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1980s definatly, and back..Why were people more fit, toned and healthy Looking?
Kaysmile012015
Posts: 68 Member
in Debate Club
I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
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Most people in movies TODAY look pretty fit and toned too. They're movies.
While obesity is higher than it was in the 1980s, comparing Hollywood then to people now is going to be kind of misleading.41 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
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Which movies? I’m curious.1
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Cocaine?
I'm half-joking, but that was kind of a big thing in the 80's, as well as the use of other uppers to keep thin. Diet pills were also a thing--who remembers Dexatrim? I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but people smoked a lot more frequently then, too, and I know some people did it to help control their appetite.
I also think that was the look back then--that's right when Jane Fonda became popular and the whole aerobics craze started. The other thing to keep in mind that this was the 80's, and there was so much less diversity in casting--not only in race and ethnicity, but age and body sizes as well.19 -
dancing in the club 3 nights a week?25 -
Speakeasy76 wrote: »Cocaine?
Yup. Pretty much everywhere on TV and film sets along with lots and lots of speed - both the legal and illegal variety.
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A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.28
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Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
Because it’s a movie, maybe??? 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️9 -
Then again, when you watch some of those 60's beach bikini flicks, those gals were pretty pudgy. But that might have been Annette Funicello insisting that no extras be thinner than she.
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I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.17
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It was definitely the 20 Minute Workout.
/nods/
(If Bess Motta looks familiar for other reasons, that's because she was Sarah Connor's roommate in the first Terminator movie.)18 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
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Kaysmile012015 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
Maybe body positivity and similar movements have affected what people are likely to/willing to capture with their cameras.
I was an adult in the 80s. There were plenty of chubby, fat, and obese people walking around.19 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
People were thinner on average than now. The ones that weren't were probably less likely to be in photos or film.
Keep in mind that the 1980s was before the ubiquity of cell phones with cameras, or even ubiquitous home video cameras. Nowadays, nearly everyone has a gazillion photos of everything that happens in their lives, with their kids and pets, etc. I'm not claiming there was *no* photographic or video record of regular people's lives then - that would be silly - but there was way, way less of it, on average. Digital cameras weren't invented until around 1975, and not commercialized until around 1990. Film cameras were much more cumbersome, and while some people were hobbyists in that way, it wasn't remotely equivalent to now, when very nearly everyone has a still/video camera in their pocket all the time.
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I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.
I stated
"Healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies"
Not saying everyone was" fit", but I observed for the most part, people appeared, average, healthy weight, in general, in real footage clips ect..and in older stuff just kinda seems like people weren't really as Obese ..idk
ALSO
-Im aware of the aerobics trend in the 1980s, that's where I notice alot of taught tone bodies" in older 80s footage; People are saying drugs, but weren't the drugs illegal? Were most and/or "regular "people taking drugs too?4 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.
I stated
"Healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies"
Not saying everyone was" fit", but I observed for the most part, people appeared, average, healthy weight, in general, in real footage clips ect..and in older stuff just kinda seems like people weren't really as Obese ..idk
ALSO
-Im aware of the aerobics trend in the 1980s, that's where I notice alot of taught tone bodies" in older 80s footage; People are saying drugs, but weren't the drugs illegal? Were most and/or "regular "people taking drugs too?
Yes, more people, on average, were thinner in the 1980s, and fewer were obese. That's why they say we have an obesity crisis now, y'know?
It's probable that heavier body weights were more common then among working class folks and below, and those with higher incomes more likely to be thinner: I think that's still true, statistically, now. The people with higher incomes were also more likely to have cameras, appear more often in photos, etc., too, probably . . . and the thin ones more likely to show up in bikini photos than the overweight ones.
Yes, drugs were illegal, but recreational drugs were also somewhat common and trendy, with quite the cocaine boom around then, especially among those better off who were "party crowd". Yes, a segment of regular people were taking drugs. I know a very few people who had a serious cocaine problem around then, and quite a few who might use cocaine occasionally. Marijuana, very common, and its derivatives like hashish, but then also very illegal. Cocaine more likely to correlate with thinness, probably, because speedy. Those were probably the most common upper-class party drugs, besides alcohol, at the time. I think cocaine use incidence has dropped since that time, though I'm not sure.10 -
LisaGetsMoving wrote: »A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.
Yep, I know I'm not bonkers I've taken an interest in (lots) old footage from 40s, 50s, 60s across the board, I noticed people were around average weight give or take( in general) so much to the point that I started noticing when someone was Obese; I then asked myself..what happened, how did we get here?...4 -
BTW, IMO the differences in food culture (huge) and in how much average people need to move in daily life (also big) are much more important in creating the "obesity crisis" than the incidence of illegal drug usage. Even in terms of distorting images you're seeing from the past, the demographics around cameras/film and who will appear on them are probably more of an influence on what you see, than is the reality of the total environment of the time . . . even though more people were thinner in the 1980s and prior.
There are a lot of average-lifestyle differences between then and now, in ways that are somewhat inobvious to people who weren't adult then, and a lot of issues that distort the image people now will get of what things were like then. (I think the same is true in comparing most eras decades apart, probably.)3 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.
I stated
"Healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies"
Not saying everyone was" fit", but I observed for the most part, people appeared, average, healthy weight, in general, in real footage clips ect..and in older stuff just kinda seems like people weren't really as Obese ..idk
ALSO
-Im aware of the aerobics trend in the 1980s, that's where I notice alot of taught tone bodies" in older 80s footage; People are saying drugs, but weren't the drugs illegal? Were most and/or "regular "people taking drugs too?
I think it's pretty well-documented that obesity has significantly increased in the past 30-40 years, for a lot of the reasons people have mentioned. I also think it wasn't as socially acceptable as it is today to be overweight--not that's it's completely socially acceptable now, but a lot more so than it was back then (partly because more people are overweight and obese, I think).
I was kind of kidding about cocaine and the other use of uppers to keep thin, but in the early-mid 90's the trend was the waif look, which was actually also called "heroin chic." That correlated with the rise in popularity of heroin at the time. Drug use is still a big problem today, though, and we know there are more overweight people walking around. However, I think more people intentionally used drugs (illegally and legally) to aid in weight loss back in the 80's, and before that time as well. I don't know that for sure, but that's just my opinion from watching shows from and about that time.5 -
Cocaine, lots and lots and lots of cocaine!!1
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Really:
It only takes a (low) few hundred calories a day on average per person per day to explain the obesity crisis.
It's food culture, and lifestyle.
Food culture: Bigger portion sizes; higher calorie density foods; all-day big sweetened drinks; 24x7 availability of snack foods and fast food everywhere; more restaurant dining, less home cooking; . . . .
Lifestyle: Sedentary jobs more sedentary (used to have to walk to a file room, get physical files - all computer now, for example); more labor saving appliances owned by wider economic spectrum of people, everything remote or voice control; home cooking is movement, waiting in drive-through line isn't; many more keyboard/screen hobbies & pastimes, vs. doing more active things in the non-virtual world (not necessarily vigorous exercise, but crafts, musical instruments, more popularity of fairly non-vigorous stuff like bowling, dances for non-clubbing adults); fewer factory/farm jobs; . . . .
I could go on and on.
Doesn't take much of that stuff to get to a couple hundred extra calories a day, for the average person.
Not drugs. Subtle, small differences, gradual and mostly unnoticed, and lots of them. That's enough to get us an obesity crisis.17 -
for sure. I was born in 1980, in canada and people were so much thinner. I was 130lbs in grade 8 and was the fat one. and looking back at pictures i was chubby, but nowhere near some of the kids today. Back then we were outside playing for hours, walking, exploring, no smartphones or tablets. we had tv and an nintendo but nothing like kids today glued for all hours of the day. I also think people in the 80s had a different body shape. especially women. todays instagram models and such are all big boobs tiny waist huge butt, back in the 80s it was more...aerobics fit looking. slim and toned.9
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It was the big hair that made people look slimmer.
Perspective from someone born in 1960...
Never quite sure what people mean by "toned" but no as a generalisation they weren't more muscular if that's what you mean, they were just lighter and slimmer than the average now.
Compare sprinters or rugby players then and now for example.
Both in sports and the fashionable/desirable "look" more muscle is far more in vogue now than it was then.
It was rare to see women in the free weights section of gym in those days (sadly) and the step aerobics and leg-warmer stereotype was the mainstream.
For men there was far, far less emphasis amongst people training in the gym on being lean and muscular. Big and strong was far more common aspiration and bodybuilding levels of bodyfat was very much an unusual niche, very rare for people to have a six pack then.
But in terms of the general population then and now people simply eat more, snack more, do less home cooking and move far less.
The divergence in physiques between what is aspirational and what is normal/average is far wider now than it was then.
ETA - Health. Yes people were generally much closer to a healthy weight. Smoking was far more common and acceptable (even in the workplace) but despite medical advances in many things obesity is now reducing people's lifespan predictions for the current generation.9 -
Very easy, people just got out more, moved more. Less take out food/fast food restuarants.3
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Kaysmile012015 wrote: »LisaGetsMoving wrote: »A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.
Yep, I know I'm not bonkers I've taken an interest in (lots) old footage from 40s, 50s, 60s across the board, I noticed people were around average weight give or take( in general) so much to the point that I started noticing when someone was Obese; I then asked myself..what happened, how did we get here?...
I'll agree with you OP. My take on it is this. Portion sizes at restaurants before the 90's were still "normal". Then in the late 80's-90's competition between fast food chains created bigger portions and free refills on soft drinks to keep customers. It became normal and cheaper to eat out. Before, people had limited choices of foods. Now you walk into a grocery store (even in a fairly small town) and you have the world at your feet.
I married and moved to Italy in the mid 80's. I came back every 2 years to visit all my family in Minnesota. Every time I returned people (in general) were getting bigger. The thing that struck me were obese young couples with children. Rear ends were getting huge. Portion sizes were double what they were in Italy (McDonalds) where there were no free refills. Also cars were equipped with cup holders, everyone had one, and was sipping on coffee and soft drinks constantly in the car. It was not like this when I was growing up. I was astounded. My Italian, very skinny, husband would raise his arms out to his sides and loudly proclaim "All you can eat!"
Of course, these are not the only reasons, but in that time period those were my observations. As for the drug claim: people didn't do a lot of drugs in the 50's, 40's, etc and the population was thinner.8 -
LisaGetsMoving wrote: »A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.
This. I was born a few years later, early 60s, but same observations. I remember only two fat kids in school, and one went on a fitness kick the summer before high school and lost all the extra weight (and kept it off). We had 12 channels on TV so there was way less interesting stuff to watch, we mostly played outside and stayed active. Home computers were in their infancy, "games" were on a big machine that you played in an arcade. Fast food was an occasional treat, not an everyday event.
No, we weren't all doing recreational drugs to keep our weight down We were just way less sedentary, and less reliant on convenience food. 7 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.Kaysmile012015 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
You can find plenty of people on social media and Instagram today that are fit. Anecdotal evidence is well anecdotal...9 -
Born in the 80s, I don't remember them well, but I do remember the early 90s (South-East Europe)...I don't know what were statistics at the time, but I have a feeling that child obesity was much less common. We had a single overweight girl in my elementary school class. At the present, numbers go as high as 35% of kids being overweight.
I am not sure what was the biggest change between now and then. We were not eating any form of a "clean diet" for sure, but I guess junk food was much less used. Homecooked, simple meals were what 99% of families ate back then. It was the time of war in Croatia, so we haven't had much money, so sweets were very occasional treats.
Having icecream was an event! I had my first pizza when I was around 12 and that was also a very special event when mum would feel inspired enough to make it. We were not hungry, and my family was not considered poor, it was just normal for us.
Another thing, as kids, I feel we were much more involved in the physical world around us. Some kids did have games like Nintendo, and we occasionally played it, but most of the time (like 90% of the time) we were playing some games that included lots of movement, jumping, running, etc. For example, we would spend whole mornings or afternoons jumping over an elastic or regular rope, competing who would have the longest strike. It was HIIT training done for hours.
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LisaGetsMoving wrote: »A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.
Yes, obesity is up. I don't know if it's reasonable to conclude that the average person was taut and toned just because there was less obesity. There were probably plenty of slender people without great muscle tone, just not overweight. It wasn't like everyone was bikini-contest ready in the 80s.
I'm trying to think of how to say this without sound catty, because it truly isn't . . . but I watch a lot of older movies and lots of people in swimsuits in older movies simply don't have the muscle tone that we generally regard as "taut" and "fit" today. They're just slender. There's nothing wrong with that, of course.12 -
Minion_training_program wrote: »Very easy, people just got out more, moved more. Less take out food/fast food restuarants.
I definitely agree. So many good points throughout this thread. Even the one about only soaps on TV...relatable. I remember being a kid in the 80s and there was so much fun stuff to watch on MTV, Nickelodeon, etc. A decade earlier I probably would have been more active outdoors without those...a decade later, I was online and more sedentary.
Purely anecdotal but I recall being one of maybe a dozen plus-size girls in a HUGE high school, in the early to mid 90s. Now roughly HALF the teenage girls I know are size 14+.
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