To think that it is not particularly healthy to "promote" being plus size?

[MaterTheGreater]

I'm sure this discussion's been done, so no yawns please, but on Radio 2 this afternoon they were talking about the story in the news that 1 in 4 items sold in women's clothing are a size 18 or over.

They were saying that this was great and that Adele was a great role model for women.

Now I agree that they shouldn't be sending size zero models down the catwalk, and I think it's great that some designers are using something like a size 14, but I really don't think it's in any woman's best interest to think that a size 18 is a good thing.

I love Adele - she has an amazing voice, and comes across as a lovely girl, but she is definitely "overweight", and healthwise that can never be a good thing.

I know that obviously if you are taller with a bigger frame, then you need a bigger size, but I think even at 5'11" (which a good friend of mine is), an 18 would still be overweight.

I am 5'8" and a size 18 on the top half and 16 on the bottom and I am totally miserable. I am constantly worried about my health and the effect that my weight has on it. I am currently trying to shed the pounds, which is hard, but I really do not want to be this size - it's disgusting and unhealthy and I hate all the "big is beautiful" bollocks.

You can't tell whether a stranger is healthy or unhealthy by their dress size, unless they are obviously obese (and even then you don't know why - they could be on steroids or have other factors. Which obviously ain't healthy but is none of your business and not something you can tell at a glance). Thin people might have very unhealthy lifestyles, some bigger people might have very healthy lifestyles with a good diet and plenty of exercise.

I think society would be better off if we could all just mind our own business. Worry about your own health, if you feel the need.

"your bottom half is the nations average and your top half is one size larger yet you say you are 'miserable' and 'disgusting'."

Just because it is the norm doesn't necessarily mean it is healthy. Binge drinking is the norm for many people, but it isn't healthy. Smoking is the norm for some people, but again it isn't healthy.

Weight issues are personal and what is a healthy weight for one person isn't for another. My sister is a size 24 and has developed diabetes becasue she is fat. She eats very healthily, but her portions are huge.

I agree that promoting overweight people as the norm does create the perception that it is OK to be overweight, but I also think that stick thin models should be banned. I don't find them attractive and think the clothes hang on them in a very unattractive way.

For the record (just to make you sick) I am a size 8/10/12 depending on where I shop, 5'7", weigh about 9 st 6lb and have a BMI of 21.

Well said edam

YANBU. We shouldn't be promoting anyone outside the normal BMI range as "healthy" - be they underweight or overweight.

I think we live in a society where celebrity is idolised, and because those very celebrities seem to have obsessively and unnaturally skinny bodies, we feel the need to show children that it's NOT the norm. However, in doing so, we've gone to the other side of the spectrum where people feel they can't say that overweight is unhealthy because that might drive children back to the skinny side.

IMO we should be extolling the virtue of BEING healthy and moderate, and the accompanying body image will be one of health and moderation too.

YANBU, I hate this all this crap that's peddled about being "curvy" and "voluptuous" bigger than a 14 to 16 usually means an unhealthy BMI and an unhealthy lifestyle. Deal with it. My Mum was a size 14 at my age (36) now she's an 18 (at 65) she's overweight, unhealthy, miserable and dare I say it it's because she's lazy does no exercise and eats too many cakes and biscuits.

As for the shops this, I went shopping today in Manchester City Centre and struggled to get 8s and 10s (my size dependent on shop) as the rails were chock full of 14 to 18s including H&M, Topshop, and French Connection so it's a fallacy about the clothes.

Another thing that irritates me is that people feel quite a liberty to tell me I'm getting "too thin" and "need to watch it" after working my ass off losing the baby weight of 2 pregs to get me back to where I was before but I expect their heads would explode if the same comments were openly made about weight gain

Well said NoWayNoHow and minxofmancunia.

I often struggle to find clothes in my size and often find clothes I really like in sizes 14 to 18 or L and XL.

I often struggle to find clothes in my size and often find clothes I really like in sizes 14 to 18 or L and XL

Yep, me too. I see a lovely dress, only to find the only sizes left are the bigger ones- it annoys me so much!

I was going to say similar- I often struggle to find clothes in smaller sizes, while there will be loads of 14-18s on the rack. Some shops don't even do a size 8- Tesco for example (all right, not a proper clothes shop but I'm on a tight budget :)) and although M&S do a size 8, it is blatantly not a size 8 as it falls off me. I am definitely not smaller than an 8.

It makes me wonder that shops underestimate the size of the market for size 10 clothes. That size always seem to sell out first. It is one of the reasons I don't bother shopping in the sales because I can never find anything in my size. There are nearly always size 16s left though.

Olifin I agree. M & S clothes are large aren't they. I have a size 8 skirt and there is no way I am really a size 8.

I fit into size 6 vest tops in Asda when I'm a 10 in somewhere like H&M- the mind boggles!

Just after my mum had my brother and me (30 years ago) she had a handspan waist, weighed just under 8 stone and was a size 10. Now she no longer has a waist, weighs around 10 stone and is still a size 10 in most shops and sometimes an 8. Clothing sizes are as reliable as BMI!

YANBU
I particularly hate all the 'real women' nonsense and real men like curves (euphemism for lard). I do not consider myself any less of a woman because I am slim and fit and I have never had trouble attracting men, despite my elfin physique.

A BMI over 25 is fat and consequently unhealthy and IMO unattractive. Eat less. Exercise more. It works, if you do it - not if you sit on the sofa moaning that 'it isn't that easy'. Yes, it requires an effort - many worthwhile things do.

Figgyrolls Huge boobs weigh a lot, so probably tip people into overweight on the BMI scale. I reckon my boobs weigh 5lb each

I'm sure I'd just about manage a normal BMI if I lopped them off

YANBU

Leonie you must either walk very slowly or eat an awful lot! If i did that I'd weigh nothing before too long. I too try to walk to keep fit and thin but find I have to be virtually jogging for it to have any effect

Lets face facts if you expend more calories than you put IN - everyone would be size 12 or below

why do people still think being over size 14 is healthy?

I wish I had more curves, especially above the waist

shop sizes have definitely changed - i weigh what i weighed twenty years ago but am at least one or two dress sizes smaller - go figure?

See bunbaker I have boobs I wish I had a curvy bum, I have virtually no arse and am a bit of a line.

Take mine please! 36HH over here and bra buying is a nightmare!

And I have a curvy bottom (waist 12 inches smaller than my hips, but no boobs). It's not fair is it!

I agree the clothes size thing is misleading i bought size 12 trousers today from H&M (no 10s left quelle surprise and 8 fitted just and I wanted them loosish) and size 8 shorts from Zara, fitted easily. M&S size 8s fall off me but Topshop def a 10. I think it's to do with the demographic the shop caters for, M&S want to make women of a certain age feel good about their "curves".

I was a size 10 age 18 and absolutely miniscule, am def bigger now But sometimes I clothes size smaller

I'm the same - a stone heavier than 18 a few years ago and yet the same size or sometimes smaller.