Gosh Kate/Catherine is very slim

Jane - yes, exercise only has a limited impact on your weight. Reducing your calories in (good calories) has far more effect - I think many people still have this idea that it’s 2000 a day for women and 2500 for men, but in fact it’s far less than that if you have a sedentary lifestyle (as many of us do). I work full time and try and cook from scratch as much as possible - the freezer and slow cooker are my friends. I’m always amazed at the number of takeaways and ready meals that people buy - the calorie content (amongst other things) is horrific, as are the portion sizes

SirChenjin I was listening to Dame Sally Davies this morning on Woman’s Hour, being grilled by Jenni Murray about how much she had achieved in her 9 years as Chief Medical Officer.
She admitted only very limited success with regard to the campaign against obesity.
She said that genetics played a part, and the amount of exercise someone did had limited effect on their weight.
She seemed to be blaming the food industry - she kept referring to ‘the environment’ - both for the ingredients that go into processed food and techniques the food industry apparently uses to make us eat more of their stuff.
It’s easy of course to say cook from scratch but the sad truth is that cooking from scratch is a luxury that perhaps only retired people can afford.

And I dont care what anyone says, some people who are overweight do not eat rubbish all day or even overeat

But most people who are overweight do overeat in relation to the calories they burn - even if they think they don't. Why is it that the number of 'some' people who are overweight are now far greater than in years gone by? You also don't see the same number of 'some' people in other countries.

She's perfect - there are so many overweight and obese people around nowadays that we are getting used to seeing these massive, chunky folk, and consequently think anyone slim is odd.

My late Mum had a 23 inch waist until late in life. I had a 25 inch waist, (now 27 inches), and we were/are not skinny!

I eat very small portions and am often gobsmacked at people's plates piled high when we are out to eat.

Look how slim/neat Carol Middleton is - Kate is perfect as she is.

I’ve worked for weightwatchers and I’ve worked with a nutritionist.
And I dont care what anyone says, some people who are overweight do not eat rubbish all day or even overeat. Their body just does not metabolise food in the same way as naturally slim people. Likewise some can eat rubbish and overeat yet they stay slim.
Research being done, focussing on gut bacteria confirms this.
So Kate and her sister aren’t anorexic, they probably eat very well. It’s just how they are made.

I fear the undercarriage on the sofa may need to be replaced and it'll take more than a set of loose covers to sort it out.

It's comes under the heading of 'home improvement' Lessismore

Yes same here, my ex gifted me money for improvements and tucks and sucks.

I've never been 'small' but after my 5th child I still had a 24" waist and 36C boobs.
That woman started to morph some time around 2009 if photos are anything to go by.
I was a 12 bottom 14 top then, but I morphed gradually into a 16 bottom and 18 top after 2009 until recently when I've 'shrunk' into 16 top and 14 bottom.
I did think of having a breast reduction but thought better of it as I have no scars and ops can go horribly wrong.
I'm contented with my weight and the way I look which certainly doesn't mean there is no room for improvement. It simply means that I'm content to age gracefully although a 1/2 face lift (lower jaw and neck) might interest me next year.
Nothing remotely extreme and only if my ex gifts me the money which he would.

I agree. This whole plus sized modelling industry encouraging women to 'celebrate their curves' is just normalising obesity - because apparently that's what real women look like. Well, yes they do - but they probably shouldn't.

Do you remember watching Billy Bunter (the fat boys of the Remove as he was called) ? Nowadays they would not allow that programme on the telly.

It worries me how there are now very large models in advertising trying to normalise their size. The worst thing is when they have fat pumped into their bottoms to make them look very odd shaped. Carol Vorderman has gone from shapely to distorted IMO.

Considered, not consisted! Blooming autocorrect.

I recently found a photo of my mum when she was probably in her 30's. My mum has always been a 'bigger lady' but in this photo, she would be thought of as absolutely sylph-like in today's terms. She's probably a modern-day 12/14 in the photo, with lovely waistline definition yet that was consisted fat back in the Fifties.

When my DIL was looking recently for a suitable junior school for my granddaughter she rejected one outright because the head was grossly overweight. She thought this was a bad example.

Gone - there were nowhere near the number of fat people in the 40s/50s/60s as there are today. Men and women may have put on some weight as they got older but not to the same extent that we see nowadays and we certainly didn't have the number of obese children and young people. In my whole primary school there was one 'fat' boy and in my year at high school there were a handful of quite overweight teens - now it's widespread. It's a public health crisis in the making and something we should be really concerned about when it becomes the norm to speculate on whether a naturally very slim woman might be ill. That's not fat shaming, that's the reality - just as we now know how bad smoking and drinking to excess are.

I have let myself go and I can't come back.

I can remember plenty of fat people in the forties, fifties and sixties. It was a standing joke that when the young women got married and had babies they put on weight and let themselves go. I don't think you see so much of that nowadays.

Agree with Witzend and SirChenin. When you see old film footage or photos of normal people in 60s they look anorexic compared to today’s ‘normal’. While not wanting to fat-shame, I sometimes worry about future health of the many overweight and obese young people around.

A few decades ago, an overweight person might be self-conscious about their appearance and wear clothes that ‘disguised’ their weight. Now because it’s the norm to be overweight, all the wobbly bits are on full display☹️

You're absolutely right Witzend. I grew up in the seventies and although I seem to recall a far bit of stodge and sugar we didn't snack between meals, have access to the amount of junk food and we moved a lot more. I was at the cinema recently and people were arriving with massive boxes of popcorn, huge cups of fizzy pop and nachos covered in cheese - things that are classed as snacks! It used to be that you took a small bag of sweets and they were shared and lasted the whole film. Food portions are massive nowadays and people graze constantly. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic - and then people like Kate Middleton are highlighted as being very slim and possibly ill. It beggars belief.

Re weight trends, was 20 years ago that we visited Prague for our silver wedding, and I well remember an American visitor wondering how on earth the locals were so slim, when most of the food we were offered everywhere was meat/potatoes/dumplings - very little in the way of veg or salad.
Answer, presumably because there was virtually no fast food available, people were cooking from scratch, and very few had cars, so plenty of walking.

Exactly the same in the U.K. I think, only our transition to a nation of fatties happned rather earlier.

Crystaltipps surely most grandparents like to plan treats for visiting grandchildren ?! It’s all relative after all .

My son's partner used to be a linesperson at Wimbledon but she is tall and slim and looked good in the uniform which is designed by Ralph Lauren.

If that was the case it would make sense to slim down first to avoid gaining too much weight over the months.

In the Aussie Mail someone remarked that Kate could be pregnant again because " her face was blooming !" We'll see.

Well I’ve heard it all now.
Camera zooms in on Mrs Federer, showing her hands in close up.
Male commentator: Well, that’s obviously not costume jewellery.

And women get accused of bitchiness!