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?

[WhatchaMaCalllit]

I would think it is down to a different 3 reasons (perhaps to add to your three @3luckystars
1 - fewer people walk/cycle to where they need to go. If you are going to go to the shops it tends to be to a shopping centre so you would drive there rather than use public transport/walk/cycle.

2 - easier access to food quickly. That could be fast food outlets or ready meals (not dissing ready meals that are nutritionally beneficial) and lot and lots of snacks that are high in salt or sugar.

3 - advancements in technology. I'm not saying that advancements in technology are bad. They most certainly have their place but if someone was to have a robotic vacuum cleaner versus a machine that they themselves have to burn calories to use and clean their floors with, or maybe a robotic lawn mower versus the manual ones or even the electric/petrol versions, there are fewer opportunities to burn calories doing housework.

Just my observations.

[Tutlefru]

It is worrying and I say that as someone who’s overweight. Currently trying to get healthier though. I don’t think it’s easy with everything that’s around us. Fast food apps, fast food offers it’s all too easy really.

I don’t think the emphasis should be on size too much either but rather good nutrition. I have plenty of thin friends who live on crap too so whilst on the outside they looks slim and healthy they aren’t actually eating any healthier just have a faster metabolism.

I also think a lot of the time to lose weight you also need to be in the right mindset, temptation is everywhere from adverts to your own friends telling you to indulge.

[MadeleineMaxwell]

it's not fat shaming to state a simple fact.

Well, state your 'simple fact' then, but don't pretend you're doing anything to address the problem because you're not. It's a known known. Good for you, I guess.

[WorraLiberty]

Is this where we pretend all the smoking didn't play a role in the slim waists?

I don't think any of the 4 to 11yr olds in my 1970s primary school smoked.

It may have played a role in keeping some of their parents slim but then so did the lack of takeaways, the one car households (if that), lack of huge supermarkets, lack of satellite TV and internet etc.

[user1497207191]

Poor science and diet advice has also blighted a generation.

All those "fad" diets telling us to ditch fat and eat carbs instead so we all pile our plates with pasta! "low fat" foods being loaded with sugar to replace the taste of fat.

How about "science" calculating calories by burning food and measuring the heat given off. Now, decades later, they've realised that calories from different foods don't have the same effect on the body (because it's not a furnace!), so the same number of calories in different foods has different effects on the body.

There's been a hell of a lot of bad advice over the past 50 years.

[SunflowersNKittens]

Our lives have changed so much from the 1940s.

I lived in Africa for a bit. No washing machine, had to do everything by hand - hard work, shops with what you needed were within walking distance, not a drive to the super market. Food was abundant but tasty local pineapples and bananas were much more of a tempting snack.

Sadly we have all of these expensive gadgets to do the hard, calorie burning work for us and we have to work more, in sedentary jobs to pay for them.

Clothes sizes have definitely become
More forgiving. Lucky to have horses and there aren’t too many labour saving devices to stop you having to apply some
Daily elbow grease in all weathers. But as a 15 year old I was a size 10 and considered on the chunkier side of things, now a size 8 is big on me and my weight is exactly the same as back then.

These are by all means not the only
Issues at play but I think it’s a big part of it. I think k we should all strive for healthy bodies that function to the best of their abilities - not a clothes size of a number on the scales.

[velocitygirl7]

I just find the whole thing depressing, people are in denial. I work in a primary school, have done for decades. We have class photos going back over many many years and guess what, today's classes are full of overweight children. Some year 6 classes now have a huge percentage in each class of very overweight children. Photos from the 70s, 80s and further back have classes where there is perhaps one overweight child, most have none.
Fat shaming? My mum is overweight, she openly admits she eats too much, drives everywhere and doesn't like exercise. She knows she's the problem and doesn't expect anyone to make excuses for her or to be told to 'embrace her size'

[velocitygirl7]

On the flip side, while I'm expected to never breath a word about someone's size, as a slim person I'm apparently fair game for all kinds of snide and often unkind comments.

[Yabbers]

Malnourishment was also a problem in the 40s, especially among inner city children. People died younger and death in childbirth was far more common. You want to go back to that?

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)

Wow, fat shaming people’s dogs now, are we?

[Buttons4me]

Yes temptation is everywhere especially if you do have a sweet tooth like I do. I am a 12/14 after loosing 4 and a half stones and it does feel better but I can so easily struggle and put weight on as unfortunately I love chocolate I love cakes I love biscuits I love puddings all the wrong things. I eat for many reasons tiredness and boredom a lot of the time and evenings when kids are in bed and I am still up so could easily end up very overweight as if it's in the house if it's infront of me I have to eat it.

[SunflowersNKittens]

Malnourishment is a problem today. A lot of calorie dense food doesn’t hold much nourishment. You can be overweight and malnourished

[SarfE4sticated]

Exactly @user there doesn’t seem to be any advice out there that we can all trust

[smemorata]

I agree. It is really noticeable if you only visit the UK once a year as I do. I live in a country which has a growing problem with obesity but the UK is definitely ahead atm.

[TatianaLarina]

It is truly shocking that around 57% of British women and over 65% of British men are overweight or obese as per the stats.

29% of adults in England are obese and a further 36% are overweight but not obese.

In England 17% of children age 2-15 are obese and a further 14% are overweight.

I don’t think it’s fat-shaming to say that we have an obesity crisis.

[ScreamingValenta]

Yes, user - the media are so keen to trumpet different ideas for 'healthy' eating and often the advice contradicts what they were saying the week before.

Chocolate is good for you!
Chocolate is bad for you!
Carbs are good for you!
Carbs are bad for you!
A glass of wine a day increases your lifespan.
A glass of wine a day damages your liver.

Etc.

[smemorata]

In rest of Europe food is only sold in food shops rather than everywhere.

This is very true. I always put on weight in the UK because I have no will power and food is everywhere! I have a weaknesses for millionaire's shortbread and similar. Luckily for me in Italy cakes are not that common and cost much more than they do in the UK or I would be huge.

[dottiedodah]

Many more people appear to be overweight . Not always working class people either !Many Nurses for example (maybe shifts dont help).We live in a fairly affluent area ,(South Coast) and there seems a bit of a mix here .Lots of large portions in Restaurants etc dont help ,2 for 1 offers in Supermarkets as well play their part .

[GetawayfromthatWelshtart]

Rationing was the reason everyone was "slim" in the 40's. Plus the fact that everyone was working extremely long hours, until extreme stress and doing a hell of a lot more manual and physically hard labour.

The only people who could afford "luxury" food were the rich.

Look back in history and again the poor were usually thin/ slim (due to lack of food or poor diet) and the rich could afford naice and calorie rich food.

So we can either go back to rationing or getting the fat folk to toil the land for the rich and be taxed to starvation like the "good old days".

Also being "THIN" doesn't mean someone is healthy, it's just what we are "conditioned" to seeing and believing that "thin" equals healthy and happy.

I'm obese, dieted since I was 14, the only way I will be able to get rid of the weight I need to get healthy and fit and be able to walk down the street or go swimming without people shouting abuse at me or pointing is to undergo major surgery. It has taken me 5 years to lose 3 stone. Every day is a struggle.

The psychologist and consultant I have seen recently (who you have to see after MANY YEARS of starting down the surgery path option) told me something very interesting.

It is becoming more and more obvious to these specialist dealing with obese issues that there is a HUGE issue genetically with most of the obese patients that they see. Basically the majority of the patients they see could be made to eat less than a 1000 calories a day but they won't lose weight after a couple of weeks because their body thinks they are going into "starvation mode" and their body will then start to store all the energy they consume.

Also a majority of obese people have horrific underlying trauma in their lives which has never been identified (child hood abuse/ deaths/ etc) that is suppressed by eating.

So some of those people you see are fucked no matter how much they diet and try to exercise, they will just get bigger.

Also if you have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia you CAN get help and there are specialist centres to assist those people. If you are obese and have a food issue there is no one to help you apart from someone giving you a diet sheet.

On the plus note for anyone who is disgusted at seeing obese people out and about you may be interested to know that suicide in the obese is extremely high but you just don't hear about it much because they are not "young" or "pretty".

You don't hear about the genetic issue because no one wants to hear that and they want to assume that fat people just sit on their arse eating Greggs slices everyday.

You don't want to hear about the appalling lack of mental health and specialist centres because society thinks only pretty thin men and woman have eating disorders and should be helped whereas us fatties should just stop eating.

You want to stop seeing FAT people? Then society needs to start pouring more money into mental health and specialists dealing with obese issues.

Also a majority of obese people rarely leave their houses apart from to work BECAUSE people stare at us and treat us like lesser human beings.

Do you know how HORRIBLE is it to be obese? Nope.. It's a fucking nightmare.

And knowing their are judgey arseholes out there who look at us "fatties" and clutch their pearls just makes it all a bit more soul destroying.

[user1497207191]

Multipacks need to be regulated. When you are expected to pay 79p for a single chocolate bar (kit kat, mars, etc) but then there is a 4 or 5 pack for £1, it's just encouraging people to buy (and eat) more. Same with multipack crisps. The reality is that the single bars/packs are grossly over-priced so that people think the 4/5 pack is good value for money. (Yes I know some multipacks are smaller but the price in no way reflects the smaller size and most chocolate bar multipacks are the same size).

Packet breakfast cereal (Kelloggs etc) is also ridiculously bad for you. I've got T2 diabetes and even the "good" ones such as Special K send my blood sugars up to ridiculously high levels. People should realise that just because they have added nutrients, they really aren't healthy!

A fry up is far better for me, despite being high in fat.

And don't get me started on "low" or "diet" fizzy drinks!

[Jamal988]

Some people can’t lose weight for medical reasons .

[shinynewapple]

I am 55, and a size 14 which is fairly common amongst friends, colleagues within my age group. However I am sure that the size I am now would have been a size 18, 30 years ago. My mum has size 14 clothes bought in the 80's and 90's and I would nowhere near get into them.

I agree with the class/area demographic affecting what is the norm. I notice that when out and about in some of our local towns or eating in a cheap'n'cheerful pub that most people are overweight, whole families massively overweight. Yet if we are visiting somewhere more upmarket or eating in more expensive restaurant then most people are slim or at least only slightly overweight.

I think some food trends such as gourmet burgers /dirty fries are really bad. People go out for a 'nice ' meal and are effectively eating junk food. So many of our local 'posh' pubs have added this type of food to their menu's.

And less formal clothing styles mean that we can buy comfortable , stretch clothing which also looks nice so we don't notice our waistbands getting tight.

My DS (18) has a female friend who is quite over weight given her age and height. She always looks lovely but I worry for her in future as she only seems to like food such as burgers, chips and eats same size portions as DS. I'd like to help her but don't know how (as I I could never say anything ) so I give her and DS the same meals as I would feel mean not doing this, but equally feel I'm adding to the problem.

[Springfern]

Average bmi in the 1940s was 23.6 now it is 27.8

[Twillow]

It astonishes me too. No-one in my immediate family is like that, so I always wonder how much you have to eat to become obese and when you stop caring that you can barely move.
I have been very down recently, my eating habits tend towards sweet foods, and yesterday I ate 3 chocolate bars from multipacks that I bought to 'save money'.
That isn't typical behaviour btw - just personal greed! We don't regularly have that kind of stuff. I have worked with some very large people and they didn't seem to eat any more than I did, I did wonder if they binge secretly?
The difference in obesity very noticeable in the wealthier parts of towns and Europe. So there must be some socioeconomic element to it.

[LittleSweet]

Littlehappyhippo, I watched Friends in the 90s and I remember thinking how painfully thin Courtney and Jennifer were. The 90s were the glamazon models who had a more normal shape, before heroin chic came in with Kate Moss.
I got obese due to the antidepressants I was taking increasing my appetite, stress and comfort eating. I was very ill coming to terms with my abusive parents behaviour. It was really hard. I also think the people who get super morbidly obese are ill with an eating disorder. Although it's not recognised as such. No one would do that to themselves voluntarily. I watch My 600lb Life and a lot of the people on it have suffered or are suffering from some form of abuse. So it's important that this is considered.
Now I have started to lose the weight on a calorie controlled diet, I can't buy pre made sandwiches as their calorie level is so high. I think people forget what they're actually eating.
Also from caveman days we are programmed to seek out high calorie foods. To be honest if I had the choice between crisps or carrots, I'd want the crisps.
It's also more acceptable to be fat now. I was friends at college with Japanese girls. They explained how it was culturally unacceptable to be overweight and were all on diets before their parents came over for graduation.

[smemorata]

I think snacking has a lot to do with it. There just weren't the variety and quantity of snacks available years ago. I read a thread on here a while back where people were talking about what snacks they ate after dinner in front of the tv - some of the snacks were more like another dinner. It hadn't actually ever occurred to me before that snacks after dinner was a "thing".