Why can't we discuss how fat we've all become?

[Nodinnernogift]

Obesity is becoming the norm. Why aren't we allowed express concern or any views that are less than celebratory about this?

I mean seriously why?

If whole parts of your country were in the grip of a meth addiction we would be allowed have a discussion about it.

National campaigns to stop people smoking are applauded.

Look around you. Look in the mirror. We are all getting bigger and bigger. It reminds me of when people would visit the US in the 80s / 90s and come back with tales of huge people and massive portion sizes.

Does nobody care? It's like the Emperors New Clothes. I don't get why it's a sacrosanct topic.

Yabu - it's nobody's business
Yanbu - it's fine to address this as a societal problem

YANBU

I am fat. MY BMI is 34. I say I am fat, and a friend will say "nooooo hun, you are fine as you are". No, I am fat. Lying about it does no one any favours.
When people say the average size is 16 now. (or is it bigger?).. that does not make it a good thing. It just means more people are fat. And that is well known already.

It’s true. I was a teenager and young adult in the eighties and wore a size 10/12 on top, size 12 skirts and size 14 jeans. My vital statistics were 34AA bust, 25” waist and 36” hips. I was slim but the classic British pear shape and well aware of it (decades later I came to realise that I have lipoedema). I think my eighties sizes are the equivalent of today’s sizes 8-10. I was a very normal, average size. I don’t remember many mainstream shops stocking size 8, let alone size 6. The shops where my friends and I would have bought our clothes would not have stocked clothes beyond size 14 - size 16 maximum. I think chain stores like M & S and BHS went up to a 20. If someone needed a larger size, Evans, flatteringly called Evans Outsize in those days, was about the only place they could get anything to fit. Magazines, friends and family were all very vocal about what styles suited different shapes. I think this made a big difference as today many people seem to have no idea how to dress in a way that suits them. They want to wear the latest fashions whether or not they look good in them. Body positivity is good as it takes the pressure off but there are several very large young women on YouTube who show what clothes are available for the “plus size community,” which I think is a dangerous term because it makes obesity normal and as if anything goes as they show off mini skirts, shorts and bikinis. This cannot be good for their health. Of course we all want nice clothes whatever our size and we can all look good whatever our size, but the clothes we choose should suit and flatter us.

Over 50% of the country receives more from the state than they pay in tax. It's hardly something that's unique to obese people.

Yes. They choose to drink alcohol and take illicit drugs with all the knowledge that's been about since the 80s.
Do you think some people exist in a bubble and can still have belief that 'ooooo opiods/alcohol are a great choice...no ones ever said that's not a good idea..'
Are you a bleeding heart 'oh these people just are too uneducated to know what's good for them' person @Comedycook

Is anyone forcing you to eat it? Of course, it's always someone else's fault.

Not RTFT yet but my take:
Normalisation of large portions
Normalisation of snacks and junk food
Normalisation of overweight being, well normal!

And:
Less smoking! People used to smoke to de-stress, take little breaks etc.. Now they snack

Agree. People don’t cook from scratch, fruit and vegetables are more expensive than processed food, many have lost sight of what real meals are (thinking food assembly is cooking), days out are arranged around pub meals and cafe visits, people give their children drinks like squash and flavoured water instead of just, water, sweets are everywhere…it’s a health crisis

Im not interested in judging from a moral standpoint.

But what I wonder and think is interesting is why some people have control over certain things and others do not. So i don't drink alcohol but I am capable of drinking alcohol moderately. I can drink it and not become an alcoholic. Other people will drink and become alcoholics. Drugs don't tempt me, even when I've been through terrible times, but they tempt others. I really struggle to control my eating but others do it easily. So I can easily say no to alcohol but find it hard to say no to food, whereas some people will find it easy to say no to food but struggle to resist alcohol. Why is that? Just banging on about personal responsibility isn't really understanding the problem

This is me, too. I have great self control in every other area of my life but over I know there is, for example, chocolate in the house, I won't be able to think of anything else until I've eaten it. I wonder if the WLIs would help with this (& would be happy to pay for them), but my BMI is 26 so I don't qualify.

@Comedycook so you don't think people should have any responsibility for what they do?
A 50yp person could sit at home, eating 6k calories a day, morbidly obese, demanding carers to do personal care tasks, and this should be actioned because 'they want it'?

Yes Mounjaro takes away your food noise. I have zero interest in any unhealthy food. In fact it repulses me

And the thread descends into fat-blaming and shaming.
🤦‍♀️

I would imagine it would be actioned because they physically need the help rather than just demanding it.

But personal responsibility is only part of the puzzle...if someone is so morbidly obese they cannot carry out daily tasks I'd view that as a form of self harm...I'd also presume they had been through some trauma at some point.

I mean, would you say in relation to an anorexic, why don't they just eat and take some personal responsibility?

Go back another 100 years - if you have seen any older vintage pieces in museums etc their clothes look like little girls dresses and Dollys shoes- so narrow. Honestly we have a library near us with 150 year old dresses displayed. They look smaller than size 0 in the petite section for a normal sized wealthy woman!

Yes and if you ever visit very very old buildings, the doors are so low and everything in them feels tiny for people today

If someone is so obese that they need carers, then it does not matter why they ended up obese does it?
They need care at this point in time.

It is a form of self-neglect. I’ve had many clients over the years die due to food addiction and obesity. They certainly never “demanded” carers to do anything

Some people just don’t have the desire for lots of food, they have enough to be full and that’s it, they arnt snacking or greedy. Plus perhaps more active. I know people like that (married to one) and people who are the total opposite. So many factors as to why someone might grow up one was or the other including childhood nutrition right from breast feeding, to what you have been fed as a child and how you have developed a relationship to food and how it makes you feel. Also if you have a sweet tooth plays into it massively in my experience

Weight Loss in 1920s America: The Reducing Craze - Physical Culture Study
interesting history from 1880-1920 there was a shift from health plumpness to a skinny obsession.

No, and that boring trope of 'ah ha!! Over eating is Just as damaging as anorexia' frustrates me.
The over eaters are just getting fatter and fatter and more reliant on others to do their bidding.
People with anorexia die from their disease. Honestly how horrible to place that guilt trip on people.

I think people are so used to seeing fat people they have forgotten what a “normal” size is.

Yes agree...if someone is dying from lung cancer brought on by smoking do we refuse as a society to assist them because they made the choice to smoke?

I honestly think some people on here would like to see anyone with anything they perceive as "self inflicted" refused care and treatment. For now, sympathy seems to do.

I placed no guilt trip on anyone.

I'm asking you how far you take the personal responsibility line?

What?