To wonder if ‘body positivity’ has gone too far?

Personally I could do with losing a few kgs.
I know what is healthy and what is not.
I know that most slim people aren’t just ‘lucky’ just like most fat people are not just ‘unlucky’…

Getting up everyday and exercising and having the guts to focus your eating in a healthy direction is flipping hard work and requires a level of self control that most people do not have.

I admire that dedication and whilst I am happy for anyone to be positive about their body shape whatever it is, I do believe that you need to have a degree of honesty about what you are doing to avoid the known health risks associated with being overweight.

you cannot be blind in the name of being positive and not offending others.

I have a number of close family members whose lifetime of inactivity and gluttony have caused immense pain on those who love them because they didn’t give two hoots about what other people thought about them and how they lived their life.

I'm on tick tok far to much
And there are largish people who every single video is about food , takeaways and the huge amounts they are eating..I'm a big person and I couldn't eat a fraction of what they do .
I'm not really sure who their target audience is ,maybe people like me watching in horror and shock.
But I do think that the body positivity is going to be .....well less positive..with all the current medications to combat obesity..I predict a huge swing back to the era of thinking Bridget jones was fat .
It will end up with people thinking being fat is a choice ... because with all the weight loss drugs around no one needs to be fat .
So yeah ,I don't think body positivity will last .
The plus size shop yours ,already has stopped selling the larger sizes in its stores ,you gave to order on line for bigger sizes ,no more popping in for a browse if your a larger customer.
It's a slippery slope , especially for those who can't afford the medications

another one laughing heart head off

Well, I really like and admire Anne Heggarty from The Chase. She's the first to admit she's overweight and has an unhealthy diet but that she's happy in her own skin. Are you talking more about people who are in denial about being obese, bad diet, no exercise etc (backed up by so-called influencers) - not those who know they are not in good shape but either can't, or won't change it? Resigned to it.

https://snagtights.com/collections/snag-all-tightss*

This whole website

I think part of the problem is that there are people who eat heathily, care just as much about their bodies, and do lots of exercise, who still aren't like the ideal of physical appearance and weight promoted all around us. Some of us might have sections of our bodies that we feel embarrassed about which even in other cultures might not be seen as horrible and somehow our fault, but actually as attractive. The body-positivity movement isn't really about 'it's ok to stuff yourself/do no exercise/endanger your health through bad eating and no exercise'. Because even if we all ate and did exactly the same, there would still be different body shapes and sizes. So it's about if genetically for example you have more curves (I don't mean euphemistically 'fat', I mean shapely hips etc) or bigger boobs or wider thighs, you shouldn't feel ashamed because you don't have stick thin arms and legs and a concave stomach. It applies to young people, maybe girls in particular, who just have a different shape, to women as they go through all these stages of life with their bodies. To men who don't have muscles and do have a bit of a dad bod. etc.

If you don't look on social media, where are the examples of media promoting obesity? On social media I'd say there's a drive, a very good one imo, for everyone to absolutely make the best of themselves and cherish their bodies and prioritise self-care, and not be perfectionist. A positivity movement usually comes out of a reaction to some kind of crushing prejudice. I don't want to feel that I should be deeply ashamed of my tummy after childbirth and that there is a hierarchy - those who look 'perfect' feeling somehow superior to those who aren't. In some places there is way more body positivity and it's interesting because in those places, the women look a lot happier, there's more variety of body shape, and people have smiles on their faces. I've moved from a place up North where even the oldest ladies in the gym changing rooms were putting on bright clothes and lipstick and looking great. Now I'm down in the South East in a supposedly desirable area where the women might all be uniformly slimmer, but omg do they look miserable/mean and grey. Obviously not everyone but ... and I know that if 30% of those ladies from up north were to walk down the street here, there would be looks of shock and horror on the judgemental faces.

It's this kind of thing that body positivity tries to address. To redress this unbalanced and unpleasant attitude.

Which adverts, out of interest? I haven't seen any clothes adverts with morbidly obese people. Maybe a rare size 16 model maximum, but also very tall which can contribute to one's size of course. I think it's good to see different sizes within reason (no clearly extremely unhealthy extremes), although I would agree body positivity is going to far if an advert only had morbidly obese models (and morbidly obese people weren't the target audience).

Perhaps, like me before I retired, op has to listen to colleagues and friends bemoaning their weight whilst banging on about their latest diet, weight loss, clothing choices never obviously losing an ounce in weight and in my case commenting on everything I ate because I was slim.
Be fat or not, eat crap or not but stop telling me that
a) I may be overweight but I’m still healthy
or
b) I can’t help being overweight it’s caused by my medical condition
said by the same person.
And I’m thinking well which is it?

So what, everyone on the internet with a significant following will get abuse. Fat influencers get plenty of it too, it goes every which way. That's the internet for you!

There will always be some excuse why someone is overweight. Rarely will anyone admit to gluttony.

Words carry connotations are are loaded with extra meaning. So fat can absolutely be used in a derogatory way and it can also be used in a neutral way. This thread is about the body positivity movement, in which fat is not an insult. But plenty of posters here will have experienced having that word used about them in a way that actually is intended to hurt and humiliate. You could empathise with that, or you could make snide comments about how you 'just love' the way that fat people can't even handle the word fat when it's just an honest descriptor! You know what the difference is.

I'm happy to use the word fat online when discussing threads like this, but I wouldn't say to a friend 'you look fat' or 'you've got fat' or whatever because I understand human interactions with some level of nuance and subtlety. You might want to think about that!

I can re-assure you OP, that there’s not a single obese person who is celebrating it, is unaware that being obese is very unhealthy, or isn’t trying to address it.
I don’t care what TIktok says. WE know we are pitied, judged, by others.
So if I were I would stop following plus size ‘influencers’ so that your algorithms change and you don’t see this stuff. I don’t see it. But I certainly wouldn’t begrudge someone overweight being allowed to make videos about the reality of travelling when plus sized or doing yoga when plus sized or showing off outfits that they feel good in.

It’s obviously not healthy to be overweight and I think most people know that.

By being confident and secure in your own body, whatever your size is good. Shaming people or not being happy about your size, doesn’t make people lose weight and I doubt people who look at videos of overweight people and think, cool, I’ll gain weight to look like them.

Being overweight is so much about the mind and mental health. You would tell a depressed person to just cheer up. Being confident whilst being overweight is better than being miserable S

People are offended that fat is seen to be in a negative light. I’m saying be happy and fat and own all that you but be sure to include the associated health risks if you are.

In some ways yes however starting with the obvious. Including overweight people in marketing for active wear and gyms for example should be about showing that those spaces are also for them and not the uber fit, this in turn could lead to an active lifestyle. This is actually an important pivot of the Leisure industry.

On the downside we know that obesity has the largest impact on overall health and the NHS and I do think it's a fine line in marketing of not highlighting this.

You say it as if it's easy. It's not. Some people have lower metabolism and gain weight, some have a higher metabolism and can eat what they like and never gain weight. The women on the maternal side of my family are all very slender, the women on the paternal side are all bigger. Unfortunately I inherited the fat genes and gain weight very easily. Now I am over 60 and trying to lose weight by healthy eating and lots of walking and exercise. I exercise for over an hour every day and I am losing weight but very slowly. I know that lots of people are using weight loss injections but I am really not keen. Apart from the side effects experts are saying that once you stop them you will have a rebound appetite and are quite likely to regain the weight you've lost and more.

See how this guy has to defend himself:

dr mike accused of being fat phobic - Google Search

Yep

Wow, who put 50p in you?

Nice of you to make all those assumptions about me and my lifestyle.

I'm fine with being called overweight thanks.

I’m referring to the multitude of posters who seem to be offended at the description of their body size! It is what it is and you cannot change the dictionary.

No it’s not always used as an insult.
It is used to describe a body shape. One that is generally known to be associated with a number of related health concerns.
I suppose you would rather be called voluptuous? Or perhaps big boned? Or maybe large? How would you describe the opposite of slim or skinny????

It doesnt matter what word you use to substitute for fat. The connotation will always be with the receiver. So be happy and fat!

And the next time someone calls you fat … be sure to remind them that you may be fat but you look after your health by eating well, avoiding processed foods and sugar and you exercise regularly! Sticks and stones my dear!

"it's got to the point where people will complain that their GP commented negatively on something. People don't even have the resilience to accept medical advice."

Yes. I remember someone complaining about a short and fat nurse - she made sure to mention both those things many, many times - telling her she was overweight. I can see the potential hypocrise of the nurse's weight, but her height has nothing to do with it.

I can accept that some doctors are fat phobic if they want to blame every problem the patient has an being overweight, but just telling someone they should lose weight isn't 'fat phobic'.

The OP is talking about the body positivity movement which has actually adopted the word 'fat' as a neutral descriptor. It's a bit ignorant to agree with the OP that 'body posivity has gone too far' and at the same time state that 'you aren't even allowed to say FAT anymore' when in fact the body positivity movement uses that word aaaaalll the time.

Unless of course, you only want 'fat' to be used an insult? Otherwise I think you'll find plenty of fat people online who are more than happy to describe themselves as fat.

I think thats really accurate and explains the deliberate obtuseness of many on this thread.

Why would anyone celebrate being unhealthy?
Unhealthy to the point of dying younger or having a stroke, heart attack, diabetes, breathlessness and arthritis.
Accept your body, you have no choice but respect it too and treat it properly. You wouldn’t run your car on low grade fuel and ignore the warning lights.