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?

So would it be OK for an overweight woman to be on a magazine cover if she wasn’t a model? E.g.if she was being interviewed inside?
Or would it make a difference if the magazine wasn’t Cosmo or similar?

@ cardsforkittens

I’m confised as to what you mean by that comment. Can you explain. So if one of my good friends or relatives were very under/overweight and I was genuinely concerned for their health, so I spoke to them about it and tried to offer some advice on how to get professional help etc, that would be body shaming?

@DN4GeekinDerby

I sympathise completely with the struggle to discuss weight as I’m the exact same. I hate talking about how I struggle with my weight as people often look at me as if I’ve got 2 heads!

And you’re completely right - trying to gain is just as hard (if not harder) than trying to lose. It has taken me 4 years of hard work, going to the gym 5/6 days per week and eating thousands of (healthy) calories per day to get to where I am just now - 10kg heavier than I was when I started going to the gym.

I too am like you, I struggle with my appetite, especially when stressed and I have found on a few occasions during this past 4 years that if I’m stressed and don’t eat properly, for say, a week, I’ll lose Lbs and muscle mass. It really is a struggle for me to try and keep this weight on but I try so hard now as I feel so much better about myself when I’m not a size 4/6!

I wish you all the best in the future with getting back to where you want to be weight wise

Forfuppsake. I wouldn’t call that body shaming. It could well be unwanted interference though, unless they’d specifically asked for your opinion. I doubt that most people want or need another person to initiate a conversation about their weight.

@redcarbluecar

I’m talking about in extreme cases - when you knew someone’s weight was affecting their health you wouldn’t offer some help or friendly advice on how they could get help? If you offered and the person said they didn’t want your advice then fair enough, leave it at that. But sometimes in these situations people are glad of this help or advice and it can change their life.

What if you knew someone was unhealthily over or underweight and you didn’t say anything, then the person got really ill or even died as a result?

I really don’t think there’s anything wrong with offering help or advice if there are genuine concerns.

Forfuppsake. Yes absolutely, in extreme cases. For example, if someone I knew had put on a lot of weight very quickly, and seemed to be eating or drinking obsessively, I'd try to find out whether they were OK, as they might need a bit of emotional support. In non-extreme cases, I think that people tend to know they have a weight issue (whatever it may be) and may not appreciate unsolicited comments. That's from personal experience, so other people may differ of course. Anyway I don't think that expressing genuine concern is body shaming, but the key word is genuine.

Shambu, you're massively under estimating the emotional and psychological elements in an eating disorder that leads to obesity.

No I am not, I am saying that obesity is not classified as a mental illness. It is not in the DSM 5 for example.

That is not to say that obese people do not suffer from mental health issues such as depression or anxiety. And the consequences of obesity - difficulty getting around, employment, social stigma, may make someone depressed.

But discussion of obesity in mental health generally focuses around it as an addictive disorder like drug, alcohol abuse rather than a mental illness per se.

Drug and alcohol addicts equally may well have underlying mental health problems.

Consume a little less than you need and you will lose weight

This is probably the best advice I've seen re weight loss. I've got lots to lose and, as I said earlier, I'm so stressed and tired at the moment I don't have to headspace for a "diet" as such. So just eating a bit less, that's all I can do ams it's all nudging in the right direction.

When you've got a lot of weight to lose the idea of a diet is intimidating and, as we all know, they don't work. What does work is a long term, sustained change in lifestyle - but that is harder to do and that is what I and many other women are struggling with at the moment. That is because it is something else to add to the mental load that we are already carrying. I don't have children, but I have an elderly father who is recovering from a hip operation and I'm dealing with supporting him to recover. I've got a stressful project and, on top of everything else I've got a house to run, a partner to support and animals. I am struggling with ill health - asthma that I've had for year and not related to obesity and I've injured a wrist so am in a lot of pain. I don't want one more thing to think about.

I don't want to be fat. I can't remember why I'm fat because, although no one on here will believe me, I don't eat chocolate, pies or anything else associated with the obese. I do drink alcohol, but that alone won't account for my weight. My mother was fat and hated herself and that hatred was transferred to me. I married my abusive husband because I was the fat and ugly one and he was as good as I could get. My mother reinforced that. I'm now with a lovely man who loves me as I am, but my mother constantly commented how he would end up leaving me for a nice, slim woman.

I work in a professional role and am surrounded by slim, elegant and creative people. On some sites I've been mistaken for a cleaner because I don't fit the image of an architect. I frequently get given the largest slice of cake in office situations because it is assumed that I'm a greedy bitch, even though I never eat cake because I don't like it.

I'm taken less seriously than my slimmer colleagues. I've had clients question my credentials and qualifications because I'm fat and I'm a woman, so therefore I'm an abomination.

Thank you auditqueen. It really is that straightforward. But the powers that be can't really make a multi billion pound industry out of such a simple straightforward statement

The trick is to work out accurately how many calories you actually use per day (the 2000 per day for women is a very tough guide). My job is sedentary and I don't exercise, so at my current weight and height I only burn 1750 calories per day. So, if I cut down to 1300 calories per day I should lose roughly 1lb a week. Slow, but sure.

Some of the comments on this thread have been unnecessary and I'm sorry they've upset people. I don't care what Tess Holiday looks like, I don't have any idea if she's greedy or lazy and I don't know why she overeats. However, I don't think the fact that she's slowly killing herself with food and is "happy as she is" should be celebrated, in the same way that we shouldn't celebrate if someone was starving themselves or abusing drugs or alcohol and unwilling to change. I read somewhere that her BMI is close to 50, so she's heading for super morbid obesity, a category which is disabling. She won't lose weight as she's carved out a niche for herself and as a result she WILL end up with health problems pretty soon if she doesn't already have them. She has two young kids and she's headed for an early grave. That's not anything to be body positive about

Thanks post and puzzled

Penelope - sorry I should have tagged you, but thank you for making me feel like I'm doing ok.

Is anybody watching the debate about this on This Morning with Piers Morgan??

Read an interview with Helena Christensen in a magazine at the hairdressers. She said she has a fast metabolism and has always been able to eat what she wants without getting fat. She loves desserts more than anything and her favourite food is whipped cream. She bought a pack of Gorgonzola stuffed olives and ate them all in one go. But she’s skinny, so that’s ok.

I think the key question is why is she on the cover. I suspect it's because she's a controversial personality for many reasons.

I'm not sure I agree it's normalising obesity, but I do agree it could potentially make many people think "well I'm not even as big as her so I'm ok".

Visibly underweight models aren't ok either, because some people clearly do find them aspirational sadly.

However in this instance she is much more than simoly an anonymous obese model.

I watched the debate this morning on GMB. The editor was interviewed, she said it wasn't about promoting obesity, but to present an image that was different and to stop young women thinking that the ideal was super thin. Piers Morgan and Tina Malone vehemently disagreed!

Are the woman usually on the Cosmo cover “super thin” though or are they just typical size 10 women?

I don't know, I never usually look at Cosmo. The editor, Farrah Storr had an eating disorder and says she's trying to open up the debate. I think it's got everyone talking. It's certainly promoting the magazine.

All models say they have a fast metabolism and they stuff their face with cake blah blah. They can hardly say 'we eat cotton wool to fill our empty stomachs' which was the allegation against Victoria secret models years ago. I bet HC didn't eat half a loaf of bread with her cheese stuffed olives or a massive slice of cake under her cream! She probably is genetically blessed but to pretend she eats pizza all day is just as delusional as me saying I eat salad all day but I'm still fat!

Don't read the mag but sounds like it was a good publicity stunt ... surely what we do want to see is NORMAL women, who are healthy looking, strong and fit. If it becomes usual to show a range of strong, healthy looking women who range between lean and not-so-lean, then wouldn't that be great? We have had years of frail, skinny, unattractive (to me at least) women who look positively malnourished, and that has become the 'standard'. Good to get away from it, but not to the extreme of obese models.

Like all the models on the Cos website who look malnourished and clinically depressed.

surely what we do want to see is NORMAL women, who are healthy looking, strong and fit.

No actually, we don't. Anytime magazines have done this, sales have dipped.

Exactly gingham It's as if there are no women who are size 10-16. But I suppose 'designer is actually capable of making clothes that fit healthy woman with breasts and hips' isn't newsworthy, although it should be because it seems they are incapable of doing so. TH doesn't look like any woman I've met and neither do any of the c support skinny models

I’ve just googled images of Cosmo covers and I think the women featured on them look fine, not super skinny at all, just normal looking (for want of a better word).

TH doesn't look like any woman I've met and neither do any of the c support skinny models

Really? You've never met a plus size woman with a lovely face or a woman who is a size 6-8?