To think that the worst thing you could be in life is fat.

[Dylaninthemovies1]

It just seems that no matter how successful a woman is in life, none of it matters, if she isnt slim (and preferably pretty too)

And, Online forums seem to be full of fat haters who are very smug and judgemental

@lazylinguist

I definitely believe that 'nothing tastes aa good as skinny feels', even though I've never been skinny. I know full well that I would actually prefer to be slim than to eat that slice of cake. If I could wave a magic wand to make me eat no chocolate or cake etc for the rest of my life but instantly and forever be a size 8/10, I'd do it like a shot but having the willpower to resist every day is too hard.

Same! It isn't just the taste is it? I am not overweight because food tastes nicer to me than being skinny feels. It's so much more complicated than that.

Food always tasted nice to me and yet I only gained all this weight recently. Riddle me that! It's not as if food only just recently started to taste good, is it?

It was Kate Moss who famously said it. If I had a lifestyle like a supermodel, I am sure I'd be skinny too! It's the combination of a decidedly less glamorous lifestyle and also none of the threat of losing my job if I gain weight and paparazzi outside my house, waiting to take snaps and mock me if I get fat. Those are the major differences!

Lighthearted btw^^, but definitely my current lifestyle is the least glam it has ever been and I am the least likely I have ever been to be seen by lots of other human beings. So there is a ring of truth to it!

I agree with the owning it! Unfortunately it seems like on MN, and many other places on the internet, if you're not a size 8 with the appetite of a sparrow then you're not worth anything
Unfortunately on these threads the snide comments work both ways. I've noticed a few from the same poster, underhanded digs at slim women.
Not all slim women eat like a sparrow same as not all fat women are lazy.

It was Kate Moss who famously said it. If I had a lifestyle like a supermodel, I am sure I'd be skinny too!

You just need a combination of speed and cocaine, no thanks!

I can find all sorts of reasons when I feel discriminated. I think ageism, sexism (my sector), race, being foreign is a lot worst being fat. Most of my male colleagues are over weight, I am the only female in the department.

@JorisBonson

It was Kate Moss who famously said it. If I had a lifestyle like a supermodel, I am sure I'd be skinny too!

You just need a combination of speed and cocaine, no thanks!

true!

Didn't mama cass get given speed as a diet aid when she was an overweight kid? She died really young as well and obviously, the diet pills hadn't worked either. Poor woman.

Well you can interpret it that way I suppose, yes.
I’m not though, so sorry for confusion...I simply meant that for me at least, there is no foodstuff out there that is worth being fat and risking my health for.

I am overweight. I put it on from a bad relationship of abuse, as well as stress eating/bad habits. I have turned that around and now I jog regularly and eat well. But when I was eating more and heavier, I earned myself two STEM degrees and now I am moving overseas. So, IMO, it's not size that defines someone but their attitude.

From a health point of view, if that is a concern, then you are better off being thin. Excess weight is a risk factor for everything from dementia down. All the diseases of middle age are much worse for anyone outside a reasonable BMI score. How unvarnished would you like the truth told?

Yes as an obese woman I agree- being fat seems to be the worst thing to people.
Of course you can rationally say that someone’s weight doesn’t dictate someone’s worth, and that it’s personality, confidence and kindness that are the most important. However the reality of how anyone that is overweight is treated (in my experience) is vastly different.

I’d rather be fat than stupid. You can always lose weight ...

I’m not sure when being very slim became such a fashionable thing to be attained. Maybe it started in the 70s when there was enough to eat for most people. Some women get obsessed by it, maybe because it’s such a highly visible achievement. But there’s something a bit uncomfortable about it being the sole focus. It is sometimes less about health and more about status and competition. I’ve plenty of fat friends who’ve had very successful careers.

I’m not sure when being very slim became such a fashionable thing to be attained. Maybe it started in the 70s

My mum was born in 1929 and had a life long eating disorder so it pre-dates the 70s by miles.

Didn't Wallis Simpson (Duchess of Windsor) say something like 'one can never be too rich or too thin'?

It has been fashionable and more stylish to be thin since the 1920s @Geraniumblue. And while people say, I'd rather be fat than stupid; when push comes to shove, you have to be AWESOMELY clever to get past fat in a media-driven world. Ergo, it is stupid to be fat. You may as well give yourself a decent shot at success to start with.

Is it still a class thing then? Are richer women more concerned with being thin than poorer women?

Definitely predates the 70s imo. I read a book about this history of fat phobia, by a proper academic btw, not some wellbeing guru or whatever. In that, the author dated it back hundreds of years and believes it began in the USA, which is a bit ironic considering how, well, not skinny people often are in the states. Saying this as a US citizen living in England btw.

It’s because we live in a world that seeks perfection and youth. It’s tragic really, yet here we are.

Even if you could magic yourself slim. That wouldn’t be enough. You wouldn’t be pretty enough or look like the attractive 20 something models that are plastered over the media.

Then it goes a step further when you get naturally good looking women who don’t feel they are attracted enough so then start with the surgery.

If only I was/had....

slimmer
straighter teeth
whiter teeth
thicker hair
a smaller nose
less freckles
fuller lips
bigger eyes
bigger boobs
smaller/bigger bum
less cellulite
no stretch marks
no lines

It’s so sad. Women feel under so much pressure.

Ok, well I’ve just found a reference to dieting in Ancient Greek times, so yes, way before 1970!

I’d rather be fat than stupid. You can always lose weight
I don't understand this point. Fat or slim has no affect on intelligence.

@Geraniumblue

Ok, well I’ve just found a reference to dieting in Ancient Greek times, so yes, way before 1970!

Ha! Goodness.

For the record, I am 64 next week, and neither skinny nor wildly successful so I am not judging here. It's a personal choice. I prefer to see healthy bodies, aesthetically and for medical reasons as a taxpayer. But if you want to gorge on pastry and pies... it won't be me who stops you.

That’s not my wishes although I wouldn’t mind them all! But I was illustrating that being slim wouldn’t be enough for some

But why being slim? Why not healthy eating and healthy living, because they aren’t always the same thing?

@Emeraldshamrock

I’d rather be fat than stupid. You can always lose weight I don't understand this point. Fat or slim has no affect on intelligence.

OP asked if the worst thing was to be fat. No, it’s not. Being stupid is much worse - and, unlike obesity, can’t be improved.

Healthy eating and moderate consumption with a sensible lifestyle and some exercise, year round, will not leave you obese... unless there's some serious underlying health issue... like undiagnosed diabetes.

Obviously there are much worse things in life than being fat but I agree that for some people the thought of being fat is the worst thing they can imagine.
It gives me the absolute rage that horrible, nasty people feel in someway morally superior just because they are not fat.
The faux concern about health is just a cover so they can talk about how great they are while fat people are lazy/ stupid/ selfish etc.
I know someone like this, any opportunity she can work it into the conversation she pretends to be concerned about the health of fat people all the while being smug about her own slim size. Worse thing is she's actually unbearable and nobody likes her but because she's thin she thinks she's superior to the fat people who have loads of friends!