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

Also more straightforward for some folk compared to others.

Yes of course, I mentioned that sort of thing in an earlier post, long since forgotten given the length of this thread. Let’s hear some solutions rather than repeated posts that criticise individuals for their apparent failures and supposed lack of moral fibre.

It definitely does make a difference. It needs to be more common knowledge that shorter people have to be more mindful of weight gain (I say this as someone who is 5ft 2)

BMI is a ratio. I don’t think a lot of people understand what that means.
Being overweight according to BMI because a person is short has really amused me 🤣

Maybe we need to look at the extent to which increased prescribing of some drugs maybe linked to obesity.
How many obese people are taking medications. For many people there are no alternatives, but maybe for some people there could be alternative treatments that don't cause weight gain.

47.4kg/7st 6lbs to 64kg/10st 1lb is the healthy weight range of a 5’3” white woman according to the NHS BMI calculator. That’s a huge range. I was in the middle but have crept up a little and am now on my way back down. I looked slim at 8st 3lb but I still had considerable belly fat and chunky thighs and arms. I’m small but I’m not dainty or delicate. I’m solid with a thick waist. To be obese I’d have to get to at least 76.7kg/12st 1lb. That’s nearly 5 stone heavier than the lowest healthy weight for my height. I’d have be 6ft tall for 12st 1lb to be the BMI I am now. It’s been quite fun finding that out tonight.

Why bother commenting?

No sorry not buying that. You simply can’t compare the levels of inactiveness since entering the age of computers and tech / phones and laptops with ladies sitting at typewriters. What about before typewriters. Are you going to claim that the majority of the workforce sat like bob cratchett with a quill and ink for the same amounts of time as people sit at computers today?
People were out doing manual jobs. Physical jobs. Jobs that required standing, lifting, moving. Women were physically working all day washing, scrubbing? Cleaning, cooking for the most part.
Not tech has replaced many of the manual jobs and people sit on their arses all day every day.

Oh and my boomer parents worked in a bank. But even they were up and down, physically shorting paper trails o it into draws, fetching things, moving from department to department speaking to people in person. Families had one car if they were lucky so my parents did a lot of cycling / walking to work or to the train station.

Because it's her opinion it's rude to comment on.peoples weight

This post is disgusting- this is the type of post that makes it impossible to have a discussion.

But it is shameful to treat a person badly because of their size - whether that is very slim or very obese.

I agree. The extremism at either end is at fault. We should be modelling fit healthy bodies within a normal range. What you never see on a catwalk or ad campaign is a 5'4 size 8 or 10. There's 5'10 size 6 or size 18. The message is: choose between perpetual hunger and constant monitoring or guzzle and be proud. Of the two, I tend towards the latter. I have zero desire to be weak and hungry just so men I don't know will approve of my figure.
But the ideal is excellent nutrition, plenty of exercise and maintaining a weight that doesn't put pressure on our own bodies or the NHS.

OP I agree. Fat is fat. I call myself fat when I am overweight. Friends splutter with embarrassment but why?

Well, actually I'm not dim. I think the NHS BMI system is outdated. Yes, I'm 5ft 3", 11 stone but it can't possibly know if I'm heavy/overweight because of muscle or fat!

It can't visually see what I'm like. It knows sex, height, weight and that I'm white and makes a decision.

However, I really would like to be taller 😕 because it makes life easier for clothes, reaching high shelves etc

The extremism is really bizarre. I don't get it.

I was a teen in the 90s, the so-called era of heroin chic and waif supermodels. But apparently the supermodels then would not fit into any of the sizes now. So it's like the catwalks are there to shock now more than showcase clothes.

I have lived in various countries over the years and often noticed billboards with stunningly beautiful women but a range of sizes and ages. I found them more inspiring as they were stunning but different to each other.

What do you mean you can’t see yourself? How can you not know if you have a lot of muscle or if it’s just fat? My big arms and thighs are quite muscly but I’m the same height as you and under 9 stone. Two stone more would be A LOT of muscle and I’d be very toned and I doubt I’d have any wobbly bits. I can’t work out if you are trying to be facetious or you genuinely don’t know.

Try reading the post again

Using manual typewriters expended considerably more energy than electric or electronic ones. And before email, if you wanted someone to get a memo immediately you had to deliver it by hand. If you wanted multiple copies of something you had to physically take it to the print room, or walk to a photocopier (of which there were typically a couple per floor in the places I worked. So yes pre computers offices were a bit more active.

The healthy BMI range allows for pretty much all body types - that's why it's so wide. Unless you are a world class gymnast, rugby player or shot putter, it's a blunt tool that allows you to see whether your weight lies in the healthy range.

Can't you tell the difference between fat and muscle?

You also have to take some responsibility. I am tall and slim. I have always sat at the bottom of the BMI scale. I could put on nearly 3 stone and still be in the healthy range. Unless I very seriously took up body building and made sure that 3 stone was lean muscle, I'm absolutely certain I would not be healthy at the top end of the range. My frame would struggle, not to mention my organs etc.

The NHS BMI calculator no longer asks for your sex. Which I do think is a bit strange.

Why when the numbers are the same for males and females?

i’m not convinced that going back to the Industrial Revolution helps. Most people were starving or on the edge of it, so obesity wasn’t a significant issue.

Yes, I’m sure that old fashioned typewriters required a bit more effort but it still is an admin not manual job. Mumsnet is becoming younger and a such many people on here now seem to think the 90s was a period of history 😂

The point I was making when I started this was purely that not everyone had manual jobs before the 90s. And admin jobs were a thing.

Fewer people drove to work, for sure though. In the 60s anyway. In the 90s it was much the same as now otoh

@Jacarandill was responding to the financial aspect of exercising that Markingbad had raised
They noted there is no need to spend money to keep fit.

Which is true

I think you have been watching too much “My 600lb Life” !!!

The average size 16/18 obese Brit wanting to get down to a size 12, healthy BMI simply isn’t going to have these issues.

@KimberleyClark
It is strange because men carry more muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat.