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

Im sure there is....I just get feed up with people saying that all fat people must pig out on junk, chocolate, cake etc when there really is very little difference between getting it right and getting it wrong enough to be pretty fat after a few years...

I have just got back from.the supermarket having read this thread over the last few days. Really it is not at all surprising so many are overweight ,nearly all the special offers are for refined carbohydrates . Up thread someone said that bananas are cheaper than biscuits -not in my local (a Morrison s) 6 jam donuts were 55p! 5 banana s were £1.

I think a fat tax may be the.way to go. If you are shopping on a budget and who isn't these days,these offers.are.just too tempting and no good.for.us.

Bananas can be very cheap but you have to buy the loose, weigh yourself, ones. In fact that tends to be true of a lot of the fruit and veg and seems to be one of the ways Supermarkets make their profits up. I compare the price/kg for loose and pre packed before I buy them.
I think a lot of people have just got used to chucking whatever food they fancy into the trolley, whereas older generations had to work harder and be more sensible about shopping and cooking. That may be changing for some people due to financial circumstances, but others may not have these types of 'lifeskills'.

yes Entropy and another thing is the 'vicious circle' factor - even with an extra stone you tend to be more lethargic move about less etc and the more you gain the more effort everything is and the more you feel like vegging on the settee.

itsalladirtylie but you don't dispute that fat people eat more than thin people do you? I think that is a conception that has increased this problem.

small groups of people grumbling and nodding in agreement at how each other doesnt understand how they put on weight when they barely eat.. yet they actually do.

If people can be fat without over eating why do we not see fat people in the third world? Why are animals not over weight? (other than cats and dogs who humans feed)

I had tapas with 5 friends on Thursday (after reading this thread) and made a mental not of people's eating habits. The 3 slim people at the table, Myself and 2 others, started on the vegetable based tapas and the non-breaded prawns. We the all took a break to chat and drink and forgot about the food. A half hour or so later we went back the the tapas and had a few bites. I can't speak for the others but I was definitely full and really enjoyed the food and none of the slim people mentioned "being naughty" or commented on how much food they were eating. The 2 over weight people dug straight in to the bread and oils and then tucked in to the meatballs and breaded bits. Lots was said around "ooh, I shouldn't, but it's all made with natural ingredients right? and I hardly ever eat like this" etc etc.

They didn't seem to enjoy the food so much, eating very quickly and talking constantly as they ate.

I sound like a right judgey pants but I was thinking about this thread otherwise I wouldn't have noticed! Honest!

unnaceptable I'd imagine that (on average) over weight people eat more than thin people, but I've not done any research so I cant say for sure how much difference there is.
If any given person wanted to go from fat to thin they'd need to eat more (all other things being equal)

levels of physical activity insulin sensitivity, and the glycemic index of what you eat, as well as genetic propensity to store fat, all play a part.
Genes can be switched on or off (epigenetics) so genetic factors are not necessarily fixed.

Plus social factors, you are more likely to be overweight if your friends are (not to confuse cause with correlation of course)

People in the third world tend not to have access to modern western diets, notably high in simple cabs, fructose corn syrup and what have you.

How were your fat friends eating very quickly and talking constantly at the same time?? Sound messy..

unacceptablebehaviour - in my experience, people who are overweight tend to limit their eating in public for this very reason - fear of being judged.

Northerwreck, was thinking that too

Belgo, you have found the holy grail to weightloss there.

it is MUCH more normal these days to eat alone, in front of the telly, or anywhere. So people are not subjected to the same "social control mechanism" of old.

I think you could flip this question. I think these days you have to be doing pretty well to stay a healthy weight. Many processed foods have been scientifically designed with a golden ratio of fat:salt:sugar which makes them deliberately addictive at the same time as packed with empty calories, and which destroy your ability to listen to your body and know when you are healthily full. Generally pretty lethal, healthwise.

You have to be pretty vigilant to avoid overly-processed, high fat/sugar food. You have to be educated well enough to know you need to avoid it in the first place, and have other eating habits in place and not to have to resort to what's in the freezer at the local corner shop. You have to see through advertising which sells us food as love and which works really hard to create an emotional connection to eating (often the wrong stuff). You have to have the time, money and energy to eat healthily/cook from scratch instead. You have to be realistic enough to understand that the creeping stone a year might be the one or two biscuits/sugar in the tea/glass of wine a day scenario. You have to account for the empty calories of alcohol, which play a massive part in extra weight gain. You have to retain the ability to read your own body's signals about when it's had enough, which are constantly getting messed with by sugar-rush/processed fat foods/alcohol. You have to factor in that your metabolism/insulin processing will probably slow down with age, and that you can't eat/drink now what you could 5 years ago with no consequences. You have to compensate for sedentary lifestyles and exercise if realistically necessary. Oh and you have to try to ignore cultural messages that tell you that it's a totally normal part of female life to be constantly at war with your body and your weight, that you should think about it, obsess about until your confidence (and with it, your ability to make good choices and look after yourself) has totally eroded.

Given all that, I think it's pretty easy to see why a proportion of women are losing the battle.

Exactly quodlibet. I honestly beleive that the 'normal' state of Western human beings is going to be 'overweight' unless we change our lifestyles drastically. And I don't mean buying a gym membership and using low-fat cheese.

unacceptable I would have broken your experiment, being thin but also utterly unable to not eat bread and oils. I would have scarfed the lot, then nicked yours.

There is a lot of agreement on the thread and I agree too although I also often see very fat women at work things choosing some kind of salad for their main lunch meal and I think gosh you'd be so much better having the fish or meat potatoes and veg I'm having and then not eating until your next meal . Then I see them mainlining the chocolate biscuits at the break time and scopping the sugar into their tea.

As people say above in some countries everyone eats things like fish, brown rice, veg for main meals and most people aren't fat. I was perhaps unfairly comparing Hilary Clinton and the Burmese lady on the recent photos in that respect.

Feel compelled to post and express my that you can't be bothered to type Aung San Suu Kyi, Xenia.

"The Burmese Lady" - how patronising and jingoistic.

I think she's wonderful. I just couldn't remember her full name, sorry.

Quodlibet that's a really comprehensive post - I should show that to my (scientist) dh who 'believes' that all the red wine he drinks is health-giving, and that two hillwalks (on the flat!) per year will do him for exercise but

I agree, a very comprehensive post from Quodlibet.
I agree with the points made, although I'd spin it a little differently.
F'rinstance, I dont think it's such a long shot to see through advertising, or understand what constitutes a healthy diet, I think the problem is the difficultly involved with going against the habits of the crowd.

If all your friends and family follow the standard unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle, it's quite difficult to go against that, you may be labelled a freak/obsessive blah blah, often other will act as if to sabotage your good intentions.
I'm not suggesting they make a deliberate choice to ruin your attempts, more that others are often made to feel uncomfortable and will be inclined to steer you back to conformity.

People tend to feel a need to fit in and belong, conform to group norms, that sort of thing.

Its funny how even in todays 'anything goes, live and let live' society - yes some people still see those who keep themselves fit and healthy as slightly obsessive, control freaky or even shallow. But really when you think about it the most important and vital 'possession' we have is our bodies , so maybe its the rest of us couch potatoes can eat a packet of Cadburys chocolate fingers in one hit types who are strange.

Given the amount of crap in supermarkets and the cheapness of sugary foods I'm shocked at how much willpower people have and I'm surprised the whole West isn't massively overweight instead of just 40%.

quodlibet am with you on this one. Add in car driving to the mix perhaps. Many people will drive/ use public transport for up to an hour to get to work/school so exercise which would have been a normal everyday event in times gone by simply doesn't happen. Oh, and what about the travesty which is the WII?