Shocked yesterday at just how many people are overweight?

[Whatevskev]

And I know I’ll get loads of bashing but I’m not judging- myself and all my family may well be included in this observation

The day before I’d been watching a documentary about the 40s and was struck by how slim the vast majority of people were. We got chatting as a group and I remembered there was only one child at school who was considered to be overweight (this is the 80s) so I got a photo out and realised by today’s standard he wouldn’t stand out at all.

Then yesterday walking around town I started actually noticing and it struck me that only about 1 in 10 people if that would be classed as properly slim and how normalised carrying extra weight is. Many people who would have been maybe a size 12 so ‘slim’ are actually carrying so much more body fat than our ancestors.

Once I looked it was striking.
No blame on anyone- society makes it almost impossible to maintain a lower weight unless you have iron will with all the food availability and snacking culture and calorie laden drinks and meals.

And we definitely have reset in our heads what is slim and what is ‘normal’.

How on earth do we reverse this is a society or is it just going to rise exponentially?

[fernandoanddenise]

I blame food advertising. Huge portions, peely cheese, chocolate cereal.
Also ‘Snack’ culture - we don’t need snacks, only snack manufacturers need to keep that alive.
I’d love to see an outright ban on advertising junk products - in fact all food. Plus low nutrition food to be placed in high up shelves not front and centre.
Plates made smaller.

[NumberblockNo1]

Because research shows shaming doesnt work and people put on more weight.

If its genuine concern rather than just feeling superior then there should be a push to reading research and things that actually do support people.

As well as the poverty related statistics, a huge percentage of morbidly obese people have significant childhood trauma or abuse.

People dont tell anorexic people to "just eat" and shame them. (Well they do, but that also backfires and isnt best practice.. ) people know to treat the whole person including the mental health.

I may back out soon though as I know how this goes on mn. It's easy to see the posts from those that just want to gloat and those that want to see what the heart of the issues are and to genuinely help.

[MarianaMoatedGrange]

People with little money eat cheap, filling food. Look at ingredients now, lots of sugar and palm oil.

[EleanorReally]

you are right numberblock.
being on the receiving end of fat shaming is awful, worse than being told not to smoke! Being told to drink less alcohol is also rather personal

[BeforetheFlood]

I think food culture - the availability, normalisation and celebration of high fat, high sugar 'treat' foods - coupled with lack of knowledge about what the calorie cost of these things is, has a big role in this.

We stopped at a motorway service station the other night, quite late. Hadn't had tea that evening, M&S Simply Food was closed, so the obvious place to get something was burger king. It's somewhere I'd usually avoid but I was hungry so stood there in the queue with my DH and DD looking at the board and trying to decide what to have.

I noticed after a minute that all the items on the menu had calories listed alongside them. The lowest calorie thing was 670 ish (for chicken strips) but all the burgers were in the 900 - 1700 calorie range. I lost quite a bit of weight a couple of years ago by sticking to 1200 calories a day which has given me an awareness of calorie value and there is NO WAY I'd touch a food that was so high calorie. Not without it being something special or significant, for a celebration or. whatever. But these kinds of foods are the ones people quickly and unthinkingly consume because they're there, they're satisfying and they're convenient.

I was really glad that Burger King had put the calorie value on display, quite prominently too, as it gives people the opportunity to make an informed choice. I think calorie value is like monetary value - you don't want to be 'conned' into having something that is more than you wanted to pay, or more than that item is worth to you. (I decided not to get anything in the end.)

[BrexitBingoGenerator]

It’s so much cheaper to eat crap, processed food though. I guess that the tighter your budget is, the more tempting it must be to default to this. We got a flyer for farmfoods yesterday and you can buy a big box of fried chicken ball things for £1 and 3l of vimto for £1.

[soberfabulous]

I live overseas and when I visit the UK I am staggered by the size of people. It's very normalized now.

[Whatevskev]

@Mummybares that attitude doesn’t help though. I wasn’t naming or judging them as weak or whatever.
It was an observation that despite knowing the stats it really hit me yesterday

Yes this was a provincial northern market town and we all know the link with poverty which makes it even sadder and more unfair.

No idea how we as a society own it and tackle it though.
I think o had my head in the sand a bit and now realise just how enormous the issue is and how devastating it will be for generations

[SarfE4sticated]

Life is so much different to how it was in the 40s though, not so many people had cars, there was more manual work, food was not so processed, I imagine that people did more everyday exercise walking to the shops, public transport to work, walking around the office delivering post etc, gardening, sewing, knitting, diy, whereas a lot of us drive everywhere, and sit on our arses all day in front of a computer.
Processed food is an issue I think, as is the acceptability of a lot of snacking. Calorific hot drinks, cookies, crisps etc. My Grandmother may have had a digestive biscuit a day, but that would have been it.
Companies make so much money from our new habits, that it's up to us to see the damage they cause us, and choose not to consume these foods.

[Jaichangecentfoisdenom]

What's the old adage: "You can never be too rich or too thin."? I think wealth and slimness can perhaps go hand in hand as it is often more expensive and time-consuming to prepare and eat healthy, non-fattening foods and many forms of exercise are also expensive.

[Zaphodsotherhead]

But it isn't just people. I took my dog to the vet the other day, I was concerned that she was underweight (I run daily with my dog and wanted to make sure that I wasn't causing her any damage with the exercise). The vet looked at me - slightly oddly - and said that my dog was a perfect shape and weight for her size and breed. He said that we've lost sight of what a 'normal' dog should look like, how many are now massively underexercised and overweight and we've normalised this.

So, not just people with their cars and cheap food. Everyone is overeating (or being overfed in the case of pets). Our 'normal' is skewed.

[ScreamingValenta]

One thing I have noticed is the huge increase in take-away/drive thru outlets over the last 30 - 40 years. When I was a child, living in a large town, there was one 'chippy' and one Chinese takeaway within walking distance and that was it. The same area nowadays has at least 20 fast food outlets - a mixture of Indian, pizzas, fried chicken, Chinese - you name it.

And 'walking distance' has become irrelevant because people use apps to have the food delivered to their house - again, having a takeaway delivered was unheard of in my youth (might have been possible in cities). So on the comparatively infrequent occasions you might have had a takeaway, at least you'd have had a walk there and back to get it.

In short, it has become too easy for people to sit on the sofa and have whatever unhealthy food they like couriered to them, with no more effort than pressing a few buttons. Where a takeaway might have been something you had once in a while, for many people it's become a weekly event, or even more frequent than that.

Councils need to stop granting permission for fast food outlets to pop up. It's so hypocritical - advice comes out all the time about healthy eating, and then the next thing, a new Drive Thru MacDonalds has popped up on that spare bit of grass near the motorway ...

OK, no one has to use these places, but there will be people growing up now who have never known any different - the proliferation of fast food in the environment is normalising it as an everyday way of eating, rather than an occasional treat or emergency fallback option.

[wibblywoo]

I am astounded by the arrogance of some of these posts. There seems to be an implication that if these fat people were just told or shamed, whichever you want to call it, by thinner people, they would suddenly realise what needed to be done.

Many, many overweight people are already acutely aware of their weight issues. It affects their lives profoundly. They are overweight, but some people seem to be implying that they are intellectually compromised too. Thin people being able to say something will make little to no difference.

[SimonJT]

Obesity is worrying and it has become normal, it does need to be tackled, but people shouldn’t be made to feel shame.

I’m technically overweight, but not fat (11% body fat) and I sometimes find it hard to eat enough to maintain my size.

Lack of education is a big problem, people spoute lies saying processed food is cheaper, it really isn’t, it’s just a case of people not knowing what to make with cheap food. You can make a home made squash soup for about £1.20 that will feed four people.

Type 2 diabetes is becoming a national disaster, especially when you look at how much it costs the NHS to treat it.

[MrGsFancyNewVagina]

The food companies are also to blame. No one forces us to eat the fattening foods, but the companies are really sly in their marketing. They put ‘low or even zero fat’ on their packaging and people think they’re picking a healthier option, but not realising that food could be loaded with sugar. Most people don’t have time to read the small print, so trust that they’re picking a healthier option. Have a look, the next time you’re in a shop. It’s truly shocking and actually makes me quite angry. The food companies are helping kill people, with their sneaky marketing. Also, processed foods are awful. Almost everything contains so much sugar.

I was always really thin, until my husband took ill and I started eating prodded foods. I put on two stone in two years and I wasn’t actually eating as much as I was when he was well. I also wasn’t stuffing my face with so called junk food. It was the processed food that caused the weight gain.

I hear people judging those who are on limited income or those that go to food banks and I realise that most people have no idea, that being poor is the reason for their weight gain. If you have the time, skill and money to cook from scratch and limit your processed food, you will be fine. Not everyone has that ability.

[Ludways]

Fat shaming concentrated on how the person looks, it's bollocks, everyone can be beautiful, making them feel they're ugly us counterproductive. We need to concentrate on healthy lifestyles and healthy eating, education is the key, let people know what unhealthy eating does to the inside, not the outside.

[CrunchyCarrot]

Food, as in our diet, is the main issue, plus the big companies pushing overly sugary/high fat foods. I suspect at least some of the tendency to put on weight easily is down to genetics, and it's something that will serve you well if there's a famine, however there isn't a famine and many of us are eating too many calories of foods that are 'irresistible' like pizza, takeaway etc. The calorific content of those foods is just too high for the amount of activity that would be needed to burn the weight off. Combine that with a more sedentary lifestyle for many and the pounds (or kilos!) pile on.

However there is another side to it which shouldn't be overlooked and is why 'fat shaming' is incredibly hurtful and unhelpful. Hypothyroidism is very common these days, and it mainly affects women (although not exclusively). If you are hypo very often it's impossible to shed weight, even on the best diet and being active. Instead you'll keep gaining, your doctor will tell you that you must lose weight but you'll be unable to, not until your thyroid hormones are put back on track.

It's a complex issue. Sometimes it is a person's craving of unhealthy foods that's at the root of weight gain, other times it's a lack of education about nutrition and what's healthy to eat. Another cause is the trend towards 'fast food' and lack of cookery skills. A lot of changes need to be made, a lot is down to education and that goes all the way up to the medical profession who are still, in my opinion, clueless.

We need more people like Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall and Jamie oliver who are helping to change dietary perceptions (and food waste which is all part of it), but we need many more people to become involved so that govt policies change. If they ever get past Brexit, that is!

[diddl]

I do wonder about this constant access to food/snacks for young kids that seems to be a thing.

Will they become adults who can't stand to feel hungry?

We had a light main meal yesterday-chicken & salad.

I pointed out that we'd be ready for our tea time.

But that's OK isn't it?

[FamilyOfAliens]

More car use, takeaways, generally more food available.

And yet I’ve read countless threads on here about how some people find non-drivers irritating.

I can drive, but I don’t, because I have the beginnings of arthritis and I want to keep myself moving as much as possible. But I’ve read posters saying they think people who don’t drive are selfish, especially if they have children. You can’t win!

[maddiemookins16mum]

You’re right, and I say that as someone who needs to lose 4 stone.
In my teens, the 80’s, I recall one overweight friend and in fairness she was probably only a size 14/16. DD is nearly 16 and weighs 7.5 stone at 5ft 3. She has several friends who are clearly very overweight and don’t care a jot.

[SunnivaGunne]

I think it's that people eat too much. For example, in Burger king (using Before's story) a burger would be more than adequate as a meal. But how many people will automatically add chips and a fizzy drink and get something sweet for after. I am in my late 40's and if I eat more than approx 1200 calories a day I will gain weight. It has made me realise how easy it is to over eat. With all the food available everywhere it is too easy to take in far too many calories and, of course, drive everywhere so not expend them as you would need to be consciously exercising and if you're not aware you're taking in too many then you're not aware you need to use them up.

I'm not sure I am on board with the poverty = worse food. Certainly laziness, lack of time and making yourself feel better by eating tasty food might be factors but I am on a very tight budget and have to constantly watch my food budget and it rarely stretches to more than plain, healthy, often boring food (like vegetables, porridge, lentils) in order to make it last and fill everyone. I rarely buy meat let alone nuggets which ime are more expensive than plain chicken breasts.

[rookiemere]

Unfortunately our view of normal serving portions has been manipulated by food suppliers as well.

Even small things like a Tesco lunchtime meal deal consists of a drink, sandwich or salad and a packet of crisps for £3.00. I certainly don't need the extra calories from a bag of crisps , but there I am sheep like adding them to my purchase as they are included . If you picked a smoothie and one of the bigger packet of crisps the calorie count would come in around 1500 for what appears to be a quick lunchtime snack.

Another example in my youth and 20s if I wanted something chocolatey but not too calorific I'd buy a fudge or milky way. Now they come in double packs - milky way certainly does - so over 200 calories.

I also think that people have lost even the most basic culinary skills. Mid week when I drive past, the chippie is queued out the door. I don't understand this as you could buy frozen fish fillets and oven chips for about a tenth of the price and have them on the table in less than half an hour. I do know that the really poor will not have money for the ovens, or perhaps not an oven, but this is not the case for the majority of people.

[Zaphodsotherhead]

I agree, diddl, my XP used to moan and groan about being 'starving' a couple of hours after a full cooked breakfast.

People have lost the abililty to tell when they are actually 'hungry' and perceive a little bit of hunger as an actual, physical pain that must instantly be disposed of. They eat every couple of hours to make sure that they never feel that pain, and therefore lose the ability to judge whether they are hungry or eating is just becoming a habit.

[NameChange84]

For me it's a sedentary job, a long commute, a lack of time to cook or walk or go to the gym. I have so little energy I just crash.

Our lives have become harder to manage and unhealthy, fast, food has never been so easily available. Even coffee often has as many calories as a full meal and that's before people add on biscuit or cake. My place of work and my gym both have Starbucks onsite so you can smell the lovely aroma from your classroom or on the treadmill. Willpower is weak.

Netflix is one of the primary sources of entertainment and people I know sit for days on end over bank holidays or regular weekend binging on series. Most people are addicted to gadgets, phones, tablets etc.

Our society is geared up toward unhealthy habits and low effort levels partially because the rest of our lives are so stressful. Eating is pleasurable. Numbing out with YouTube or a box set is safe, nonthreatening and requires zero effort or thinking.

Eating healthily and getting enough exercise and daylight should be our main priorities. But how many of us leave home at 7am and return 12 hours later? That's a typical day for most of my peers and the last thing you feel like doing is shopping, cooking or going to the gym. For a start, work continue to email me or I might have marking that goes on until bed time.

Previous generations didn't have these problems. They had different ones for sure but the side effect of today's society is obesity.

I'm reading the book The Compassionate Mind which explains we were never meant to live like this and the negative effect on our minds and bodies.

[discusstin]

You are all presuming that weight issues are down to food. It is so much more complex than this. I am a vegetarian who cooks fresh food from scratch every day. I also have a serious hormone issue and take anti depressants. I am surrounded at work by thin people who seem to be able to eat everything.