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.

in the nineties obesity was very rare

I've got a bridge to sell you.

Wanting to be thin is not healthy and suggesting it’s desirable is dangerous for children. I speak as the mother of an Anorexic who has been hospitalised several times. It started as wanting to be thin and thinking it was desirable. Once Anorexia takes hold it’s incredibly difficult to get rid off and as a mental illness has high mortality rates. It’s like a steam train you can’t stop and can take over very fast. There is an epidemic of eating disorders at the moment and resources are overwhelmed. Some areas are struggling with a 300% increase. If you were on some of the forums I’m on and witnessed the hell families are struggling to get out of you’d realise how damaging holding up being thin as desirable is.

I think there needs to be a happy medium.
Being obese is unhealthy and unhealthy lifestyles shouldn’t be promoted. But people who are obese should love themselves and celebrate who they are, so yes it’s tricky.

@Foosterin

OP, obesity really wasn't rare in the 90s...it's not that long ago!

But it was rare in the 1970s, which isn't that long ago either.

Being overweight to the point of obesity is very unhealthy, and shouldn't be celebrated any more than being a smoker should be celebrated.

But we're so screwed up about giving health messages about weight, that even when CRUK does one factual ad campaign about the impact of excess weight on cancer risk even they get pilloried for fat shaming.

This is a pity and leads to so much unhappiness, because the impact of obesity on real lives is so harmful.

And one step in ending an obesogenic society is to look at attitudes. Being gratuitously rude and unpleasant is not what I mean. But I would like to see the end of false 'celebrations'

God another one of these. Yes fat people should hate themselves and self flagellate for at least 6 hours every day.

But it was rare in the 1970s, which isn't that long ago either.

Sorry, need to clarify, I mean the earlier part of the 1970s, as that was the decade when it did change (easy to find the peer-reviewed evidence for this via google), but even after the start of the sharp rise then, the proportion of obese people in the population was within the parameters of typical distribution.

@ThankYouHunkyJesus

God another one of these. Yes fat people should hate themselves and self flagellate for at least 6 hours every day.

OP's not saying that!!

Those lovely rounded curves drop to saggy rolls of fat as you age.

I think celebrating curves and celebrating obesity are 2 separate things.

Some people carry a little extra weight and are curvy due to this and are healthy and active.

Some people are perfectly healthy weight and curvy and we should celebrate these curves and move away from being a stick thin rectangle as the norm.

But I agree with your message that we shouldn't be celebrating curves via obesity as if it's something to strive for.

It's unhealthy.

And I say this as someone who has come from having disordered eating to remain too thin and also just lost weight and continuing to do so having hit a BMI of 31 in lockdown.

People come in all shapes and sizes and that should be encouraged and celebrated. But an unhealthy lifestyle should not.

Curves are lovely and feminine...obesity is not but body positivity is good.
Im surprised you are getting a flaming as there are so many fat shamers on mn.

Op said

“I like being thin, I want to be thin.“

Incredibly damaging and unhealthy.

Some people smoke, some (many) drink alcohol, others are obese

It’s their choice

If they are happy and unconcerned about their health, why not

We must ‘t force people to live long lives if they prefer to live the way they want, albeit shorter

It’s personal choice and everyone has the right to feel happy about their choice

If someone celebrates their curves/obesity good for them

Obesity is normal now anyway. That ship has sailed.

@W1llowGreen

Op said

“I like being thin, I want to be thin.“

Incredibly damaging and unhealthy.

Are you thin shaming me?

I meant slim.

Perhaps if I posted a photo of my skinny self (I'm not skinny) and said I love me being skinny people would tell me how beautiful I am, or be concerned for my health.

@ThankYouHunkyJesus

God another one of these. Yes fat people should hate themselves and self flagellate for at least 6 hours every day.

Can you point out where I said that?

Jeeeze this post is way off the mark op!

No one celebrates being fat! Society makes women in particular feel bad about being overweight.

"But noone ever celebrsted being too thin that I know of. Noone says 'look at my skelatol frame, isn't it gorgeous'
They'd be told to see a doctor."

^^ This is just nonsense. Just speak to one of the many parents whose girls have eating disorders!!

You are rude & unkind about your friends. And you should stop being so judgemental

Obesity is normal now anyway. That ship has sailed

We could have said that about levels of smoking too.

Turning that ship is really important, and can be done

Weight alone isn't a great indicator of health.

Obesity has existed since earliest times.

We k is from research that for 95% of people diets don't work long term. Most regain within five years and a worryingly high percentage rate gain more on top.

We need to be pushing exercise and focusing on other health indicators to Iimprove outcomes for everyone.

The OP isn't saying it directly but the issue is that obesity is far more complex than just people having no self control. By constantly telling fat people that they are wrong to celebrate or accept themselves, people are telling them that they are not worthy. How do people not realise this? It's the same as how the very thin people are also treated as not normal. We've already had people on this post saying how terrible it has made them feel. No amount of fat shaming will make someone a healthy weight. Self acceptance and support from others will help far more.

I have been overweight all my life but for huge swathes of it not very - bmi 26/27. In my 40s I have come to terms with the fact that this is me. My set point weight is about 10 stone 10 (I am only 5 3 so this is about half a stone overweight by bmi). I have a smallish waist which is about 29 inches at that weight and the weight is mostly carried on my thighs and arse so from a health perspective the 'best' place for excess weight. I don't kid myself that this is great btw but i don't smoke and I rarely drink and try to eat fairly well.

It would have changed my perception of myself hugely as a teen/in my early 20s for someone to have said this was ok. That some boys would still fancy me and that I could look nice. That I may not be sporty but I wasn't a hippo in my swimming costume which was the one thing I was quite good at. I would have treated myself so much better if I wasn't ashamed of myself for being fat and if every visit to my loving extended family wasn't first kicked off by a gentle analysis of my size (my brother oddly didn't get subjected to the same).

My weight has shot up a couple of times - once when I moved in with dh and we lived if pizza and beer and then in my 30s after baby loss, fertility treatment and pregnancy. I have lost that weight as that was really unhealthy although now hovering around the bmi 30 mark so need to shift it. The issue though is that years of yo yo dieting has fucked my metabolism and losing it is pretty much impossible whilst gaining is a work of moments. I can't eat like a normal person, it's either feast or famine.

So yes whilst I think that obesity is a public health crisis and urgently needs to be dealt with, a bit of kindness and acceptance that people are different is no bad thing in my book.

@SmiledWithTheRisingSun

Jeeeze this post is way off the mark op!

No one celebrates being fat! Society makes women in particular feel bad about being overweight.

"But noone ever celebrsted being too thin that I know of. Noone says 'look at my skelatol frame, isn't it gorgeous'
They'd be told to see a doctor."

^^ This is just nonsense. Just speak to one of the many parents whose girls have eating disorders!!

You are rude & unkind about your friends. And you should stop being so judgemental

Woman on facebook just said "I'm celebrating my curves and rolls" celebrating!

Hmm, j think it's OK to embrace your curves. I wish I could be happier in my own skin, and I'm just a bit heavier ATM after having a baby, but I'm obsessing over my weight.
What I absolutely hate os that you have to be a certain type of curvy i.e. Big bump and thighs, pinched in waist and big boots, not love handles, or podgy belly with slim legs and not much bum. So "embracing curves" is a load of shit really, because your only allowed to be fat if you have the "womanly hourglass figure".

I agree with you OP and you are being brave saying it as it's so in vogue at the moment.

Obesity is just as bad for you as extreme thinness. I think girls such as Jonathan Ross' daughter are a bad influence. I also don't believe they're 'I love myself' schtick as if they did, they wouldn't need to gorge on food in search of comfort.

I agree completely. It was borne of good intentions, re trying to help people understand size 0 was not “normal”, but it’s swung too far the other way.

"Weight alone isn't a great indicator of health.

Obesity has existed since earliest times.

We k is from research that for 95% of people diets don't work long term. Most regain within five years and a worryingly high percentage rate gain more on top.

We need to be pushing exercise and focusing on other health indicators to Iimprove outcomes for everyone."

Obesity has increased significantly in recent decades and continues to climb.

1% of the population were morbidly obese in 2018 but 3% of the population are morbidly obese now.

I don't think it does anyone any favours to minimise the appalling statistics, or to imply that this can be solved through exercise or any means other than addressing the quality or quantity of food that some people consume.

The thing is clothes don't look as good. I'm at least half a stone overweight and struggling to lose it (was slimmish most of my life but now I'm older should eat much less). But what I miss is buying clothes that look nice. - Nothing looks that great in my view.