Perceptions of 'healthy' or 'overweight' are really skewed by the area you live in?

[alwaysdream]

I'm sure I'll get roasted for this, but here goes anyway...

I live in an area of London where pretty much nobody is 'overweight.' Particularly young people.

Last night, in Wembley Stadium (Harry Styles concert), the ONLY food available was chicken and chips or doughnuts. That's it. And - I know this will sound very judgemental - but I'd say about 7 / 10 people were quite 'overweight,' but all walking around in tiny shorts and cropped tops, etc (I know this is the vibe at this kind of event). It made me wonder if this is 'normal' for young people, on a national level? I know it sounds judgemental, but AIBU? Are most teens overweight where you live?

When my chikdren were young they went to a little church school that was very middle-class and I felt large in the playground as a size 12 to 14. We then moved across to the school which was much more deprived and I felt slimmer.

There is definitely variations between wealth and poor areas in the numbers of obese children in particular.

And most people do surround themselves with people like themselves. People filter thier lives by where they live, types of jobs, schools they would consider and shared interests. Its very easy to end up in a bubble of your own making - not just middle class people.

I live in a poor deprived area and what I do notice is the number of fast food outlets. If I go out of my front door and head to the main road on the left of my home I will find the following:
KFC
Subway
A chip shop
A chinese take away
Dunkin Do-nuts
Lots of vape shops, off licenses and betting shops too. I can't imagine permission being given to crowd a "naice" area with so many businesses of this sort
Our city centre has more chicken shops than you can count, lots of burger places including 3 MacDonalds, at least 5 Dessert Palours. In fact now I come to think about it, since the demise of the high street the city centre is little more than one giant fast food outlet.

I moved from the midlands to Geneva two years ago.
Here very few people are overweight, I am a size 6 and pretty normal size here, in England I find it hard to find clothes in my size as what says a size 6 on the label is far bigger than the European equivalent.
I really notice how big and generally unhealthy people look when I arrive back in the UK but also travelling to somewhere such as Lyon where it’s less affluent I see people are bigger.
Also I notice the British kids are far taller than the ones local to us (multiple nationalities).

It depends v much on socio-economic groups. Presume you live in a fairly affluent area?

My kids go to state school in affluent area, and only v small proportion are overweight.

Maybe Harry styles fans are disproportionately on the larger side? Maybe that's why they only had chicken and donuts? I mean I thought concert food was always unhealthy really.

I think it's true there are lots of chubby kids. I guess if they're in the majority then they feel more confident in their appearance? Who knows.

I rarely see morbidly obese people in my area, but it's not like everyone is really slim.

Rural Norfolk: yes plenty of young people are rather chunky. I dunno if majority are large, but can say that being large is not unusual.

This is not bcz of high density of KFCs.

Brandy Melville actually had a documentary about them over this. I do find it quite a negative vibe as it's a bit ridiculous that there are no other sizes as young teen girls like mine actually find some of the stuff too big, then you see perfectly slim women who are 20, 21 in there but no that some things are too small and don't accomodate the shape of a women, makes that person feel like shit I would imagine!

Know not "no"

Since the wide availability of low cost, processed food there’s been a correlation between poverty and poor health, its multifactoral not only about money but money is definitely a factor. There’s nothing controversial about this, its fact. You only have to compare average weight between an affluent postcode in London and an average one in somewhere like Glasgow.

The advent of GLP-1s has massively exacerbated this too as wealthy women can afford to take them as a lifestyle choice as opposed to for health reasons.

I agree that food choices in stadiums are routinely awful but as a one off no one becomes obese eating chicken and chips.

Its much more deep rooted than this and takes generations to fix.

All those talking about obesity and poverty/depravation, have you seen how much Harry Styles tickets are?!

Those paying hundreds of pounds for a ticket and paying the food and drink prices at concert venues (£10 a pint, anyone?) are in no way the “deprived” in society.

Yes I do think it's regressive and potentially toxic to have girls' clothes shops where there is only one size. There is another shop they all go to called 'Subdued' where it's the same kind of stuff - but I think they might have different sizes for some items in there? Not 100% sure tbh. But literally, in places like the Kings Rd or in similar areas, when you see droves of teen girls out and about, that's probably what 90% of them are like. They go out for matchas or to açai / salad places. Or Korean food and skincare products seem to be popular at the moment with teens / younger women. Never McDonalds etc.

I'm a mum obviously and I'm a size 10 and I would probably put myself as medium / large around here. I don't do huge amounts of exercise or follow specific diet plans as many do these days. Or that's how it seems to me. And all the middle aged men are even more into health and fitness!

Yeah I also live in an affluent area in London, much fewer overweight people here.

What a nasty thread.

Would you prefer all of those young women were ashamed of their bodies and hid underneath tents?!

Obesity is a problem in this country, yes - for a lot of people. Why target young women on a night out?

And the Wembley food comments are just weird. All of those big concert venues and sports stadiums sell fast food and not much else. Wembley is no different.

Yep let’s fat shame the poor teens shall we? Nice op. Haven’t you got anything better to do?

I would estimate that 25% of adults where I live are overweight, and a further 25% are obese. North East coastal town.i would apply similar percentages to the children of this town. I5jink people have completely lost sight of what a normal weight looks like.

So what?

God this thread is NUTS. Stop obsessing over other people’s weights!

In other countries which don't have an epidemic of obesity it's normal to discuss people's weight. it's not considered rude. We have become ridiculously over sensitive and defensive about it to the point where even doctors avoid talking about it, even though obesity is clearly causing or excaserbating a great number of illnesses.

Do you think the event was only for citizens of Wembley, op?
There could have been some fatsos from your area that you’d never met before 🤷🏻‍♀️

Do you live in an economically deprived area of London?

How can you tell? Is it really obvious when you travel out of borough and you’re suddenly surrounded by heifers? 😂
People claiming to know all about all the people in their presumably large area of London make me laugh.

Yes, people in poorer areas are fatter. My parents live in a low income part of the UK and there are way more fat people there and a very noticeable number who are extremely obese. A level of obesity I never really see in the affluent park of the UK I am in. Like American level of morbid obesity.

I don’t live in London but when I move between where I live and my parents do it is very much like this. Not sure why you think that sounds absurd.

Definitely. Its an extreme version but we have family in Asia and spend a lot of time there. As a UK size 12 I look huge compared to almost everyone. I can't buy clothes in normal stores. The specialist plus sized stores have the worst names ever! And then when he come back to the UK everyone appears so much bigger.

This is a discussion forum and sorry if some people want to see the thread as 'nasty.' Quite possibly it is and I wouldn't normally post like this. Howver, I was quite 'struck' last night, and I'm just being honest.

It's like when you go to American theme parks and there are people on mobility vehicles because they are so obese they can barely walk. That's not really something you see so much in Europe. But I do think, in the U.K., there is a tendency now for girls who are not obese, but maybe a size 14 to go out in shorts which are cut so you can see their actual bum. And crop tops with their belly literally hanging out. On the one hand, some may say well why shouldn't they? Stop fat shaming! Body positivity - live and let live! Ok. That's a view. Another view is, that these kind of clothes are not flattering or particularly necessary. And when you are surrounded by thousands dressed like this, it's hard not to notice. Do girls do this in other countries? If not, why not?