Health

No Calorie Counting, No Gym — How People In The 1960s Stayed Skinny Without Even Trying

Published on May 15, 2025

The fact that everything is larger these days is obvious.

Houses, televisions, and automobiles have all become larger than they were decades ago.

This also applies to waistlines and serving sizes.

Compared to barely 13 percent in the 1960s, 43 percent of Americans were classified as obese in 2024.

Obesity can result in a number of health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver disease, sleep apnoea, and some types of cancer, experts have warned, blaming an increase in consumption of highly processed foods and meals with higher calories.

Autumn Bates, a dietitian from California, has now disclosed the factors she believes are causing the obesity crisis. She lists four reasons why individuals were thinner in previous decades, even though they may have exercised less or lacked access to fitness trackers like FitBits and Apple Watches.

She claims that after viewing a recent YouTube video that posed the query, “Why were we so skinny in the 1960s?” she made the decision to look into this topic.

The nutritionist said: “[This is a] fair question because in the 60s we had an obesity rate in America of about 13 percent.”

In order to put that into perspective, as of 2025, the obesity rate is approaching 43 percent. This is somewhat crazy considering, in the 1960s, individuals weren’t known for eating healthily.

“So why in the world did we have such lower body fat percentages back in the 60s?”

The decrease in fresh, home-cooked meals is the primary cause of the rise in obesity. In the past, these were the norm rather than the exception.

They traditionally featured “some type of really high quality protein, some fruit, some bread, some veggies and then probably milk.”

According to her, children were receiving a better balanced diet back then than they do now because the same wholesome formula was used for their school meals.

Among the foods that were popular in the 1960s, according to Ms. Bates’ study, were roast chicken, meatloaf, beef stew, steak, and potatoes.

Fast food, which has witnessed an increase in serving sizes—a serving of popular burgers and fries can have almost 2,000 calories—was barely mentioned.

From personal interactions with her family, she said in a YouTube video, “My dad said that they would pretty much always have like pot roast and my mom has a very specific, not fond, memory of lima [or butter] beans.”

According to Ms. Bates, eating more veggies, more protein, and less sugar are all advantages of cooking at home.

People who cook at home more regularly tend to consume less fat, sugar, and carbs than people who don’t cook as much, according to a prior study from Johns Hopkins University.

Ms. Bates goes on to suggest that the proliferation of highly processed meals is another factor contributing to the obesity epidemic in today’s culture.

Anything with a lengthy ingredient list or manufactured with artificial additives including colourings, sweeteners, and preservatives to prolong shelf life is referred to as ultra processed foods, or UPFs.

Among the most popular products that fit under the UPF term—which is now used to refer to foods of low nutritional value—are ready meals, ice cream, and ketchup.

They differ from processed items like cured meat, cheese, and fresh bread, which are altered to prolong their shelf life or improve their flavour.

Explaining why UPFs are bad, she says, “Ultra-processed is the next level of processing that really strips down the satiety and make you so much less satisfied from your food and therefore [you] need to eat even more.”

“These are foods that are primarily going to have ingredients that you don’t recognize and typically a long list of ingredients that you would not be able to just get your grocery store and recreate at home.”

“Some studies have found that these ultra processed foods can make us eat about 800 calories more a day because they are so much less satisfying,” Ms. Bates adds, adding that UPFs are thought to account up 70% of Americans’ diets today.

Ms. Bates suggests avoiding the fatty effects of these meals and replacing them with healthier options. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds can be used in place of packaged snacks that contain additional ingredients.

The third thing that contributed to a slimmer society in the 1960s, Ms Bates says is that people were “a lot more accidentally active.”

She continues, “A large portion of the workforce back then had more physically demanding jobs. They also had a lot less structured activity, meaning that they didn’t really work out.”

“My dad will always say that he was super embarrassed when he was younger because his dad was a health nut at the time and would go for runs and his friends would make fun of him and ask what he was running from because people had more active jobs.”

“They had a full day where they were more active versus a full day of sitting in front of a computer screen and then also probably commuting.”

Ms. Bates observes that as technology has advanced, individuals are becoming less active because they are more sedentary and attracted to their screens.

She adds, “My mom said that if you had to stay inside, that was a punishment when she was a kid. Kids back in the 60s really didn’t have anything inside that would entertain them as much, so they had to go outside and be active and play.”

Ms. Bates advises those with computer-based occupations to get a walking desk so they may stay in shape while typing on a treadmill.

She also suggests doing weight training or other structured activity three to four days a week.

Finally, Ms. Bates identifies sleep deprivation as another issue fuelling the obesity crisis in America.

The average American adult now gets about 7 hours and 10 minutes of sleep every night, yet prominent modern figures like President Donald Trump and Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, have stated that 4 hours is the ideal amount of sleep.

In contrast, research from the 1960s indicates that the average was more like 8.5 hours.

Commenting on this shift in sleeping patterns, Ms Bates says, “Less sleep is significantly tied with obesity and weight gain.”

“Low sleep causes increased hunger hormones so you’re going to feel a lot more hungry the next day.”

“It also increases our preferences for sweet foods and it increases our preferences for larger portion sizes.”

According to the dietitian, technology is to blame for people’s inability to sleep, as devices like phones, TVs, and computers provide more distractions at night.

She adds, “Plus, people were more active throughout the day which meant that they were more tired and actually did want to go to sleep.”

“We need to set bed times again for ourselves because there are so many different temptations to stay up late whether it be like binge watching a Netflix show or just scrolling on your phone.”

“We need to actually set time limits for when we’re going to be going to sleep.”