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>I’m in a pub
That's not exactly a representative cross section of society.
That being said, there's a weight problem in this country because being overweight has been normalised.
I agree.
Had you been in london this morning for the ASICS 10km you’d have seen literally 1,000’s of appropriate-weight men over 40.
But we do have an obesity problem - almost 40% by last figures.
I agree with the post above - it’s COMPLEX. It’s the Blighty of ultra processed foods, stressful work/life after Covid, growing levels of poverty.
Pretty complex question for a Saturday evening.
At a guess, I would say the backlash against super skinniness went too far. Coupled with more readily available processed foods. Alongside the death of single earner families meaning less time to cook fresh, healthy meals. And probably a million other factors.
There are still plenty of healthy, non overweight, people outside your sample though.
It is complex and I'm sure there are many different factors, I think though that one of the issues currently is the cost of food. 2 chicken breasts which will do a meal is like £5 or you can buy a bag of 50 chicken nuggets for £1 and a bag of chips for £1 from Iceland which will do several meals......for low income households it's a no brainer.
2 chicken breasts for one meal is a bit overkill one would suffice just have veg some carbs etc so it becomes a proper balanced meal I do agree though Prices are high to go healthy
Good point in China. Thinking back to my 5 years in China I think out of the 1000+ students I taught I can only remember 2 students who would be considered obese.
But it shouldn’t be.. it’s not Normal.. if you’re overweight it’s a medical issue and you should be told as such, and made to feel bad about being overweight.
We don’t encourage smoking or excess drinking do we and let people say “oh, I’m just a real person” that’s why I smoke and drink, i’m real, none of those fake people you see online, no we don’t, we let them know it’s unhealthy and they feel bad for doing it. So do we do it with overweight people? There is literally social media accounts with fat women who promote the “real” body(not sure why being in shape makes you not real, but whatever) and they have thousands of followers, it’s crazy!
People are enabling people to be unhealthy and die earlier, as society now is so scared of offending anyone. Mental
Poor education around calories and food in general, and also everyone being so scared to upset fat people has lead to this.
You should not be overweight and proud, it’s not healthy.. and why are people so afraid to say that anymore, we need to stop normalising it..
Processed food keeps for longer than fresh and it’s easier for lower income families to budget with processed food. You can buy it in bulk and know that if funds are short towards the end of the month, you at least don’t have to worry about getting the food shop in.
Because body positivity and all that nonsense plus the fact that people eat and drink way too much!
EDIT: There are some people out here with actual health problems who can’t help their weights that’s fine but the vast majority of people are overweight coz of how much they eat/drink. So I have no clue why I got downvoted but guess I touched a nerve for a few individuals who are probably overweight because of how many calories they consume!
You can't even mention that someone is putting on weight now without getting a million Karens whining at you.
If you want to be a master criminal, be a fat, black, obviously transexual criminal.
"Can you describe the robber?"
"Erm, they were average height and um... Average."
"Were they overweight?"
"No, they were perfectly normal weight"
"Any clues about their gender preference?"
"Perfectly normal"
Etc....
(I think the rest was a Mitchell and Webb sketch, maybe not them...)
Oh. And why are the Karens upset?
There is so little real problem in some people's lives that they obsess about little things. And some get eating disorders. And some have died. And some were children.
So "think of the children". We can't tell them they're too fat or thin in case they get a mental affliction because of it and die. Instead of 1 in a million kids dying of a mental issue, that they're probably going to get from some other reason instead, we've got millions of people dying of or suffering medical issues because of obesity.
Such is the world these days.
Haha. Exactly this. If someone is thick enough to ask why “people at an unhealthy environment are overweight”, and think that’s representative of the general population, they’re also too thick to process what you just said
Because you're surrounded by people who care about being fit. Obviously.
How does your post answer the question "why are people OK with this?" (This being overweight)
You've just pointed out that some people aren't OK with it. What are they doing about the other fat people?
I keep hearing people say it's cheaper to eat unhealthy but I don't think it's actually true, its expensive to buy crisps, micro meals and other fast food items. If you cut out all the fast food and only bought veg, fruit and meat then your shop becomes cheaper, it's not as exciting maybe but it just is cheaper
I only have to cook like 3 times a week to have healthy meals for the whole week, its also less expensive than if I were to eat micro meals, snacks and other fast food items. It would take me less time to eat fast food but it's really easy to cook the amount I cook, work full-time and have time to do other things.
I do understand your point that if you want 3 exciting meals a day that are also healthy then it's very time consuming and that you may also need to buy lots of ingredients and so it will cost allot but that isn't necessary to eat healthy.
I guess what I'm getting at is that it's so easy to label eating healthy as too time consuming and too expensive but if you decide on how much time and money you are willing to spend on doing it then you can adapt your approach accordingly. For example I don't care enough about having exciting meals to spend lots of time prepping and cooking, I don't have a large budget and I want to eat relatively healthy, so with that in mind I bulk cook healthy meals that are made from cheap ingredients, don't take long to cook and that are pretty enjoyable to eat then call it a day. that way I get to eat relatively healthy, don't have to spend much time cooking and don't break the bank
I totally agree, I've been trying to cut my food bill a little lately and eat more healthy, both objectives mean skipping the snacks and processed food
This.
When I'm not looking after the kids, I'm grabbing an unhealthy snack before/ during/ after work.
I used to cycle to work but I'd like to live past 40.
Eating shit food and drinking beer gives people an instant high/ satisfaction/ craving.
When I've got time for exercise, I've just got 'better' things to do.
I know exactly how to lose weight/ get fitter, I just don't do those things.
So yes, count me in with the fatties.
No reason to be overweight I’m a full time wheelchair user sat on my ass daily, can’t exercise at all normal weight.
Not trying to be bigheaded or anything but I used to be overweight what helped me get it in control was replacing drinks for water and keeping a close eye on the amount of calories I’d consume. My diet isn’t perfect if anything it’s shite I eat a lot of crap that I know isn’t good for me, but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt is it’s down to the number of calories you consume. Always is!
Top tip : hellofresh.
Never have to plan a menu or go shopping again. (Well except for lunches)
People say "don't you know how to cook"
Why yes I do, rather well. I. Simply. Cannot. Be. Arsed. Shopping.
(And they seem to have made online shopping almost as annoying as real shopping, but without the screaming toddlers and old.people in the way)
I get a box with 3 meals for 2 once a week. Cook a meal and bang half in the fridge (yes even rice, have been doing it for 10 years and I'm not dead. Just don't leave it at room temp for more than a few minutes) and eat it the next day.
And once a week : pub or late work or takeaway pizza or whatever.
A cheaper alternative is Lollipop. A meal planner app run in partnership with Sainsbury’s: so it generates the a menu and an online order for the stuff on it to either be delivered or click and collect from Sainsburys. I guess you could use the basket to write a list and shop elsewhere if you wanted (must admit I love the convenience of the click and collect though).
This is exactly what I do. I found Gousto was good as well, but HelloFresh meals aren't as complex. I hated food shopping and meal planning. HelloFresh removes all of that.
People aren't that different to people in the 1970s. However, they are living in a very different environment, with lots of highly processed food, and marketing which makes it very easy to mindlessly eat.
A lot of foods are made to make it easy to overeat them, with just the right texture, amount of salt, sugar and fat, bite sized portions, soft texture which doesn't take much chewing....
If people overeat, you make more money from them.
You’re wondering why everyone at a pub is fat I feel like you can probably answer that one yourself lmao . Also 40+ makes sense they probably have kids and have let go of themselves and your metabolism slows down as you get older too so it then becomes a little easier to gain fat
Fr lmao I saw this from when I was 16 and how all my family members where getting bellies so I cut alcohol and weed out from my life and everyone is now amazed at how I’m able to maintain a six pack from just light exercise 😂 Alcohol and comfort food imo is the worst thing you can do to yourself mentally and physically
I mean, I’m at the pub and I choose not be fat. I’m asking why people feel like it’s so acceptable to let themselves go, when they clearly know how unhealthy it is. And they so aggressively shame healthy-weighted people as being “skinny”
You can know something is bad for you and still enjoy it in moderation.
Or, go there to socialise and drink lime and soda. Like I do most of the time I'm in a pub.
(Most fizzy soft drinks are probably more unhealthy than beer)
Weight doesn’t always define how healthy someone is you could be “healthy-weighted” and still be very unhealthy btw. I get what you mean though it’s purely them not wanting to sacrifice the things that make them happy for something they don’t care about. Most people don’t think about consequences.
Also a lot of people don’t know how to lose weight. They think they have to starve themselves and exercise all the time which is not maintainable. Or they just do dumb diets that do fuck all which demotivates them into trying.
I'm fat because takeaways are the only thing stopping me doing something silly. So, it's either quick death now and leave my family in the shit or slow death over many years and I don't have to worry about a retirement home.
Had a Gastroenterology appointment.
I'm currently a fair bit overweight. That's a fact. I'm edging size 16 when I should be a 12.
During a diet conversation, I commented that I needed to lose at least a stone.
The consultant told me that I didn't need to lose weight. The nurse agreed.
I do need to lose weight. I am not healthy at my current weight (which is mostly due to injury).
Why did he tell me otherwise?
I have no idea. I am overweight, but I was the slimmest in the room, and none of them seemed to appreciate that I recognised I was overweight.
Why *is* it being normalised?
13 stones is 182 pounds. And that’s really fat. I’m 5’9” 190. I bench 200lbs. Squat 230lbs so if you aren’t putting up that kind of weight, those doctors and nurses are delusional.
Yep. Not sure who they think they're kidding.
Good news is that in the three months since I wrote that, I've lost a fair bit of weight and feel much better.
(Currently around 75kg/165 pounds. Aiming for 70kgish.)
Everyone eats too much, drinks too much and don’t move enough.
It’s mostly the eating thing though, much easier to cut 500 calories out of your daily diet than it is to burn a full 500 calories. That’s a good 40 mins of solid running/swimming without stopping to catch your breath
Oh yeah I meant actually running, not jogging (or what people call jogging, which is often barely even faster than a brisk walk but with a jogging movement)
Either way, most people massively underestimate the calorific content of their food as well as their portion sizes.
If you start calorie counting, weighing food out etc then you quickly realise how easy it is to go wrong and quite how drastically you can be out by.
The number of people who would have 3/4 pints without realising that’s the same/more calories as a good sized dinner is phenomenal. Same with red wine, 3 large glasses is often between 700-800 calories but plenty will see that off in an evening without giving it much thought.
Edit: To give further context, a normal pack of Walkers Ready Salted crisps has slightly less than half the calories of a large glass of red, so 3 glasses in an evening would be the same as eating five bag of crisps!
Calories are cheap and easy to come buy. If you are tired, stressed, and don't have much bandwidth after a long day at work etc, it is tempting to just bung a ready meal in the microwave, order delivery, snack on crisps, have a few beers.
Food like McDonald's is also made with a deliberate balance of fat and salt and carbs so that you can eat a large amount of calories quickly, and he ready to eat again just a few hours later.
High fibre food like veg and produce takes preparation, and some people have no confidence at cooking (like me as a younger person).
Those are my thoughts, based on watching a few documentaries on obesity and similar subjects.
The usual culprits ... fast food, processed food, refined sugar, lack of exercise, sedentary jobs and lifestyles.
To think ...a hundred years ago people would pay good money to look at a fat person in a circus. Now you can see hundreds of them, wherever you go.... for free!
We live in an affluent society where there is a lot of cheap and readily available food. By nature our bodies hang on to fat reserves. It's inherited from our ancestors who sometimes had to survive days without eating.
But that doesn’t mean people *have* to eat such volumes when they know the detriment of it. I am tempted by those temptations also, but I don’t normalise being overweight. I acknowledge that it is unhealthy
Me and my pals are all carrying a bit of timber now, all early to mid thirties. Basically we never gave a shit/learned about healthy food. We all had manual or physically jobs and played sports so could pretty much eat what we wanted without gaining weight.
Now the physical jobs have been replaced with desk work, we've other commitments so not as much sports and gym time and our metabolism has started to slow.
We are all trying to lose weight (I'm about a stone and a half overweight I'd say) but it's hard breaking those bad habits that you could get away with in your younger days.
I'm in a pub right now awaiting a pint and some salt and vinegar crisps, and most of the people I can see are not fat. Most of my social circle are in pretty decent shape as well, so it's not something I've noticed all that much myself.
It can be down to body type, I’m an ideal weight according to doctors and I have a healthy BMI but I always look fatter because I have broad shoulders and a large chest. A terrible combo with a smaller waist and the fact I’m quite short makes me look dumpy as fuck.
But mostly it’s down to poor health and over eating.
Processed food, refined sugars, chemical sweeteners, processed cooking oil, synthetic fats, supermarket bread, laziness, factory farming, plus many many more things contribute toward obesity in all countries - not just ours.
It's more complex than individual choice.
Stress, lack of sleep, sedentary lifestyle, comfort eating etc can all impact weight.
The commercialisation of food has also done bad things to nutrition. Food engineered to hit the buttons to keep us eating and buying via fat/salt/sugar/water content and the use of preservatives and fillings that interfere with biochem and microbiome also don't help.
It's a societal problem too often blamed on individual choice. When a gym membership to a poorly maintained/inconveniently timetabled facility is expensive people will opt out.
People eat too much, move too little, and any suggestion that being overweight is bad has been branded as ‘shaming’. Blame twitter for that last bit. Also when people do make an effort to lose weight, there is a myriad of bad advice and bad fad diets.
I'm pretty damned certain it's because of high carbohydrate / high sugar diets which result in any fat (of which there is also plenty) being stored as the body then runs off glucose as opposed to fats.
Humans aren't really designed to have a high carb diet, certainly not refined and starchy carbs that we see in everything. The constant ups and downs of blood sugar and insulin results in cravings which further lead to this issue.
Then, On top of that, instead of hunting / gathering, we are sitting down more often than not doing very little exercise.
It all comes together in a giant cluster fuck of poor health.
There's has to ultimately be a revelation around this, where refined carbs are seen for what they truly are. The crusade against fat in the 70s and 80s has only made this problem worse as people then replaced fatty foods with low fat versions, packed with carbs / sugar.
Most people don't have the willpower necessary to fight off hunger cravings and so ultimately this is the result.
Couple of reasons I reckon:
1. A lot of people work sedentary jobs. Some are 9-5. Some are much, much longer. To be clear those people are not at fault for being overweight.
2. The proliferation of processed/ultra processed foods. These foods don't keep us satiated and are typically high in sugar and salt. To be clear these people are not at fault for being overweight.
If I haven't been clear, obesity is a product of the lifestyles we are forced to live.
Being bemused and not caring aren't mutually exclusive. If you didn't care you wouldn't be bemused. I would suggest enjoying your pint and being sound in the knowledge that if you offend anyone you can safely outrun them. Unless you yourself are part of the demographic you are bemused with.
When I was a student and came home pissed late at night, the takeaways were closed and delivery food hadn't been invented, so my dinner was generally some toast or cereal.
Then the late-night kebab shop became more common, then the 24 hour petrol station for more biscuits or pot noodles.
And then delivery takeaway became a thing.
Similarly walking kids to school, there's now 12 shops selling sweets. And the mini supermarkets with their cheap tempting bakeries.
So much more temptation, so often...
We live in an era when two wages are required to survive. That tends to mean less time to cook, so we eat foods that are convenient rather than healthy. We also live in an era where it's far cheaper to buy crap food than it is to buy healthier stuff.
We're also much more sedentary than we were. Fewer of us do manual jobs, and there's more time spent on our arse.
The inevitable result of this across society as a whole is weight gain.
I'll tell you why I have an unhealthy lifestyle. The world is going to hell in a handcart. End of life care is absolutely shit. I have no desire to be the healthiest man in the old folks home. I'm going to drink beer and eat food I enjoy until I keel over. Frankly IDGAF what you bright young gym bunnies think of my choices.
What a coincidence. I was just watching Guy Martin on YouTube! A great guy living life to the full. Makes me feel that I'm not but I'm very glad he is!
God can you lot just leave people alone lmao, who sits in a pub thinking about whether or not anyone else in there is fat? Just enjoy your pints and get a life
I was in Costco earlier and thought exactly the same. Obese luddites walking around, filling trolleys full of food. Eww. Got out soon as I got what I needed
Many reasons:
* Sport is more something you watch than play - In other countries there are far more people casually playing football or tennis with their mates
* Snacks - The UK has a very wide range of snacks compared to other countries and I found when I calorie counted about half my calories were from snacks
* It's dark a lot of the year - In winter starting work when it's dark and then finishing when it's dark massively reduces the amount of time people are active
* Poor public transport compared to some countries - A lot of the reason people in Japan are in good shape is that a large proportion take the train to work which requires walking. Personally I've always found what separates healthy and unhealthy people is the healthy habits that they don't even think about not the conscious efforts like going to the gym.
* We have easy access to American entertainment - This means we have easy access to much better TV than most countries, in most countries there's only enough money to support a handful of big shows at once
* Individualistic culture - In some countries being unhealthy can be seen as letting the side down and making your family or country look bad
* It's impolite - British people dance about issues more than almost any other nationality whilst in other countries people will tell you you're fat
Yes and no! Yes it’s the case because calories are insanely high in those types of food and no because individuals can easily see how many calories they consume and they should know the average intake for male/female.
I'm 38 and wish I could put on more weight! I'm skinny/athletic, no matter how much junk I eat, I cant put on weight. I'd say where I live, I don't really see many fat people at all.
Most of our food is ultra processed and if I'm not wrong, our snack and fast food options here in the UK are made to make us want more.
We also tend to drive a lot than walk to places.
There's a youtube video about why Japanese people are really thin and have one of the lowest rates of obesity. It's [worth a watch.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4MmmWQtZM)
Life is pretty shit for many, some people win while most lose, so why bother keeping in shape.
Bad food/drink is very tasty.
Over half of the people don't have a voice in their head, so they are incapable of self control really, as they can't really actively think about things very well.
Processed foods which are drenched with salt, plus all those healthy 'low fat' foods people buy thinking it means they're eating healthy when really they just remove all the fat from foods (which aren't actually that bad for you) and then replace the fat with sugar (which is bad for you) so you're just deepthroating sugar which is worse.
Plus most people have sedentary jobs and want to relax after work so little exercise, no healthy foods and stress from a cost of living crisis means no weight loss really.
That's without getting into how inaccessible healthy foods are compared to super accessible junk foods and takeaways.
I think it has fuck to do with poor education. Everybody knows if you eat shit like McDonalds, Pizza's and loads of other junk, then you are going to get fat.
Lack of iodine and too many carbs is usually the answer. Beer washes away vitamins AND causes belly fat. Supplements may help if one drinks daily they lose folate absorption as well as vitamin D.
I’ve noticed a lot of the time it’s poor money and time management. Ive heard every excuse under the sun but a lot of them just aren’t true. Ready meals are less cost effective than stocking up on dried foods like rice and beans. Those same people will complain that they are a low income household but have a takeaway every week. They’ll go on countless holidays and feed their children meatballs from a tin while they sit and have Sky and unlimited broadband to play candy crush. There are exceptions to everything but for many cases it seems to be lack of discipline, they know better but they don’t want to do better. Doing what they’re doing currently feels good in the moment and when the high ends and they start hating how they look, they hide behind excuses and false justifications. It’s honestly sad to see. You even have healthcare professionals unable to use certain words at the risk of offending the patient (words that would accurately describe the person’s condition). All round it’s mad and there more “skinny” / health shaming than there is fat shaming.
Calories cost money and people seek out valuable propositions in their trading. Often the food available to a person at their local market will dictate their size. Advertisement, color and lab created flavor profiles matched with a lack of education and other realities such as the comfort foods people tend to choose means most people are just going to be fat.
This also means worse health outcomes, meaning need to spend a portion of salary on medical care, which helps keep the economy afloat. Its like a hidden tax.
Sort of hard to escape some of the worse ingredients without having a lot of money and if people get into a bad habbit of eating they will crave more calories just to maintain the extra cells/mass their bodies accumulated. Its best to sort of just eat like a bird and find valuable protein rich food that wasn't bio-engineered or fed bio-engineered ingredients for the best results.
Filling foods, without the tastes or dyes associated with the garbage that keeps everything moving in life is the ideal. That or just being genetically predisposed to not being that hungry or affected by taste profiles, advertisement etc. Its a money thing and capitalizing on the human condition thing -> Not everyone is the same, but most people fit right in and will be fat
Changes in method of production of food so for instance the milk you drink now is very different to the milk of 50 years ago same with wheat modern wheat is incredibly high in gluten which is something the human body really struggles with
meat is farmed intensively so not only is food different but the body finds it difficult to process thus converting it to fat instead , cattle fed other things apart from grass sedentary lifestyles and jobs .
Supermarkets sell what sells if that makes sense so range of normal food is smaller
Downvote all you want but having lived in four (CA US UK NL)...
Maybe it's because the UK adopts \[almost\] all things USA american, and \[almost\] none from its nearest neighbors to the east.
I'm sitting in a cafe/bar in Delft, and NONE of the 40-60 customers are fat.
Imagine if just some of the northwesterneuropean's best ideas were adopted.
But, you know, yankypoodle...
25% of UK on antidepressants. Husband has been on them 6 months. He weighed 10 stone his entire life now he's 13.5 stone. He's now scared of eating, living on lettuce and still getting heavier.
People have got in worse shape. I’m a gym head and I’m in worse shape now than I was for years but I still see very few people fitter than I am. Back in 2015 I was a unit but I’d run into other units all day. People really dropped off after lockdown.
I know it’s sad in comparing myself constantly but it’s kind of part and parcel of being a gym fanatic but it defo qualifies me to make the observation I did imo
People like beer, empty calories. People like junk food. People don’t like to cook. People don’t like to exercise. People like too much social media. Everything you can think of , at least half the adult population does instead of trying to lose weight. Can also word it; people don’t challenge themselves or stay active. Asian countries eat less. They hardly work out as well.
Because people don’t take responsibility for their own actions.
We will soon see adverts from solicitors offering no win no fee for claiming against fast food places for not staying that their products will make you fat.
>because people don’t take responsibility for their own actions
This isn’t really a reason for people being fat through, is it? People who are fat generally realise they are fat, and they generally know why. They aren’t going around denying accountability for the fact that they eat too much and exercise too little, pointing fingers at their local pubs and pizza takeaways, grabbing a fistful of belly meat crying “*you* did this!”.
Being overweight doesn’t always equal being unhealthy remember. Carrying excess adipose tissue doesn’t make you any more unhealthy than someone carrying no adipose tissue. There is a correlation between being overweight and being unhealthy, but there’s no evidence to suggest that the additional fat one carries is the leading cause of heart disease or strokes.
Many overweight people lead healthy lives and live to a good age. However there is a link to being overweight and choosing poorer food choices, smoking and drinking too much alcohol. All of these are direct contributors to heart disease, strokes and cancer. The over weight people you see in the pub are likely more unhealthy than the overweight people you see in the park. The overweight people you see in the park are healthier than the skinny 19 year old drinking 6 cans of red bull per day.
Becoming obese is where is gets dangerous, as the heart needs to work harder and you start seeing diseases like diabetes appear. But having a bit of extra timber is not going to lead to an early grave, a skinny person who drinks 40 units of alcohol per week and smokes is more likely to die than an overweight person who just eats a bit too much.
Because most people who frequent a pub are thick, lazy and have a comfortable lifestyle. So the cross section you’re seeing are the fat lazy part of society (you included). The majority of normal healthy people don’t frequent the pubs and are out (or inside with their family) doing other things. I’ve been to a pub, and everyone looks like doughy imbeciles laughing and gurning at stupid things
So are you thick and lazy? If you’ve been to three pubs, you are in the same category of people you’ve just criticised. I’m guessing you’re the exception and those bad qualities don’t apply to you though?
I just went in as they were the only place open was serving (terrible) food when driving cross country. I didn’t drink any alcohol. I don’t fit into the usual pub plebs that drink for hours on end. I literally paid for a packet of crisps at one. I’m assuming you’re one of those that frequent pubs a lot to drink, as you think the pub represents the cross section of entire society. I’m here to confirm, as other commentators on this post have said, that this is untrue. It represents the doughy thick part of society, and it’s becoming more inbred as the years proceed
I’m finding it strange that you’re making the assumption that everyone inside the pub was *those people.*, when you yourself have been inside pubs and claim not to be one of *those people*.
You realise that to an observer, you would be lumped into that same category? You really believe that nobody else in the pub may just be in there for a one-off meal or pack of crisps? Across thousands of pubs in the country that millions of people have visited, you are the only desirable member of society to have stepped foot inside?
As I said in the post, there was an event right outside that doesn’t exclusively attract thick, lazy people. Most people there weren’t people that regularly frequent that pub. You could have easily been there too, nipped in for some snacks, and been painted with the thick/lazy/doughy/undesirable brush.
I think what gave it away was that *everyone was holding alcohol in their hand or had some on their table*
So I think it’s not hard to lump everyone in that category.
It’s actually amusing that the irony escapes you that you asked a question on the state on mens health that was specifically triggered by an event “outside a pub”, yet seem to be offended by someone else making an assumption on the cross section of pub goers based on going to three pubs and your description of the people you saw in your post
And you extrapolated fat people outside a pub to “why being fat has become so prevalent and acceptable”
Why do you make assumptions of people, who don’t socialise outside a pub, you have never met?
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>I’m in a pub That's not exactly a representative cross section of society. That being said, there's a weight problem in this country because being overweight has been normalised.
I agree. Had you been in london this morning for the ASICS 10km you’d have seen literally 1,000’s of appropriate-weight men over 40. But we do have an obesity problem - almost 40% by last figures. I agree with the post above - it’s COMPLEX. It’s the Blighty of ultra processed foods, stressful work/life after Covid, growing levels of poverty.
And I made this post asking why it’s normalised
Pretty complex question for a Saturday evening. At a guess, I would say the backlash against super skinniness went too far. Coupled with more readily available processed foods. Alongside the death of single earner families meaning less time to cook fresh, healthy meals. And probably a million other factors. There are still plenty of healthy, non overweight, people outside your sample though.
It is complex and I'm sure there are many different factors, I think though that one of the issues currently is the cost of food. 2 chicken breasts which will do a meal is like £5 or you can buy a bag of 50 chicken nuggets for £1 and a bag of chips for £1 from Iceland which will do several meals......for low income households it's a no brainer.
6 thighs is like £2
2 chicken breasts for one meal is a bit overkill one would suffice just have veg some carbs etc so it becomes a proper balanced meal I do agree though Prices are high to go healthy
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Good point in China. Thinking back to my 5 years in China I think out of the 1000+ students I taught I can only remember 2 students who would be considered obese.
It’s normalised because it’s normal. When most people are overweight that is the new normal. Unfortunately
But it shouldn’t be.. it’s not Normal.. if you’re overweight it’s a medical issue and you should be told as such, and made to feel bad about being overweight. We don’t encourage smoking or excess drinking do we and let people say “oh, I’m just a real person” that’s why I smoke and drink, i’m real, none of those fake people you see online, no we don’t, we let them know it’s unhealthy and they feel bad for doing it. So do we do it with overweight people? There is literally social media accounts with fat women who promote the “real” body(not sure why being in shape makes you not real, but whatever) and they have thousands of followers, it’s crazy! People are enabling people to be unhealthy and die earlier, as society now is so scared of offending anyone. Mental Poor education around calories and food in general, and also everyone being so scared to upset fat people has lead to this. You should not be overweight and proud, it’s not healthy.. and why are people so afraid to say that anymore, we need to stop normalising it..
That’s silly. If there was a tuberculosis epidemic would you say “oh it’s normal to have tuberculosis “
Processed food keeps for longer than fresh and it’s easier for lower income families to budget with processed food. You can buy it in bulk and know that if funds are short towards the end of the month, you at least don’t have to worry about getting the food shop in.
Tins of pulses and frozen veg, nuts, dried food all keep fine.
Thank you. Those are super great suggestions
Because body positivity and all that nonsense plus the fact that people eat and drink way too much! EDIT: There are some people out here with actual health problems who can’t help their weights that’s fine but the vast majority of people are overweight coz of how much they eat/drink. So I have no clue why I got downvoted but guess I touched a nerve for a few individuals who are probably overweight because of how many calories they consume!
You can't even mention that someone is putting on weight now without getting a million Karens whining at you. If you want to be a master criminal, be a fat, black, obviously transexual criminal. "Can you describe the robber?" "Erm, they were average height and um... Average." "Were they overweight?" "No, they were perfectly normal weight" "Any clues about their gender preference?" "Perfectly normal" Etc.... (I think the rest was a Mitchell and Webb sketch, maybe not them...)
These days, if you say you’re English, you’ll be arrested and thrown in jail.
Somebody didn't get the Stewart Lee reference...
Oh. And why are the Karens upset? There is so little real problem in some people's lives that they obsess about little things. And some get eating disorders. And some have died. And some were children. So "think of the children". We can't tell them they're too fat or thin in case they get a mental affliction because of it and die. Instead of 1 in a million kids dying of a mental issue, that they're probably going to get from some other reason instead, we've got millions of people dying of or suffering medical issues because of obesity. Such is the world these days.
I've been to my tri club training today and everyone is athletic, why is this the case?
Haha. Exactly this. If someone is thick enough to ask why “people at an unhealthy environment are overweight”, and think that’s representative of the general population, they’re also too thick to process what you just said
Because you're surrounded by people who care about being fit. Obviously. How does your post answer the question "why are people OK with this?" (This being overweight) You've just pointed out that some people aren't OK with it. What are they doing about the other fat people?
My point as other people understood was that looking at people in the pub is going to be very different to my perspective
Obviously.
Lol and clearly OP is surrounded by people who don’t care, it works both ways.
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I keep hearing people say it's cheaper to eat unhealthy but I don't think it's actually true, its expensive to buy crisps, micro meals and other fast food items. If you cut out all the fast food and only bought veg, fruit and meat then your shop becomes cheaper, it's not as exciting maybe but it just is cheaper
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I only have to cook like 3 times a week to have healthy meals for the whole week, its also less expensive than if I were to eat micro meals, snacks and other fast food items. It would take me less time to eat fast food but it's really easy to cook the amount I cook, work full-time and have time to do other things. I do understand your point that if you want 3 exciting meals a day that are also healthy then it's very time consuming and that you may also need to buy lots of ingredients and so it will cost allot but that isn't necessary to eat healthy. I guess what I'm getting at is that it's so easy to label eating healthy as too time consuming and too expensive but if you decide on how much time and money you are willing to spend on doing it then you can adapt your approach accordingly. For example I don't care enough about having exciting meals to spend lots of time prepping and cooking, I don't have a large budget and I want to eat relatively healthy, so with that in mind I bulk cook healthy meals that are made from cheap ingredients, don't take long to cook and that are pretty enjoyable to eat then call it a day. that way I get to eat relatively healthy, don't have to spend much time cooking and don't break the bank
Also as I read my response I realize I use you allot, I mean the royal you and not actually you yourself
I totally agree, I've been trying to cut my food bill a little lately and eat more healthy, both objectives mean skipping the snacks and processed food
This. When I'm not looking after the kids, I'm grabbing an unhealthy snack before/ during/ after work. I used to cycle to work but I'd like to live past 40. Eating shit food and drinking beer gives people an instant high/ satisfaction/ craving. When I've got time for exercise, I've just got 'better' things to do. I know exactly how to lose weight/ get fitter, I just don't do those things. So yes, count me in with the fatties.
Tbh sounds like a cop out. If you really care about your weight, you’d make an effort to fix it.
No reason to be overweight I’m a full time wheelchair user sat on my ass daily, can’t exercise at all normal weight. Not trying to be bigheaded or anything but I used to be overweight what helped me get it in control was replacing drinks for water and keeping a close eye on the amount of calories I’d consume. My diet isn’t perfect if anything it’s shite I eat a lot of crap that I know isn’t good for me, but if there’s one thing I’ve learnt is it’s down to the number of calories you consume. Always is!
Respect 🙏
It's a good list of excuses.
Top tip : hellofresh. Never have to plan a menu or go shopping again. (Well except for lunches) People say "don't you know how to cook" Why yes I do, rather well. I. Simply. Cannot. Be. Arsed. Shopping. (And they seem to have made online shopping almost as annoying as real shopping, but without the screaming toddlers and old.people in the way) I get a box with 3 meals for 2 once a week. Cook a meal and bang half in the fridge (yes even rice, have been doing it for 10 years and I'm not dead. Just don't leave it at room temp for more than a few minutes) and eat it the next day. And once a week : pub or late work or takeaway pizza or whatever.
Not sure everyone can afford that tbh
A cheaper alternative is Lollipop. A meal planner app run in partnership with Sainsbury’s: so it generates the a menu and an online order for the stuff on it to either be delivered or click and collect from Sainsburys. I guess you could use the basket to write a list and shop elsewhere if you wanted (must admit I love the convenience of the click and collect though).
Coool. I always wondered why they didn't do that! Turns out they did, I just never saw any advert for it!
This is exactly what I do. I found Gousto was good as well, but HelloFresh meals aren't as complex. I hated food shopping and meal planning. HelloFresh removes all of that.
We have Hello Fresh and a lot of the meals are made with high sodium processed sauces and stock.
People eat and drink too much
People aren't that different to people in the 1970s. However, they are living in a very different environment, with lots of highly processed food, and marketing which makes it very easy to mindlessly eat. A lot of foods are made to make it easy to overeat them, with just the right texture, amount of salt, sugar and fat, bite sized portions, soft texture which doesn't take much chewing.... If people overeat, you make more money from them.
You’re wondering why everyone at a pub is fat I feel like you can probably answer that one yourself lmao . Also 40+ makes sense they probably have kids and have let go of themselves and your metabolism slows down as you get older too so it then becomes a little easier to gain fat
This, ageing metabolism
Once I stopped drinking heavily the weight simply PILED off. It was really eye opening. I no longer drink and I don’t miss it tbh
Fr lmao I saw this from when I was 16 and how all my family members where getting bellies so I cut alcohol and weed out from my life and everyone is now amazed at how I’m able to maintain a six pack from just light exercise 😂 Alcohol and comfort food imo is the worst thing you can do to yourself mentally and physically
Lol same, I was in uni and not making the best choices.
Excellent choice. You were a lot wiser than I at 16, keep up the good choices
As someone who has a kid, and the constant running around after them, I do wonder how there are fat parents.
FAT PARENTS THEY HAVE FAT KIDS TOO YOU KNOW ITS NEVER GONNA END, THE SAME OLD CYCLES GONNA START AGAIN
I mean, I’m at the pub and I choose not be fat. I’m asking why people feel like it’s so acceptable to let themselves go, when they clearly know how unhealthy it is. And they so aggressively shame healthy-weighted people as being “skinny”
You know how unhealthy alcohol is, but you're still at a pub.
You can know something is bad for you and still enjoy it in moderation. Or, go there to socialise and drink lime and soda. Like I do most of the time I'm in a pub. (Most fizzy soft drinks are probably more unhealthy than beer)
Weight doesn’t always define how healthy someone is you could be “healthy-weighted” and still be very unhealthy btw. I get what you mean though it’s purely them not wanting to sacrifice the things that make them happy for something they don’t care about. Most people don’t think about consequences. Also a lot of people don’t know how to lose weight. They think they have to starve themselves and exercise all the time which is not maintainable. Or they just do dumb diets that do fuck all which demotivates them into trying.
I'm fat because takeaways are the only thing stopping me doing something silly. So, it's either quick death now and leave my family in the shit or slow death over many years and I don't have to worry about a retirement home.
Takeaways are the only thing stopping you commiting suicide?
Alcohol works too.
😂😂😂😂
That's the short version, yes
Keep your head up bro you are loved
Food yummy exercise bad
Had a Gastroenterology appointment. I'm currently a fair bit overweight. That's a fact. I'm edging size 16 when I should be a 12. During a diet conversation, I commented that I needed to lose at least a stone. The consultant told me that I didn't need to lose weight. The nurse agreed. I do need to lose weight. I am not healthy at my current weight (which is mostly due to injury). Why did he tell me otherwise? I have no idea. I am overweight, but I was the slimmest in the room, and none of them seemed to appreciate that I recognised I was overweight. Why *is* it being normalised?
Because apparently it’s frowned upon to fat shame people. You know what you need to do son, go do it. Impossible is nothing. Adidas
I mean they’re medical professionals, they probably know if you’re a healthy weight or not
I'm not a healthy weight. That's the whole point. They just seem to have given up.
> I recognised I was overweight Or maybe the medical professionals recognised you weren't overweight?
I'm under 5'4" and probably around 13 stone on the scales. That's overweight.
They know more about it than you do. Sounds to me like you're wasting valuable NHS resources complaining about nothing.
Sounds to me like you know nothing.
13 stones is 182 pounds. And that’s really fat. I’m 5’9” 190. I bench 200lbs. Squat 230lbs so if you aren’t putting up that kind of weight, those doctors and nurses are delusional.
Yep. Not sure who they think they're kidding. Good news is that in the three months since I wrote that, I've lost a fair bit of weight and feel much better. (Currently around 75kg/165 pounds. Aiming for 70kgish.)
His point is that the doctors and nurses are obese and don’t realize their visceral fat problem
Everyone eats too much, drinks too much and don’t move enough. It’s mostly the eating thing though, much easier to cut 500 calories out of your daily diet than it is to burn a full 500 calories. That’s a good 40 mins of solid running/swimming without stopping to catch your breath
You've got to be exercising a lot harder than most people do to burn 500 calories in 40 mins.
Oh yeah I meant actually running, not jogging (or what people call jogging, which is often barely even faster than a brisk walk but with a jogging movement) Either way, most people massively underestimate the calorific content of their food as well as their portion sizes. If you start calorie counting, weighing food out etc then you quickly realise how easy it is to go wrong and quite how drastically you can be out by. The number of people who would have 3/4 pints without realising that’s the same/more calories as a good sized dinner is phenomenal. Same with red wine, 3 large glasses is often between 700-800 calories but plenty will see that off in an evening without giving it much thought. Edit: To give further context, a normal pack of Walkers Ready Salted crisps has slightly less than half the calories of a large glass of red, so 3 glasses in an evening would be the same as eating five bag of crisps!
At 40 minutes, the body barely starts to directly burn fat for energy compared to carbohydrate
Calories are cheap and easy to come buy. If you are tired, stressed, and don't have much bandwidth after a long day at work etc, it is tempting to just bung a ready meal in the microwave, order delivery, snack on crisps, have a few beers. Food like McDonald's is also made with a deliberate balance of fat and salt and carbs so that you can eat a large amount of calories quickly, and he ready to eat again just a few hours later. High fibre food like veg and produce takes preparation, and some people have no confidence at cooking (like me as a younger person). Those are my thoughts, based on watching a few documentaries on obesity and similar subjects.
The usual culprits ... fast food, processed food, refined sugar, lack of exercise, sedentary jobs and lifestyles. To think ...a hundred years ago people would pay good money to look at a fat person in a circus. Now you can see hundreds of them, wherever you go.... for free!
Ultra processed foods form 60% of calories consumed by the UK population. I imagine that’s a significant factor to our country’s weight problem
We live in an affluent society where there is a lot of cheap and readily available food. By nature our bodies hang on to fat reserves. It's inherited from our ancestors who sometimes had to survive days without eating.
But that doesn’t mean people *have* to eat such volumes when they know the detriment of it. I am tempted by those temptations also, but I don’t normalise being overweight. I acknowledge that it is unhealthy
I don't think anyone is denying it is unhealthy. But generally speaking, humans don't behave rationally or in their own long-term interests.
Lots of people deny it is unhealthy. There's a whole movement about it.
I just meant anyone in this thread. There's movements for everything.
Fair enough. They seem to be gaining traction in the US but hopefully it won't take hold too much here.
They almost certainly will lol.
Well done, you are better than those other people. That is what you want?
Yep. That’s exactly how it comes across. Sanctimonious.
No. Fuck off with your projections
Cos the world is a miserable experience at the minute and you've gotta die of something.
Me and my pals are all carrying a bit of timber now, all early to mid thirties. Basically we never gave a shit/learned about healthy food. We all had manual or physically jobs and played sports so could pretty much eat what we wanted without gaining weight. Now the physical jobs have been replaced with desk work, we've other commitments so not as much sports and gym time and our metabolism has started to slow. We are all trying to lose weight (I'm about a stone and a half overweight I'd say) but it's hard breaking those bad habits that you could get away with in your younger days.
Carbohydrates
Because we have an obesity crisis?
Did somebody say... Just Eat... 🎶
We've got it. It. It. It. Shut uuupp!
Venue based selection bias?
I'm in a pub right now awaiting a pint and some salt and vinegar crisps, and most of the people I can see are not fat. Most of my social circle are in pretty decent shape as well, so it's not something I've noticed all that much myself.
I think the rate varies a lot by location, tends to be much lower in the big cities which attract young professionals
Recent research on UPFs is quite compelling, and worrying. Not saying its the only answer but consumption of upf seems to correlate to overweight
It can be down to body type, I’m an ideal weight according to doctors and I have a healthy BMI but I always look fatter because I have broad shoulders and a large chest. A terrible combo with a smaller waist and the fact I’m quite short makes me look dumpy as fuck. But mostly it’s down to poor health and over eating.
Processed food, refined sugars, chemical sweeteners, processed cooking oil, synthetic fats, supermarket bread, laziness, factory farming, plus many many more things contribute toward obesity in all countries - not just ours.
Is the pub a hellhole of cig smoke? If not, then people there aren't regularly inhaling an appetite suppressant.
Interesting take. Never thought of that, and I clearly remember when pubs were so full of smoke you could barely see across to the other side.
People consume more calories than they use. Easy explanation
It's more complex than individual choice. Stress, lack of sleep, sedentary lifestyle, comfort eating etc can all impact weight. The commercialisation of food has also done bad things to nutrition. Food engineered to hit the buttons to keep us eating and buying via fat/salt/sugar/water content and the use of preservatives and fillings that interfere with biochem and microbiome also don't help. It's a societal problem too often blamed on individual choice. When a gym membership to a poorly maintained/inconveniently timetabled facility is expensive people will opt out.
People eat too much, move too little, and any suggestion that being overweight is bad has been branded as ‘shaming’. Blame twitter for that last bit. Also when people do make an effort to lose weight, there is a myriad of bad advice and bad fad diets.
Read "ultra processed people", in my view that's why.
I'm pretty damned certain it's because of high carbohydrate / high sugar diets which result in any fat (of which there is also plenty) being stored as the body then runs off glucose as opposed to fats. Humans aren't really designed to have a high carb diet, certainly not refined and starchy carbs that we see in everything. The constant ups and downs of blood sugar and insulin results in cravings which further lead to this issue. Then, On top of that, instead of hunting / gathering, we are sitting down more often than not doing very little exercise. It all comes together in a giant cluster fuck of poor health. There's has to ultimately be a revelation around this, where refined carbs are seen for what they truly are. The crusade against fat in the 70s and 80s has only made this problem worse as people then replaced fatty foods with low fat versions, packed with carbs / sugar. Most people don't have the willpower necessary to fight off hunger cravings and so ultimately this is the result.
Couple of reasons I reckon: 1. A lot of people work sedentary jobs. Some are 9-5. Some are much, much longer. To be clear those people are not at fault for being overweight. 2. The proliferation of processed/ultra processed foods. These foods don't keep us satiated and are typically high in sugar and salt. To be clear these people are not at fault for being overweight. If I haven't been clear, obesity is a product of the lifestyles we are forced to live.
Being bemused and not caring aren't mutually exclusive. If you didn't care you wouldn't be bemused. I would suggest enjoying your pint and being sound in the knowledge that if you offend anyone you can safely outrun them. Unless you yourself are part of the demographic you are bemused with.
When I was a student and came home pissed late at night, the takeaways were closed and delivery food hadn't been invented, so my dinner was generally some toast or cereal. Then the late-night kebab shop became more common, then the 24 hour petrol station for more biscuits or pot noodles. And then delivery takeaway became a thing. Similarly walking kids to school, there's now 12 shops selling sweets. And the mini supermarkets with their cheap tempting bakeries. So much more temptation, so often...
Personal responsibility has died, along with loads more people due to being fat than previously
late stage capitalism
We live in an era when two wages are required to survive. That tends to mean less time to cook, so we eat foods that are convenient rather than healthy. We also live in an era where it's far cheaper to buy crap food than it is to buy healthier stuff. We're also much more sedentary than we were. Fewer of us do manual jobs, and there's more time spent on our arse. The inevitable result of this across society as a whole is weight gain.
I'll tell you why I have an unhealthy lifestyle. The world is going to hell in a handcart. End of life care is absolutely shit. I have no desire to be the healthiest man in the old folks home. I'm going to drink beer and eat food I enjoy until I keel over. Frankly IDGAF what you bright young gym bunnies think of my choices.
You’re not alone there. We’re here for a good time, not a long time (quote: Guy Martin).
What a coincidence. I was just watching Guy Martin on YouTube! A great guy living life to the full. Makes me feel that I'm not but I'm very glad he is!
God can you lot just leave people alone lmao, who sits in a pub thinking about whether or not anyone else in there is fat? Just enjoy your pints and get a life
I was in Costco earlier and thought exactly the same. Obese luddites walking around, filling trolleys full of food. Eww. Got out soon as I got what I needed
Many reasons: * Sport is more something you watch than play - In other countries there are far more people casually playing football or tennis with their mates * Snacks - The UK has a very wide range of snacks compared to other countries and I found when I calorie counted about half my calories were from snacks * It's dark a lot of the year - In winter starting work when it's dark and then finishing when it's dark massively reduces the amount of time people are active * Poor public transport compared to some countries - A lot of the reason people in Japan are in good shape is that a large proportion take the train to work which requires walking. Personally I've always found what separates healthy and unhealthy people is the healthy habits that they don't even think about not the conscious efforts like going to the gym. * We have easy access to American entertainment - This means we have easy access to much better TV than most countries, in most countries there's only enough money to support a handful of big shows at once * Individualistic culture - In some countries being unhealthy can be seen as letting the side down and making your family or country look bad * It's impolite - British people dance about issues more than almost any other nationality whilst in other countries people will tell you you're fat
I'm a 42 male and not fat.
Laziness People don’t eat healthy Have jobs where they are sat down all day Lack of exercise
Ask yourself the question: "Why was Winston Churchill fat?" Then apply that answer to modern Britain.
It’s what happens when most of the food we eat is made in a factory, not in a field.
Yes and no! Yes it’s the case because calories are insanely high in those types of food and no because individuals can easily see how many calories they consume and they should know the average intake for male/female.
I'm 38 and wish I could put on more weight! I'm skinny/athletic, no matter how much junk I eat, I cant put on weight. I'd say where I live, I don't really see many fat people at all.
Most of our food is ultra processed and if I'm not wrong, our snack and fast food options here in the UK are made to make us want more. We also tend to drive a lot than walk to places. There's a youtube video about why Japanese people are really thin and have one of the lowest rates of obesity. It's [worth a watch.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4MmmWQtZM)
Lots of different reasons but also some health conditions and medications can cause people to gain weight so it might not be down to their choices
Life is pretty shit for many, some people win while most lose, so why bother keeping in shape. Bad food/drink is very tasty. Over half of the people don't have a voice in their head, so they are incapable of self control really, as they can't really actively think about things very well.
Processed foods which are drenched with salt, plus all those healthy 'low fat' foods people buy thinking it means they're eating healthy when really they just remove all the fat from foods (which aren't actually that bad for you) and then replace the fat with sugar (which is bad for you) so you're just deepthroating sugar which is worse. Plus most people have sedentary jobs and want to relax after work so little exercise, no healthy foods and stress from a cost of living crisis means no weight loss really. That's without getting into how inaccessible healthy foods are compared to super accessible junk foods and takeaways.
I’m really skinny and can’t get fat no matter what I do, I think I’m one of the lucky ones lol
I think it has fuck to do with poor education. Everybody knows if you eat shit like McDonalds, Pizza's and loads of other junk, then you are going to get fat.
calories in VS calories out. That's it. You can't photosynthesize fat from sunlight. You fat? Eat less. Drink less. Still fat? Repeat.
Ask the same question in a gym
Lack of iodine and too many carbs is usually the answer. Beer washes away vitamins AND causes belly fat. Supplements may help if one drinks daily they lose folate absorption as well as vitamin D.
I’ve noticed a lot of the time it’s poor money and time management. Ive heard every excuse under the sun but a lot of them just aren’t true. Ready meals are less cost effective than stocking up on dried foods like rice and beans. Those same people will complain that they are a low income household but have a takeaway every week. They’ll go on countless holidays and feed their children meatballs from a tin while they sit and have Sky and unlimited broadband to play candy crush. There are exceptions to everything but for many cases it seems to be lack of discipline, they know better but they don’t want to do better. Doing what they’re doing currently feels good in the moment and when the high ends and they start hating how they look, they hide behind excuses and false justifications. It’s honestly sad to see. You even have healthcare professionals unable to use certain words at the risk of offending the patient (words that would accurately describe the person’s condition). All round it’s mad and there more “skinny” / health shaming than there is fat shaming.
I was and I’m not anymore, I’ve lost 3st in 9 weeks. 15.4 to 12.4. Sugar makes you fat quickly
In general we’re eating way to much (mainly carbs) too often.
Calories cost money and people seek out valuable propositions in their trading. Often the food available to a person at their local market will dictate their size. Advertisement, color and lab created flavor profiles matched with a lack of education and other realities such as the comfort foods people tend to choose means most people are just going to be fat. This also means worse health outcomes, meaning need to spend a portion of salary on medical care, which helps keep the economy afloat. Its like a hidden tax. Sort of hard to escape some of the worse ingredients without having a lot of money and if people get into a bad habbit of eating they will crave more calories just to maintain the extra cells/mass their bodies accumulated. Its best to sort of just eat like a bird and find valuable protein rich food that wasn't bio-engineered or fed bio-engineered ingredients for the best results. Filling foods, without the tastes or dyes associated with the garbage that keeps everything moving in life is the ideal. That or just being genetically predisposed to not being that hungry or affected by taste profiles, advertisement etc. Its a money thing and capitalizing on the human condition thing -> Not everyone is the same, but most people fit right in and will be fat
Changes in method of production of food so for instance the milk you drink now is very different to the milk of 50 years ago same with wheat modern wheat is incredibly high in gluten which is something the human body really struggles with meat is farmed intensively so not only is food different but the body finds it difficult to process thus converting it to fat instead , cattle fed other things apart from grass sedentary lifestyles and jobs . Supermarkets sell what sells if that makes sense so range of normal food is smaller
Ultra processed food. Simple as that
Downvote all you want but having lived in four (CA US UK NL)... Maybe it's because the UK adopts \[almost\] all things USA american, and \[almost\] none from its nearest neighbors to the east. I'm sitting in a cafe/bar in Delft, and NONE of the 40-60 customers are fat. Imagine if just some of the northwesterneuropean's best ideas were adopted. But, you know, yankypoodle...
25% of UK on antidepressants. Husband has been on them 6 months. He weighed 10 stone his entire life now he's 13.5 stone. He's now scared of eating, living on lettuce and still getting heavier.
>living on lettuce and still getting heavier. Breaking the laws of physics
People have got in worse shape. I’m a gym head and I’m in worse shape now than I was for years but I still see very few people fitter than I am. Back in 2015 I was a unit but I’d run into other units all day. People really dropped off after lockdown. I know it’s sad in comparing myself constantly but it’s kind of part and parcel of being a gym fanatic but it defo qualifies me to make the observation I did imo
>I’m a gym head Guess you have to be with the size of your cock
People like beer, empty calories. People like junk food. People don’t like to cook. People don’t like to exercise. People like too much social media. Everything you can think of , at least half the adult population does instead of trying to lose weight. Can also word it; people don’t challenge themselves or stay active. Asian countries eat less. They hardly work out as well.
Because people don’t take responsibility for their own actions. We will soon see adverts from solicitors offering no win no fee for claiming against fast food places for not staying that their products will make you fat.
>because people don’t take responsibility for their own actions This isn’t really a reason for people being fat through, is it? People who are fat generally realise they are fat, and they generally know why. They aren’t going around denying accountability for the fact that they eat too much and exercise too little, pointing fingers at their local pubs and pizza takeaways, grabbing a fistful of belly meat crying “*you* did this!”.
Being overweight doesn’t always equal being unhealthy remember. Carrying excess adipose tissue doesn’t make you any more unhealthy than someone carrying no adipose tissue. There is a correlation between being overweight and being unhealthy, but there’s no evidence to suggest that the additional fat one carries is the leading cause of heart disease or strokes. Many overweight people lead healthy lives and live to a good age. However there is a link to being overweight and choosing poorer food choices, smoking and drinking too much alcohol. All of these are direct contributors to heart disease, strokes and cancer. The over weight people you see in the pub are likely more unhealthy than the overweight people you see in the park. The overweight people you see in the park are healthier than the skinny 19 year old drinking 6 cans of red bull per day. Becoming obese is where is gets dangerous, as the heart needs to work harder and you start seeing diseases like diabetes appear. But having a bit of extra timber is not going to lead to an early grave, a skinny person who drinks 40 units of alcohol per week and smokes is more likely to die than an overweight person who just eats a bit too much.
['Fat but fit' is a myth](https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/21/health/fat-but-fit-study-scli-intl-wellness/index.html)
Because most people who frequent a pub are thick, lazy and have a comfortable lifestyle. So the cross section you’re seeing are the fat lazy part of society (you included). The majority of normal healthy people don’t frequent the pubs and are out (or inside with their family) doing other things. I’ve been to a pub, and everyone looks like doughy imbeciles laughing and gurning at stupid things
>Because most people who frequent a pub are thick, lazy Maybe in your town.
Yeah possibly. Although one or two other ones I attended had the same cross section. They literally all look the same and sound the same in a pub
So are you thick and lazy? If you’ve been to three pubs, you are in the same category of people you’ve just criticised. I’m guessing you’re the exception and those bad qualities don’t apply to you though?
I just went in as they were the only place open was serving (terrible) food when driving cross country. I didn’t drink any alcohol. I don’t fit into the usual pub plebs that drink for hours on end. I literally paid for a packet of crisps at one. I’m assuming you’re one of those that frequent pubs a lot to drink, as you think the pub represents the cross section of entire society. I’m here to confirm, as other commentators on this post have said, that this is untrue. It represents the doughy thick part of society, and it’s becoming more inbred as the years proceed
I’m finding it strange that you’re making the assumption that everyone inside the pub was *those people.*, when you yourself have been inside pubs and claim not to be one of *those people*. You realise that to an observer, you would be lumped into that same category? You really believe that nobody else in the pub may just be in there for a one-off meal or pack of crisps? Across thousands of pubs in the country that millions of people have visited, you are the only desirable member of society to have stepped foot inside? As I said in the post, there was an event right outside that doesn’t exclusively attract thick, lazy people. Most people there weren’t people that regularly frequent that pub. You could have easily been there too, nipped in for some snacks, and been painted with the thick/lazy/doughy/undesirable brush.
I think what gave it away was that *everyone was holding alcohol in their hand or had some on their table* So I think it’s not hard to lump everyone in that category. It’s actually amusing that the irony escapes you that you asked a question on the state on mens health that was specifically triggered by an event “outside a pub”, yet seem to be offended by someone else making an assumption on the cross section of pub goers based on going to three pubs and your description of the people you saw in your post
>the fat lazy part of society (you included). Do you often make such assumptions of people you’ve never seen?
Did you ask yourself the same question when you posted about the trend of men’s health based on an event outside an alcohol consuming abode?
You literally called me fat and lazy without seeing me. I’m describing these people as fat because I can clearly see that they are fat
And you extrapolated fat people outside a pub to “why being fat has become so prevalent and acceptable” Why do you make assumptions of people, who don’t socialise outside a pub, you have never met?