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.

That means they have to know, themselves. The history of domestic science in UK schools started in1901, (Boer War - many recruits did not meet health standards) when cookery lessons were introduced to elementary schools to counter the poor cooking skills found in many urban working-class homes - this was much resented btw, and a lot of women campaigned against it because it suggested only women had the responsibility of cooking and maybe maths would be better use of their time (I agree on this somewhat). However, since the 80s there has been a drive towards removing the practical elements of practical subjects in favour of teaching marketing and product design e.g. my DD did GCSE textiles and cannot hem, nor set a sleeve (all of which Iearned at school - and I still did almost solely academic GCEs). No, it is not the government's job to teach specific children, but it is also not the job of the maintained education system to promote the use of processed foods by not using practical subjects to teach the practical skills they were intended for.

Yeah but there's still the time thing. When my two were both under ten I was single and working FT, shift ended at 4, would rush home, they would be starving, didn't want them to get into the habit of snacking between meals so it's a rush to get food on the table. I'm not going to roast a chicken and peel spuds, you know?

They were raised on frozen protein, steamed veg and brown sauce, it's a miracle they're both slim and healthy lol

If you blame crap weather for being fat, then you're just lazy.

When I was growing up in the 60s, Mother’s Pride white sliced bread was the staple - breakfast toast, beans on toast, and the Marmite sandwich to take to school for break.

I was never remotely overweight, nor were my 3 siblings.

So I don’t think supermarket bread is a main culprit, it’s everything else - and too much of it.
But my Dm did cook virtually everything from scratch. And as a family we were always pretty skint. Except for weekends, when we did have sweets, snacks just weren’t available in our house. You ate at mealtimes (whatever you were given, no choice) and that was it.

The Vesta made me laugh as my Mum and Dad married quite young, they’re divorced now but my Dad regularly brings up or moans about my Mum’s culinary abilities and how she would buy him a Vesta curry for his dinner as she had a busy social life and was out loads. It was probably late 60s, early 70s. He did say on some of these nights there happened to be a local takeaway and he would buy himself a real curry! God forbid he actually cooked😂My Dad is always commenting on how big people have become and doesn’t understand post birth weight with women as he is using my Mum as a reference who was tiny and back into her normal flares after a day apparently 🙄

From personal experience - weight gain started in Covid, as did falling out of the habit of exercising and a gradual slip into unhealthy eating habits.

Lots of other factors that may impact many people - fussy ASD teens so cooking from scratch became a minefield, drank more during covid and afterwards, in my case menopause/post covid health blips, work/life stresses mean I take the line of least resistance when prepping family meals or agreeing to a takeaway.

I am fortunate enough to be largely protected from it, but the CoL has meant a change to how I shop - am so wary of buying stuff the kids will then not eat and I’ll have to bin because it is now sooo expensive (fruit/veg/salads!) - so tend to stock up on frozen meals as staples etc that are also not the healthiest option. Means I probably snack more on cereals and toast and other store cupboard items because I’ve under-ordered fruit/healthy snacks for fear of them being wasted.

Yes the snacking culture is utterly out of control. Everywhere I go parents have Tupperware full of grapes and breadsticks in the pram and are constantly offering them to the kids. They never seem to go more than an hour or two at the most without eating.

Processed foods particularly sweeteners have a lot to answer for.

They are addictive on many levels, they make you feel crap and they are digested quickly so you need to eat more.

Did Mother’s Pride have all the additives it does now? I wonder if it’s the same product as it were. Because of my Mum’s scandi heritage we were unusual I having Rye bread and dry Rye crackers were a regular feature in our food cupboards. But yes, lots cooked from scratch but also small portions. My Mum would often do stir fry which was essentially just beansprouts, pepper, cabbage and soy sauce, no protein, we were all starving on those nights! And like others we had takeaway Chinese or Curry once or twice a year; it was really rare as a family.

Oh come on. For the vast majority of people it's purely a shit diet and lack of exercise

I think it’s a mixture of culture, Brits not really into cooking/healthy eating and exercising like other countries combined with the fact that fresh meat/protein and fruit and vegetables are so darn expensive. It’s quite sad that it’s become a luxury to be able to eat well, fresh fish etc

Cuz chicken nuggs

It's partly (possibly mainly) ultra-processed food, but also huge portion sizes.

The first time I went to the US (over 20 years ago), I was horrified by the levels of obesity that you never saw on the streets here. Even now, we are not as bad as the US. But I couldn't believe the portion sizes - I kept getting into trouble for wasting food becasue I couldn't eat it all - delicious though some of it was. There were other crazy things like two pint cups of orange juice - basically liquid sugar.

I do believe that some people are more vulnerable to weght gain than others, and it's not a simple question of calories in/calories out. It's what you eat, how you eat and other lifestyle issues, but also genetics.

Eating disorders are much more than anorexia. And fat people can be anorexic too.

Good point and the money isn’t just to be made from the “normal” food they consume but also from all the services and products sold to (allegedly) help people lose weight eg. Slimming world, Cambridge diet /1:1 and the rise of social media online personal trainers who often have no training but sell diet and exercise plans for a significant monthly subscription.

Would you say there are as many overweight and obese children and people in the 18-24 age bracket as in the U.K., or it's mostly adults who are obese in France? We live in Paris so anyone obese we see is an American or British tourist, but certainly we do see overweight people when we travel elsewhere, but those people tend to be over 55, 60, and very, very rarely under 20.

You would think OP could work this out for themselves.
Just curious? Nah!

I'd like to know why a concern for one's health should been seen as some kind of lofty virtue to which we should all aspire?

And why do people care so much about how others look, and less about how they behave, what they have achieved, the way they treat other people? Why do these threads (and I'm including the botox/clothing/microblading ones) even exist - are women and their lives really so uninteresting and limited that this is all some people can find to talk about?

Cooking is no longer taught in schools in the way it used to be (my child only has a lesson every two weeks, one term a year, for example) so many people don't know how to cook from scratch. Add to this everyone working long hours or more than one job to make ends meet due to the cost of living crisis. UPFs and ready made food are cheaper, quicker to prepare and easily accessible.

Now food prices (especially fruit and veg) and rising due to Brexit to compound the problem.

It's a societal issue.

Interesting that you only notice the women, OP @EvaHara

More men than women in my age group (40s) are overweight than women.

Two thirds of adults are overweight or obese.

Yes, despite eating well at meals my Gdcs are always ‘starving’ so I will confess to being guilty of taking snacks on any day out - but all 3 are still very slim. Dd and SiL do largely give them pretty healthy food, though, and they’re very active.

I am what would be medically termed as obese. I cook from scratch almost every day. Eat v healthy food - low carbs, high fibre, low fat, tons of fruit and veg etc. I do drink a couple of glasses of wine almost every day. I cycle and swim regularly. The only way I can actually lose weight is to stick to 800-1000 calories a day on a long term basis. Obsessively counting calories makes me unhappy and stressed. There is more to life.

I think women expect to be fat after having children and just accept it - which is wrong.
Being fat is really, really unhealthy and should be frowned upon.

I mean obesity puts a huge strain on the NHS..

So it does concern everybody.

Along with smoking / poor lifestyle choices.

Bold statement, but I agree entirely.