Why are so many women in their early to mid 20s already so heavy? Is this mainly a USA phenomenon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many young women take antidepressants, ADHD meds, birth control pills, etc. and often the combo of meds leads to weight gain and difficulty losing weight. For some, it also stimulates their appetite and that combined with social drinking makes it even harder to remain slim. Others spent most of their youth playing high level sports or doing competitive dance. If they don’t continue when they get to college, their bodies have a hard time adjusting to the reduced activity level.

antidepressants, ADHD meds, birth control pills, etc...

Those things did not exist in previous decades?

Uh, no, they either didn't exist or were nowhere as common as they are today compared to previous generations.

[Anonymous]

I’m hoping it also has some relationship to younger people being better about accepting the bodies they have. I was chubby, and spent my 20s and early 30s with such disordered eating and anorexia, and once I had kids I couldn’t keep it up so I’m chubbier and yes, healthier, now. My body just naturally really really wants to not be skinny. If all you see about a person is chub and you want to look down on them, you’re the sad and unhealthy person. Keeping a size 2 is not the be-all and end all.

[Anonymous]

The answer is always the simple one.

They eat and drink more while living a more sedentary lifestyle.

It's not the decline of smoking. If it were smoking then why are American women fatter than their 19th century equivalents when it was seriously frowned upon for women to smoke. It's just eating more and not exercising while living a sedentary lifestyle. And now a culture has emerged where being fat is acceptable, so people become lazy about their weight. The exception is among the upper middle and upper classes, where there still exists strong cultural pressures not to be overweight and to eat healthily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many young women take antidepressants, ADHD meds, birth control pills, etc. and often the combo of meds leads to weight gain and difficulty losing weight. For some, it also stimulates their appetite and that combined with social drinking makes it even harder to remain slim. Others spent most of their youth playing high level sports or doing competitive dance. If they don’t continue when they get to college, their bodies have a hard time adjusting to the reduced activity level.

antidepressants, ADHD meds, birth control pills, etc...

Those things did not exist in previous decades?

Uh, no, they either didn't exist or were nowhere as common as they are today compared to previous generations.

+1

I don't know a single person who took ADHD or anti-depressants when I was in HS or college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see so many overweight kids, too! That used to be rare. I honk parents are feeding their kids prepared and restaurant food because of insane sports commitments and two-parent working families. There is also a huge body positive movement that celebrates all bodies. That sounds like a great thing but I think it has gone a bit awry as the health piece has faded.

THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer is always the simple one.

They eat and drink more while living a more sedentary lifestyle.

It's not the decline of smoking. If it were smoking then why are American women fatter than their 19th century equivalents when it was seriously frowned upon for women to smoke. It's just eating more and not exercising while living a sedentary lifestyle. And now a culture has emerged where being fat is acceptable, so people become lazy about their weight. The exception is among the upper middle and upper classes, where there still exists strong cultural pressures not to be overweight and to eat healthily.

And purge and smoke and take stimulants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer is always the simple one.

They eat and drink more while living a more sedentary lifestyle.

It's not the decline of smoking. If it were smoking then why are American women fatter than their 19th century equivalents when it was seriously frowned upon for women to smoke. It's just eating more and not exercising while living a sedentary lifestyle. And now a culture has emerged where being fat is acceptable, so people become lazy about their weight. The exception is among the upper middle and upper classes, where there still exists strong cultural pressures not to be overweight and to eat healthily.

Riiiiight, the only relevant difference between now and the 1800s was personal choice.

Starvation rates were higher then, too, and not the voluntary kind.

[Anonymous]

I guess this depends on your age- but I’m 40 and when I was that age, we were pretty much all on birth control pills, and smoking was uncommon. I did know a few who were on antidepressants but yes that is more common now...

I have two sisters in this age group (from my dad’s second marriage) and they eat much differently that we did at that age. Lots of Starbucks and more quick service foods- Chipotle etc. I also agree a big piece is the “body acceptance” thing- which is great in so many ways but really reduces the social pressure not to put on extra pounds...

My own group on friends is, on the whole, thinner than either of my sister’s peer groups- and we all put in more effort to stay fit/healthy too. That has to be a big change from previous generations- when I was 20 my friends and I were definitely thinner than our moms!

[Anonymous]

In earlier decades, people were less careful about hygiene around food and would leave meat out on the kitchen counter all day before cooking it. People ended up with a lot more incidents of, shall we say, “intestinal distress” back then, which caused them to quickly lose many of the calories they had eaten in the past 24 hours.

Better food safety practices mean less diarrhea and vomiting, more of the food we eat actually stays in our bodies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In earlier decades, people were less careful about hygiene around food and would leave meat out on the kitchen counter all day before cooking it. People ended up with a lot more incidents of, shall we say, “intestinal distress” back then, which caused them to quickly lose many of the calories they had eaten in the past 24 hours.

Better food safety practices mean less diarrhea and vomiting, more of the food we eat actually stays in our bodies.

If only....

I have IBS with frequent "intestinal distress." I am NOT thin.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why this is, but I wonder a lot. I'm a professor in my 40s with two kids and walk around campus wondering why I am thinner than these girls in their late teens/early 20s. When I was in high school, my friends and I went to the gym, went running, etc and continued that in college. Is that still common among high school kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In earlier decades, people were less careful about hygiene around food and would leave meat out on the kitchen counter all day before cooking it. People ended up with a lot more incidents of, shall we say, “intestinal distress” back then, which caused them to quickly lose many of the calories they had eaten in the past 24 hours.

Better food safety practices mean less diarrhea and vomiting, more of the food we eat actually stays in our bodies.

If only....

I have IBS with frequent "intestinal distress." I am NOT thin.

To be fair, you are only one person. Over an entire population, it makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

microplastics, endocrine disrupters, artificial hormones...these kids are living in a super polluted Earth. Earth that is hurtling towards its doom thanks to global warming.

This is an era of mass extinction brought about by human greed, the world is a grim place and this country is not as fair, merit based,egalitarian and compassionate as we once thought. This is full of haters.

Its sad that these kids are physically unfit, but I am not putting the blame on them. It is a far more stressful period than what their parents saw and lived through. People are violent, mean, lazy and evil and the youth are expected to take this shit.

[Anonymous]

People are much more sedentary - so much time is spent on phones and laptops and video games. Kids used to watch TV but when you had to watch what was on, it isn't nearly as appealing as having constant interest at your finger tips.

Food and portions are out of control. There is unhealthy food everywhere and the easiest to access and restaurants make people think that eating massive amounts is normal. You can order all your junk food from amazon or walmart online and never get up or lift a finger.

Society is more PC and thinks that talking about healthy eating or being physically active or being a healthy weight is now taboo and wrong.

The more fat people there are, the less you feel different and the more normalized it becomes.

Fewer people walk or are active.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer is always the simple one.

They eat and drink more while living a more sedentary lifestyle.

It's not the decline of smoking. If it were smoking then why are American women fatter than their 19th century equivalents when it was seriously frowned upon for women to smoke. It's just eating more and not exercising while living a sedentary lifestyle. And now a culture has emerged where being fat is acceptable, so people become lazy about their weight. The exception is among the upper middle and upper classes, where there still exists strong cultural pressures not to be overweight and to eat healthily.

I have a 7 figure earning relative (she receives yearly bonuses at her job) who is FAT FAT FAT.

Nothing wrong with that though because she is in her 40s.