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.

You're not curious, you're judgemental and smug.

Everyone is stressed and anxious. I'm autistic, and when I'm stressed and anxious I can't eat. This makes me underweight at the moment, and its getting to the point its not healthy. I'm probably less healthy than my slightly overweight friends who have decent diet right now. But no-one judges me (except to occasionally accuse me of being anorexic). But you don't care about health, you just want to judge people. When most people are stressed and anxious they take comfort in food. Most people are doing the best they can, with the way their brains work, in a post-pandemic COL crisis and a society damaged by 14 years of Tories.

I think as others have correctly pointed out its not just uk women that are getting bigger. Recently I went to Lisbon, every restaurant was independent and food was fresh and healthy. Even the drinks were made from sugar alternatives and food was served with vegetables. Eating out in the UK involves ridiculous portion sizes and lots of places it's often so over indulgent e.g stacked burgers, loaded fries, chocolate brownie Sunday. It's hard not to over eat.

So I’m fat, but wasn’t so until my 40s. No excuses, just piled it on and haven’t lost it. But wanted to say I was living in Hull at the time when I started to become overweight and I noticed this too. My DH and I used to talk about it. Walking down the street, it was difficult to spot anyone who was a normal weight.
Now we live in Europe and it’s the other way around. We are the fatties and everyone in our city is thin. Not just not overweight, but THIN and FIT. I don’t know what’s going on in the UK and I’m not saying there’s no fat people in Europe, but it’s noticeable difference.

2/3 uk adults are overweight or obese. I'm not sure how you haven't noticed before OP. I don't think the reasons are very secret either.

What city is this?

The reason Ozempic and Wegovy work is because they stop overeating.

When a person stops overeating they will loose weight.

this😂

Problem is most of us are already addicted! Hard to go cold Turkey

Again the "just stop" message.
I am in shape, eat well, exercise. I am about to have oats for breakfast.
IF I had to change my lifestyle to cut out fresh food, reduce time outdoors, replace meals with fastfood etc, I am not sure I could face it. It is equally hard to make that lifestyle choice the other way.
If you are not starting out as fit and healthy, it is even harder.
This last few generations are not more gluttonous that a hundred years ago, it is the environment that has changed.

It’s the choose your hard. If over 40 it’s either be fat or cut out UPF eat less and do lots of exercise / moving about. It’s one or the other for most of us

I think so too

I don't live in the UK anymore but am surprised by the levels of obesity when I go back, especially outside of London. It seems to have changed significantly in the last ten years.

I think to an extent the more it becomes the norm the more people don't actively try to combat it and the whole issue worsens. It's just become normal to be overweight.

Also the availability of tasty convenience/ ready made supermarket and take out food is huuuuuge in the uk. It's very tempting and convenient. Where I am the quality of fresh food and veg is incredible and the variety of processed food much less. This is coupled with a societal pressure to stay in shape (just by virtue ot the fact everyone is in shape) and also with the fact that there are blue skies most days which makes it easier for people to walk and be outside.

For women specifically hormones and kids wreak havoc on the body make shifting weight harder.

I wouldn't call it a discussion more like an opportunity for some to be nasty and judgemental anonymously.. while at the same time feeling superior because they ain't fat!

Alcohol. UK has a big drinking culture.

In my home country women tend to be slim until post menopause then they sort of have 'social permission' to fill out a bit.

HOWEVER - a lot of women in my home country smoke to stay thin. Which is worse?

Because life is tough in this country for so many, the weather is depressing, there's no time to cook when you've been at work all day so order a takeaway. So you anesthetise yourself with comfort food and alcohol.
I also think the drinking culture in this country needs to be addressed, it is not necessary to get bladdered to relax/enjoy yourself. Most alcohol is high calorie.

It's also really interesting how many people who have never had a weight issue think they know how to solve the obesity problem. If it was a simple as more exercise and less calories we wouldn't have a crisis.

Anyone really interested in how government and food manufacturers have some responsibility in this should read Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken - that was a massive eye opener for me.

So @EvaHara did you satisfy your “curiosity”? Fairly confident that not a single one of the reasons given on your shitty thread wasn’t common sense. But let us know if there were other reasons why you were clutching your pearls and you are “curious” about anything else.

What amazes me is why people take such offence at questions about why our nation is so fat, me included

It is a public health issue.

I always notice the difference when we travel to other European countries - in Spain and Italy the average size of locals (all ages) seems to be 8/10 whereas in the UK it's a 14 (I'm a 12 bottom but 14 on top and consider myself pretty fit and healthy tbh)

I feel like there's more of a reliance on fast food/processed food here. More so than in a lot of European countries where there's more of a "foodie culture" of being taught to cook fresh food by previous generations.

These threads always attract the same types of comments.

1. comments eloquently explaining the impact of UPFs, snacking and sugar on the body and explaining that fat is not the enemy.

2. people advocating calories in vs calories out without acknowledging that where the calories come from matters or that this is a simple machine model when our bodies are not simple machines.

3. people who come on to say cakes and biscuits are "yummy" and they love a big bowl of pasta.

4. people who are desperately trying to lose weight and don't understand why they're not since they're following the NHS eatwell advice. Some who are willing to try something else but most are so indoctrinated into the standard 'healthy eating' advice that they can't conceive of eating any differently. Even though it's not eliciting the results they want.

5. people who are eating low carb and low fat without understanding that you need a fuel source for your body which will either be carbs or fat. You can't 'low' both of them. Your body needs to function.

6. people who want an 'easy' solution without having to give up all the "yummy" foods they like and so just look to blame everyone and everything else.

The post very early on that compared the eating culture in the UK with the France was very accurate. The attitude towards food in the UK is damaging. It is seen as a treat and should be fun.

People who eat 'properly' are derided as dull and mocked for denying themselves "yummy" things. Especially if their chosen choice of diet has enabled them to maintain a healthy weight.

People don't want to be told eat salad/leafy green veg, a source of protein and add a healthy fat (eg olive oil). It takes 20 mins to grill pork chops and make a salad. I don't much fancy doing that after a day at work either but I do. And the better you eat, the better you feel because your body is properly nourished. If you eat shit food you're going to have shit energy levels and feel like crap.

People who have always eaten properly can include other things in their diets and still maintain their weight because their metabolism is stable and their hormones are regulated. People who are very overweight, whose metabolisms have been damaged, do need to approach it differently to regulate their hormones and stabilise their metabolisms if they want to see different results.

I also agree that the body positivity movement has become toxic. It used to be about celebrating bodies that are healthy but didn't fit into the white western beauty ideals. This was a good thing. It has morphed into celebrating obesity and scorning anythig else. I used to be in a body positivity fb group. It started out well but I left after someone who was recovering from anorexia posted a photo of herself because she was lacking in confidence about her slim but not 'perfect' body and she was hounded mercilessly for not being fat and told she was trolling the group. It was disgusting. People weren't even allowed to talk about positive lifestyle changes they were making eg going to the gym because they were 'body shaming' others. They weren't.

Its not really an eye opener for someone like me that saw this developing, but ultimately we are responsible for whether we put the stuff in our mouths

I got to being morbidly obese on home cooked foods, I just like too much food, love the stuff and my own cooking, its not just UPFs, we simply eat too much as a nation.

Personally I have PCOS. To be a size 16 I need to be in the gym 3 days per week and limit to 1400 calories. I did this for two years for ivf but now with a toddler a really can't be arsed so I'm now a size 24.
My hormone problem is hereditary and there are so many female hormone imbalances out there and period issues that never get addressed.
I know full well sugar is terrible for my hormones but perhaps others don't know they have anything wrong?
Also people don't have the time these days to cook from scratch and things like pasta sauce jars, fajita kits etc are all high in sugar and processed.

What an interesting conversation! I'll be back...
Just gonna grab a coffee & jam doughnut first!! Mmmmm!!

It’s easy to make crap food choices here, good food is expensive, obesity/being very overweight is seen as socially acceptable.

Choice….we took the kids AI to Turkey, there were tables of beautiful vegetable dishes and tables of beige. The vegetables were largely untouched by the British guests.

when travelling, cheap food is quick street food, there are vegetables or pickles,fresh grilled fish or meat, noodles in clear soup.

it’s hard to eat out cheaply in uK and get anything other than token veg

Strength Train 2-3 times a week
Walk a minimum of 30 mins a day (no dawdling!)
Eat protein at every meal

Also:
Yes you can snack, but snack healthily.
Don’t wait for the weather, just get out there and walk.