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> The people that I see day to day are generally extremely fit. (Or is it just students?) At least in germany it's quite depended on your social class. I am al

> The people that I see day to day are generally extremely fit. (Or is it just students?) At least in germany it's quite depended on your social class. I am also a student I am sitting in a huge library. There is literally not a single obese person here and nearly everyone I personally know goes to the gym. I only know a single person who's a bit bigger, but he plays American football and needs more "mass". He's definitely not out of shape. It's encouraging to not let yourself go too much, I think. A good environment to also pick up the habit of going to the gym. Compare this to the stats of Germany ("Two thirds of men (67%) and half of women (53%) in Germany are overweight. A quarter of adults (23% of men and 24% of women) are seriously overweight (obese).") and one can see that it's a different world. Noticeable if you're in a bigger city.

dan-robertson 5y ago
Part of the mismatch between statistics and what one observed is surely social class. Most people I know are also a normal weight (I think) but there other parts of the city or country where one will see many overweight people. Another part is that people often don’t know what an overweight or obese person looks like. That is, people hear the word and think of someone who waddles instead of walking or who takes up two seats on an aeroplane or who needs a mobility scooter to get around. But the actual boundaries are much closer to normal weight and often lie inside what we think of as normal. (See The BMI Project, dead link: https://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/ https://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/ and photo album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/72157602199008819/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/721576021990... )
- LeanderK 5y ago
  it might be true that there's a false perception of what overweight looks like, but I don't notice even a little bit of fat. I did my undergrad at a technical university where the standard was noticeable lower and overweight/obese people did actually exist. But it's very different here and it actually motivated me to work out every week. I didn't want to be the only one not really in shape. I wasn't overweight, just not really in shape either.

dan-robertson 5y ago

Part of the mismatch between statistics and what one observed is surely social class. Most people I know are also a normal weight (I think) but there other parts of the city or country where one will see many overweight people. Another part is that people often don’t know what an overweight or obese person looks like. That is, people hear the word and think of someone who waddles instead of walking or who takes up two seats on an aeroplane or who needs a mobility scooter to get around. But the actual boundaries are much closer to normal weight and often lie inside what we think of as normal. (See The BMI Project, dead link: https://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/ https://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/ and photo album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/72157602199008819/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/721576021990... )

LeanderK 5y ago
it might be true that there's a false perception of what overweight looks like, but I don't notice even a little bit of fat. I did my undergrad at a technical university where the standard was noticeable lower and overweight/obese people did actually exist. But it's very different here and it actually motivated me to work out every week. I didn't want to be the only one not really in shape. I wasn't overweight, just not really in shape either.