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.

There's a complicated web of socio-political factors each of which is intricately nuanced in a way that's only accessible to very few genuine experts on the subject.

But none of those factors ever relates to the damaging myth that people just like to eat. Without exception they are all victims of an obesogenic environment.

I'm fat because I love food and don't get enough exercise

Do you realise one of the top reasons to go on a cruise is the huge , endless array of food on offer?(I once enjoyed a cruise across the Atlantic after I’d been living rather a bohemian hand to mouth lifestyle and certainly pigged myself on the free
food).

I'm going on a cruise in August. Size 12/14. Was worried about getting 'bikini ready'. I'm not now. Thanks OP!

Ooh look
OP posts goady bollocks and vanishes
at least have the balls to own your shit hun

I actually think Deliveroo and takeaways have a lot to answer for (I mean it’s personal responsibility but it makes it so easy to eat high calorie food).

when I was younger if my mother was having a lazy evening we had beans on toast, or pasta.

if I’m having a lazy evening I will order stuff. 10 x the calorie. I’m slim but I do eat quite a lot of crap because I’m sleep deprived and it’s available. Would probably be bigger but I don’t drink - alcohol is a pretty big calorie bomb.

and yes, lots of time sitting around with electronics, lack of responsibility and justifications. When I’ve gained weight during pregnancies it’s been down to my own personal greed 🤷🏻‍♀️

Because they eat too much of the wrong things. Why? A million reasons. Cash and time poor, lack of knowledge around nutrition and cooking, abundance of easy delivery options (uber eats, deliveroo etc) anxiety/depression/other mental health issues which lead to comfort eating.
I was brought up to batch cook healthy dinners by my Mum. And I still do that now. When the weather is shit on a weekend, I get the slow cooker out and crack on. But, I’m also not skint, so I can nip to Sainsbury’s and buy everything I need to make 20 meals at a time, but I know that not everyone can. Cost of living has A LOT to do with it I think. Beige freezer food is far cheaper than fresh alternatives.
You CAN cook healthy meals on a tight budget (I did, for years) but someone needs to teach you. Years ago, I ran a course on healthy low budget meals in a massively deprived area. It was over subscribed and a big success. Courses like that and investment in mental health services could massively help I think.

Well, judging by a lot of threads I have seen here, British men are less overweight than their wives because they get to continue going to the gym five days a week when their babies arrive, while their wives don't get one minute of time off from childcare to do this.

It's the teams of people working for Kraft, Nestle, PepsiCo et al whose purpose it is to invent products they call food, making it as addictive as possible while also keeping it nutritionally lacking.
People become deficient in vitamins and minerals eating said products resulting in their clever body sending hunger signals so they'll nourish it. Instead of reaching for nutritious food, they reach for more of the same (cheaper) addictive products because the salt/fat/sugar/mouth feel has created a dopamine bomb in their brain.

Greedy 'food' production giants are making people obese.

50 years of being told that a calorie is a calorie, and to eat low fat so we end up eating processed crap full of sugar when trying to be good. And the end result we all got fatter as a nation. Even on a 'diet' you get told to eat snacks. Did the French buy into this crap... erm NO.

I think the government should intervene.Japan did in school meals, scamdavian countries have. Shit fast food has been normalised.

school meals, works canteens, hospital etc should serve fresh food.

obesity has been normalised.

@Moier 🌻

Sorry. I’ve name changed.

Another who was left for dead.

I was lucky enough to just be disfigured and the bones healed ok. I grew a fat cloak to help make me invisible.

It worked.

It would seem I’d be visible on a cruise ship though.

😂

I am not judging, just curious

I’m sure* *

Probably something to do with the huge numbers of foods that are ultra processed...

Nah. Eating too much food, more like. It isn't eating one ultra-processed chocolate digestive that makes me fat, it's eating half a packet of them.

Nothing to add here, other than to say I'm enjoying RudeFucko's "contributions" to the thread. 😅

You're clearly not in Germany, then. Some heroically fat people. Especially in Bavaria.

Because it's way easier to put on weight than lose it and keep it off. Also people don't exercise enough - again, it's easier not too. People who are into exercise probably wouldn't choose to go on a cruise for their holiday.

Poverty- on a cruise?

I'm not obese or even classed as overweight but if I carry on as I am I will be. I used to be very disciplined, ran a lot and record everything I ate daily and lost lots of weight - but I've piled 2.5 stone on in less than 2 years.

A few things:

Eating kids leftovers
Sweets and cakes everywhere, always loads of buffets at work. Dessert shop down the road which we enjoy going to.
I walk a lot and am always really hungry
Takeaways
Similar portion sizes to my partner
Lack of time
I love food
All inclusive holidays
I love beer and wine
I tell myself I'm nearly 40 and no one expects me to be the same size I was when I was 18.

It must be processed food/junk food, possibly alcohol too, it we are fatter than the rest of Europeans.

I suppose working long hours makes it harder to cook healthy meals all the time. Maybe in Europe fast food/processed food isn't as easily available as it is in the UK, so they might cook more than we do. Or more house wives that have time to cook healthy meals everyday etc.

The stat below is high, not sure how you resolve it

I have never been overweight in my life (I was a chubby child though) and now after an emergency c section and baby number 3 (horrendous pregnancy also) I am fat. The baby is still little. But I know I’m fat. I do know I need to stay healthy to be alive for my little ones but also at the moment. I don’t really care that I’m fat. I’m just enjoying my newborn. 🤷🏽‍♀️