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

That’s interesting Greece very much has an obesity problem. Often identified as the country with highest obesity levels in Europe.

I'm 77, looking at my secondary school photos, children were nearly all slim then.The dinner plates were smaller as were portions ,and we weren't allowed to eat between meals, no snack ailes in those days! Where my stepdaughter lives the portions in the pub are huge, I can't clear the plate. I know that most women work these days, I was a SAHM, so found it easier to cook from scratch for my family, I think life is much harder for families these days.

So the DM mantra “move more”, “don’t eat junk” is for the privileged few?

All of this

I’ve recently returned to the UK from living in a different country, where there’s much less obesity.

I’m on holiday at the moment, so eating out. If you order a meal out in a standard tea room or cafe, the meals you get are enormous. I’m sure, years ago, meals were smaller. I definitely think we’ve lost control of portion size.

Nurse here. I don’t think it’s just obesity but yes we know being overweight (and I’m talking BMI over 30 here) costs the NHS millions plus the effects it has on individuals. It’s also alcohol, smoking, drug addiction. Plus the lack of personal responsibility towards one’s own health.

These medications are designed to be lifelong, and there are other types in the works that are longer lasting - an injection once a year type of medication.

I do notice those who’ve lost a lot of weight on injections and also the cruellest to fat people. It’s the whole “pull the ladder up” mentality, isn’t it?

I've also noticed this. Especially if said fat person is trying to lose weight without injections. As soon as some of them are slim, a really nasty side comes out.

Do you know what? Yes it is a problem but then when people actively start to do something about obesity using mounjaro or other weight loss injections people start claiming that's an issue too. I agree let's discuss it but then stop trotting out the same old line of calories in v's calories out, most people know that but are still overweight. WLI work so why not make them more readily available on the NHS?

People are starting to become more health conscious in the younger generations so perhaps a societal shift is starting to happen.

Thinking back to when I was a kid, in the 70s and 80s, there just wasn't the same food culture. We didn't really have fast food for example, except fish and chips and the Chinese takeaway. I remember when McDonalds started opening in the UK, it was absolutely not how restaurants operated. We rarely ate out, it just wasn't something the majority of people did very often.

Also in supermarkets there was comparatively little processed food for sale. We ate some, Findus crispy pancakes and maybe an Arctic Roll, but you wouldn't find whole meals made for you like today. Food was a bit humdrum usually in supermarkets.

And no way were people using food as an exploration of flavours from different countries. Now it's really normal to go, oh I like Chinese but only Szechuan, not bothered about Cantonese...We just didn't have that sort of access. It was exciting to go to an Italian restaurant or a curry house.

It's like food and cooking became such a part of our identities, which seems great, but then we expanded it to any food and here we are.

Yes we should discuss it... however, the problem is that too many people view it as a mortality issue...it's almost immoral to be overweight and positively virtuous to be slim/thin. This judgment is what pisses people off I think.

Your body is your own & whilst I accept that there are specific reasons why you cannot be slim (medication) then it isn’t society that makes you fat

I agree OP but this is not just about portion sizes.

We are getting bigger because we are worked to the bone therefore often have little time to lead an active life and one of the biggest contributors is indeed the widespread presence of processed foods, especially those with added sugars, refined grains, and unhealthy fats. UP foods affect hunger control hormone.

Everyone…really?

Here in the west of Scotland it's the skinny alcoholics wasting nhs resources. Calling 999 for an ambulance frequently because they've ran out of money, need valium/food/heat

It is indeed hard to lose weight and not as simple as eat less move more. The injections literally have changed peoples lives.
Yet people on the jabs who are trying to do something are absolutely pilloried for it.

But it's OK for you to do exactly the same to others?

I don't understand how to get from 'It was a horrible time' and 'People should mind their own business' to exercising that same sense of entitlement to subject others to that sort of bullying and abuse.

Well, I do. It's because you enjoy making others feel bad. Just like they enjoyed making you feel awful.

I think about 29% of people are obese in the UK so not "the norm". Also given weight loss injections that number will probably go down in the next few years. I hardly know anyone who's obese so perhaps it depends on where you live and who your friends and family are. People talk about it enough especially now there are going to be a treatments for it.

The food and snack industry that has built over the last 50 years telling everyone they must have a snack here and a snack there it is fuelling the crisis. People are constantly eating these days. I'm not sure the portion sizes where smaller but people certainty eat less ultra processed food and did not snack all day drinking fizz drinks etc.

Actually - and I know this is hypocritical given my title - I think it's fine that people stop using fat as an adjective.

There is a lot of shame with that word, it basically meant unattractive in the 90s and I think attaches emotion to a situation which other health conditions don't have attached to them.

There was some add campaigns from the govt a while back about sedentary lifestyle and gaining weight etc.

I think half of the problem is understanding about how everyone is different and that 2000 calories for women isn't actually required for lots of us. Also portion size and calorie understanding is completely skewed.

Once I worked out my calories that I needed for the day and that hormonal shift also plays a factor. It's easy to say its not working when reality is hormones can play a role in how much water you retain etc.

I saw a thread recently by people on medication for obesity. What struck me was the description someone gave (and many others agreed with) of “cutting out the food noise”.

That sounds to me like addiction. Hard to know how to break it though. You can’t just cut out food and cutting out food groups can be problematic, though sugar is probably one thing that can be removed without harm.

I’m 13 stone at 60. At 30 I was 8 stone 7. How? My portion sizes have grown, I WFH and barely manage 5K steps a day. At 30 I biked to work 3 miles each way.
I’m lazy, don’t have the same energy I had at 30.
I’ve also become invisible to pretty much everyone but my DP and DD.

Fat is unattractive. I’m sorry but it is. Fat spilling out of jeans or fat feet stuffed into shoes. It’s not attractive and if that’s offensive, do something about it.

I was obese in my teens and lost 30kg in a year from limiting carbs and intermittent fasting. Only gained 1 stone back as I was underweight despite 2 pregnancies.

I also never exercise apart from short walks and never exercised while losing weight. I think with a lot of people, they eat carb dense food and takeaways. I very rarely eat rice or pasta but if I do, I gain weight fast. I do eat a lot of bread which doesn’t make me gain. I no longer drink alcohol but did in my late teens. It never made me gain weight but it did make me crave greasy food.

I think another thing is contrary to belief, not all woman actually need 1800 calories to maintain. I probably eat around 1200-1500 calories daily (5ft8, 9 stone) and maintain my weight. I do have pcos so that may affect it.

I used to laugh when people would preach ‘calories in, calories out’ but it is true. It’s also important to know your own body as everyone is different. For me, if I go under 8 1/2 stone my periods stop, restart as soon as I go over it.