To wonder if ‘body positivity’ has gone too far?

[WildUmberScroller]

While I fully accept supporting everyone for who they are, sometimes I feel like the body positivity movement is promoting unhealthy lifestyles. AIBU to feel like there should be limits?

You're muddling two things up though

Being overweight or obese is not ok health wise

Whether you are an ok person as well as being overweight/obese is a completely different thing

No one is talking about hiding away

I have lived this, I have been morbidly obese and now normal BMI, I can tell you that many of us get caught up in 'oh its ok, most people are fat' 'oh its ok I can find nice things to wear' 'Im a real woman, not like those skinnie minnies'

Its all psychological denial

We are getting bigger as a nation because being overweight is normalised, its seen as 'just one of those things', overeating is seen as normal because 'wow look at that portion size, isnt that great'

YANBU.
My colleague keeps referring to the 'summer body' she wants. I'm always slightly shocked by it because in the UK it's become taboo to say that, but we are in another country.

Also, doctors, like Dr Mike, who say it's healthier to be in the healthy weight range are called 'fat phobic' and we now have to say that a person 'has overweight' rather than 'is overweight'.

I think it's nice if fat people see some positive representations of themselves and feel better. It really won't make them 'think twice' about losing weight, it actually makes it easier to live more healthily. Feeling shame about being fat has been shown to increase weight gain. Sorry, but fat people get fatter when they hate themselves. Helping people to have better self esteem gives them better health outcomes.

Agree 100%.

So basically you want fat people to stop celebrating and accepting their bodies because you dislike the fact that there’s health conditions linked to it? Such a shitty disguised excuse to start a fat shaming thread. At least have the brains to come up with a more creative way than one that’s been done to death a millions times already.

You are correct! Far too many people are overweight or obese!
unfortunately it’s been normalised

Being overweight or obese is not ok health wise

No one thinks that though. You are the muddled one.

Im sorry, can you clarify what you are asking me

I remember that thread...lots of posters said OP was being harsh to her friend.

From what I remember, it was about a 30 second walk or something?

I appreciate your perspective, but the person I was initially responding to didn’t actually “call me out.” They mentioned orthorexia and over exercising first and then sought clarification about whether my thread was focused on fat people or underweight people. My intention was to address both extremes, and I believe it’s important to consider the health implications associated with all body types. I think we can have a balanced discussion without resorting to accusations.

It's just not taboo to talk about a summer body in real life. Go into any workplace in the UK and women will be talking about diets and losing weight for their holidays. All of this nonsense about 'you can't even say X anymore' is always total crap.

And sure some people online will be saying 'has overweight' but it's not normal parlance, and even if it was - so what?

" women who are clearly very overweight calling themselves 'curvy.' I am quite 'curvy' myself and find it annoying and ludicrous."

I think the new one is 'midsize' for 'plussize'. Mid size should mean actually medium, not whatever has become the average in our obesogenic culture.

I have lived this, I have been morbidly obese and now normal BMI, I can tell you that many of us get caught up in 'oh its ok, most people are fat' 'oh its ok I can find nice things to wear' 'Im a real woman, not like those skinnie minnies'

It just seems like you are projecting your experience and feelings.

I think 'has overweight' is slightly American as a term isnt it? Ive had doctors talk to me about 'having vast adipose tissue'.

I suppose either way is just describing the same thing

I appreciate your perspective, but the person I was initially responding to didn’t actually “call me out.” They mentioned orthorexia and over exercising first and then sought clarification about whether my thread was focused on fat people or underweight people.

I was being facetious though, it was clear you were not concerned about orthorexia.

It's treating it more like an illness, which I think is justified with some obesity, but not for someone just a few points overweight. I think it's being adopted in the UK too.

I'm short, but nobody says I 'have under-height'.

Obesity is a major preventible cause of cancer, diabetes, joint replacements etc. So it’s not ok to celebrate that.
However, an obese individual may still be an attractive and lovable person.

Well thats because its not a health condition!!

A few points overweight for some BAME patients is often a very high risk factor in diabetes so it depends. Its very difficult to cover everything.

Being overweight certainly makes more sense to me

"It's just not taboo to talk about a summer body in real life. Go into any workplace in the UK and women will be talking about diets and losing weight for their holidays. All of this nonsense about 'you can't even say X anymore' is always total crap."

Fair enough. I thought 'diet culture' had become taboo and nobody said they wanted to be slim to look nice anymore. It always has to be for health reasons and always just for yourself.

I must have taken the banning of the beach body ads literally.

Obesity isn't attractive , be it human, horse, dog or cat.

Even Vets are saying animals are becoming morbidly obese.

SO many dog treats around these days.

Birthday cakes for dogs?!

There are some really obese squirrels near us that get fed by people-

Dogs can catch them so easily as the squirrels are too fat to move rapidly.

Obesity isn't good for any creature.

gonnabeteoubleemma · Today 10:54

Even Lizzo realises that being obese isn't attractive or healthy and is losing weight
Lizzo came close to stopping performing so many times due to mh because of people commenting on her weight. The obese people who lose weight will always have people commenting unless they get down to a size non existent, they won’t look at her actively losing weight they’ll just comment on her size.

Op why shouldn’t a person flaunt themselves no matter what size they are? So sad that eg if someone says ‘ooh look at my new top’ and aren’t a certain weight people should assume they shouldn’t be showing themselves.

Well again, would it really matter if someone overweight regarded it as an illness? It could make it easier to tackle if someone felt like it was a condition that they needed to treat (through diet, exercise and/or medication) rather than viewing it as a case of gluttony or laziness. If you think 'I am a lazy, greedy, terrible person' then you can sink into apathy and feel like there is no point battling against your shameful nature. If you think 'being overweight is caused by external factors' maybe you feel more encouraged to take action and fight against it. I don't know, but it just doesn't seem like a problem to me if fatness is medicalised in this way. It is ultimately a health issue, so why would this be unjustified?

I get what OP means. There are very obese people who have popular channels, patreons, streams, especially mukbangers and you rarely see anything negative in their comments and there is more positivity.

Then there is poor Eugenia Cooney, she is EXTREMELY ill with anorexia, being exploitsed by her parents, all stemming it seems from sexual assault which she posted a vid about before she got so unhealthily thin. She gets nothing but negativity and anyone who is positive to her is deemed a fetishist (probably true to be fair)

Both of these are EXTREMELY unhealthy lifestyles and will cause their eventual deaths.

You see comments begging Eugenia to get proper help and put weight on, but when the obese "influencers" start dieting and working out, there's more comments stating their disappointment that they are no longer embracing their obesity.
There are huge double standards at play online, yet at the same time, in general in real life society, both extremes are treated as unhealthy and nothing to aspire to.

"A few points overweight for some BAME patients is often a very high risk factor in diabetes so it depends. Its very difficult to cover everything."

Is a high-risk factor, necessary an illness. Being tall is a high-risk factor for having high blood pressure, but we don't consider height an illness, unless very extreme.

Having a waist over 30ins is sometimes considered a high risk for diabetes. When I had such a waist (but was still not overweight), I was never said to 'have big waistedness'.

What audience are you concerned about? Surely the vast majority of people over the age of say 10 know about the health risks of being overweight?

There is no way a small number of people being confident and overweight is going to cancel out the huge social and health messages about weight?

its like suggesting a butterfly will move an elephant!

It absolutely is a health issue and is treated that way, factually, without judgement or shame by bariatric services and experts, thats why the language is what it is, just straightforward.

And for some other services they will treat it as health condition that carries risk too, health insurance, travel insurance etc etc. Mine came down considerably when I lost weight, bonus!