There are certain things that were just easier back in the day. Avoiding your exes, getting a decent portion of food at a restaurant and, apparently, losing weight.

A new study has shown that it was easier to lose weight in the 1980s, adults today having to eat less and exercise more to avoid piling on those unwanted pounds. The Telegraph breaks down that study as follows:

By doing exactly the same amount of exercise and eating the same number of calories, people in 2006 registered an average BMI (body mass index) of 2.3 points higher than in 1988…

“Our study results suggest that if you are 40 years old now, you’d have to eat even less and exercise more than if you were a 40 year old in 1971, to prevent gaining weight,” Professor Jennifer Kuk said.

People who reported eating the same amount of food were about 10 percent heavier in 2008 than 1971, the study found.

Those in 2006 who did the same amount of exercise as their counterparts in 1988 weighed five percent more.