I’ve heard older family members say “I weighed 93 pounds on my wedding day”, and then you see a picture of them and they were slim but healthy looking (meanwhile, if you plug in their BMI, it shows that the number is so dangerously underweight).
Are those family members exaggerating, or has there been a significant change to body composition/muscle mass in people over the past 50+ years (based on diet, lifestyle)?
Semi related: could this be the origin of some men thinking that all “thin” women weigh 120 pounds (regardless of height)?
Edit: NOT talking about obesity, more like how can a person have been 93 pounds in 1960 but have an identical looking body to someone who is 130 pounds today?
In: Biology
In 1978 I may have weighed about 125 lbs. I was just over 6 foot tall. This was when I graduated from high school. I was considering joining the military, because I wanted to fly like my father did. But because I was considered 40lb underweight and had bad eyesight I never did. Now just turning 64, I am 148lbs at about 5’11”. I did top out about 160lbs for a month or so several years ago. My wife was 6’1″ and around 95lbs when she graduated high school. My mother was less that 100lbs when she got married. People 50+ years ago were a lot more active and dense calorie foods were rare. Now kids are discouraged from being active. My point is, 50 years ago, is not that long ago and people back then were more active and ate less of everything. What is really crazy is how tall kids are now compared to 50+ years ago.
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