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?

"How do you share cake between three anyway? You know, equally, so as not to start a war?"

I don't want to be a snooty dick about it but people just don't tend to think like that in Korea. They're happy to share, they like seeing their friends or family eat and be happy. They don't really think about if it's equal or not.

I wish more people were watching the World Athletic championships competition. When you see the bodies of the athletes (with perhaps the exception of the shot put and hammer throwers) that is what a human body should resemble, at least a little. Not covered in a layer of fat.

Hitting the menopause I suddenly put on a stone. I stopped exercising because my knees and joints were in agony. I continued to put on weight had physio for my knees and nothing helped. I then did a 72hour water fast and i kid you not my arthritic knees disappeared - no pain. After a month of eating one meal a day( still regular calories) my pain has completely gone! I now do hit training up hills at 48 years old. Snacking in my opinion is probably the worst thing you can do to your body.

I live in NZ, which has an even worse obesity problem than the UK.

When my kids were very young we didn't give them sweets. Everyone else did though. Church coffee morning? Sweets. Biscuits. Playgroup? Sweets. Biscuits. Crisps. Any event involving kids: junk galore on plates everywhere, lolly scrambles on the floor.

Cookery lessons are crap or non-existent at primary and intermediate, and crap at high school. Basically just assembling ingredients.

School canteens basicall sell junk. Chips, pies, etc. I expect they offer salad too, but seriously, how many kids have enough nous to pick salad over chips?

After-school care: more junk. Chip sandwiches. Fairy bread. I complained a number of times - total blank wall.

One of my kids had a class bring-and-share picnic. What we sent with her wasn't even put out by the supervising teachers. No explanation.

Kids don't know how to cook, other than basics. Lots don't get a taste for fruit, because they've not been allowed the chance due to the sweet deluge.

It's not capitalism or addictions etc. It's simple laziness on the part of a lot of people involved in schools, childcare etc who do know better but simply can't be arsed to do anything about it. I've managed to ensure that my kids eat well despite their thoughtlessness consistently interfering with my efforts.

It's them I blame, not the System. They generally look like poor eaters themselves. Do I judge them? Damn right I do.

My sister is a parent governor at her child’s school. She has been pushing hard to get sweets removed but the school are having none of it.

There may be some local schools that try, although I see little sign of it generally.

A work colleague was recently complaining that her child had got a 'note' in his lunchbox because it had contained sweets. She said it was embarrassing and anyway, there hadn't been many sweets.

What I said was "oh". What I didn't' say was "why are you putting sweets in your kid's lunch".

I wish more people were watching the World Athletic championships competition. When you see the bodies of the athletes (with perhaps the exception of the shot put and hammer throwers) that is what a human body should resemble, at least a little. Not covered in a layer of fat

I'm watching and they are amazing but these are professional athletes who spend their day training! To achieve what they have their ultimate goal is to fine tune the amazing machine that is their body. They do not scupper that plan by spending eight hours at a job, two hours commuting and then another hour or so cooking something halfway decent for fussy families before starting to catch up on laundry and bills and getting the dog out for a quick walk before then starting to work on that perfect physique 😁.

Impressive though they are your comparison is unrealistic. The focus to get to where they are means sacrificing all else but their sport which in itself is not always the best choice from a mental health pov. But is certainly not easily possible for the average person without sponsorship or the chance of an Olympic medal.

We don't buy takeaways. Too expensive and full of fat and crap. I can make a very nice curry though.

Impressive though they are your comparison is unrealistic Yes, of course it is impossible to have bodies like that for the 'normal' person, but it's too easy to find an excuse not to do any exercise to at least help get a little muscle!

Just do some sit ups and squats at home, do ten a day and then increase, do stretches to increase muscle flexibility. You don't need to go for a run/go to the gym/go to a pool etc. I lost loadd of weight in my teen years just from listening to music in my bedroom while jogging on the spot/to and from wall and doing sit ups. Throw in some more jumping Jack's or follow an aerobics video on YouTube. For something slower and more relaxing yoga woud do.

Just do some sit ups and squats at home, do ten a day and then increase, do stretches to increase muscle flexibility. You don't need to go for a run/go to the gym/go to a pool etc. I lost loadd of weight in my teen years just from listening to music in my bedroom while jogging on the spot/to and from wall and doing sit ups. Throw in some more jumping Jack's or follow an aerobics video on YouTube. For something slower and more relaxing yoga woud do.

I did a 15-20 min hiit or abs work out most days for 3 months last year and i didnt lose a single pound!! I looked slightly toned (I'm not overweight) but made no difference to weight.

Just do some sit ups and squats at home,

Which is fine if you're just a pound or two overweight and want to lose it, or you're a healthy weight and want to stay that way.

Completely useless for anyone with stones to lose. You need to do a hell of a lot more exercise to have any effect, and in any case, exercise isn't anywhere near as effective as eating less. Walk for 1km and you've used up less than 100 calories - a drop in the ocean - a smaller portion for your meal or not eating as much processed crap would save far more than 100 calories.

This is an article that was in today's paper

Is gaining weight as you age inevitable?
www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/is-gaining-weight-as-you-age-inevitable-20190924-p52ufo.html

Quite interesting, I recommend it.

This thread is truly fascinating. It could almost form a blueprint of the fix too.

I'm particularly interested in what the French posters have said because I worked in France, can remember a colleague bringing in a chocolate cake, cut into slices... the UK team merrily took a slice each (having checked there were enough for everybody) - and the French team largely ambled by cutting off a small portion of a slice...

I didn't embarrass myself as I hate chocolate so didn't eat any of it, but it just goes to show that for some of us, what we enjoy is being eaten in larger and larger portions - and what we (general) don't particularly crave, ie. vegetables, is secondary.

I have run about 6.5k first thing this morning, according to my app, I burnt 340 calories! That's just about my morning bagel and coffee...

Wanna lose weight? Change the way you eat, and the way your life revolves around food. Unless you have the time and energy to run a daily marathon, exercise itself is not enough. Pro athletes wouldn't be on such strict diets if it was enough.

I've run every day since December including two marathons. I was geri g a bit baffled as to why I want losing weight then I realised because I eat a lot of crap, chocolate bars, cake, cheese tye list goes on.
Yesterday I ran 8 miles then did a crossfit class In the evening, followed by cheese and biscuits, then a large piece of Victoria sponge covered in cream

I move a lot but I also eat a lot of crap. I dread to think if I didn't exercise.

Sorry for the typos, I'm rushing!

Agree with the pp who said fruit and veg are not easy to buy everywhere. Our corner shop sometimes has the odd onion or apple in but shelf upon shelf of long life processed crap. I grew up in a part of the world where delicious fresh fruit and veg is available everywhere and cheap to buy. People are slim - the place is usually hailed as a haven of health. It's not the same on the uk sorry

I move a lot but I also eat a lot of crap. I dread to think if I didn't exercise.
That's me too, I run 100km a week plus a little cycling and swimming and can still put on weight even with all that. I eat too many almonds and too much chocolate. I'd have to eat just one small meal a day if I didn't do so much sport.

I used to be able to eat whatever I liked when younger. It’s reduced a lot at 45 and I pretty much have to stick to low carb to maintain same size. Going by this I’ll be eating an egg and a lettuce leaf by the time I’m 80. Although they do say higher BMI is better when that age so I might splash out.

Before words like joy and the opposite are said I find it easy and the food very good. Easier than 1/3 a piece of cake etc

I never see lots of overweight people, where do you all hang out?

Honestly, I read about it but don’t see it, as such. Maybe I am used to it?

I wish more people were watching the World Athletic championships competition. When you see the bodies of the athletes (with perhaps the exception of the shot put and hammer throwers) that is what a human body should resemble, at least a little. Not covered in a layer of fat

So the average 50 year old should have the body of a 20-year old professional athlete. Righto

ChickenyChick
I barely do. I think it varies within areas. I live in a (fairly affluent) commuter town and most people are sporty and slim. I also work in London and most people i work with are not overweight.

Both T-shirts from M&S.

Pink is from the sale Spring/Summer 2019.

White is new stock Autumn/Winter 2019.

I wish they stopped doing this.

Sorry about the shadow of my arm.