To think 'celebrating your curves' is becoming a worrying trend?

[Freesunglasses]

So many of my overweight 'friends' on facebook are joining in the whole "I'm embracing my curves and loving this body, every inch"
The thing is they are Obese, not use a little overyweight but really fat. The more people see and read things like this the more it will become normalised.

Worrying times ahead I think. We're going to be a very fat country in the not too distant future.
I know it's hard to lose weight. I know lockdown has made lots put weight, I'm a little overweight myself but I will never say I'm happy with it because I'm not! I like being thin, I want to be thin.

For the love of God stop normalising and celebrating obesity.

I agree with you! People with healthy curves should absolutely embrace them and there is certainly no need to be thin or even slim. But people in the obese category need to know that their health is in danger, indeed any doctor would advise them to lose some weight to lower their risk of health problems. Obesity shouldn't be normalised IMO.

Frankly, I find it incredible that during this whole pandemic there have been millions spent on advertising campaigns to stay away from each other, wear masks, vaccinate etc etc to 'protect the NHS', yet not a single campaign on individual health and weight responsibility, when weight has played a big factor in Covid hospitalizations.

Trust me, fat people are fully aware that we are unacceptable in every way. We offend your eyes, use up your health care etc. We already know it's not healthy.

I guarantee that if you asked 1000 obese people living in the UK if they understand that there are risks associated with being fat, including covid, you would get very very few who were totally unaware.

I'm conflicted on this. As someone who has been overweight and lost it (no mean feat in your 40s). I understand how it feels to loathe your body. That said, I am also fully aware of the health problems being overweight / obese causes.

As others have said, people who are fat, know they are fat. So if they get some solace from these influencers, great. However, I agree we shouldn't be normalising obesity due to the health issues it causes. Not sure if it's too late for that though - aren't 64% of adult women obese or overweight in the U.K.?

@AvaCallanach

Trust me, fat people are fully aware that we are unacceptable in every way. We offend your eyes, use up your health care etc. We already know it's not healthy.

I guarantee that if you asked 1000 obese people living in the UK if they understand that there are risks associated with being fat, including covid, you would get very very few who were totally unaware.

Great. We aren't talking unawareness we are talking about it becoming celebrated.

And then there's the defensive reactions to addressing it.

Because you aren't addressing the cause.

If you are dyslexic, your brain struggles with reading. Pointing out that reading is important and you should try harder isn't going to magically overcome it.

People's bodies process food differently. I can be slimmer or fatter but I will always have a heavy lower half and thick ankles. My legs will never be like Kate Middleton's. No matter what I do.

Shaming people or assuming they eat donuts all day or that they are not smart enough to realize the health implications is the wrong approach. This idea that if only we were self disciplined enough we could do it. Well yes you might get a few individuals that way, but the main issue is at societal level and our relationship with food, convenience, the food industry etc. We don't need more diet advice. It's a wholesale overhaul of food culture that's needed.

@AvaCallanach

Trust me, fat people are fully aware that we are unacceptable in every way. We offend your eyes, use up your health care etc. We already know it's not healthy.

I guarantee that if you asked 1000 obese people living in the UK if they understand that there are risks associated with being fat, including covid, you would get very very few who were totally unaware.

Typical hyperbole and a persecution complex.

You aren't 'unacceptable in every way' but you are at much, much higher risk if serious illness and it should be OK to discuss this not celebrate it.

Smokers are at higher risk of cancer. Should we tiptoe round them in case they take offence?

Funny people should say about how there was no dieting as such, pre 1980s, and people put butter and lard and carbs in loads of stuff. People had FAT sandwiches FFS (dripping from the meat.) Much fried food, and NO low fat stuff. I say funny people say this, as me and DH were discussing this just the other day.

No-one ate diet food, yet very VERY few people were fat, or even overweight. The fact that people ate in moderation, and got a LOT more exercise probably helped. Most people I knew walked or cycled almost everywhere... That is a rarity these days. I know a number of people who drive the kids to school, and it's ONE MILE. A 20 minute walk. And no, they don't work, so they don't have any reason to not walk!!!

And clearly some (overweight) people are offended and gasping sighs of disgust, at the posters saying it's mcdonalds, pizza hut, starbucks, and donut shops etc that have contributed to peoples obesity, by suggesting they may eat too much sugary, fat-laced stuff.

However, although some people don't care to hear this, I don't believe for a second that people have got to 4 or 5 stone or more overweight, by eating rabbit food. Even if you don't over-eat, or eat the wrong types of food now, there must have been some points in the past where you over-ate and didn't get enough exercise. That has to be the case, or you wouldn't be obese.

Some people blame having babies for their extra weight, but that's just an excuse. Yeah, no woman's body is the same after having babies, but having babies, is not an excuse - or reason - to be 5 stone overweight or more.

Many women I know went back to their original weight after childbirth, even those who had 2 or 3 or 4. And even those that didn't go back to the original weight, were (and still are) no more than a stone and a half heavier than their pre baby weigh.

You don't get overweight from eating healthily and getting a reasonable amount of exercise. You just don't.

There are the very small minority, who have valid reasons (usually medical reasons,) for being overweight, but with the vast VAST majority of people, it is just over-eating and not getting enough exercise. Fact.

And I know putting FACT after something doesn't always mean it's a FACT, but that is.... and the sooner people stop denying it, the better... And blaming the food companies for selling the high-sugar/high fat foods (and not the individuals who eat it,) is farcical to the extreme! Come ON. Take some responsibilty people!!!

And as I said, my weight has ranged from 9 stone to 15 and a half stone in my adulthood, and when I was 14-15 stone or so, it wasn't because I had spent the last 6 months eating sliced tomato on ryvita, and cup-a-soups. I had over-eaten for many months, and got very little exercise.

When I started to eat less, and exercise more, the weight came off me.

I know, shocking right!!!

Another day, another MN fatphobic post

We need to talk about it from a public health/ population point of view. We are becoming a poly legion of people who are obese. This has consequences individually and collectively, and to ignore this truth is to be reckless with peoples' health and financial wellbeing.
Obv it's not helpful to talk about individuals, even anonymous'friends' but let's not bury the problem; let's discuss it and find solutions

And I still remember the shock aged about 12 when I was sat in the swimming baths next to a girl and realized how "fat" my ankles were compared to hers. I remember being told to lose half a stone by my doctor aged 19, and 10 stone at 5ft 4. I remember being disgusted at myself both times, thinking I was unworthy, I was fat anyway so why did it matter.
That doctor who told me to lose half a stone indirectly, by shaming me, made me gain 2 stone.

'This idea that if only we were self disciplined enough we could do it. Well yes you might get a few individuals that way, but the main issue is at societal level and our relationship with food, convenience, the food industry etc. We don't need more diet advice. It's a wholesale overhaul of food culture that's needed'

But it is true! You do need some self discipline and that is the inconvenient truth. Far better to blame everyone else including the 'food industry'.

Get a health check. See what your blood sugar, cholesterol and BP are doing. They will cause problems at some point if your are fat/obese/overweight. That is without talking about the increased cancer risk and also how obesity has increased the severity of complications from covid.

@AvaCallanach

And I still remember the shock aged about 12 when I was sat in the swimming baths next to a girl and realized how "fat" my ankles were compared to hers. I remember being told to lose half a stone by my doctor aged 19, and 10 stone at 5ft 4. I remember being disgusted at myself both times, thinking I was unworthy, I was fat anyway so why did it matter. That doctor who told me to lose half a stone indirectly, by shaming me, made me gain 2 stone.

10 stone is a healthy weight for your height.

@JaniieJones

'This idea that if only we were self disciplined enough we could do it. Well yes you might get a few individuals that way, but the main issue is at societal level and our relationship with food, convenience, the food industry etc. We don't need more diet advice. It's a wholesale overhaul of food culture that's needed'

But it is true! You do need some self discipline and that is the inconvenient truth. Far better to blame everyone else including the 'food industry'.

Get a health check. See what your blood sugar, cholesterol and BP are doing. They will cause problems at some point if your are fat/obese/overweight. That is without talking about the increased cancer risk and also how obesity has increased the severity of complications from covid.

Ffs I have a health check annually. My blood sugar, cholesterol and BP are fine for my age. The one good thing about below the waist fat.

Do you know about lipedema and the shame we carry from it? Nothing like smoking btw. A smoker can give up (like I did 20 years ago). This is my genetic heritage and I can never get rid of it.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/lipoedema/

I am fat. I agree that there should be a public health debate. If people are fat due to health reasons that is understandable but no one should end up being fat due to not knowing how to make healthy choices if they want to. It should be taught more in schools. It’s like smoking really. You can still choose for yourself but at least you know, these days, what that means. I think doctors should get tougher about spelling it out. I remember one doctor who told me aged 30 that if I didn’t lose weight my knees would struggle in my 50s/60s. I wasn’t even seeing him about my knees! But in hindsight I do appreciate his honesty.

Yes I think it’s a better idea if fat people, especially women, utterly hate themselves.
How dare they have any self esteem?

•But it is true! You do need some self discipline and that is the inconvenient truth. Far better to blame everyone else including the 'food industry'.•

100% agree with this.

I've lost recently lost the excess weight I have been carrying around with me for the past few years whilst moaning about being fat but I've only been able to do that with being really bloody disciplined and by making better food choices.

It wasn't the supermarket, the local pub or McDonalds fault I was overweight. It was the fact I was lazy and liked to eat and drink a lot. It was my own fault, no point blaming anyone else. Healthier choices are out there to be had, it's a cop-out to blame the food industry. The food industry aren't putting the food in your mouth.

The thing is most people who are significantly overweight really don’t like the way they look, and are worried about their health, and are very angry with letting themselves get that way.

But the reason they are overweight is because of some emotional pain, so the overeating is hard to fix. If you load that on top of society judging you for you weight... well it’s a horrible place to be in - really horrible. And - hating yourself and feeling rejected by the world is not a very helpful place to start change from. So I think for most people the BP movement is just a way to try and accept themselves as they are, feel a bit happier and then loose weight from there. It’s not a place people want to be, not really.

In terms of our general obesity problem, lots needs to be done - and I absolutely agree being very overweight is not a good thing - but the need not to make people feel terrible for being overweight is one useful thing we can take from the BP movement.

Lipedema isn't even rare. It affects 10 percent of uk women none of whom will have heard of it as a teen, all of whom will be disgusted by, and shamed about, their "cankles", teased by family and boys for having tree trunk legs, the majority of whom will go on to develop a deeply troubled relationship with nutrition because in every case the scales will weigh them heavier than their trunk actually is because of the heavy legs that will not slim up no matter what diet and exercise regime you do.
It's a feminist issue.

images.app.goo.gl/bFuC2vNb1VTsiuz37

'Yes I think it’s a better idea if fat people, especially women, utterly hate themselves. How dare they have any self esteem?'

No no, not hate themselves. Just stop with the excuses and 'fat shaming' accusations as soon as it is discussed. It is becoming fashionable to announce that 'curvy' is good. Curvy is good, obesity isn't.

Do you blame the fast food industry? The diet industry? Confectionary and snackfood industries
Or does all the blame go to individuals?
If we stop acknowledging people have agency then that's a fairly depressing view of the world.

The food industry is hugely problematic, but if obesity was entirely down to that then almost everyone would be obese.

As with any change in life (not just weight related), if a person wants to make excuses and blame external factors then they'll never change. People can sit around feeling defensive about any area of their life if they don't want to make a change because it suits them to pass the responsibility beyond themselves rather than acknowledge they can make small changes.

I used to be skinnier than I am now, but didn't lead an active lifestyle. I'd probably have been what people would call 'skinny fat'.I could blame being busy, not having money for the gym, not having time to cook from scratch, but the fact of the matter was I chose to prioritise other things other than exercise. When I chose to make exercise a priority, it happened.

Obesity is a huge public health problem, but I don’t think this trend has any real influence on it. It’s massively difficult to lose weight, and yo-yo dieting is more of a concern than people just resigning themselves to being fat and enjoying life.

@HelloMissus

Yes I think it’s a better idea if fat people, especially women, utterly hate themselves. How dare they have any self esteem?

Who said fat people should hate themselves?

@TheStoic

OP I think you’re upset because you think fat people don’t have the right to feel good about themselves. How dare they?

Because if being thin is not better than being fat, you may not have anything else going for you.

Eh?!

I'm not upset at all. Everyone has the right to feel good about themselves but my post is about not making obesity into something to be celebrated and normalised.