This article came up on my news feed and I thought, it is easy to be skinny now too if you do Keto!
I don’t agree with them saying meat is part of the issue; of course, but it is interesting how they mention that artificial sweeteners can be a factor.
I reached my all time high weight at the end of the 80s. I had done aerobics, gone low fat, etc. Didn’t start losing till I cut down on aerobics and went 40/30/30. I lost weight but didn’t reach my goal weight until Keto/LCHF/Fasting.
Maybe not the meat but animals are fed estrogen to fattten them up. They put a pellet in the ear to make them fatten up faster. Eating more meat means more growth hormones for most of the population that eats cheap grain fattened cattle. That’s part of why grass fed and pastured meats are recommended besides better omega3 profiles. It all affects the quality of the fats.
You know about the artificial sweeteners in particular aspartame in diet sodas. Lots of people say they aren’t affected but if you drink a lot of diet soda you get fatter on that zero calorie chemical concoction. It’s been known for like 20 years now. Lot’s of people have lost weight by just dropping diet soda all day. Also the low fat diet that was recommended but not fully embraced by the general public as much as earlier Leads to excess sugar and carb consumption. That and the ever increasing snack products along with doctors recommendations for 5-6 mini meals instead of a full meal without snacking in between them has escalated average weight for all of us. 
It might be because I was age 5-15 during the 80’s but it seems like junk food really developed into a monster during that decade. New candy, cereals, snack foods, microwave stuff, etc. So, maybe everyone didn’t get fat right away and it happened over the course of a decade, but I feel like the 80’s was a terrible food era.
I was extremely skinny in the 80’s; but for totally the wrong reasons. I was anorexic, bulimic, starving myself most of the time, abusing laxatives and diet pills… was skinny but very unhealthy.
I was born at the end of the 80’s so I guess it was easy to stay normal weight 
They looked at caloric intake and activity level, but not the amount of sugars and additives in the foods. I’d be more prone to look at the increase in low-fat foods, with the connected increase in sugar and corn syrup, as the cause of the 10% BMI increase.
Very good point. I agree. The 1980s are when the complex carb cut was popular in the Fitness Lifestyle. It was a nightmare. It was also the days when low fat high carb health foods were popular, and medicine was asserting that there was a causal link between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol. Eggs were evil, oat bran and pasta were considered healthy. Everyone was also supposed to have quantities of undigested meat in their Colon.
Lol…yes. Those images of flesh rotting in my digestive tracts haunted me.
Oh… the NINETEEN-80s - at first I thought we were just talking about octagenarians.
Okay, sure, I guess I was thinner then too. Although having been on keto for a couple of months, not much thinner then, if at all. 
Richard Simmons and Olivia Newton-John would know for sure
Let’s get Physical and sweating to the oldies🙂
Don’t forget Jane Fonda. She is doing exercise videos for seniors now. I used her tapes and Richard’s. Would lose and then regain at the least slip up. Her sr. dvds are good, I am using them for when the winter weather is too bad to go out to the fitness center along with jessicasmithtv on youtube. I get good results doing that.
Was really slim then but of course was in my late teens and early twenties. Also, we still ate a lot of home cooked meals so not much out or pre-packaged stuff as it was pricey at that time.
Yep I was Bulimic, took Phentermine. Starved myself for many yrs with no lasting results. Now, as a result, we pay the consequences.
Yes, Wendy… it is why my metabolism is so messed up, which I am working on repairing atm!
I was a fat kid in the 80s, and it was the worst. Not a lot of other kids were fat, and there were no plus size kids clothes. As a result, I was mocked relentlessly by other kids and adults (especially old ladies). PE was a daily nightmare. I had to wear adult-size clothing to find pants and skirts that were big enough around for me, but they looked ridiculous. The 80s were not kind to us chubbsters. I tried all the diets and so wish I had known about keto back then. Could have saved a lot of heartache.
Weight wasnt an issue for me when I was a kid. But being buck tooth. Was a nightmare, for being made fun of. “Buggs” was my name, and having a pointy nose. So Needle nose, and bugs where common names I was referred to. Really does nothing for self esteem. And usually leaves an imprint on your physique.
I think it’s too much aerobic cardio and not enough anaerobic (weight lifting) is the main reason[1], you may burn fat but your just going around in circles to gain it all back again without increasing muscle volume in contrast to diet?
Like eating window time frames, what your eating and the amount your eating?
For example back in the 80’s If you eat at the wrong time after working out, there is a window that allows you to heavily carb up without it being stored as fat but if you don’t catch that window you get fatter!
Hopping and prancing around in cute high cut shiny leotards (own quite a few) can be fun too but you need to do stuff like this too (working the glutes):
:
References:
[1] “…An MRI of both legs post-programme revealed the muscles in legs subjected to extra cardio work increased in volume by 14% and 17%, compared to 8% and 9% in the legs put through just strength work. …” …More
My mom used to love Kathy Smith and I did too, but I hated step aerobics videos. My mom had the ultra high step!
Anybody remember the blond lady with the early infomercial that used to spend her time running around the stage screaming “Cut the Fat!”?
