to think Cosmo threw these models under the bus?

[Hangingover]

AIBU to think this caption choice was deliberate to cause a Twitter-shit-storm (with the side effect of loads of horrible comments about the models)? Feels like they took something positive and deliberately twisted it to make people angry.

When they say being fat is unhealthy they don't mean compared to another person, they mean compared to you if you weren't over weight

Hear hear

All the comparisons of bigger person X to thinner person Y are irrelevant in the most part! Plus, even if being overweight is no worse than smoking - you don't see magazines with a load of smokers doing yoga presented as positivity?

I'm totally against "fat shaming" but pretending the extra couple of stone I'm carrying wouldn't be better off gone is not helpful either!

This thread is so depressing.

Obese to Beast did. a great reaction video to this. It’s quite long but if anyone is looking for some procrastination.

@Marv1nGay3

I don’t see the same level of debate about how unhealthy all the dangerously underweight models on the covers of magazines are and how unhealthy that is. That has become normal. We live in a fat phobic society and anything that endorses ‘Health at Every Size’ is positive in my opinion. Anorexia has a 20% mortality rate. ( my dd14 is a sufferer).

There absolutely was the same debate when underweight models were used. Even some fashion weeks implemented minimum BMI for models. There is always a debate about extremes.

I agree with pp. They knew how will people interpret it. It was designed to get people talking. Let's face it, cosmo is nowhere close they used to be, so every little controversy helps.

An extreme will sell magazines. To actually change the world bit by bit and make size 10-12 acceptable for a model, they're not brave enough to do that.

It is weird though how you often see an obese woman on the front of a magazine but one thing you will never see is a woman who is size 12. And if that's a tall model, she will be slim. She will be healthy.

But that's the one thing magazines won't put on the cover, true health.

And I agree that it's not possible to be obese and healthy for a long time. When obese people say I'm healthy, what they often mean is that they can do exercise without getting out of breath, and that is great, but metabolism is as important as cardiovascular health so important and covid has shown, if your metabolism isn't working close to optimally you're at more risk.

I can't believe people still buy cosmo actually!

Younger people even more likely to just view everything on line.
Older women wouldn't buy cosmo cos there comes a point when you've just read all this shit before.

Good housekeeping and Red probably have more of a potential readership at this point.

@HayJkl

Wow I won't be buying Cosmo anymore. Since when is Obesity a good thing? Especially during a pandemic where obese people have a much higher chance of death. Super unattractive and so so unhealthy!!

I am guessing that it's a while since you bought a copy?

I just don't know who would!?

Whatever you read on the cover, you can google that and get more articles.

Perhaps people who take the tube to work?

They are trying to cater to a new audience, the plus size body positivity crowd. That size is not healthy, she may be a yoga instructor or whatever but being that heavy is putting her body under enormous pressure.

If they capture that audience it's more readers in an industry with dwindling reader numbers. And with the amount of backlash this article has had, I bet their sales for this issue with have rocketed.

oh yeh! clever.

They'll have that dreadful Honey Ross on the cover next week.

And to be clear, the main reason I think she's dreadful is because she judges her parents v harshly for trying to steer her towards losing a bit of weight but thinks it's fine to post almost naked selfies on social media

If that were my daughter, omg, I'd be ........drinking a lot of pink gin and telling her to fund her own wifi

It depends what message you take from it. If people realise, actually I don't have to be under size 12 to do yoga or other exercise, that's a good thing. Quite a few obese people won't go to classes or the gym because of perceptions of fat shaming and expectations that people will laugh at them. If a magazine cover like this means more people think, yes I can do that ad I'mgoingto, then it's a good thing.

For Cosmo, it's probably the most talked about cover since Demi Moore's naked pregnant body on Vanity Fair, so they've probably achieved their goal in putting it on.

The outrage of people who assume what the article is about from a picture is depressing. A couple more of this month’s cover models for context.

I think the problem is when the overweight or obese do need medical treatment as the extra weight causes problems & extra strain on internal organs & joints.
You can be as fit & active as you like but if you have considerably more fat than muscle, it's going to catch up with you eventually.
The reason sports people need new hips & knees is because they've been pushing their bodies physically in a short space of time.
Someone who is overweight will need surgery for hips & knees because it's been a gradual build up of problems overtime. They might be older so recovery will be harder not only due to their weight but their age. This in turn needs more care.
My mother had a cardiac ablation, threading a catheter through her veins to her heart to both record the rhythm & then zap the affected areas.
Unfortunately the first patient was very overweight & her arteries were narrowed due to the extra weight pushing down on them. The procedure took almost double the allotted time & they had to stay in overnight.
Luckily my mother was next on the list & was able to leave after the procedure.
The last patient of the day had their procedure cancelled as there was no more time!
The first patient's weight issues not only caused major problems during her procedure but had a knock-on effect in the clinic leading to another patient, through no fault of their own, having their ablation cancelled...
Yes I know that some people have a higher BMI due to carrying more muscle than fat but if a person's BMI is due to fat then they need to lose that weight. Maybe the answer is more bariatric surgery?

It's hugely irresponsible.
Weight and obesity is a huge factor in illnesses, including covid. It causes a huge strain on the NHS.
For them to post that on the cover is disgustingly irresponsible. Exercise or not, that woman is not healthy, she is at risk of heart issues, cancers, bone disorders and many more. Is our NHS not struggling enough without Cosmo peddling rubbish like that?

I think part of the answer is what Cosmo is (perhaps inadvertently) doing.

Exercise has a key role in a healthy lifestyle and a healthy weight - it's impact on confidence, interest in health and metabolism being greater than it's calorific burn suggests.

But too often larger women (probably also men to an extent) are locked out of exercise because we had typically not seen images of larger women exercising. If you don't see it, you are less lilely to do it. If you do try it, shame or a fear of being judged by others may put you off again. Even the idea that you are not doing it properly because your body can not do the samer things as smeone thin. As a small example, if you have a large stomach then some yoga poses are not possible in their tradtional form - though there are great adjustments you can make for yourself. If you don't see or are not told of what adjustments you can make, you may see that your lunges or forward folds don't look like the instructors and lose heart.

You are also less likely to find good advice on how to start. Even simple things like knowing what kind of sports bra is more supportive if you have a very large chest or large back size. Or shoes that are extra cushioning for heavier frames. Or leggings that stop your thighs banging together. For sure this is all getting better but we still have a way to go.

Plus, and you se it all the time on here, the whole conversation around food and diet is still geared around the idea than you must suffer to lose weight. You must give up carbs, or eat 800-1200 kcals a day, give up treats totally, only eat foods you don't tend to like. I'm not knocking any of those methods but there are not enough conversations about how there is also the option to do it very slowly and gently and keep enough of what you like to eat to feel satisfied.

Finally, the diet conversations tend to be all or nothing. If you don't get down to a healthy BMI you have failed. This is crap. If you weight 18 stone and you get down to 16 stone, you still would have made a massive difference to your health. It should still be celebrated as a success and not enough people recongise that. Or that it is also a valid option to take a break, just focus on staying at your new lower weight for a few months before trying to lose a little bit more. The conversation is STILL focussed around messages like "lose a stone in 3 weeks" or "lose 100lbs in a year".

In short, conversations with many women suggest to me that thin or at, many have deeply unhealthy attitudes to food as a result of the disturbing messages we're fed around diet and body shape. It's so saddening to me.

Although i think magazines should feature a range of womens shapes and sizes, i think its too far the body positivity trend trying to push morbid obesity. Didnt anorexic models get banned? Therefore the other extreme should be banned too.

Overweight people shouldnt be shamed bht they should also not be held up as bastions of health. Im sick of people saying about how healthy they are when they are obese and they can do the splits and they can walk faster than anyone or they only eat healthy foods. So many studies have been done to prove that people become overweight due to eating too much food and that includes what they perceive as healthy its not all takeaways and biscuits. Long term they have higher risk of infertility, blood clots, cancer, heart disease, strokes, breathing issues, joint issues and much more.

To counter balance, being extremely underweight has serious health issues as well including infertility, heart issues and osteoporosis.

Both are two sides of the extreme and shouldnt be promoted in magazines, which, like it or not are marketed as an aspirational life style. We have lost sight in society of what is healthy and normal weight and it needs addressing in a civilised and helpful manner.

Also we need to stop the silly comparisons. An example is we are taking about weight but you always have someone like "but, but the obese model is doing yoga and you're trying ing to say a slim model who chainsmokes and is addicted to meth is healthier just because shes slim".

Also its not important what the other models look like. The fact is it still says this is healthy over a photo of someone who very clearly is not.

I’m thinking the message This Is Healthy is more to do with having different body images on the cover and questioning the impact of images on feelings of self worth

Incidentally I have been a size 4 - anorexic chain smoker and now a chubby size 12 who can run 5k easily and spar quite well thanks! I’m fitter at 50 - both mental and physically than I was at 23

@Shaniac

Also its not important what the other models look like. The fact is it still says this is healthy over a photo of someone who very clearly is not.

Exercising which she is clearly doing is healthy. That is what is healthy. Jesus. Are people being deliberately obtuse?

The article has had the desired effect, you only need to read the comments on this thread. Upset, support, fat shaming, body confidence , the views are all very different. This will help sell the magazine as it is a debate that draws interest. As mentioned up thread, I think the pics have been photoshopped. Callie Thorpe who is a plus size influencer is much larger than this cover shows, that in itself isn’t a problem, but let’s show the true picture and the real truth. She has said on her stories that she has suffered from an eating disorder for 18 years or so and that in the last year with the pandemic she’s really suffered with her mental health. That’s much more real but doesn’t sell tons of copies of the magazine. Instead an issue that involves frenzied debate of obesity does.

If you weight 18 stone and you get down to 16 stone, you still would have made a massive difference to your health. It should still be celebrated as a success and not enough people recongise that.

This.

That 'model' is Jessamyn Stanley a yoga teacher who 'has made a career out of breaking down barriers to wellness activities like yoga, making the practice accessible to everybody and every body'

I've followed her on Twitter for years, she released a book last year on yoga and health and wellness. She believes wellness and health is for you and you only and is not performative to others expectations. She is stronger and fitter than many slimmer women younger than her.

She's only 33 though, so still plenty of time for her weight to take its toll on her joints, heart, lungs etc. Teaching Yoga doesn't lessen the risk of that or type 2 diabetes or all the other health issues that can be caused by being overweight.

Cosmo getting desperate now.

I bought one for the plane a few weeks ago, first time in years. There was literally without exaggeration just ONE article that wasnt a blatant product pitch. Even the non fashion/cosmetics parts shoehorn in ads. "How to relax...." by buying this candle, that weighted blanket, this massage break etc.

It was nauseating. All they're trying to do is to shock here in a desperate bid to remain relevant.

And by the way, no that woman doesnt look healthy, and I dont believe she's fitter than most slimmer women.