Body positivity is out of control…

[YumYumY]

Inspired by another thread raising the topic of UPFs (by a fit 70 year old).

And I’m definitely people judging and shaming.

Lot of us eat shit food (availability of shit food definitely an issue) and seem to be proud of it.

Common MN army, lay into me.

I’ve done both, got used to eating crap as well as got more disciplined and got the crap out of my system (more than once and the change in diet was never a pleasurable experience).

But looking at the streets people just look so, yes fat, and unhealthy. And I’m calling already a size 12 fat here just to be clear (with some leeway for different bone structures)

When will we start admitting we are fat and it is a problem.

"Street" people are looking fat and unhealthy not because they see it as a positive trait. They have no choice. Given the choice (=money), majority would not live off chicken nuggets and fish fingers or whatever could be bought in bulk on a discounted price, and put into freezer. Buying whole foods sadly is a privilege, cooking from scratch sadly is a privilege.

Agreed. My comment about availability of shit food is addressing that. But many people do seem to defend the food they eat, rather than address the lack of choice.

Jeesh, thanks for the bit of leeway 😂 at a size 12 I'd be skinny! A fair portion of people are fat but a lot of people aren't. I tend to see mostly average people in my day to day life, rarely any people who are significantly overweight. I wonder if that's due to location too?

Being "disciplined" for you is fab - not everyone has that ability / time / finances available. It's 10x easier to be a "healthy" weight if you have money, to pay for healthy food choices, gym memberships along with time to utilise both. I do see the fact I can pay £££ for "healthier" foods and a gym membership to be something that a lot of people couldn't.

I think that availability of more nutritious food is definitely an issue but I sometimes do think that people have also perhaps lost the skills of home cooking, I'm only 31 but the amount of people my age who don't cook from scratch is definitely eye opener, most don't know how when we have conversations on it. If you don't know how then this can be daunting!

It's more time-consuming to plan meals and shop for good food on a budget, but it's definitely possible and doesn't cost more than buying cheap crap nuggets etc. It takes time, to plan, to visit different shops and then to cook. When you've got two parents working with children I think it's just not a priority at the end of a busy day.

I speak from experience, having been really, really poor in the past. I know exactly how far I could stretch a quarter of mince, a bag of ham trimmings and cheap veg for example too. I made good use of sacks of spuds and catering size bags of pasta. It was time consuming though and much more work than visiting Iceland three for two offers and chucking the shopping in the oven every night.

Nothing wrong with a fishfinger: the British nutrition foundation says they are pretty healthy

https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/baked-beans-and-fish-fingers-are-back-on-the-healthy-menu

obviously we need to make the right choices but for busy families the right processed foods can be a good choice.

Body positivity isn’t about saying “fat is good”, it’s saying “don’t be shitty to fat people” (including yourself, if you are fat).

Im fat. I’m working on it. I’m trying to get less fat. But body positivity to me means I’m not going to berate myself for being fat. And it means if you try to berate me for being fat, I’ll tell you to fuck off.

@YumYumY

12 isn't fat, my dd is a 12 and plays sport competitively, gym and swim daily and exercise due to job (military)

The sedentary lifestyle and office jobs of today are adding to the problem in a massive way. People aren't burning off what they eat over the course of an active day like they used to so need to restrict food more than ever before to keep to a healthy bmi. Coupled with the readily avaliable high calorie food that surrounds us its a recipie for widespread obesity.

And I’m calling already a size 12 fat here just to be clear

What are you saying here? Size 12 is fat, or over a size 12?

I’m tall, at size 12 my BMI is normal. At size 14 yes I am overweight.

Agree with you on ultra processed/shit foods. The knowledge and research about UPFs is out there now, people need to start taking a bit of responsibility. Especially when it comes to their kids (in my opinion). The age of frozen turkey dinosaurs, frozen potato shapes and flavoured kids yoghurts is over in our household. Replaced by jacket potatoes, omlettes, fresh non-UPF turkey slices, vegetables, natural yogurt, fruit. I can’t use the excuse that we both work and life is busy anymore. Not giving my kids shit ultra processed food anymore.

Our grocery bill since changing to low-UPF is the same. Frozen nuggets are expensive as hell these days, potatoes not so much.

That’s the thing. It’s normalised in western countries, because of the food available. Most of the average people that are considered ‘healthy’ will actually be overweight from health perspective.

Body positivity didn't cause the obesity crisis and calling size 12 women fat won't solve it.

We need to uncouple health and wellness and appearance. Eat well because you'll feel good. Work out because you'll feel good. Accept and be grateful for a working body because you'll feel good. As a side effect you might look better, but that shouldn't be the reason.

I'm fat.

I'm not positive about my body because I fucking hate it.

I have seven illnesses and I use a wheelchair.

I had my work capability assessment the other week. Their definition of acceptable cooking levels is heating a pre-prepared hot meal once a day.

I try to eat as healthily as I can but to be honest as I'm in constant pain and can't walk far it isn't a bloody priority.

I’m a size 14-16 I don’t give a shit if you think I’m fat. I exercise regularly, and eat well and enough to fuel my brain and body. So why don’t you take your judgy behaviour and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

I've been thinking about this a bit more and you hear it a lot. It's so easy to trot out the widely held belief that eating the rubbish food is cheaper than buying and cooking fresh and reasonably healthy food, but it's really not true.

I do think it's very hard to find the time and energy for the extra effort shopping and cooking from fresh. However, if you do it well, it is cheaper than bulk buying processed foods. There are so many sources of information you can find in a simple Google search that demonstrate this - the shopping lists, the recipes, it's all there. It requires a different mindset and a time investment that many just can't manage.

Agreed again. It does get mixed up though, and seems that body positivity especially perhaps in younger people becomes detrimental. They might not feel the health effects of the extra weight as much but the body is getting used to certain diet harder to change later…

I don't think this is necessarily true for the majority. I don't dispute it's true for a lot of people, but laziness also comes into it. My parents raised me on a diet of mini kievs, supernoodles, Coke and Haribo. I don't think I drank water until I was about 15. I have a mouth full of fillings and I'm so bitter about it. Since I turned 18 and had control of my diet and health I haven't had a new filling. My parents didn't have a lot of money but they had enough. The money they spent on takeaways could have been spent on fresh food. I grew up thinking weight gain as an adult was inevitable (I'm size 8 into my 30s and always have been). Lots of excuses are made, and the new fad for body positivity does make it more acceptable.

YANBU

but this is MN... Anyone guilty of healthy eating and healthy portion size gets laughed at and abused.

Only on MN is it hilarious that anyone could eat a SALAD for lunch or diner. I am on various groups swapping recipes looking for inspirations, half these recipes happen to be salads... so back in the real world, it's a thing. You can even buy salads in McD....On MN it's the funniest thing ever.

Its a competition to over-eat and look down at people who don't.

It's also true that UK clothes sizes are VERY generous compared to other countries, but it's easier to make fun of people than to accept people might possibly be slightly over-weight ( cue accusations of fat shaming) and unhealthy.

I’m fat because I work full time have a child and set budget for food, set time to prepare food, and not much energy to put into healthy recipes every day, also I can’t find time to exercise. I’m struggling enough and appreciate not also being shamed or bullied for having put on weight.

calling size 12 women fat won't solve it.

obviously not, but pretending that a UK size 12 or UK 14 is a healthy slim size won't solve it either.

Boris Johnson was ‘presented’ as fit doing a lot of exercise albeit on the heavier side… when he got Covid. In the end the realisation was accepted that despite of all that exercise the extra fat didn’t help the body…

Much less to do with money, more to do with convenience, availability and the fact that UPF is addictive. Behind many obesity cases is emotional eating. Emotional eating happens whether rich or poor.

Another big influence is your family and community- what is the norm/acceptable.

seems that body positivity especially perhaps in younger people becomes detrimental

I really don't think it does. There's about 100 times as many messages to be skinny with giant boobs and a fake face than there are to be happy about your arse size. If shaming messages about weight worked, women would all be thin.

It's far more about food culture, money, education, a food industry that wants to make as addicted and fat, and then to buy products to get thin, and a lot of other things.

I thought you had a point up until you called size 12 fat as that's just laughable. You must know that if you did any actual research before posting.

You jumped the shark sorry.

I'd bet very serious money it makes no difference at all to how many women get overweight.

However, shaming does mean that women who want to make changes feel self-conscious at the gym and running outdoors, swimming and other healthy things.

My experience on MN is the opposite. Competitive undereating.. posters were aghast that anyone could eat after having afternoon tea 🥴