cheap fake non food. Designed to taste yummy, be addictive, leave you hungry and lacking in nutrients (for example most of our UK bread is UPF). So why is the goverment to blame?

Well I watched a documentary on when the Obamas came to power in the US. Michelle Obama started a huge campaign to get the people fit and slim. One of the things she started to highlight was the problem with all the 'non food' food otherwise known as UPF. All the big food companies immediately threatened to pull their donations and so she was told to shut up by hubbie. So her campaign became all about 'move more' and whilst exercise is good for you the obesity crisis is being caused by UPF being so cheap, so available, so tasty, so addictive and not filling us up leaving us craving more and more.

It’s not just about preservatives; the actual prep and baking is different from a traditional bread. Chorleywood process

FWIW
I think it’s because people view unhealthy snacks and food as a ‘treat’. We even use it to bribe children from a young age. I’m not even convinced people like these foods they’re treating themselves with tbh. It’s just ingrained and we feel like we deserve it, for whatever reason. Also, as we enter adulthood, there’s a realisation that we’re now in control and can treat ourselves anytime we like.

We then end up coming up with a multitude of excuses/reasons for deserving this treat and think it will make us feel better. It doesn’t or the positive effect is at best, temporary.

Biscuits to try, that's a thread I could enjoy.

Lets see, long covid, medication side effects and a stressful divorce. The medication is very necessary, but everytime I go back on it after another unsuccessful attempt at using other medication I gain over 4 stone. The medication keeps me functioning so I can care for my kids, so the being obese is better than the alternative.

I agree with your post completely and have also been watching Chris Van Tulleken. He's got lots on you tube. The whole UPF industry is shocking.