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

[Anonymous]

Thin & poofy puffy hair

[Anonymous]

Those pants just make you look thinner I guess.

[Anonymous]

like many things in society, bifurcation has happened.

We are separating into hotties and ogres.

just like rich vs. poor

working 60 hours a week vs. 20 hours as week (or 0)

back then, less hotties but the average person looked better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

There is one single factor. The food is cheaper now. You can eat a lot of calories for very little money. Also. Food today is more tasty and more varied. (Again relates to it being cheaper. That explains bigger portions which explains everything else. It's actually similar to consumption of electronics. Now you can get a lot for little money and everyone is addicted.

[Anonymous]

Cotton candy diet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

When I look at teens today, I am shocked by how chubby so many of them are. I did have a few overweight classmates (graduated from high school in 1984). But not many.

Keep in mind that even today, the DC area is thinner than most of the rest of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I don't think high fashion models are thinner today than they were 40-50 years ago--they have always been coat-hanger thin. But movie and TV stars? The difference is *striking.*

Look at Farrah Fawcett's gorgeous thighs:

[Anonymous]

1969 Brigitte Bardot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 . . . .

The reason why they did not snack all day was because they smoked all day. At work, at schools, at their desks and while rocking the baby to sleep. All. Day. Long.

Heck, my dance teachers smoked in class all through the 70s. They stopped sometime in the 80s.

Everyone smoked.

The portions were smaller but the food was crappy: cambells casseroles, lots of fried food, chips, cookies, really sugary drinks and snacos, koolaide, Vess soda, TV dinners every night, processed everything.

Our food choices and preparation is SO much better than what people at in the 70s.

We are fatter because #1) portion sizes #2) lifestyle (sitting on our asses or working more sedentary jobs and #3) most people do not smoke any more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I don't think high fashion models are thinner today than they were 40-50 years ago--they have always been coat-hanger thin. But movie and TV stars? The difference is *striking.*

Look at Farrah Fawcett's gorgeous thighs:

i wish my face was that bicycle seat

[Anonymous]

I was the fat girl in HS from 1966-1970. 5'7".weight variety from 150-170 pounds. I was considered a whale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people only ate 1 meal a day back then

No we didn't! Where do younger your information? What we did dominant 3 meals a day and NO snacking between. If you were hungry, you waited till the next meal.

Absolutely no sense that we had to bring snacks and beverages when we left the house. Thirsty? Drink water. Hungry? Eat an apple.

[Anonymous]

PP.. Ahhh autocorrect!

Where did you get your infomation?
And
What we did was EAT, not dominate three meals a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want that pink pinto

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I don't think high fashion models are thinner today than they were 40-50 years ago--they have always been coat-hanger thin. But movie and TV stars? The difference is *striking.*

Look at Farrah Fawcett's gorgeous thighs:

i wish my face was that bicycle seat

She's dead.