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.

Junk food is cheap and easily available. Once people eat it they're addicted and it messy up hormones particularly in women. We also notice overweight women more because women's clothes are more revealing and noticeable and we're conditioned to think women's appearance matters more.

I doubt many working-class mumsnetters had grandmothers who served clafoutis - it's French, too. But yes, banana cake, lardy cake, bread pudding. Cheese was a treat, generally bought for grandad. Food tended to be of the filling sort: a small amount of meat eked out with carbohydrates such as potatoes and yorkshire puddings, and lots of green veg, helped out with gravy. Actually, fairly healthy as a meal - and perfectly healthy if you roast the potatoes with a low-fat spray (and omit the yorkshire puds).

And yet we keep breeding...

Have a look at what's going on in the fat positivity movement now, it's very shocking.

Like what? I follow quite a lot of fat positive people and I’m not aware of anything shocking.

What's not true is the post I was responding to, that the body positivity movement was just about trying to have a healthy relationship to your body.

That's what it was 30 years ago. What it is now is a differernt thing all together. And while it's perfectly possible to be heavy and fairly healthy, and even fit, that is not the case with people who are severely obese. It takes a serious toll on many body systems.

You really think that people aspire to be fat? People don’t get fat because people say it’s ok or because people ‘normalise’ or ‘promote’ obesity. Because that’s what you seem to be suggesting. People get fat for many different reasons and the bopo, fat positivity and HAES movements are still about treating your body right and caring for it once you’re in that position, instead of shaming and harming through dieting and potential eating disorders. Treating your body right would include access to adequate health care, which a lot of fat people are denied.

I agree plus abuse and trauma can also cause people to have eating disorders that make them thinner.

Well, if we don't keep having children there is little point in being around or setting up the world better.

Okay, but these are examples. A chicken though in Lidl is £4.50, bag of spuds for £1 and carrots for 59p. I think a meal for 4 for £6.00 is pretty cheap. Or even replace the chicken with mince for £2.50, and you have shepherds pie. Tuna spaghetti - couple of tins of tuna for £1.20, with spaghetti at 70p. Lots of healthy pasta options. It just takes a bit of imagination, and very little cookery skills.

I don't think this "body positivity" propaganda is helpful at all. There is very little positivity to be found in giving yourself Type 2 Diabetes before you turn 50, or having to use a disability scooter because your joints are hammered. People have lost all restraint and because so many others are also now obese they deluded themselves that it's normal.

I think the frightening thing about body positivity is the effect on sex lives, where it seems anything goes. We have a pornified culture - that in itself can lead to eating disorders (not to mention poor mental health, and probably one of the causes of the lack of happiness in young girls highlighted by the Girl Guides today - mind, if they remembered that girls are biological girls, not 'I think therefore I am' girls, lives would also be better).

If things like bread is making the difference then how are parents to know the difference between good bread and bad bread.
You can't even go by brands or price. I'm slightly shocked 😲 at the ingredients list on the Hovis wholemeal bread posted earlier.

A couple of generations ago bread would have come from the local bakery they wouldn't have tons of sugar in it.
As noted earlier french bread is solid the next day, same as rolls from local bakery.

But most of us want the convenience of bread that lasts more than a day. Bread makers were all the rage a few years ago. Bit like air fryers are today. I'm seriously thinking about it. Hmm but think it could be a one loaf wonder.

Yes, one side of grandparents had that kind of food so crumbles, sweet and savoury pies there was a Scandinavian influence on the other side so more pickled herring, Rye bread but also lots of potatoes.

I find the eating disorder thing such a cop out. How many people do you know with anorexia versus those who are very overweight? Anorexia also isn’t really linked to weight shaming, it’s closely related to OCD and is more about control than body dysmorphia

I know sometimes you need the connivence but most weeks I cook a whole chicken in the pressure cooker for sandwiches it takes approx 40 mins and you get a lot more chicken for your money. I then make it into some thing like coronation chicken, chicken/ stuffing/bacon

😂😂 so we aren’t to have children of our own because the government cannot pay our wages in decent amounts?

what a horrible world if this is how you see it ‘keep breeding’ we should be able to have as many children as we like and not choose not to have them because we cannot have a decent pay?

our children and grandchild are the up and coming to this country and without them the uk and government would be on there arses maybe they should think about that, our children is what makes great surgeons scientists builders and DR’s could go ON and ON!

Yes, I mean I am actually really anxious about this stuff as I feel with my teenagers that I need to give them the best in terms of health that we can afford but my DH thinks more about the money and thinks it’s ok to overlook this stuff.

Poor circadian health - shite weather in the U.K. means we aren’t getting outside and getting natural sunlight, especially first thing in the morning when it’s crucial - instead we’re slumped inside getting artificial light from screens at unnatural hours.
This and stress due to long working hours, processed foods, binge drinking, hormonal birth control etc means that many of us have completely fucked hormones and the body reacts by holding onto excess fat.
I’m currently overweight for the reasons above and not at all triggered by you asking, these are exactly the things we should be questioning.

Yes, it is a good idea, I don’t have a pressure cooker but how long does cooked chicken last would you say? This is a genuine question as need to cut my food bill.

I do a small chicken, it does 2 adults for about 3 lunches. I wouldn't keep it for more than 4 days. I'd oven cook it then with foil over so that it stays moist and the skin doesn't go crispy. You can then deskin/ debone it and chop it really small to mix into a sandwich filler type mix.

I am watching my carb intake so usually go heavy on the the meat/ salad in my lunch. DH will have 2 sandwiches (he's a farmer so needs energy)

I think both men and women are obese in the UK, not all but a large proportion. It is the cost of living crisis, lack of portion control, eating unhealthy processed cheap food, bad weather making it harder to exercise, mental health issues, lack of time, stress, having young children etc. All these reasons contribute to making it harder to stay fit. It isn’t one thing but usually a combination of these things!

Thanks that is useful to know as I’m always a bit unsure when you are deciding yourself on past it’s best.

Its not ‘it’s’.

I’m really overweight. I cook a huge amount of food from scratch and it’s healthy food.

but, when I’m stressed or have MH issues, I always reach for the most unhealthy food.

Yes there was often a pudding in the 60s/70s when I was growing up. But there was very little processed food (the odd Vesta curry), there was a small bowl serving with cream or custard. Rarely seconds. We were walking everywhere so burning it off. I was shocked at one cookie from the coop being 300 calories... I can imagine a packet of 4 of them being consumed mindlessly. Whereas a rhubarb crumble might be the same calories but you'd just have one bowl.

I honestly think the solutions aren't as hard as people think. There's a lot of explanations of why there is a high level of obesity on this thread, good to understand. The solutions provided from a public health POV are easy to understand - aim for 10 plant based foods that come out the ground per day, try to walk 20-25 miles per week and get your heart rate above 125 for at least 20 minutes a day and keep your waist to hip ratio to below 1.0, aim for 1500-2000 calories a day - this isn't complex stuff but people need the will and reinforced, learned behaviour.

I think if you made it routine in schools and drilled it in as a daily routine from the age of 5, it would go a long way. Instead we stick kids in classrooms, with a message that bums on seats is good and that running round the playground or doing PE is an 'extra' - it's a bit of a tragedy how we make kids behave like sedentary little adults in an office and scold the ones who are itching to move.

Here we go again. You are judging because were you simply curious you would have looked up the myriad reasons. Hint: They’re not all to do with UPF or overeating.