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

The Wombles were fat

What's interesting is that even that there are more obese people, I feel like health and fitness is also a big deal to many more people. More so than 20yrs ago. The number of marathons, park run, cycling events, iron man etc. The range of fitness classes and they're all booked up. There is a conscious effort to get the protein and nutrients from fresh fruit and veggies for overall health vs disordered starvation and cigs diet from the 80s/90s to stay slim.

Well to be fair if someone is the lower end of the BMI overweight they probably don’t desperately need to lose weight. In fact there is some evidence that slightly overweight women in middle age live the longest.

It also isn’t true as is spread on here that middle aged women all used to have 22 inch waists. My grandmother (and great grandmother) from old pictures definitely didn’t. My grandfather on the other side was fat and it killed him in the 70s. Yes there were fewer obese people for sure but it isn’t quite as simple as is painted here.

Realistically, a lot of the people who got fat off processed food would still also be fat if they were able to cook. They'd just be better nourished fat.

Because human bodies like doing the things that get you fat. Many millennia of evolution have made it so. Most of us are bad at limiting our consumption of fatty and sugary foods because we're not supposed to be good at it. The idea of willpower being any use at all would be completely bemusing to most humans who've ever lived. It would be like if a visitor from 10,000 years into the future beamed in now and told us our descendants health is going to depend on their ability to fart in Esperanto.

Eating in the street used to be considered "vulgar". Now it's commonplace. It is rarely a stick of celery or carrot.

That's the problem - there is no such thing as 'technically a size 6' anymore because sizes vary so much even within the same store, let alone in different stores.

I was a size 12 in the late 80s/90s when I was in my late teens and 20s, and measured 36/27/34 (I'm 5'3). I still have a couple of garments I have kept for nostalgia reasons, such as a cocktail dress, and they are tiny compared to a modern size 12.

I think we need to do away with 'sizes' altogether because not only do they make it difficult when buying clothes, they also lead to vanity sizing and in some cases probably a false sense of security. It would be so much easier if you could buy a skirt that was just a '30 inch waist' or a top that was a '40 inch bust' or whatever, then as long as you knew your measurements you'd be sorted, and if you had to move up to buying a '32 inch waist' you couldn't ignore that by finding a store that called it a 'size 12' rather than a 'size 14'!

A lot of foods have been processed in ways that make it unhealthy and easy for the body to lay down fat. With costs rising cheaper ingredients are being used. On the other side people working long hours look for quick, cheap, easy food because they are exhausted and struggling to pay for things. Together this contributes towards a national problem.

Do I fuck mean 'they'. You are clearly a disingenuous person yourself projecting your own failings onto other people.

I don't know why ANYONE is saying 'they'. I don't know why the conversation can't be around look what's happening in society. I don't know why people don't realise that

1 ) just because they are not overweight now doesn't mean they will never be because hello look around and

2. just being relatively slim now does not exclude them from this discussion because we are talking about people IN GENERAL being much larger now so if you are a regular weight person now you probably would be a slimmer person in different societal circumstances.

The problem with the discussion is people taking a THEM approach and indulging their judgemental, fearful parts instead of saying "these are the facts, why has this happened and what can we all do to improve things?"

Sorry if it would never occur to you to look at the world like that about anything but that says plenty about you and nothing about me.

And by the way (not that I think it's fucking relevant) but I'm overweight myself.

What we really need is a conversation around exhaustion

I think it is being talked about and it is well known, hence why injections have become so popular.

People aren't stupid, they know they are fat but they don't want to deal with it for whatever reason.

For me I need to be in a positive head space to lose weight because when I'm not I end up eating and drinking too much. Also, because of my height and weight I can't actually eat that many calories and I feel like I never stop moving!!

I'm battling with an injury too which means my running has been hit and miss so I'm in the worst mood which then has an impact on the gym for strength training and also how much I eat. It's a horrible cycle I don't know how to get out of!

Also long distance running and races mean I struggle to eat in a deficit and still find the energy to run but if I don't run I don't burn calories and I'm allowed even less to eat which is just miserable when I'm actually hungry.

Yes you're right. And all the other causes that people have listed like stress and two person income being necessary and cooking not being taught in school anymore. Plus the over availability of shit food everywhere.

You are right. We are looking at the wrong problems.

The rising levels of overweight is just a symptom.

I hate these YouTube accounts where the presenter is ginormous with a belly down to their knees telling everyone how gorgeous she is. She’s then getting hundreds of comments from obese people telling her how fabulous she is but all I can see is a fat person heading for a heart attack and early death 🤷‍♀️

Look.

I'm no judge.

Life effects us.

I know I've been thin all my life because I don't eat that much.

I love food, I cook, I love eating, but I have throughout my life just eaten 5/6 mouthfuls of something, and thought, that's delicious. I've had enough.

So what is it that 'In recent years' that have tipped that balance.

And! I'm from a thin family, there are 26 of us, one fatter, one muscled chonker.

Why and where do you see these? I’ve literally never even had them suggested yet everyone seems to be watching them

Oh come on. Your being simplistic and disingenuous.
Im not overweight myself and try my hardest to eat non upf but it’s literally everywhere. And cheap - in times like the past few years where people have less disposable money as it is.
I find it’s so hard to avoid totally - going to a friends party, socialising etc. It’s addictive too so once you have the processed carbs for a couple of days it’s difficult to stop.
Yes it’s not inpossible. But a lot of things are doable with will power that are good for us that most of us don’t.
It’s the food that we are generally consuming that needs a whole shift. Food that’s available to buy. Supermarkets are 90% filed with crap foods.
Oh and if you think the same amounts of people 50/60/70 were doing ‘admin’ jobs for the same amount of time as 2025 then I don’t know what to say to you.

Im exhausted because im old- in my mid 40s expected to commute and perform like a 20 year old. My children don’t sleep, we spend hours every night trying to make sleep before collapsing into bed ourselves.
Then I get up and do it again- getting up early, walking to the station, sitting in an office all day, sometimes so busy I barely get up from
my seat. Then I commute home, clean a house worth of mess and dirt, load the dishwasher, put washing on then do bedtime again.

years and years of that. Exhaustion

What she means is that you are not ugly, worthless, badly styled or unlikeable. And I am sure she is right. But "fat" has been given those associations.

I guess I must have been right on the money, considering how angry I have made you.

i wasn't hundred percent sure I was right when I posted, but I am now. Thank you for confirming my opinion.

Yes, this!

She's not saying you are not heavy. She's saying don't use it as an insult.

I wish I could change my title as the word fat is vicious.

There were more admin jobs before computers, not less. In the 60s they had ‘typing pools’ in companies and filing clerks etc. Although I’m sure it’s true that more people did do manual jobs statistically, but sitting on your arse all day at work is nothing new and neither of my boomer parents did anything else.

Gloriously predictable.

I know a woman who is slim but not excessively so ..just a normal healthy weight...she has zero interest in food. She doesn't try to limit herself particularly, she just isn't bothered by it. She's not a good cook and can't be bothered anyway. She buys an occasional ready meal or sandwich or pre packed salad. I've been to restaurants with her and she shows no interest or excitement for food. If you go to her house you leave feeling hungry because she has no idea how to cater as she assumes others are like her. I would absolutely love to understand this. Is it hormones? Is appetite genetic or hardwired into our DNA?

Can I ask if you work in admin how many hours a week you are contracted to do? I know someone who works 9-5 with an hour for lunch.

MN loves any excuse to fat bash. Perhaps one day, hatred of fat people and discrimination of fat people will be as unacceptable as homophobia and racism.

Am glad that this has been brought up, I agree with the op. Unfortunately being overweight is completely the norm now. Being a skinny woman my whole life I've had horrible things said to my face about my body shape, from men and women. I've been made to feel so unattractive and ugly that it's really affected my self esteem. To the point when I met my DH ideas utterly shocked that a man found me attractive