Overweight in the UK vs Overweight in the US

I have never given much thought to my weight here in the US.  I am not fat but also not likely to be pictured on the cover of the next Abs Diet book.  However, when I went to London last year, I felt quite rotund.  Accordingly, I have been slimming down as of late to ensure that I can easily buy clothes for work in the UK without having to go to a speciality shop.

What do you guys think?  Is regular American girth considered overweight in the UK?  Are there any prejudices toward weight that exceed those in the US?

I'm not sure about 'prejudices', and I'm not sure you can generalise about the whole of either country...I can't anyway, since I've only lived in one area of each.  I've been between 30 and 50 pounds overweight for years (I'm 5' 3")  and my biggest gripe in both countries is finding clothes that fit - when they fit around the middle, the sleeves on long sleeved tops are too long and trousers are too long...

I haven't even heard any comments about 'fat Americans' in my workplace or anywhere around me, although I tend to turn a blind ear to such talk anyway...in the US, I was the 2nd heaviest person in my workplace, with everyone else decidedly slim, but that was that. 

I worry nowadays more about being the OLDEST person at my workplace!  But I'm sure that regular American girth, if it's considered overweight in the States, it's considered overweight in the UK...

Before I moved to the UK and had a baby, I had just lost about 60 pounds and had managed to get myself into a US size 16-18. I could actually get into a size 17 comfortably and had moved out of the 'plus size' range. When I got here of course I wore my clothes that I had with me, then started putting on baby weight and when I visited the US in early 2008 I purchased some size 22 jeans that worked perfectly for me during pregnancy. Now after my baby was born I still am a size 22 but I need more clothes only to go shopping to find that I am more like a UK 26-28 here. What a blow to my self esteem! I only need to lose 30 pounds (not too bad) to be back where I was before my baby, but in my head the fact that I'm a 26 here is definitely a downer.

There is definitely a difference in overweight here than in the US. Maybe not in how people are treated or looked at in public, but once you hit that 'plus size range' you can't get clothing at inexpensive shops like Primark or ASDA. I found a wool coat at New Look last year and paid about £60 and it was a size 22, in the US that 22 would have been an size 18 and would have been in the regular sizes and as a result much less expensive. Oh well. The only place I've been able to find clothing (for me jeans and trousers since I am a pear shape) for my bottom end is at New Look. I can still get my tops at ASDA.

When I was plus size I definitely found it easier to get clothes in regular stores in the US compared to the UK.  Most shops in the UK will usually only go up to a 16-18 whereas I found in the States shops tended to have bigger sizes. 

As for attitudes towards weight, I find overweight people are much more accepted in the US but that's just my experience.

It was easier to get larger sizes in the US.  You could get up to size 22 at Old Navy that would be at least a 26 here and you wouldn't be able to get that in regular stores. 

I think it is also harder to find sort of, "fun" clothes in larger sizes. 

I think clothes shopping for larger sizes is easier in the US - more stores that carry plus sizes, more selection, etc.

I find more size acceptance in the UK than I ever found in the US - that it's okay to be curvy, etc.  I mean - look at Nigella, who is not fat, btw - but she'd never get on TV in the US, she'd be called fat over there.  But I don't live in London (it's nice to visit, but...) so maybe it's different there.

As far as the whole 'fat Americans' thing, I don't encounter that much here and there are just as many 'fat Britons' as far as I'm concerned, if anyone wanted to get into that with me (but I don't encounter it, so no probs).  Personally, I feel much more relaxed & more accepted, being bigger here, than I did in the US - now if I could just find clothes that I like & that fit! 

(And yes, the sizing tends to be different - you will usually wear a bigger size in number here than you did in the US.  In the US, I can usually wear around women's size 18, give or take, depending on the garment.  Here, depending on the garment, it's usually a size 20-22.  But it's just a number - who cares?)

I think clothes shopping for larger sizes is easier in the US - more stores that carry plus sizes, more selection, etc.

As far as the whole 'fat Americans' thing, I don't encounter that much here and there are just as many 'fat Britons' as far as I'm concerned, if anyone wanted to get into that with me (but I don't encounter it, so no probs).  Personally, I feel much more relaxed & more accepted, being bigger here, than I did in the US - now if I could just find clothes that I like & that fit! 

I feel the same way Mrs Robinson.

Rachel Ray was really a bigger girl and she got on TV.  What about Roseanne and Rosie?

Rachel Ray was really a bigger girl and she got on TV.

You think Rachael Ray is big?!?! 

Rachel Ray was really a bigger girl and she got on TV.  What about Roseanne and Rosie?

Nigella is considered something of a phwoaar sex symbol here (but again I don't think she's big, just lovely & curvy).  I don't think one could say that of Roseanne and Rosie in the US?

I don't think Rachael Ray is big either - but I'm not sure she is viewed the same as Nigella is here?

Nigella is considered something of a phwoaar sex symbol here (but again I don't think she's big, just lovely & curvy).  I don't think one could say that of Roseanne and Rosie in the US?

I don't think Rachael Ray is big either.

I don't think she is now, but she was, in a Nigella way, went she first went on.  I don't think so either, but your comment was that they wouldn't let her on TV because she was too big. 

I don't think so either, but your comment was that they wouldn't let her on TV because she was too big. 

Fair enough, maybe they would let her on TV - but would the public perception be similar?  Or would the pressure be on her that she needs to lose weight?

Another example - I thought Kate Winslet was lovely & curvy when she first got famous, and I like her less and less the thinner & more Hollywood she has become.

But maybe it's not reasonable to compare celeb culture to 'real' people.  In any case, I feel much more comfortable here as a larger person than I ever did in the US. 

Hmmmm, that is difficult, but I think for regular people yes.  What Hollywoodish people say maybe not.  But Kate Winslet is popular and she isn't skinny.

I think what real people think and what is reported are often different. 

But either way I think we can all agree that Rachel Ray is annoying.   

Nigella is considered something of a phwoaar sex symbol here (but again I don't think she's big, just lovely & curvy).  I don't think one could say that of Roseanne and Rosie in the US?

Big women are only allowed on television if they're funny. 

Hmmmm, that is difficult, but I think for regular people yes.  What Hollywoodish people say maybe not.  But Kate Winslet is popular and she isn't skinny.

I think what real people think and what is reported are often different. 

But either way I think we can all agree that Rachel Ray is annoying.   

Heee - I modified my post above, thinking along similar lines. 

Big women are only allowed on television if they're funny. 

Lol!  Maybe we should get some lovely, funny UK Yankee ladies together & go pitch an idea, so we can all get rich & famous?  (even if it's for funny, not sexy, I'd take the dosh)