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 I lived in Switzerland, people in Basel and Zurich looked particularly unhealthy to me.

YANBU and it’s definitely socio-economic to a certain extent. Though weight loss drugs have changed things a bit.

Food options out and about generally in the UK are awful or expensive.

You are so right OP! It does sound judgmental.

I live up North and when here I feel average (I am a size 14).
I often work in London, when there I feel overweight.
It definitely impacts on the effort I make to eat less
I also play two sports. In one (football) I am average, in the other (cycling) I am fat.

I don't think you're economically deprived if you can pay to go and see Harry Styles at Wembley.

I live in an area with a fair bit of deprivation and yes I see a lot more obesity here than when I’m in London for work. Off the top of my head I can only think of a couple of people in my whole organisation (1000+) who are overweight. Very middle class org!

I live in a poorer area and yes I feel much bigger in London! What I love about London is the healthy continence food available - I’m on the go so much so having something healthier is brilliant.

There is a direct correlation between poverty and obesity so I don’t think you’re wrong. I think the richer you are the more likely you can access activities/things to make you happy - everything from holidays to days out. If you’re poorer the accessible fun things that are cheap are often food, cigarettes and alcohol. Not that I’m making excuses, I’ve lost nearly 2 stone now and keep going!

Where I live,in an affluent area, it’s normal to be slim. A mile or two down the road is the affordable housing zone, the shopping centre down there is packed with fat people. It’s incredibly depressing. Diabetes central. Whoever worked to normalise fatness probably was getting paid by big pharma.

In my daughter's year group (Year 11 so 16-year-olds) there isn't a single overweight teenager, but it's admittedly a fairly small year group. None of her friends outside of school are overweight 🤷‍♀️

I went to the Harry Styles concert at Wembley Wednesday and there were many more food options than just chicken & chips, but admittedly none healthy and yes, quite a few people were overweight but many more were not. (P.S. I really don't get the Harry Styles hype at all - I didn't think there was one good song 🤷‍♀️ but then I was given a free ticket by a friend so who am I to complain 🤣)

I live in an affluent town and work in an affluent part of London and most people Around both areas are slim. At work, with a few hundred people, I can’t think of anyone that is overweight. At my children’s schools there are a handful of overweight children in schools of hundreds.

sometimes when I’m out and about I realise how many overweight people are around though yes, mostly recently at the o2 for a gig.

We had free last min tickets too @XelaM . The only songs I recognised were the last 2. I don't really get the hype either? Though he is good on stage.

Harry Styles tickets weren't all outrageously priced . Obviously they are not an essential and if you were in poverty you wouldnt have spare money for it but its not a given that everyone going will be wealthy. My ticket was 75, and DD says she's seen tickets for £40. A lot of times people with free tickets are the ones who could easily afford it anyway!
Some people may have got them for presents,i know someone who works pt and earns about £700/month. She paid £500 for a concert ticket (not HS) and paid it off in instalments

You sound like my mum when I take her to the Toby carvery.

I'm a size 6-8 and I've never had trouble finding clothes. You do know European brands are available here, right? If you're in London, Net-a-Porter will even bring them right to your door.

I don't think the socioeconomic phenomenon you're talking about is news. Yes, you do see more overweight people in less affluent areas, but this

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.

comes across as really disgusting. Why does anyone have to dress for flattery or to please you? It they're not concerned, why are you? Who is to decide whether someone else's fashion choices are 'necessary'? Ugh.

Most people know they are overweight, so I don't agree with the perceptions being different. To take the conversation in a different direction I do think that the perceptions of what an overweight child looks like has become skewed.

Its fast food. Its based around what is:

• long shelf life inputs (eg frozen or long life stuff where anything not eaten is used at the next event)
• fast to cook
• easy to eat with no cutlery etc
• high profit margin

Fresh vegetables etc are a pain to store, require more preparation and care in cooking. People are less willing to pay as much, and on a lower price there's less room to soak up the much higher costs of preparing and serving the food.

They will also cater to demand - they will offer what sells.

Do you live in Chelsea? I ask as you mention the King's Road. I am 5ft 10 and a size 10 and I feel fat around there. There seems to be an orthorexia problem in that area.

I hope they enjoyed every chip they had ! Must have been quite the shock seeing a fat person in real life ! I am sure you are safe home today

that post honestly doesn’t ‘ come across as disgusting ‘ to me. I think most people think these things, and wish for times of greater tact, decorum, prettiness. Looking at someone and unavoidably thinking ‘ you eat shedloads of fat and sugar’ doesn't spark joy.

I really do think the time of walking on eggshells around fat badly dressed people has passed. It was a brief period where sanity let itself be gaslit. It’s over.

you know those blokes who walk round wuth their trousers hanging down low, so their underpants are on show and they look as if they’ve shat themselves? Well, we are allowed to say they look brain dead.

no more gaslighting acceptance, no more walking on eggshells. It’s toxic.

It's neither gaslighting nor walking on eggshells to think that random people don't owe you and your preferences any headspace while getting dressed. They are not on this earth to perform a decorative function for others. They are living their lives, just as you're living yours and I'm living mine. Thinking your aesthetic preferences should define the way others live their lives is what's toxic.

I have to be honest you sound more judgy of these women than actually concerned . I mean it’s nothing new that western societies have become more overweight in recent years ? It’s not something that most people aren’t already aware of. And as for those girls I’d rather them be out enjoying themselves comfortable in their own skin than have eating disorders or being miserable about how they look.

I must say (as a very fat person myself) it would absolutely never cross my mind to put on sparkly shorts or skirt that barely covered my enormous behind. Just why? It's not flattering or even remotely sexy. I just don't get it.

I don’t really understand the connection to Wembley or Harry Styles. Do you think that everyone who goes to Wembley stadium is from that immediate area (as opposed to all over the country). And that everyone from NW London are fatsos as opposed to the skinny Minnies from SE London who go to concerts at the O2? It’s just a very odd thread I think

I think it being rubbish food is a cliched perception- most overweight people I know eat lovely home cooked food - roasts, lasagne etc, then they might have a lovely Turkey sandwich with real butter and a glass of full fat milk, the slim people I know eat light salads and light meals. I think both are just different.