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.

It's not just being greedy or overeating, there are lots of people who gain weight through disabilities or medication, I'm on 3 types that make you gain weight & I've put on 3 stone due to this.

I agree. It is costing our NHS billions and crippling it. We are being brainwashed and poisoned by all the UPF and large company advertising/political power.

I watched a great documentary on you tube recently which was called 'the housing crisis is the everything crisis'. It talked about how our UK housing market was causing so many problems in different areas. So houses were so expensive people had 2 jobs and so were too tired to cook. People getting evicted and ending up in temporary accommodation with no cooking facilities. And of course you made a good point that people are cutting their food spend as their mortgage / rent has gone up. I can't remember all the different problems that were caused by the housing issue but it was really interesting and eye opening.

being cold and damp also makes you eat more (to stay warm by metabolizing food), so if for financial reasons you have the heating off, sitting with a family sized bag of pop corn wrapped up in a blankie not moving about much those calories are going straight to fat.
if my clothing had no lycra and i could tell things were getting a bit tight sooner i wouldn't go up and down 15-20lbs. by the 3-5 lbs mark you would be skipping a few meals because spending a weekend making new skirts shirts and trousers would be zero fun.

Where did I mention organic food? Where did I mention that I was talking about your grocery bill in particular? I am talking about normal, healthy, food. I see people on MN complaining about the price of this or that and I am astounded at the low prices. Where I live we tend to eat more seasonally, and only the very foolish/rich would pay for out of season fruit and veg. We produce food here which is sent to many other parts of the world - and people in those other places often end up paying less than we do for it. Your food is cheap, why won't you believe those who tell you this - and we don't all live in Europe btw.

Exactly.

@TitusMoan at least before trying to be a spag pedant.

As in “who ate all the pies?” This made me laugh, what was that from?

Shit processed food is your answer, and very little exercise

All of this!

It is concerning for the younger generation, I used to live near a school for 11-14 or so, and the girls were noticably heavier. Like a PP said it evens out later, and some teen boys I see now even have odd weight distribution like all the fat on the hips.

Why? Sugar, especially corn syrup, and refined carbs, and an increase in snacking which keeps insulin high and leads to more cravings. The low fat advice also led to increased carb consumption and cravings. This is all since the late 70s in the US and mid-80s in the UK, and when the obesity crisis started. UFPs and added sugars started increasing year on year. Those are absolutely because of a rapacious food industry and lack of government regulation, although some here say otherwise because they want to think those bodies have our best interests at heart, they are simply wrong.

Things like Uber eats and body positivity aren't helping probably but they're only in the last few years, we were already in the throes of the crisis.

Used to be naturally slim without doing anything but after 40 it takes effort. Have to be aware of what I eat daily / intermittent fast and exercise daily just to stay in my normal bmi. It’s a flipping effort so can see why many women just don’t bother

i found the same until I started lifting weights. Apparently you lose muscle mass as you get older unless you take steps to maintain/build it. I eat twice what I used ti in terms of calories. That said, I don’t drink alcohol and I am careful not to overeat, so it’s not the only thing I do.

Yes I do lift weights now it is helping.

At 24 I ate what I wanted and drank lots of wine never gave it a second thought and barely exercised had the perfect size 8 fixture. At 50 it’s a daily effort to keep my bmi at 22.

If seeing calorie counts in tiny numbers on a menu that you look at briefly spoils their night out I would say they have an unhealthy relationship with food.

Wheres the evidence for that? Cultures that see fat as a problem don't have the same rates of obesity.

I agree body positivity is about looking after your body regardless of natural shape and size. Plenty of larger sized rugby playing girls who are fit and strong. It's about accepting wide hips or big boobs or thick legs. It's not about eating whatever you fancy.

But mostly excuses, we don’t have to eat the UPF, not move a bit and think the gov is responsible

I mean we are responsible for what we buy and eat

That's shocking and fascinating. My grandad smoked like a chimney from a young age...

Except it's said to be as addictive as crack and all around us.

Ok so now you know how addictive it is can you buy the non addictive food?

As I am sure others have pointed out, statistically there are more overweight men than women in the uk.

I used to be 9 St and quite slim after being a fat kid. I worked hard and maintained a low weight for most of my adult life until... kids!

Since having them I am unable to shift the extra 3 st. I go to the gym frequently and eat smaller portions. I am finding it very hard.

Throw in now being peri menopausal. Hormones have a huge part to play in women's weight.

If anyone has the cure, I'd love to hear it!

Haha, Nailed it!

I agree, I just came back from Vietnam and it was 37-42 degrees Celsius. Yes, I didn’t walk as much as I expected but despite the heat I did get out for at least an hour a day whereas I don’t want to set foot outside my house most rainy grey days here. And my appetite was greatly reduced too- I did lots of drinking water!

It's almost impossible to eat out...

What kind of places are you trying @LizzieBennett73 ?

Lots of places such as motor way service stations and coffee shops have only carbs food. Anywhere serving good quality food will have meat and loads of salad / vegetable which work well with butter and or oil vinegar dressing

This is a very interesting thread though. I don’t know if it was started in good faith by the OP who has remained largely silent, but most of the posts have been very helpful and illuminating providing reasonable suggestions regarding the cause of the issue.

I had no idea that men in Britain were more obese than women for example. The way the focus is on women (take this thread for example) I thought obesity rates were far lower in men. so I’ve been set straight on that by this thread. Men have got good PR what can I say lol

I agree what many posters have said:

• increase of UPF foods in supermarkets
• increase in availability of takeaways (deliveroo etc)
• people working longer hours and being more stressed and resorting to quick UPFs for dinner
• people with depression etc self-medicating using food as comfort
• And…possibly people using cars more for short journeys which are walkable hence both children and adults are walking less ?

And also that people on a cruise are often going to be less active than people you might find on other types of holidays and therefore more likely to be obese!

I disagree that “body positivity” has anything to do with it. It was body positivity that gave me confidence to get back into the gym and go for walks and go on active holidays and keep living basically when I put on 4 stone just before and during the pandemic. The alternative would’ve been hiding out and getting fatter in my apartment. I have now lost most of that weight.

Re. France I appreciate they may have a better healthier food culture, but overall I really can’t think of them as the model for health since they do so much smoking.