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?

^Walking ... well its obvious isn't it? Are you being deliberately obtuse?No.
But as all the evidence shows that its increasing calorie intakes rather than changes in exercise.

Smoking rates do not account for rising obesity
Fat kids become fat adults
and that is about FOOD INTAKE

Dieting works just fine if you keep your intake below what your body needs.
Basic physics.

Ta1kinpeace - It's not basic physics. It's not a question of calories in and calories out. There's a lot of research into this going on at the moment. Hormones play a massive role. Hormone imbalances... insulin resistance... It's really very interesting stuff and not all that easy to sort out. Dieting doesn't work at all. Not in the long run.

Lack of exercise has to be a factor. When I was a kid people walked everywhere. Kids played outside and ran around. Now people drive everywhere and lots of kids barely leave the house.

Corkscrew
Lets not derail the thread.
There are not many obese people in the Yemen. Because there is no food.
Lack of food makes people thin. Excess food lets people get fat.
Pretending that what you put into your mouth does not affect your body shape is delusional.

Eat less, lose weight.
DO NOT normalise obesity like on that magazine cover.

How it’s different: the model may in fact be mentally healthy. Anorexia is a deadly mental illness, the most deadly in fact.

Hope that helps.

Hormone imbalance and insulin resistance is caused by obesity. Not the other way round in the majority of cases. They are a sign that the body is having difficulty coping with the strain being put upon it.

Lack of exercise has to be a factor. When I was a kid people walked everywhere. Kids played outside and ran around. Now people drive everywhere and lots of kids barely leave the house.

Yes, but the reasons for that are more complex than laziness. People used to work within walking distance of their homes. They didn’t have washing machines or vacuum cleaners. Housework was strenuous and far more people did hard manual jobs.

@LaurieMarlow you're right. Although I'm sure I'd be interested if they just picked a random person on the street each month and stuck them on the cover. But it's the celeb thing isn't it really.

I personally find the story about the celeb super boring so they could replace that with something else

We were discussing this the other day and someone made an interesting point.

If super-intelligent Aliens were to land on earth tomorrow, would they, upon seeing how overweight humans have become, round us up and use us for their food supply?
Would we become the new livestock?
There'd be enough meat on most of us!

This is a positive body movement imho.
Not "I am size 30 and it's amazing"

I'm not that fucking old! There were definitely washing machines and vacuum cleaners and none of my friends' parents did manual jobs. However, we all walked to school, literally nobody's parents drove them and my mum walked to the shops most days.

The real difference was no electronics. Kids didn't sit glued to screens all day, they went out and played.

I doubt that most people the size of Tess (and bigger) have gotten there for the fun of it. Interesting that we (rightfully) recognise anorexia sufferers as being mentally ill and needing help but those who are compelled to over eat or are addicted to food are just greedy and lazy. And it's well documented that once someone who is overweight reaches a certain BMI their chances of getting back to a healthy weight without bariatric surgery are almost non existent.

I read somewhere that plus size models have to be right kind of 'plus'..they have to be in proportion and not 'flabby' , and obviously be pretty. It's an incredibly difficult area of modelling to get into.

Absolutely,. They only want the ones who young, are very pretty and who's figures go in and out in the right places.

Most overweight people are neither pretty, are very unfit and generally don't have a curvy shape.

So, they are not promoting a realistic version of morbid obesity.
Morbid obesity for the majority of people, whether young or old, will show a very different picture.

I've been reading the Obesity Code by Jason Fung and the reasons behind weight gain and the ongoing struggles people have when it comes to losing weight are a lot more complex than anything mentioned onthis thread . I haven't got time to go into it all on here tonight. Take a look at the book if you want. My only real point here is that yes, she's fat. She doesn't need us to point out the dangers to her. She's more than aware of the health risks seeing as she's the poster girl for the fatties. She's heard it all before. She's trying to spread a bit of joy. She's not promoting weight gain. She's saying she's happy as she is. That should be celebrated. Do we want to add depression to the list of this woman's health concerns too? Is publically shaming someone the way we want to treat one another (while masking it as concern)? Internet bullies are responsible for a fair number of suicides each year - a fair amount of self harm. So, if we're really concerned about health, well-being, the costs to the NHS etc., perhaps adding emphapthy and kindness to our daily lives might go some way to sorting out some of these issues.

👏🏻 Corkscrew.

Yes to plus size models shape. Plus starts at a size 12 really. I'm a 14 bottom and 16 top and in between hourglass and top heavy. They want curves but without fat, and bigger but not big
It's tricky. I've been doing it about four years now

Plus size models are often normal sized models wearing padding.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2835253/How-plus-size-models-really-skinny-girls-padding-size-12-size-16-three-easy-steps.html

So you could argue that the fashion industry is playing apart in normalising obesity at the same time as promoting unrealistic thinness.

This thread is so depressing. I am fat and have been since my teenage years. This thread reminds me how unacceptable I am to people. How much strangers hate me for existing in this body. I did not choose this, I don't want this, don't you think I worry about my health, of course I fucking do. Have any of you diet prompting posters actually looked into the success rates of dieting? They are horrendous and the more likely result would be weight gain. Maybe I could have gastric surgery, because shortening my life span and dealing with the extremely negative side effects would still be considered better than being fat.

I know that if I hadn't stopped dieting when I did I would have gone fully into an eating disorder and the crazy thing is people would celebrate it. They used to compliment me on losing weight and on taking up less space. Behind closed doors I was throwing up, starving myself and spending the majority of my life obsessing about food restriction and exercise, I hated myself. But who cares it's simply a case of calories in vs calories out, I should keep all the emotional shit to myself and throw myself into disorder, because at least I wouldn't be fat.

It's not a simple problem so stop acting like it has a simple solution. Shame and fear do not make good motivators to make lasting positive change. Tess might remind a fat person that they are worthy, they do not deserve to be treated like shit and they should be kind to themselves. It promotes kindness and acceptance.

I choose acceptance over fear and shame any day. Acceptance would make the world a better place, but that's fine you all carrying on hating people like me, we're easy targets. You keep believing it's simply because we're greedy, lazy and stupid. Keep believing that if you just shame us enough and tell us how unhealthy it is to be fat that we'll all be slim in no time.

@Corkscrewbetty I have to disagree. She is promoting same unhealthy standards as an "anorexic" looking girl would, just on the other side of the scale.
If they put a girl whose bones are clearly showing on the cover, there would be a worldwide uproar.
In my eyes there is no difference. Both are unhealthy and will die way too early.
Fashion weeks banned models with BMI under certain number, same should be done for ones over certain number.

@SerenDippitty yup. You can see it on their face and neck really often

toomuchconfusion - Exactly! Some of the stuff on here is really saddening. Don't worry about it. Don't let them get you down. You (we) may well have weight problems of which we're fully aware... but at least we're not full of vitriol. I would find that harder to live with.

Toomuchconfushion, I really wish you hadn't read this thread, it's an absolute nest of vipers. It seems to have attracted some of the nastiest most misogynists on MN.

God she looks so sick! Why is she not making effort to lose the fat?

Clothes and make up can't disguise it