To think size 18 is plus size and not 'hardly plus size'

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The poster, with a very large following, is saying a size 18 isn't really plus size by much, and that 'most people (in the UK), are above a Size 16?

Really? I don't know that many people above a size 16. I really don't. I know lots and lots of size 12/14 and thought that was about average? It's usually the first sizes to sell out

www.instagram.com/p/ChiDp-1Mos3/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Nobody is saying otherwise.

But food/size is different to alcohol/cigarettes/cocaine in that people have to eat and wear clothes regardless of their size and how unhealthy and "disgusting" they're perceived to be.

So instead of all the body shaming and criticism and faux horror that anyone over size 16 even exists, why not try being, I don't know, nice?

I think the wisdom is that most people overeat by the equivalent of a Mars bar a day. It's about 120 - 200 calories. A simple chocolate bar isn't a lot when you think about it once. But do that everyday and you build up a problem. It also seems very innocent and invisible at that rate.

The clearing your plate thing (or not letting food on your kids plates go to waste) is relevant here. It need not be stuffing your face with cakes.

Feeling obliged to have the office cake rather than say no thanks is another good one because social pressure also plays a role.

Good habits and thinking...

Yay, another thread of fat shaming, health experts banging on about their personal anecdotal weight and health bollocks.

OP, ask yourself why you felt so aggrieved by a social media account that you needed to shame them for having a view (on size) that differs from your own.

It’s no wonder that sexism and fat phobia prevail when you see all the armchair experts wheel themselves out on threads like this.

Depressing.

Pointless argument. Everyone carries weight differently and wears clothing differently, loser or tighter or whatever. Two ladies both wearing 14's or two size 16's will look totally different!! People carry their weight in different areas etc!

I'm quite tall but I guess not tall enough for tall clothing (5 foot 7-8) so I size up in clothes which hopefully cover my mum tum and jeans will pull up over my c-section over hang.

people should buy whatever clothes they feel good in. I've known people, including myself who have felt ashamed to buy bigger so they squeeze into smaller but imo buy what you want, who cares what size it is, the term plus size should be banned. We don't call very small clothing 'mini size'. It's 2022 for gods sake. Yes being overweight does come with health risks but naturally slimmer people can get health probs too.. I know this from experience!

people who are 'plus size' usually know about it so they really don't need to be reminded.

I think it's hard for people who have never had any weight issues to grasp how difficult it is to lose weight. I've seen slim people say stupid things like well just 'eat less, move more' which in theory would be flipping fantastic but it's not as easy as that, if it was we'd all be very slim!!

I’m a size 14 but with a BMI of obese… of course there will always be the exceptions (a friend of mine is quite a bit slimmer than me, but much taller so generally wears a size 16) but for the most part I think plus size means anything above a 14, doesn’t it?

Exactly you can't get fat or stay fat without eating too much. The reasons for eating too much are many and complex and there is definitely no easy fix in our world of plenty, but where food is scarce, no one is fat.

I don’t think hips were 26 inches you might be confusing that with waist, in the early 00 when I’d get my teen clothes from catalogues I distinctly remember the size 8 being 24 inch waist and 34 inch hips and a 10 being 26 inch waist and 36 hips… obviously it’s gone up now, I’ve never come across a 40 inch hip for an 8 either…. Perhaps that poster is referring to a US 8 which would be a UK 12?

The thing is with me, I have to consciously tell myself what is a good portion and often measure/weigh it with calorific foods.

People say "stop eating when you are full". But I get that comfortably full feeling sometimes when I've overeaten quite considerably.

I notice some slim people actually make being slim something of a performance, like being slim is their thing, it's the one thing they have managed to do well in their lives. There is a lot of "Oh I can only eat half a bagel."
"I couldn't eat another thing" after half a piece of toast and a cucumber or something.

Perhaps it's genuine and they really can't eat more. But I almost always could eat a hell of a lot more, and thoroughly enjoy it too.

In the context of the Instagram post though it does make sense. Victoria Beckham says that they are now including plus sizes in the collection but they only go up to size 18. This is 'normal' sizing in most shops now, I think. So the poster is saying hardly plus size meaning not really delving into the plus size world of 16-24 (or whatever size plus size is considered).

of course it would.....

My mum for years was a size 18-20 she'd try to lose weight all the time and it never happened. She knew she was fat (she said herself) and wanted to be slimmer. Eventually she completely changed her lifestyle and got into exercise and lost about 5 stone slimming down to a 12 which she's managed to maintain now for over 10 years. The annoying thing about when she was big was even though she knew she was and was trying to get the weight off she would pick on me for being too slim. I wasn't, I've always had a healthy bmi and apart from when I went to uni and drank too much (and had my children many years later) a size 8. Somehow her perception of healthy/normal was distorted by the fact she's always been big. I'm late 30s now with 3 young children and yes still a size 8, she's finally stopped saying I'm too thin and accepted my size (/is comfortable with her own size). I think when someone is overweight their perception of weight is skewed, so someone who is clearly overweight (and know they are really) would rather not admit they are plus size, instead everyone else is too thin.

@Unscented I'm aware the thread is about women. The nasty, goady threads and comments elsewhere about weight are always about women. Men who are overweight are considered normal and those who are obese are given a much easier ride.

16 might be average but it is most definitely overweight- this is me. 5 foot 4 inches and 13 stone and a size 16. According to the nhs bmi calculator I should weigh no more than 10 stone 6 oz. I am two and half stone overweight.

I feel heavy and am clearly less fit than I should be. I managed to avoid putting on any more weight on a recent holiday by eating well and the weight loss journey is starting in earnest today. For me it is evening snacking that has to stop so I will be watching tv via my MacBook in bed or reading, and getting to bed earlier rather than staying up late downstairs and snacking. I am aiming to be a size 14 by Christmas and a 12 by next summer.

Men who are overweight are considered normal and those who are obese are given a much easier ride.

Indeed. When I'm pretty sure that in my Gen X age group, men are actually on average fatter and unhealthier than women. I think women are more likely to be at least trying to do something about it.

Men do face the same issues with sizes though. There's only SML (10/12/14?) and then it's all about the Xs (XL/XXL etc)

BMI is about the bluntest instrument in the blunt instruments drawer.

www.newscientist.com/article/2317296-people-over-80-with-overweight-bmi-may-have-lower-mortality-rates/

'“BMI is based on body weight, but a person’s disease risk is linked to body fat, not weight. It is more important to focus on measures that tell us more about fat in the body and where it’s distributed, such as waist circumference, to get a better understanding of health and risk.”'

Size 22 here. I was plus sized when I was a 16 tbh. I think if you are a 14 or below you're average (I am loathe to say, "normal"). I own my size and know it's no good for me so I'm trying to do something about it..,when I get into a 14 I'll feel average again (& have more choice in clothes!)

Surely its possible to say its fine to be overweight for aesthetic reasons, overweight women can look fabulous and attractive, but at the same time say its not fine to be overweight for health reasons?
To recognise that the average women is overweight, and so has a 'normal' body size, but that this 'normal' is not optimum for health?
To argue that no woman should feel pressured to change her body shape to fit an idea of attractiveness, but should be supported to do so for her physical wellbeing?
That the reason its not 'good' to be plus size is nothing to do with looking 'disgusting', but everything to do with staying well, now and into older age?
The main influence over a woman's choice to lose weight shouldnt be whether her body at a particular size is pleasing or not, but whether she is looking after her body in a way that will minimise her chances of illness and maximise her chances of life long good health.
The conflation of these two seperate things is very unhelpful.

Then there's the invention of the car. Parents don't walk their kids to school anymore.
The world has changed. As a child I walked to school with my mum, it took 15 minutes each way. But as an adult I can’t afford to live in the village where my parents live, the house prices are too high. We live on a new build estate two miles outside of the village. So it would take me an hour and a half to walk my kids to the same school and walk home, and the same when I pick them up. My littles would struggle to walk that far. And I don’t have the time to spare either, because unlike my mother I can’t afford to be a housewife - I have to work. So I need to get my kids to school asap and get to work 15 miles away, in a job which (like most jobs nowadays) involves sitting on my bum.

Ditto shops. There are no shops ten minutes away! The small local shops in the village closed down years ago. My nearest food shop is a supermarket 2 miles away, along a dual carriageway with no pavement. The fact is that modern life is decentralised and dispersed, and we need cars to get around because the distances have increased beyond what is reasonable to walk.

In many cases it will be just people being judgemental, but there are some valid reasons to have an opinion too, such as the effect and cost on the NHS due to the associated conditions (diabetes, cancers, heart and joint problems etc.)

Yes of course. That's what I was saying and actually although most women "diet" in the hope of improving their appearance, a far bigger motivator is when you do it for your health.

E.g. I started running to try and lose some weight, but once I got into running, managing my weight to become a better runner became much more important to me than how I looked

People's idea of 'full' also varies hugely. I know lots of people whose idea of 'full' is literally cannot take another bite, has to undo their jeans top button kind of full. Other people stop eating when they're 'not actively hungry, stomach rumbling' anymore.

Personally I hate the 'full' feeling of the former. Other people hate the 'still peckish' feeling of the latter. I love food, and love eating, but I'm lucky (?) that my preference is to have something a bit later rather than 'fill the tank' until I can't eat any more less often.

I also find I still get hungry at roughly the same time of day no matter how much I've eaten for the previous meal, so it's not like a bigger meal sustains me for that much longer.

Well put. I am in my early fifties and can feel my excess weight hurt my knees when walking. And I am an apparently average size. It catches up.

Which probably says more about society normalising being overweight.

I always said to myself that I wouldn't ask my kids to finish their plate.

The problem is my kids will eat half of their meal, claim theyre stuffed. Then 30 mins later ask for more food. So I end up saying, eat another few bites, to avoid the constant demands for snacks...

I should probably just refuse the snacks I guess.

I think there's a lot of guilt in saying no to food.