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

It’s not failing. Many have been successful.

is your definition of success no obese people?

because that’s just uneducated

This is what I mean. I was the bigger one in my group. It was often commented on, that borderline not skinny, lovely figure, no she's too big; it was a horrible time the way everyone was apparently entitled to discuss your attractiveness.

People should MYOB about what other people look like.

But me then would be skinny by today's standards. And me now doesn't look fat compared to most people.

I just don't understand how it got to this and why we are all ok with this.

@Nodinnernogift me too. I just wanted to gauge if this was one of those "I don't understand why people are so fat when they could just eat less and move more" threads.

You must be in a fairly affluent part of London then. It feels like the only slim people in Newham are the drug addicts!

@MushMonster - completely agree with you on food regs and the absolute shite in our food. I used to think the USA was embarrassing for the nutritional (lack of) content in their food and the messed up chemicals they allow, but it’s spreading to here now too. I’m glad there’s been uproar recently about UPFs, but it’s so much more than that

It is a problem and we’ve normalised larger bodies as that’s what we see.
it does absolutely need to be addressed and I speak as someone who has lost weight this year from the obese range. I will continue to lose until I’m in the healthy range. I was ashamed and embarrassed by my size

I use the word 'fat', I am fat and sometimes I want to talk to friends about it. But it makes them deeply, deeply uncomfortable. If I say the same thing but talk around it, use a euphemism, I can keep the conversation going.

Unfortunately, food manufacturers who dole out ultra processed food yield far too much power over government in this country. The amount of ultra processed shit that we eat in the UK is shocking and it is making us fat.

I think you’re absolutely right. When I was a teenager I was 14/16 for trousers. I didn’t dare go into Wallis because I felt too fat for their clothes and they often didn’t go up to a 16! Now in all clothes shops I easily fit into a 14, occasionally even a 12. And my actual physical shape has barely changed.

We need a much larger and more widely implemented sugar tax, but lobbying prevents it - Labour were going to do this until they got lobbied. Money always comes first.

My bmi is obese, just. I’m working on losing weight. People always tell me I look nice but I think being fat is normalised now. I dress nicely and have a pretty face but I’m still obese. My immediate family is slim and so was I up until about 10 years ago. I’m 40 now. My mum always cooked very nutritious food, but it was vey bland and flavourless so I think I went a bit mad with enjoying food and it’s taken its toll.

I almost never have a chippy tea anymore

and every time I pass the chippy near us, the size of the people waiting in the shop remind me why I am not supposed to eat that stuff.

now I’m 30kg down, I can’t eat it, the oil etc would make me sooo ill

I couldn’t agree more. There are so many large people (men & women) who are most definitely fat but claim that’s it’s ‘fat shaming’ to suggest that their health is at risk given the size they are. Nobody is happy fat otherwise weight loss wouldn’t be such a lucrative business

No, that’s not my definition, but a heck of an equivocation by you.

My definition might look something like the obesity rates not year-on-year climbing? It might also look like something a bit more effective than these namby-pamby government initiatives. In school 30 years ago, I remember that food pyramid and 5 a day and all that commencing. What’s new? Just a few more slogans and yet it’s getting worse and worse.

It’s definitely a problem. Nearly 2/3rds of British adults are overweight or obese.

Some places it’s more concentrated than others. But even in the “thinnest” areas, well over a third of adults are overweight. If you think it isn’t a problem because you don’t think people near you look that heavy, it’s more likely that you are just so used to heavier people that you don’t recognise it.

Yes there are, also a lot of people that walk very slowly, unfortunately, usually in front of me.

My brother is a surgeon and has recently moved from one country's health service to another in the UK. He is horrified by the % of people who are not just overweight but morbidly obese,and who seem to be in total denial. He said that he has had to start being quite blunt with some patients who don't see an issue...."I won't be able to operate with your BMI at X because the risks are too high and the risk of you dying on the table extremely high" sort of conversations.....

It is really shocking how it is totally normal now but it is really hard to eat properly, given all of the additives and things in food nowadays. We cook from scratch every night, rarely have takeaways etc. I don't eat between meals, don't add sugar to anything, don't eat chocolate, cakes, biscuits etc, I exercise but I still struggle with keeping my weight constant now I'm menopausal - despite being very disciplined about food (although I do like the odd glass of wine, which I know is not helping). If one isn't disciplined, it is easy to see how quickly weight goes on!

I went to splashdown in Poole recently and was actually struck by how slim all the kids were.

That said, I think obesity is talked about a lot.

We aren’t allowed to acknowledge it because it’s ‘fat shaming’ and because ‘body positivity’.

Vanity sizing allows people to kid themselves.

As the average body weight has increased the average clothes size has increased and people have convinced themselves that average is what they should be. Anything less than average is skinny, and any slim person who admits they watch what they eat on a daily basis is accused of being joyless and a competitive under eater who lives on lettuce.

In January the top ten slimmest boroughs in the UK included seven London boroughs. So in general, if you live and work in the capital you will have a skewed viewpoint.

The fattest boroughs were in South Wales and Thurrock in Essex.

Where I live, people are generally smaller than average, but definitely bigger than they used to be.

I have lost nearly three stone this year on Mounjaro. Hopefully the large number of people taking medication to address their obesity will lead to an overall improvement on our national health and our NHS.

UPF foods needs to be controlled more, healthy food needs to be cheaper and more accessible

cooking classes needs to be more prevalent in schools

there is a nation of people who can’t boil an egg and are dependent on takeout and ready meals

all of which are manipulated by manufacturers etc and actively designed to make you fatter

But it isn’t really, is it? What summed it up for me is the influencer Louise Pentland has “admitted” she’s on weight loss injections, and had floods of comments asking her to not lose weight as it’s comforting to other people!

Fat people (and that’s what you are, fat) should feel uncomfortable in their bodies. They should feel forced into change. If you have a health related health condition, once that’s treated you should be given a certain amount of time to lose the weight. If you don’t, you’re billed for your care. Weight loss medications should be used more widely, my aunt is 65, disabled due to her weight, and she’s on them and losing weight! If she can do it, after being wheelchair bound for a decade, anyone else can.

You don't know people's circumstances though they may be overweight because they are ill or on medication.

Isn’t it mad? I had a traveller child in my form and she chose the p word as her ‘nickname’ for her leavers’ hoodie. Had anyone else called her that, her dad would probably have come round and beat them with a shovel!

I can’t understand this recent reluctance to use the word ‘fat’. It does make me laugh when others on my groups say they used to be heavy. Just say fat! Especially if it’s about yourself, but I know what you mean, people trying to be nice would tell me I wasn’t fat, which at almost 24st was just hilarious!

Ultra processed food is the main culprit. Once you start reading about it,it is genuinely frightening. We consume masses of sugar, palm oil,hydrogenated fats every day. It is addictive,and designed to be so.