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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

LOVE THE HAIR

[Anonymous]

60s and 70s was pre-high fructose corn syrup in everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The exercise craze started in the 80s. (Google Olivia Newton-John, "Let's Get Physical"). Well, there was also Richard Simmons and a runner... Oh, who was that guy who made jogging a huge fad? Anyway, gyms were for athletes and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Regular people going to gyms started early 90s. People ate less, and less processed food (despite Spam being popular). And they did smoke more.

Forrest Gump, of course.

[Anonymous]

Also not sure comparing models of any era is a good proxy for the population at large. Although the 60s did give us Twiggy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+100! It boggles my mind when I see a mother and her kids in a museum or on the Metro carrying HUGE lunch boxes full of snacks (gummy snacks, Goldfish, etc) to tide them over until their next "big" meal. A bunch of my coworkers sit and munch other crunchy, less-than-healthy delicacies all day long at work and then complain about their waistline. Hmm, I wonder what could cause it all?

+10000

The obsession with snacks almost sounds like a drug addiction. Some kids ask for one, like they need a hit "I need a snack mom, I need one!" This snack-obsessed mom culture is insane.

It's perfectly fine, normal, and healthy to feel hunger sometimes. It's like they think they're going to die if they feel hunger pangs for an hour or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"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.

It was a "perfect size six" in the 80s. Don't you remember the Wakefield twins? lol. Now it's more like a two or zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Everyone seemed so pencil thin back in those days.

Was it the fashions?

She is not pencil thin. In fact she could have starred in a Russ Meyer movie.

She's pencil thin with boobs..... the best kind i guess

No she has a bit of a belly and hips. She looks fine but she is NOT pencil thin. Go google current images of Gigi Hadid in a two piece for example. She used to be curvier but lost weight specifically so she could be "pencil thin."

[Anonymous]

In 1980, I was 14 years old, 5'4" and 110 pounds. My pants size: 8

In 2016, I am 50, 5'4" and 130 pounds. My pants size? 6-8

[Anonymous]

This is pencil thin.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

If you lift up your arms, you should be able to see visible ribs under the skin. No fat blocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you lift up your arms, you should be able to see visible ribs under the skin. No fat blocking.

That seems borderline anorexic to me. Gigi looks a little too skinny to me. Skinny verging on scrawny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 1980, I was 14 years old, 5'4" and 110 pounds. My pants size: 8

In 2016, I am 50, 5'4" and 130 pounds. My pants size? 6-8

I was a purchaser for women's clothing back in the 70's. Sizes were not standard. It varied based on designer or manufacturer. And your point is spot on, today's sizes are not equal to the size of clothing over 30 years ago. Women are more conscious of what's on the label.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you lift up your arms, you should be able to see visible ribs under the skin. No fat blocking.

That seems borderline anorexic to me. Gigi looks a little too skinny to me. Skinny verging on scrawny.

Really? I think she has the ideal figure.

[Anonymous]

Portions were much smaller. People did not eat out as much. Snacking was only for prescoolers. Adults smoked and that crappy food was easy to eat less of.