To not understand how this different from putting an anorexic model on the cover

[Spinderelle]

Cosmopolitan have a morbidly obese model on their cover this month. I am absolutely behind the idea of body positivity - after children my body is far from perfect and it’s nice to see companies like ASOS use larger women and not airbrush stretch marks etc.

But this model is dangerously obese and risking her health. How is that any different from having a dangerously thin model on the cover?

Anorexia kills children. No child has ever died of obesity.

That's an idiotic thing to say. Obesity is a far, far bigger public health problem than anorexia. And yes people die from it.

Margolovebutter and Glittergoddess - Yes, if someone has been through trauma and done something to their body and then instead of further hating themselves accepts it and tries to help others do the same... then we should put it on the front of magazines. She is not saying: "Eat as much as you can and you could look like me." She's saying: "I am a big fatty for reasons x,y,z and I don't want to be ridiculed for it."

I find looking at someone this heavy just as sad as looking at someone dangerously thin. This is just Cosmo using a different woman/man to make them money, I hate the media and all that run it they should be ashamed of themselves on a daily basis.

I’m sure there have been hundreds of thin models on cosmos cover over the years who had disordered eating at the time. I guess this one cover is an attempt to redress the balance a bit.

But yes, cover models should be healthy sized (bmi 18-25) but they’re never going to be “normal” women so long as they are professional models.

What I don’t like is the fact that she is wearing a swimsuit and showing off all her tattoos. As for as I know, Cosmo cover girls don’t usually wear swimsuits, so why her? And they don’t usuauly show their tattoos, so why is she?
I guess what I’m saying is, she’s so clearly an outlier - she’s on the cover because of who she is, and there won’t be more where she came from. Next month it’ll be back to the slim celebrities and tall models, as always. It’s extreme and not a sign that they’ll be more inclusive in future.

What I don’t like is the fact that she is wearing a swimsuit and showing off all her tattoos. As for as I know, Cosmo cover girls don’t usually wear swimsuits, so why her? And they don’t usuauly show their tattoos, so why is she?

Wrong about the swim suits and there are a lot more, right about the tats though

Perhaps when you see a swimsuit cover who is not obese it simp,y doesn’t register?

I agree with those saying they would rather see more of a range of people with normal weights on the front of covers rather than extremes at either end.

The mental image we hold in our heads is a complicated one and in experiments when people are asked to place themselves on a scale of differing body sizes they generally place themselves on the heavier side than they actually are. I Know that if I was the size I used to be I’d look at TH and think we’ll I’m not as big as I could be and I would have found that a bit of a comfort.

I’m in two minds about the body positive movement. I can see the general message about accepting our bodies is good but we have to be realistic and there is no way someone like TH is healthy however much she claims she is. It will catch up with her and than a lifetime at being the weight she is will make it incredibly hard to lose.

Some people seem to have lost sight of the health aspect. When I was about half way through losing people started commenting and I’d say I was pleased with how things were going but was still obese so had a fair bit more to go. You’d think I was tell8mg some of them I ate puppies for tea ‘oh don’t say that, you’re not obese’ Er yes I am, it’s just a medical fact, not a moral defect and denying it doesn’t help. The word obese has become an emotive rather than factual issue and that needs to change .

I think there needs to be a greater emphasis on health rather than appearance and I do think as the people have got larger people’s perceptions of a healthy weight have become really distorted. Losing weight is actually very simple, you eat less than your body burns off (unless you have certain medical conditions). Achieving that however can be hugely hard as psychological factors come into play and complicate things massively. The Psychology behind our eating patterns is the key in my experience.

Can I just say to anyone reading this with a lot of weight to lose, please feel free to come over to the lose 100lbs weight loss thread. We’re all at different stages, people are using different methods but we all face the same issues whilst we’re doing it and it can really help to talk to others in the same boat as it does require a gradual but big lifestyle change that is very daunting at the start plus the big challenge is maintaining and not falling into the yo-yo diet pattern that is familiar to many.

Let me put it this way - I never realised just how sick and incapacitated I was when I was obese... until I lost weight. And mind you, my obesity was entirely self-inflicted.

I thought I felt fine and was healthy at my heaviest - my bloodwork was good, after all, and I could walk, so clearly I must've been Healthy, right? Well, nope. All the little pains and niggles I had, the aching knees, the getting out of breath when taking the stairs, the lack of ability to run any distance, the back pain, the hip pain, the permanent tiredness... I never realised how badly all of the above affected my daily life until it all disappeared when I lost weight.

I'm at an almost-healthy weight now and the difference is breathtaking. I can MOVE. Easily. Without pain that I was so used to I considered it normal. I have ENERGY. I can run for a while without feeling like I'm going to drop dead.

I am only in my mid-twenties, so yeah, I was reasonably 'healthy' when I was obese, but now I can see that my shit choices would have caught up with me sooner or later and that I WAS eating myself to disability. Every single day I carried an extra 30kg on my body - that's a heavy load. Losing that crippling weight made me healthier. I'm no longer at risk of... well, a rather disturbing menu of disease.

It wasn't easy, but it was worth it - I always had a messed up relationship with food, but I did it VERY slowly (took me 2 years to lose 30kg) and I really understand it now - obesity kills, cripples, and incapacitates, and is usually preventable AND curable.

So please, stop glorifying obesity. Stop normalising it. You're not helping obese people by saying they can be healthy at any size. You CANNOT be healthy and mordibly obese - there's a reason why it's called MORBID obesity. Yes, skinny people get sick too, but they're sick despite their size, not because of it. And whilst obese people might... function... at their weight for now, it'll catch up with them sooner or later. And yes, many of their health problems will be caused directly by the excess fat they're carrying.

I look at that cover and I see a very, very sick person. I don't want to be like her. She's neither inspirational nor amazing nor beautiful. She's a picture of sickness, a warning really. I'd much rather look at models who are a healthy size 12.

There doesn't seem to be many 'normal' (by which I mean sized 12-16 which are Uk average sizes) models though.

Not just models but actresses as well. Either actresses are super skinny and that is normal, or we have Rebel Wilson/Melissa Mccarthy for whom being fat is their USP, and is always part of their character. There are rarely 'normal' sized women in films.

I watched Mamma Mia 2 recently and there was a 'regular' size character in that, but even she was referenced quite a lot as enjoying cake etc.

I have a few family members who are morbidly obese and their health once the reached their forties all declined very rapidly. My father’s death was linked to type 2 diabetes and my uncle has lost a leg. My niece needs a mobility scooter at 40. The health implications are usually why the rich and famous who are morbidly obese seem to reach 40 to 50 and decide to lose the weight as money helps.

Thank you Corkscrewbetty, Bluelady and HelenaDove.

I wish I hadn't read this thread either Bluelady. I suffer enough internally with the message that I'm not good enough, this thread was a harsh reminder than a lot of people judge me.

I've come to realise that being fat isn't even the most important thing about me, but for so many people it's all they see.

Anorexia kills children

No child has ever died of obesity

That's such an ignorant statement. Read the recent report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

"Four in five obese school pupils are destined to remain dangerously overweight for life, which could cut their lives short by decades".

What adults do with their own bodies is their own business, but inflicting obesity upon their children in the relatively short time they're responsible for them, is unforgivable.

Luciano Pavarotti was morbidly obese but I don’t remember him being particularly criticised for it or it ever being suggested he was making obesity normal and acceptable.

Same with Gemma Collins

But I get the feeling she's got her own show etc because she's so obese and people tend to point/laugh at her

@toomuchconfusion I am sorry you feel bad after reading this, but do you really not think that glorifying obesity especially on that level shouldn't be discussed? Bones showing on models are discussed greatly, do you think it doesn't hurt a bit people with anorexia?
It does, but it HAS to be discussed because both is dangerous. We simply cannot not talk about the negative side of obesity or anorexia, because it hurts feelings of some people.
Bot extremes kill. It just has to be discussed.

But I don’t see that the Cosmocover was glorifying obesity. It was saying you don’t have to hide away because you’re obese.

Applying same principle we should all be fine with models you can count all ribs on because it shows that if they are skinny like that it's fine and they don't have a problem.

There are so many better suited full figure women to pose. Like Ashley Graham. Not someone who is morbidly obese.

Actually seeing some of our skeleton isn't regarded as 'too skinny' you know?

This is how people think these days. A normal weight,healthy bmi can mean that 'shock,horror' RIBS ARE VISIBLE!!!!

this is normal!

I agree Magnussen

So often people are now considered 'too skinny' simply because their ribs, collarbones and hip bones are visible.

It all depends on body shape. Pear shaped women often have ribs visible because they're thinner on the upper half and carry weight around bum
That's the thing, I don't think there's a blanket see ribs/don't see ribs/this is unacceptable

@OftenHangry So do you feel you're contribution to this thread is making a difference to this issue? In my opinion no good will come of such negative attitudes and discussions. If you were truly interested in helping people live a better life I don't think you'd be discussing it on a Mumsnet thread.

I think your fairly constant comparison to anorexia, shows me that you do not truly understand the issues surrounding obesity (I suspect you probably do not want to understand it). Obesity is being discussed constantly, I cannot live my day to day life without coming across something discussing obesity or dieting. It is in the press, all over social media, on advertising in the street & tv, it's being discussed by MP's, by celebrities and anyone trying to sell the latest and greatest diet.

There have been studies that show when people feel discriminated because of their weight, they are MORE likely to gain weight over the following 5 years. So your 'discussion' may well contribute to someone's weight gain over the next few years. You are doing nothing more than contributing to the discrimination and judgment people who are already fat face on a daily basis.

Come back to me when you have a genuine solution not more of the same.

Colleagues at work made comments like “you’re so lovely and slim” “I wish I had your tiny waist”), and dangerously overweight women are disrespected, laughed at, or subject to disgust.

That's just one side of it. I'm a healthy weight and I have people telling me I'm 'miserably thin' and expressing concern that I've lost too much weight. I'm a size 8-10 but at only 5'1" tall, I have a bmi of 24. Which, tbh, would be on the high side of healthy if I didn't have naturally huge boobs and hips/butt and muscular thighs/arms. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination thin. At the same time when I was overweight and heading into the realm of obese (which is only a little over 2st overweight at my height) I couldn't get anyone to take me seriously when I said I was overweight.

That woman on the cover is quite a lot beyond the medical criteria for morbidly obese. She isn't a healthy normal weight. She is at vastly, vastly increased risk of so many illnesses and early death. She would even now, also be limiting her own physical abilities in terms of what she can do on a day to day basis. I know just how utterly different I feel at a healthy weight to how I felt when I was carrying just an extra 2st. Carrying extra weight is draining in an of itself, carrying so much that you limit your natural flexion, basic walking speed, ability to fit comfortably in seats, ability to lift a child, reach for something in an awkward spot, etc is just such a blight on your regular existence. You don't notice how much you are missing out on as you lose it slowly) or maybe never had it if you were heavy from childhood. But that doesn't mean your life isn't being severely limited.

We shouldn't judge people on their weight in terms of what type of person they are. How intelligent they are, how nice they are, how good a friend, etc. Weight obviously has absolutely no bearing on that. But we absolutely should not be celebrating that level of obesity any more than we should celebrate anorexia. Healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes. People can be short/tall/muscular/hourglass/pearshaped/straight, have big/medium/small skeletal frames. There is all sorts of variety to avoid models looking homogenous. But magazines like this don't have any interest in promoting normal body types. They will continue using tall underweight models for their normal shoots and every so often use a very obese woman, like Tess Holiday, to show how super they are. Essentially using the poor woman like a modern day sideshow act to make money.

@toomuchconfusion I don't know if you read the whole thread (it is massive) but many of us saying showing morbidly obese woman like this is not ok, are actually overweight.
Everyone has a different opinion. I will stand by mine that showing body extremes, either waaaay too skinny (apologies to everyone who has a figure which is "showing ribs", I meant the extremely skinny models which even Fashion weeks banned) or morbidly obese is not helpful and ok as both of these kill.