Both my grandmothers and my mother were fatter

[MIch elle]

Some Americans are fatter now but the women before me were fatter than 3 of us 4 sisters in middle age. I may weigh more than them but that's because I carry my weight all over and am taller. They carried their weight in the middle. My grandfathers and my father AND my dh are all normal weight (as are my sons).

 

This older generation of my family all lived in the city and walked a lot (only men had cars - women took the bus or walked). My sisters and I live in the suburbs as adults and drive everywhere.

 

Were the women in your families in prior generations fatter than you and your dc or are you & your dc fatter?

[Jean in Newcastle]

My grandmother died of complications of diabetes. She was fatter than I am (and I have a weight problem that I'm working very hard to try and rectify). My mother and all of her siblings (in their 80's) have weight problems that center in their tummy. I have trouble with weight centering in my tummy. My mother did not have a car and walked for miles during my childhood. She could not lose weight no matter what she did. I am having the same struggles as she had. I eat low carb/high fat and it helps . . . some. I've lost 7 pounds in almost 3 years on that diet. All these discussions of why America is fat etc. are way too simplistic in my opinion.

[gingersmom]

None of my grandparents were overweight.

 

My father was skinny and my mother was overweight till her early 60s when she lost 70 pounds (and has kept off for almost 10 years).

 

My kids are not overweight but lucky me needs to lose 30 pounds.

[MIch elle]

All these discussions of why America is fat etc. are way too simplistic in my opinion.

 

:iagree:

 

When did we start taking stats of American's weight & BMI? I think Americans are skinner AND fatter than previous generations! The thin are thinner (models, etc.) and the fat are more than fat - they are morbidly obese.

[MIch elle]

My kids are not overweight but lucky me needs to lose 30 pounds.

 

me too. I need to lose 35.

[DawnM]

One Grandma was very thin.

One Grandma was quite overweight.

 

It doesn't matter for me personally though as I was adopted and am not biologically related to either of them.

[Joker]

Two of my grandparents were overweight, yet they were the healthiest of the four.:001_huh: My grandad was obese, but he worked in an outside job until he was 85. He passed on almost 10 years later, but had zero health problems.

 

My skinny set of grandparents kept busy all the time but were plagued with heart disease and parkinson's and died in their 70s.

 

Neither of my parents are/were overweight, but my sister is. Sis could run circles around me though and she looks like solid muscle. I'm a bit overweight and am working on it. My dh and kids can eat anything they want and do nothing, yet they are sticks.:glare:

 

I don't think there is a one size fits all diet plan, or one reason more people are overweight.

[Dory]

My great grandparents were very fit and slim with the exception of one great grandmother who was a little round, but at 4'11'' I suppose it was a little harder to stay slim.

My grandparents were all very slim and fit. My grandmother on my moms side is not a healthy woman though. Both sets of grandparents were farmers. My dad's side is where I learned the most about healthy eating, healthy gardening, and healthy canning and preserving. They passed those things on to me the same as the generation before them had passed it on to them.

My parents are both very slim fit people. My dad was fairly buff until the year he was hit by a semi, after that he couldn't handle as much physical strain as he used to.

Me and my kids are slim and fairly fit. I'm a little out of shape every spring, but we stay outside and active as much as possible and we eat the way I was taught. With the exception of my love of pepsi:tongue_smilie:. I only have can of that every once in awhile as a treat though.

[Crimson Wife]

My grandmothers were thin until their 80's when they were no longer able to stay very active. One was an ectomorph and if she were young today, she likely could've worked as a fashion model because she was 5'9" and 117 lbs. with a striking face. Back when she was young, however, she was considered too skinny. My other grandma was a petite hourglass and apparently she was considered quite the "catch" back in the day.

 

My mom and aunts were all thin pre-menopause, but my maternal aunt and one of my paternal aunts did gain weight in their late 50's. My mom and other aunts have to work hard to keep slim.

 

I am a petite hourglass when I have emotional eating under control. My mom is a bit thinner at an inch taller, but she has an ectomorph's build like her mother.

[LibraryLover]

Some Americans are fatter now but the women before me were fatter than 3 of us 4 sisters in middle age. I may weigh more than them but that's because I carry my weight all over and am taller. They carried their weight in the middle. My grandfathers and my father AND my dh are all normal weight (as are my sons).

 

This older generation of my family all lived in the city and walked a lot (only men had cars - women took the bus or walked). My sisters and I live in the suburbs as adults and drive everywhere.

 

Were the women in your families in prior generations fatter than you and your dc or are you & your dc fatter?

 

 

tmi

Edited July 24, 2012 by LibraryLover

[tex-mex]

Maternal = we are all fat and large people. We have been confused with Samoans thinking we came from the islands. We are actually Hispanic/Native American. Going back generations of endomorphic body type with thick middle waists. ;)

 

Paternal = very small and thin people.

 

-------------------------------

Hubby's maternal side = Good LAWD... these people make my mother's side look tiny. They are huge and obese German folk going back to the 1800s. I have photos proving this. Eeeek. MIL spent a lifetime trying to lose weight as she was convinced she would end up like her mother and grandmother. :lol:

 

Hubby's paternal side = thin and tall folk for generations.

 

------------------------------

DS = at 17, it looks like he got my maternal ("Samoan" football physique) features and his paternal (German) thick legs like his Grandmother. LOL He often gets asked if he plays football. I call him my personal bodyguard. He is taller than both his mother and father. *grin*

Edited July 17, 2012 by tex-mex

[elise1mds]

My maternal grandmother and my mother are sticks. Neither of them has an ounce to lose these days; however, I've seen photos of them from when they were younger and both were a little heavier. They weren't chubby or anything, but they had some extra padding, sort of like I have now. My paternal grandmother is a large woman and always has been, but she's not overweight. She just has a little padding and a very large bone structure. I take after her in a lot of respects health wise.

 

My children are both healthy sizes. My son is 5'1" and 98 lbs.; my daughter is 4'6" range and weighs about 70 lbs. They both have the genetic potential to be morbidly obese, as my MIL is extremely heavy, but my FIL is another stick-thin relative.

 

In other words... who knows what the future holds? I'm just teaching them to eat right and exercise :)

[AdventureMoms]

My grandmother died of complications of diabetes. She was fatter than I am (and I have a weight problem that I'm working very hard to try and rectify). My mother and all of her siblings (in their 80's) have weight problems that center in their tummy. I have trouble with weight centering in my tummy. My mother did not have a car and walked for miles during my childhood. She could not lose weight no matter what she did. I am having the same struggles as she had. I eat low carb/high fat and it helps . . . some. I've lost 7 pounds in almost 3 years on that diet. All these discussions of why America is fat etc. are way too simplistic in my opinion.

 

3 of my 4 grandparents were overweight. Two of them died from complications due to weight, and one would have had a lot fewer health issues if she had been slimmer. One set lived in a small city, he worked at a very physical job (painting) and she was a SAHM who was pretty sedentary (both heavy). The other set lived rural but both lived pretty sedentary lives. Grandma didn't drive, but mostly just stayed home rather than walking.

[Dory]

Is going back two generations far enough though? two generations ago they were still affected by odd eating habits that were starting to be pushed. fast food places were becoming more popular already back then and processed foods were hitting the market.

[GoVanGogh]

I'm glad you started this post.

 

I was "home" recently and some family pulled out photo albums. I almost fell over at how overweight many of the people were. At one point, I whispered to my DH, "Don't they talk about present day Americans being so overweight like it is a new thing?"

 

DH and I were both from the midwest, born and raised in farming families. Even with that hard lifestyle, all of our ancestors were overweight.

 

I think Americans are skinner AND fatter than previous generations! The thin are thinner (models, etc.) and the fat are more than fat - they are morbidly obese.

That is what DH and I concluded.

I only knew one morbidly obese person growing up - a lady at church. (Who, ironically, was married to one of the smallest men I have ever laid eyes on.)

The extremes of thinness and obesity seem much greater now.

[MIch elle]

Is going back two generations far enough though? two generations ago they were still affected by odd eating habits that were starting to be pushed. fast food places were becoming more popular already back then and processed foods were hitting the market.

 

I don't think there was much fast food around then. McDonald's open their first store in Manhattan in 1973. My family lived in Manhattan and surrounding area.

 

My paternal grandfather was born in Poland, 1891;

grandmother was born in US, not sure of year

My father was born in US in 1918

 

My maternal grandfather was born in US, 1887;

grandmother was born in Canada, 1900

My mother was born in NYC in 1924

[MIch elle]

I'm glad you started this post.

 

 

That is what DH and I concluded.

I only knew one morbidly obese person growing up - a lady at church. (Who, ironically, was married to one of the smallest men I have ever laid eyes on.)

The extremes of thinness and obesity seem much greater now.

 

Thanks for confirming what I thought but have no data on. :001_smile:

[I.Dup.]

None of my ancestors (going back at least 2 generations) were overweight.

 

I am not overweight, my children are not overweight. My dh is technically obese, but he carries it well. He eats a lot, and very unhealthy. I watch my weight and my caloric intake very closely. My parents were the same. I suspect my grandparents were vain too, but I do not know for sure.

 

No one on my dh's side is overweight but him. He eats a lot more than anyone I know in his family. I take that back, his mom's metabolism was shot with tamoxifen (?) during her breast cancer ordeal and she has put on about 50 pounds. That has only been in the last 5 or so years.

 

I do think a lot of this is due to genetics. I know I eat very similarly to how my family has eaten, down to craving lots of sweets. My sister and I eat almost identically, and we did not grow up together.

[MamaT]

My parents and grandparents were all short, thin to medium build, with the exception of my paternal grandfather. He wasn't overweight at all - he was just taller and built larger.

 

I don't know about dh's grandparents. They had all passed before I met him, and I've never heard anyone talk about their size.

 

My dh and I are a healthy weight, as are all 6 dc.

[GoVanGogh]

Thanks for confirming what I thought but have no data on.

It wouldn't be terribly accurate, but I thought it would be interesting to look through old photo albums and calculate obesity rates. I know 50% or more of the people in the photos we looked at where obese.

 

Two other thoughts:

 

I was looking at an old video shot at a church potluck in 1973 in small town midwest, county fair grounds. It was uploaded to You Tube. (Amazing what you can find there!) But, same thing - lots more obesity than you would imagine - especially given how everyone says we are so fat today, like it is a new thing.

 

I was at water aerobics today as families walked past to go outside to the water park. I do think the rate of childhood obesity is a new issue. I don't recall seeing many overweight children growing up or in old family photos. Easily 25% of the children that walked past our water class were terribly overweight. (Not just a little overweight.)

 

 

I don't think there was much fast food around then. McDonald's open their first store in Manhattan in 1973.

I grew up in small town midwest.

We didn't have any fast food restaurants until Hardy's came to town around 1984 or 85; I was a teenager then and loved going through the drive-thru for a shake on my way to work. :lol: Then I ate a Snicker's bar on my supper break. I was so thin back then. :glare:

[justamouse]

All my grandparents were thin-and died of heart disease. I am the holder of the ancestral photographs. No one was overweight in them.

 

The belly fat is estrogen belly. We are bombarded with estrogen and phthalates everywhere.

 

If you watch the video in the other thread (the Diet Dr) he has a visual of where our country weighed the most 30 years ago, and now what the rates and where are. It it like watching your country being taken over by the plague.

[Crimson Wife]

I grew up in small town midwest.

We didn't have any fast food restaurants until Hardy's came to town around 1984 or 85; I was a teenager then and loved going through the drive-thru for a shake on my way to work. :lol: Then I ate a Snicker's bar on my supper break. I was so thin back then. :glare:

 

My mom grew up in the Midwest in the '50's. There may not have been fast food restaurants but she ate an APPALLING diet as a kid according to her. Sugary cereal for breakfast, PB&J or bologna on white bread with Fritos and a Coke for lunch, cookies or ice cream as an afterschool snack, and chicken fried in bacon grease with a side of potatoes and a small salad made with iceberg lettuce drenched in creamy dressing like ranch or blue cheese. Now she was very active (biked everywhere and was in serious training to be a ballerina) but I don't know how she ate like that and still stayed super-skinny. :confused:

[FaithManor]

My side of the family, both the women and the men struggle with weight after about 45 -50 years of age. However, they average living into their 80's.

 

My husband's side of the family only has one male from the previous generation that lived past 65 - literally, the males on both the paternal and maternal side of the family just do not live long. Most were taken down in their 50's by aggressive cancers. They were ALL picture perfect healthy, picture perfect weights, picture perfect bodies. Great looking bunch of guys. No counting for genetics. My husband's doctor (around only for the annual physical because dh, still younger than the ticking time bomb age, never goes to the doctor) thinks he'll live to be 90 because he's so healthy. The doc literally can't wrap his brain around the concept that "looks" do not indicate health (doctors are so focused on weight and BMI that they just don't seem to see the bigger picture...HELLO! IDIOT! Look at the genetic history. DH is not going to live long without testing!!!!) and especially when DNA is at stake. Sigh...I'll be a fairly young widow.

 

So, my chubby previous generation lived to ripe long ages, my husband's "healthy" ancestors died young.

 

That said, it appears that my decade of being gluten intolerant shredded my intestines and colon and they have a lot of healing to do. I'm overweight but it isn't related to my diet which has been very healthy and since I have a son with a heart condition, NOT full of convenience foods, nor is it related to lack of exercise because no matter how much of what kind of exercise I do, I don't lose weight, it's because I can't absorb a lot of nutrients and my body decided I was starving. I can't even take the thyroid med that the endo needs to prescribe because I can't absorb that either. But, I'm doing better. I recently started absorbing iron and potassium at an almost normal rate now that I've been off the gluten for ten months.

 

My sister is the same way. She found out first. She's been off the gluten for 18 months and has shed the 50 lbs. she'd gained and has a nice figure again. She hasn't had to exercise. But, she did have to give up a LOT of foods because even though she wasn't allergic to them, she couldn't digest them anyway. In another 6 months, her doctor is going to let her have a little dairy back and see how she does.

 

There just isn't any accounting for DNA and I personally believe that the genetically modified foods we have pervading the American food chain may be wrecking havoc with our digestive tracks and causing a lot of immune reactions.

 

Faith

[Georgiana Daniels]

I'm definitely fatter than the generations before me--at least at my current age. This is like the never-ending battle, because I'm not exactly sedentary, and even when I workout to extremes, I don't lose weight. The only thing that helps is a low-carb diet, but I can only do that for so long.

[Munchkins_mama]

My grandparents were born in the '20s and were super thin, but very unhealthy.

 

I think as women, we are supposed to be a little 'softer' as we age. Not flabby, fat, and lazy, but as what would naturally happen as a body ages and is no longer able to do hard labor. Hormone changes affect things too.

 

The problem with everyone thinking we are so fat now, is that the opposite extreme is that we are 'supposed' to be super skinny. Super skinny is also unnatural. I think we are so confused as to what we are supposed to be, and the government isn't helping at all. :-(

 

The old people who were chubbier but healthier probably ate lots of good fats and had strong hearts and arteries.

 

In other words, I'm more confused than I was before I started typing...

[LisaKinVA]

My grandparents were born in 1910...they were farmers. Depending upon which last name you look at (Anderson or Lundquist) you can see a wide-wide variety. Tallest Lundquist male is about 6' tall, shortest Lundquist male in my grandpa's family was 5'5". Tallest Andersen female was 5'10 (stocky, stocky, stocky), shortest Andersen female was 4'11 and very petite. They were all 100% Swedes. If you look at my mother's side, you see just as much diversity (of course they are a hodge-podge of nationalities). There is obesity and Type 1 diabetes with my grandmother's half-siblings, but none with her full (and her father and her sibling's father were...TWINS).

 

My mom was not overweight until menopause. I'm a "mesomorph" so have always been a bit more curvy, vs. my mother being the ectomorph (5'7" and 118). My BMI always registers on the high side, and I look "sickly" when it's not.

 

The issues are a lot more complicated, and I do not think thin = healthy as an absolute, or even "heavy" = unhealthy. I do believe processed foods an easy access to sugar, etc. play a large role in what we see today.

[ChristyB in TN]

My grandparents were all heavy and died much earlier than their parents did. My grandparents drank Pepsi constantly, ate fried chicken, bacon or sausage and biscuits every morning and every meal consisted of white bread, fatty meats ans veggies which were cooked beyond recognition. They all died with heart disease and cancer. Their parents, however, lived to be well into their nineties eating food they grew or raised on their farms, drank milk they went to the barn for every morning, and worked hard in their gardens, farms and coal mines until they couldn't.

[Dory]

I don't think there was much fast food around then. McDonald's open their first store in Manhattan in 1973. My family lived in Manhattan and surrounding area.

 

My paternal grandfather was born in Poland, 1891;

grandmother was born in US, not sure of year

My father was born in US in 1918

 

My maternal grandfather was born in US, 1887;

grandmother was born in Canada, 1900

My mother was born in NYC in 1924

 

A&W began in 1919. I guess I'm a little younger than some here as my grandfather was born in 1921

[Veritaserum]

Some Americans are fatter now but the women before me were fatter than 3 of us 4 sisters in middle age. I may weigh more than them but that's because I carry my weight all over and am taller. They carried their weight in the middle. My grandfathers and my father AND my dh are all normal weight (as are my sons).

 

This older generation of my family all lived in the city and walked a lot (only men had cars - women took the bus or walked). My sisters and I live in the suburbs as adults and drive everywhere.

 

Were the women in your families in prior generations fatter than you and your dc or are you & your dc fatter?

 

Older generations were fatter. My dad is only one of his six siblings that is a healthy weight. My mom is 60-70 lbs. overweight. All of my siblings (six of us) and spouses are healthy weights as are our children.

[SKL]

I have both slim and heavy ancestors, and both slim and heavy siblings. Both of my grandmothers and my mom were/are heavier than I am at the age I'm currently at. But at least one of my granny's sisters was skinny. (Or was that my grandfather's sister?) I never met either of my grandfathers, so who knows about them . . . .