Why are nearly 25% of British women obese?

[twitterer]

On the news this morning we are told that British women are the fatest in Europe, why? Of course it is down to eating too much and exercising too little. But other populations don't suffer so badly. I wonder if there is more (healthy) pressure from society, men, employers and others to be healthy

In other countries.

I blame the weather.

A myriad of reasons.

1. the sugar lobby are very powerful - packet of custard creams cheaper than an apple. 'Bad' food very cheap.

1. long hours culture - very expensive housing needing 2 incomes - no one gets to eat dinner together/ready meals culture.

1. Because of long hours food replaces 'love'/quality time in families - women feel guilty and feed children 'extra' to stop whinging instead of having the time to sort issues out (note: NOT blaming women for this, blaming long hours culture/housing costs).

There's more but those immediately spring to mind.

I don't know if there is any science to it but I know I tend to comfort eat in the winter when we have that horrible grey light and have to push myself more to exercise but in the summer when its brighter, I don't have any problems eating lightly and motivating myself for the gym.

I'm not sure the cost of housing can be directly linked really. I think a lot of it is down to education. We're not taught sound lessons about what is good for us and what's not, how many women think low fat is the best way to lose weight, pump themselves full of diet food and then end up fat anyway? I was lucky enough to have home ec lessons at a private school but I know from my younger sister that at the local comps they're not offered anymore, along with a cut in PE time, though frankly PE is never going to be enough to get some kids healthy. I HATED it, it was half an hour of one hit of a ball if we were lucky. If we're going to tackle it, forget the 'women are obese' headlines and tackle everyone. Unhealthy food is thought to be cheaper, but actually I don't think a bag of apples and bananas is so much more than a multipack of crisps. A lot of it is that people don't have the time, the knowledge, or even the desire to cook properly. Cooking properly, cheaply, and from scratch can be done very cheaply but it's a skill that involves so much more than cooking. It involves budgeting and an ability to plan meals around ingredients. I do think for a lot it's easier to see a pizza costs a quid and just buy that. I can also see how office jobs lend no time to exercise. Being a sahm, I'm at my lowest weight ever as I have time to walk around all day. I can;t abide the gym, but having the time and freedom to exercise gently every day keeps the weight off.

Temptation. Lots of delicious, easily available foods. We are programmed to eat when food is available so that we put on fat to survive the famine. That famine never comes and we get fatter and fatter.

Lack of day to day exercise. Going from sitting in the car, to sitting in front of a computer at work, to sitting in front of the TV/computer at home.

Drinking culture where it is normal to open up a bottle of wine several times a week.

I don't think you can blame the cost of food, not when a third of food ends up in the bin.

It is possible to eat healthy food very cheaply - boiled potatoes, steamed vegetables, eggs, rice, the fruit of the season - going back to my 1970s childhood diet. It is just boring and people are tempted by all the delicious foods they see.

The food pyramid has a lot to answer for - of course people eating 6-11 portions of carbohydrate a day are going to get fat.

the question's not why are so many people fat, it's how on earth do so many manage to stay a healthy weight when everything is conspiring against us: fast food outlets at every turn, burger vans outside schools, people driving kids to school cos they're too scared to let them walk, no daily ecercise in schools, kids dont play out anymore, huge supermarkets full of junk food, lack of local shops selling fruit/veg, lack of time to go shopping every day for frech food so buy frozens junk instead, junk food advertising on tv, no VAT on lots of junk food, people's ignornace of nutrition, gym membership so expensive, deft rules about number of kids you can take swimming, expense of kids sports clubs, 24/7 tv/internet/gaming, lack of public transport so people become car dependent, 3 year olds in buggies, high alcohol consumption, eating through stress, etc etc

We have this weird 'embrace your curves' culture which has made too many fat birds think that at a size 26 and 5 ft 3 they are curvy when actually they are morbidly obese

Gok Wan, hang your head in shame

O yes, 3 year olds in buggies are bound to become chubbers See, this riles me. My 3 year old is sometimes in a buggy because I don't have a car and WALK everywhere, miles at a time. Different kettle of fish entirely if you're driving them to whereever and sticking them in the buggy when you get there. I also think fat is being normalised Cyb. I have a friend who insists she's just a curvy girl, completely overloking the fact she's put on about 3 or 4 stone in a year and is now very unhealthy.

Huge amounts of sugar and carbohydrate. Ready meals, pizza, take aways, low fat, tinned food, fat-free diet food.

It takes a different way of eating; more protein, vegetables and avoiding loads of hidden sugar.

'O yes, 3 year olds in buggies are bound to become chubbers hmm See, this riles me. My 3 year old is sometimes in a buggy because I don't have a car and WALK everywhere, miles at a time.'

Totally agree about that! All of my children have used a buggy up until the age of four for this very reason, and they are all thin.

And this shouldn't be made a thread about the evils of buggies - it is not buggies that are making people fat, it is cars.

I think good nutrition knowledge - I'm degree person but only understood where I could sort out my weight when I had one to one with a nutritionist.

Also I think as it becomes more normal eg we look like our friends then it feels ok. If you overweight in France you are the odd one out.

that's true newgirl - if you have friends who are overweight, you are more likely to be overweight. The perception of what is normal has changed - a size 14-16 is now considered normal because it is the average - when really it is overweight for most of us.

I also think we have a mentality of 'I deserve it'

I deserve to buy this 48" plasma telly even though I can't afford it. I will to go into debt to give my kids a trip to Florida because WE deserve it

I'm going to eat this entire pack of chocolte brownies becasue I deserve it

Just because you CAN doesnt mean you SHOULD. It's that instant gratification thing

We are closer to the American way of eating than the rest of Europe too.

IMO and Paul mckenna's dieting is one of the things that make you fat and more women diet than men (I know it's true for men as well 'cos dh has put on a lot after doing the Atkins).But we do cook from scratch IMO that is not the answer to weight loss e.g. you can add a lot of sugar and salt to home cooking; most recipes call for a lot of both. (my ILs were both fat and never ate convenience foods)

Also very little is known by the mainstream nutritionists about the different types of food that certain blood types are good with.E.G. some people are good on carbs. and some are better on high protein and no or low carbs.

Its complicated of course but IMO our traditional way of eating doesn't help e.g. mixing carbs and protein (the classic hamburger,cheese or ham sandwich, steak and kidney pie etc.) is a way to put on weight 'cos you don't digest it well. hence all the big bellies there are !!

The drinking culture can't help. If you're going out on the lash on Friday and Saturday, and eg drinking the equivalent of a bottle and half of wine each night, that's about an extra 2000 calories a week. Then you get the post-drinking sugar slump, and add in a kebab/fish and chips, crisps and pork scratchings, and you've got the foundations of obesity right there.

The weather, the drinking, the food! I weighed about a stone more when i lived in the uk and every time I go back I notice an increase in how much i eat. There is so much choice! Even going into a newsagent´s - it´s insane! a whole bank of chocolate, anything you could possibly feel like eating - right there. And a huge selection of crisps. It is so easy to just grab some crisps, chocolate, biscuits, even if you don´t need them.

Here on the other hand there is nothing like that, in a shop there will be a small section of aisle selling big bars of chocolate or multipacks. No individual sized crisps - all family sized. Biscuits on the whole are plain as many people eat them for breakfast so they aren´t as nice to scoff as a pack of hobnobs. At the checkout in the hypermarket I go to there is always the same sweets: chocolate peanuts, smarties and chewing gum, none of which i like, so i don´t buy them. And i am sure eating your main meal at lunchtime instead of at 6/7/8pm also helps. on saturday at MILs we eat like pigs at lunch, paella to start (!) followed by meat and potatoes (usually fried) with a very tiny amount of salad, then dessert. But we don´t eat dinner, maybe a small piece of brown bread with olive oil and a bit of cheese or ham.

i think the peer pressure thing aswell - at 66kgs/ 5´7" (size 10-12) I often feel on the larger side here and I am sure that helps me control my weight a bit.

I agree with lots that others have said-the sheer availability and cheapness of junk is hard to resist, it is also addictive. I also agree that there been a normalisation of being overweight and vanity sizing by shops doesn't help with this.

The other thing that I think contributes is over large portions of food (particularly carbs - huge bowl of pasta plus garlic bread anyone ?) also being considered normal. I'm not sure I agree with food combinations being a problem but certainly the way, say Italians, eat and use carbs and compose a meal is different. They would have a very small portion of pasta, maybe with a little sauce as a starter then have meat or fish with vegetables or salad as a main course - a much better balance of carbs/protein than is typical here (we seem to be following the example of the US and statistics on obesity are also following their trend). Lots of popular diets cut out carbohydrates completely so that they are now perceived as bad for you, which they really aren't...what IS bad for you is lots of processed carbohydrate served in huge quantities with fat rich sauces, fillings or spreads.

Finally, also important, only 33% of women in the uk exercise regularly...for the rest, something that really should be considered as much a part of a daily routine as brushing your teeth is completely avoided.

Cos we love chocolate obviously!

We are obsessed with driving everywhere and don't exercise enough. Domestic tasks do not use the same level of calories that they used to and so many houses don't even have gardens so no chance of physical exercise there.

Whenever I visit the continent I notice how people walk more and use public transport more and don't feel the need to drive to 10cm from the door of their required destination even if it means parking illegally like they do here.
America has the same problem...not enough exercise and too much fried food.

We also have a cuisine based on living in a cold climate where we needed a lot of fat and carbs to stay warm, now we all have centrally heated houses and cars but still eat the same sort of food.

Also, the report says the lower the socio economic status of the women the fatter they are...which is also very interesting.

oh yes...sport for girls is a joke in most schools...it is considered fairly necessary for boys generally but girls just seem to be able to fade out of physical activity from teenager onwards.

I agree that the vanity sizing doesn't help issues. I have lost just over 3st 7lb and am at the top end of my BMI range, and gone from an 18 to a 10/12 in most high street shops etc but when I was looking for a formal evening gown and checked my measurements against the sizing charts it had me at 14. That was actually quite disheartening for me because I'd worked hard to lose the weight but on the other hand I know that I do need to lose about another stone to stone and a half to be a real 10 (the size I was 15 years ago). At that weight I would probably be a size 8 nowadays yet 15 years ago there was no way I would have ever been an 8 because my hips are too big. The fact that years ago 12 was classed as slim has meant that people strive to be a 12 for example but the sizings have gone up so you can now be overweight yet still buy a 12 so people think they are ok as they are, when really they are unhealthy and above their healthy BMI.

Aswell as all the food issues I think PP's are right in saying that the normalisation of being overweight is a culprit too. There seems to be alot of programmes etc about how to dress no matter what your size (yeah, you Gok) and to embrace your curves etc but not too many programmes focussing in healthy eating and exercise, then people wouldn't need to learn how to dress their curves because what to wear wouldn't be an issue.

Another thing is the peer pressure and if your friends are larger then it normalises it for you too, or friends don't want to offend you so they tell you that you look fine, you don't look fat at all etc. If only my friends hadn't done that and had actually told me the truth I wouldn't have been in denial for so long and would have addressed my weight earlier.

When you think about it there are so many factors involved in people being overweight that it is going to take alot to reverse the trend