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.

I'm not obese but overweight. For me, the reason is greed. I like chocolate, crisps and biscuits and can't stop eating them.

I don’t think vanity sizing helps. In lockdown, I put on a bit of weight and went from a size 10 to a size 12. I didn’t for one moment consider I was nearly overweight because a size 10-12 is often a Small in many shops. I was genuinely surprised (and horrified actually) to realise my BMI was 24.5, so if I’d have put on a few more pounds I would have been overweight in a size 12. At that time, I was frequently a size 10 in some stores - H&M being a big one at the time who had recently made their sizes bigger after being criticised for their small sizing.

There’s no way I’d have fit in a size 10 or 12 from the 90s. I think vanity sizing can lull you into a false sense of security with your weight. I bet there are a lot of people who don’t realise they are overweight because they are ‘only’ a size 12 or 14. Which I’ve seen labelled and celebrated as ‘mid-size’ on Instagram, but actually I wonder whether people realise they’re overweight and may be impacting their health?

Then don’t buy them.
I know that sounds easy and I don’t mean to come across as sarcastic, but it really is that simple

Hear hear.

Often the “we care about it from a Health angle ” is just a smokescreen for commenting on how others look and not liking to look at fat people.

I was talking to a guy who kept on going on about he was into women who were at a healthy weight because he was all about “health”. It later came out that he done sheesha regularly, the amount of cigarettes equivalent people consume in one sheesha session alone convinces me that anyone doing that doesn’t care about health much at all. Which is fair enough but at least be honest and say why you like slim people rather than pretending it’s all about health - and this applies to the health professionals as well who would rather tell fat people to lose weight than properly investigate what’s wrong with them.

Way to deliberately try and misread. Shal I spell it out.

LOTS of people struggle with portion control. (Could be as high as - oh I dont know - 3/4 of the population based on your statistic.

One of the “benefits” of a cruise is all you can eat buffet*. Where you are likely to see a ton of plate stuffers. Therefore it can appeal to all inclusivers as a travel medium who like the benefit of being able to eat and drink all they like. That’s where the OP made their observation.

*other cruise benefits apply before equally obtuse posters with nothing better to do than try and look clever point out that they went on a cruise, ate a lettuce leaf a day and still managed to enjoy 40 minutes in Athens.

EvaHara
You speak the truth which must never be spoken on MN.
In years to come there is going to be a diabetes epidemic that will put the NHS in danger.

No one said it’s about eating what you fancy. But off you go with the incorrect assumption that fat people are just lazy and greedy.

I’ve posted this before but she touches on the fact that shaming/teasing doesn’t help. It often leads to poor self esteem and eating disorders.

That sounds smug to say you saw it coming... not everyone has the same level of education about food. And it's easy for well off people to say we are ultimately responsible for what goes in our mouths..

There are a lot of countries where women noticeably change shape after menopause. Tbh I think a lot of women who don’t work very, very hard at it - as you say smoking but also incomplete diets etc to counter what I suspect is quite a natural shape change.

Also, when you look back at photos of other generations, the people were not obese but equally most of the women had figures that were not what we would call enviable - lots of wide backsides with flat chest type combos. I think there was generally less pressure and I feel as though the pressure these days leaves some women who don’t confirm perfectly to give up…

I also blame ‘penis portions’ for people without a penis.

That comes across as sexist but I don’t care.
Too many women eat the same amount as their male partner and/or teens and shouldn’t.

It’s not inequality, it’s science.

Ah yes, I see @BeretRaspberry has said something similar about pressure being at thd root of some people’s problems. I do know people for whom this has been very true, esp where the issue has started young.

I can’t speak for the poster you’re replying to but if someone finds something hard to give up be it sugar or cigarettes or coffee or whatever they are going to find it hard to walk past it in a supermarket/coffee shop/ newsagent etc without purchasing it.

I’m quite fortunate in a sense in that I WFH and shop online so although that does bring its own potential for issues (risk of being sedentary etc ) one thing it has done is help me remove a lot of the temptation out of my way.

I don’t need to walk past the vending machine in the work office or hover near the train station cafe or longer in the junk food sailed at the supermarket. And most of the takeaways round mine aren’t to my taste.
So as long as I order the right things for my online weekly shop I can basically steer clear of unhealthy foods for most of the week.

But that isn’t the case for everyone.

Edit to add : And I don’t miss the days of working in an office where someone or other would buy M&S or Waitrose baked goods or home baked Cakes to share every day. I’m sure I consumed at least half of it and I was still a size 8 lol how things have changed. I was so active back then I think I burned it off but it still wasn’t healthy.

Not everyone in middle class areas can choose where they shop. A lot of people in ‘food deserts’ are surrounded by fast food outlets and maybe one limited ‘convenience’ store. There are few buses to markets and supermarkets and in any case the fares are unaffordable.

This is what we have done to communities. And this is why it is very much a political issue. A few local councils are now trying to tackle these problems but we also need legislation to make sure everyone has access to decent unprocessed food.

From what I can find for recent figures, obesity costs the NHS £6.5 billion per year and eating disorders £9.4 billion.

And I know you are blaming the UPF companies in this instance but generally fat people as individuals bear the brunt of it.

I can only speak for myself, but for me its about portion control, especially around less nutritious carbs. I am a four slices of toast, half a bag of fresh pasta, half a bag of spuds made into triple fried chips, bottle instead of a glass of wine, type eater. I rarely get a takeaway, think less than 5 times a year, and some of those will be on trips to the seaside.
Give me a lovingly prepared non UPF artisanal loaf of bread and I can inhale half, smeared with butter, without even thinking.
Something that I know has an impact on my appetite, is eating whilst doing other things, so at work I eat at my desk whilst working at lunchtime, at home I will eat whilst Mumsnetting or watching TV. I know if I just put food on a plate and concentrate on it alone, I eat slower and less .

I also know when I stop eating those carbs, and eat more protein and lots more veg ( which I love ! ) my appetite drops off a cliff within a couple of weeks and I no longer feel hungry.
I know how to cook, I know how to make lentils taste nice , how to marinate cheaper cuts of meat, how to make vegetables taste delicious. So I don't have the excuse of a lack of knowledge or skills.
I also tend to spend less when buying healthier food, as I meal plan and don't need to drop into the shop on my way home from work, when tired and hungry, which is when some of my worst food choices are made !

I have diabetes in my family as I am Asian. I have been told to keep my BMI at 23 to avoid it because diabetes attacks Asians even if we are not overweight..I am in my 50s and my BMI is 23.6. Not overweight but still at risk.

Keeping it below that is beyond tough and I have to be really careful with diet. I got rid of my car in the pandemic and walk everywhere. That has helped a lot. Where I am failing is with weight training.

I absolutely do not believe that eating good food is only for the rich. I eat a modified Asian diet and I eat very cheaply: veggies, lentils, eggs, fruit , no UPF. The government is not responsible for what I eat. I am.

The NHS has broken down where I am so I really have no choice but to get on with it.. I am weary of excuses and intend to take responsibility for myself.

I agree. I would also like to say that my home country has a long way to go in terms of female equality. This means that a lot of women are financially dependent on their husbands. So they don't have anything much for themselves, like money or education or qualifications. Therefore they feel under pressure to stay 'attractive' and 'slim' for as long as possible so that their husbands will continue to be proud of them in public and be faithful. That's why they wreck themselves through smoking and undereating - even though we have a delicious food culture (which women have to preare of course).

I am very, very glad I live in the UK, where I could get fat if I chose, but also have my own money, career, life and no one judges me for not having a man.

A bit of extra weight is a tiny price to pay for other freedoms.

I totally understand that situations can make it easier or more difficult.

I just like food, though I know the amounts of sweets and high-processed stuff I'm digesting aren't healthy. I'm well aware of it, I'm just weak willed haha

Who doesn't like food, really?😊Surely we all do. Post 50, I find I have to like it a little less though.

Snacking. Honestly cut out ALL snacks and walk more, easily drop a few pounds. When I was younger there was never this much snacking. I have four year olds and snacking is such a norm , I certainly do try and avoid but I recall only having my meals and waiting

What’s also interesting is that if you look in terms of longevity, there are quite a lot of studies showing overweight people actually are the longest-lived group. Not obese, but also not underweight or even ideal weight. One study qualifies this by saying it is people who enter adulthood in the ideal group but later move into overweight ( but not obese) whose bodies fare best. This is interesting as it sort of mirrors natural proclivity. But there is cause to wonder who decides “ healthy” and on what basis?

For the case of cruise: I would say people going on cruises are more prone to leading sedentary lifestyles and "loving their bottomless brunch".
As a more generic statement, junk food aside, traditional British diet is designed to give you energy for manual labour (as most other traditional diets) not seating on your back and typing on computer.

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

I absolutely identify with this.

No one would argue that the cure for being addicted to alcohol is to go cold turkey. It's got to be the solution for anyone addicted to sugar /refined carbs.

Takes a lot to work out and then find the kinds of food that are not addictive and eat only those, in a culture which encourages us to eat those highly addictive foods, 'go on, treat yourself, one small one won't kill you' being an almost universal message.

The so called junk foods make so much money for the manufacturers, of course they get advertised and then yes we forget how much damage they do and here we are.

Some people can moderate their intake, I just can't and find my life is much better when I just swerve them all.

Yes it’s not always easy exercising on a budget. I know the optimists on here would say we could be saving ourselves money by exercising outdoors. It’s great if you have access to safe, quieter spaces but I found walking/exercising in certain areas led to regularly being tooted at, cat called, followed and sexually assaulted on one occasion.