Were people thinner in the 60s & 70s or did the fashions of the time make it seem like they were?

[Anonymous]

The whole attitude around food is different now too. It can be an "experience" and all that. I think back then food was just food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want that pink pinto

It's a Volvo and would be worth a nice sum of money today. The Pinto, not so much.

HAHAHA...it is a Volvo that looks like a Pinto!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they walk a lot? Or drive?

Were gyms a big thing?

There wasn't more walking -- at least not in the suburbs. There were no gyms in the 60s-70s; the only people who had any kind of formal gyms to work out in were high school/college athletes. I don't know that grown adults did much in the way of exercise -- though there's always some who walk or run; women started to do the various exercise shows that were popping up on TV.

People just ate less. 3 meals a day and that's it. And the meal was enough to serve one -- not enough to serve 3-4 people like the meals you get now. There wasn't the culture of snacking all day long. I work in an office and I STILL don't understand why my coworkers who work sitting down 8 hrs a day need snacks of hummus or string cheese or almonds bc protein is SOOOO important. It's like a pipeline of snacks and thus a pipeline of calories which does not replace the 3 meals but rather supplements them (too much) now.

The reason people snack all day while sitting down for 8 hours at work is because they're sitting down 8 hours a day at work. Boredom, drudgery, boredom.

Yes but people worked in the 60s-70s as well; the jobs were just as tedious and the American work week has always been 40 hrs/wk. Yet people didn't need hummus or nuts ALL DAY LONG. Somehow they survived without the constant protein . . . .

[Anonymous]

It was less common for married women with kids to work in the 60s and 70s (except sometimes as teachers and nurses), so they had more time to prepare meals from scratch. Simple carbs provide quick energy, which we all crave when exhausted from long work days sitting at computers. Of course, they also destabilize blood sugar, making us want to keep eating for more energy boosts.

[Anonymous]

"Jogging" became a craze in the mid to late 70s. The author of the book that started the craze was Jim Fixx.

I was born in 1969 and grew up in Fairfax County. I can think of fewer than a dozen truly fat (iand that's the word we used) classmates from ES - HS. That's it. They are memorable because it was so unusual to be overweight back then.

My parents smoked. Most all of my friends' parents smoked well into the 70s. And my friends' moms who smoked were all thin-to-skinny, come to think of it.

Clothing sizes changed. Call it vanity sizing, but my teenager big sister was so excited when she could finally wear a size 3. Together, we shopped for small teenage sizes of 5/7/9.

The ideal "model" figure was a "perfect size 8" which I don't even know the equivalent of today. Maybe a 6? It wasn't outrageously slim or tiny.

Emphasis back then was on an altogether different figure type for women. Small waist, "nice bustline" and consider that no women were particularly muscle bound or "cut." Think flat stomach v. A six pack.

Guys, young and older would walk around shirtless. Can't recall seeing any guts or rolls.

[Anonymous]

We were definitely thinner! Ate less.

[Anonymous]

Nostalgia got the best of me. Here's Olivia.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA

[Anonymous]

Part of the change is due to the increased efforts of the food industry to pile high fat food onto our plates. Portions are bigger these days too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want that pink pinto

I want something else there.

[Anonymous]

Everyone was thinner.

I graduated from high school in '79 and was recently looking through photo albums from that era. Among my classmates, no one was overweight. No one.

[Anonymous]

You've gotta look at media portrayals, too.

Back then, you saw nice looking white people in ads and on tv and in movies. Now, the diversity is much more abundant, despite the pervasiveness of the skinny white blonde woman.

That said, I'd still guess the average BMI was small in the 60s just because of portion sizes and proliferation of junk food. I'd also expect that the shrinking middle class has caused an increase in obesity among the poor.

[Anonymous]

Where do people get the idea that food was healthier in the sixties and seventies? I remember eating microwaved meals, packaged foods, SpaghettiO. Chips and soda. It was not pretty.

Anyone on this thread who is claiming a simple factor, I.e., food was healthier or people ran around more or smoked more or ate less is being too simplistic.

A complex formula of changing Lifestyles, food, food production, hormones, Rising population rates. You can't just look at one simple thing and say hey this is it because the country is full of a s*** ton of people who have different eating habits and exercise habits and cultural habits which makes it difficult to attribute any mass changes to any one Factor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was much more cocaine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they walk a lot? Or drive?

Were gyms a big thing?

There wasn't more walking -- at least not in the suburbs. There were no gyms in the 60s-70s; the only people who had any kind of formal gyms to work out in were high school/college athletes. I don't know that grown adults did much in the way of exercise -- though there's always some who walk or run; women started to do the various exercise shows that were popping up on TV.

People just ate less. 3 meals a day and that's it. And the meal was enough to serve one -- not enough to serve 3-4 people like the meals you get now. There wasn't the culture of snacking all day long. I work in an office and I STILL don't understand why my coworkers who work sitting down 8 hrs a day need snacks of hummus or string cheese or almonds bc protein is SOOOO important. It's like a pipeline of snacks and thus a pipeline of calories which does not replace the 3 meals but rather supplements them (too much) now.

I grew up in the 70's and their were definitely gyms and racquetball. Maybe where I grew up was not the norm, but they existed.

Racquetball is a fantastic way to lose weight. Great cardiovascular workout and even playing at a medium intensity level can burn like 500 calories/hour. I wish there were more courts in the DC area...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody was thinner. The average BMI for Americans has significantly increased in the last 40 years.

Definitely true, but odds are the model in an equivalent car add today would make the woman in the OP's picture look chunky.

So the models today are thinner but the average person today is heavier?

Yes