To ask why it is that it is accepted that people can be naturally thin, but not naturally fat?

[MrsShawnHatosy]

Just that really. It seems to me that if one can be true so can the other. But fat is seen as something blameworthy, always.

The obvious answer is that being overweight is a sign of overindulgence and unhealthy body. Being underweight is rarely natural looking either.

I think what you’re trying to get to is actually that a certain weight has become linked with being classed as good looking/ pretty. Especially for women. That’s probably why, I don’t know a single fat man on weight loss injections.

It's really not. Bones dont really come in different widths. They're all really pretty much the same. Longer if you're tall, shorter if you're short. But not bigger and therefore the reason someone is fat.

Our 'natural' state will depend on the food and exercise we personally choose (medical conditions aside).

Obesogenic society or not, we choose what we put into our mouths and how much.

I remember reading a series of tweets about sled dogs - and the different shapes/sizes/capabilities/interests this woman's pack had. One of them ate no more than any of the others, yet was chubbier.

For some reason, it gave me great comfort.

I've always been fat. sometimes fatter than others, but always obese - from toddlerhood.

Taking WLI has let me feel what it's like to be someone who actually doesn't want to eat all the time. It's so easy to lose weight and be slim when your body tells you what to eat and when.

On the other hand, i also put on muscle easily too, and in a recent set of bloods, everything was bang on to good - so whilst I eat too much (when not on WLI) what I'm eating is clearly the right stuff.

There were plenty of overweight people when we had rationing.
I think one of the hardest things is when you are short you aren’t going to be significantly less hungry than someone who is tall, but you can’t burn the same calories.

I know quite a few men that are on or have been on WLI.

Sure, but when 66% of adults are overweight, there has been a societal shift and it's way beyond mere personal "choice".

Yes - the silly jibe that 'bones don't weigh much' always irritates me because it's not the weight of bones - it's the fact that a bigger frame carries more flesh, obviously.

I'm 5' 7" and in my 20s was a size 10. I'm now a 14, but don't look obese - just less svelte. In my youth I used to diet harshly and my lowest weight (at which people used to start to worry about my...) was just under 10 stone. At that weight my hip bones were very near to the surface and I realised that whatever I did, I wasn't going to get into jeans any smaller than my hip bones.

I'm pretty active and try to eat healthily but I still eat too much for my lifestyle, I readily admit. For me it will always be a struggle/balance between being a real food lover (proper food - not junk) and someone who wants to look good and be healthy.

Sigh.

What I find interesting is the moralising around being overweight - the sense that being overweight is somehow a personal failing to be looked down upon, whereas being underweight is worrying or a sign of illness.

If being underweight is a symptom, then it stands to reason that being overweight is also a symptom, yet people who inexplicably lose weight are often given tests, while inexplicably overweight people are given only lectures and shaming attempts.

It may be true that overweight people eat more - though there is a ton of evidence to show that certain people can eat a very high calorie diet and not gain weight - but the lack of interest in why they eat more is fascinating. It's typically framed as 'over indulgence' and 'a lack of willpower.' This seems such a silly, small-minded view to me - like people believing women's mental health issues were due to a wandering uterus. It explains nothing and helps no one.

If there is such concern about obseity and being an 'obesogenic society' (what a fucking ridiculous phrase), then why not investigate what triggers people to eat more? Why not do serious research into why people like my MIL have to eat 2,500 calories a day to maintain anything like a stable BMI, while my friend can starve herself and lose no weight at all? Why not abandon this weird moralistic tut-tutting about food and actually act like thinking humans?

What GLP-1s have revealed is that the metabolic and psychological processes involved in weight are hugely variable. Fat people (including me!) are definitely that way because they eat too much -- but wanting to eat too much in the first place has hugely complex roots in hormones, metabolism, gut health, and psychological issues also. Complicated by living in a society that wants to sell you extremely unhealthy food all the time.

It is genuinely a lot easier for some people not to want to overeat, and extremely difficult for others.

No it isn't way beyond personal choice and this is the problem.

People waving a hand dismissively and saying "But society is to blame".

We're all responsible for what we choose to eat, how much we choose to eat and how much we choose to exercise (again, medical conditions aside).

Blaming anything else may make the person feel better, but it solves nothing.

Some people have a bigger structure than others hence “big boned”, this is absolutely true but in terms of actual fat on top of this structure, it isn’t possible to naturally have lots and lots. Metabolism can be genetic so it’s true some people gain weight easier than others and have to work a bit harder to keep it off. It isn’t true that people are ever naturally overweight. You can only really become overweight by eating too many calories and not burning them off.

Look at the food that's available at the supermarket and that should be a key indicator as to why so many people are fat. They're not naturally fat, but they're eating so many unnecessary empty calories.

One aisle of fresh fruit and veg, one or two aisles of meat, and then 15 aisles of processed rubbish. Ready meals, crisps, sweets, chocolate.

Our local Tesco express is 30% 'real food' and 70% junk. People buy the rubbish because it's there, it's easy, and all their friends do, too.

What's "kk such thing"?

It's an obvious typo for 'no', easily worked out by the context.

It's "fewer calories", by the way.

If going by 'proper english' then yes, but this is a message board, not an essay, and loads of people use 'less'.

Were those natural mistakes or did you not have enough willpower to write your post correctly?

This is a perfect example of attacking the person rather than the argument and. makes you look completely pathetic.

Edit: Both my best friend and my mother are dyslexic and have had years of bullying for their 'sins' against proper grammar. That's why it irritates me enough to respond like this.

And waiting for everyone to make the personal choice to solve the issue for society has worked so effectively in the last 30 years, don't you think?

Well no, clearly it hasn't.

But that's not my argument is it?

My argument is that it very much IS a personal choice and always will be.

No point in lying about that, because that solves no issues either 🤷‍♂️

So if it's purely personal responsibility and the state and private companies have no responsibility at all for the health of the nation, what do you suggest?

As that's pretty much the situation in the US, which is the fattest nation in the world.

Obesity has proliferated everywhere, but not as rapidly in countries who try to exercise a little more control over their food industry and have a more equal society with healthy lifestyles more easily accessible.

There's no such thing as either.
Healthy human beings just have a variety of body shapes and compositions that may make weight gain easier for some, and harder for others, and for the effects of weight gain to be more visually apparant for some.
People are not 'fat' or 'thin' in the way they have blue eyes or brown. We all have the potential to be either or neither unless we develop an illness.

Yes, I cannot make it any clearer.

We are ALL responsible for what we choose to consume, how much we choose to consume and how much exercise we take (again, medical conditions aside).

There's no point in me repeating this.

Because being naturally thin at the lowest level of a healthy weight carries no health risks and being overweight always does.

Then, for the love of Christ, don’t.

As my father would say, it's true .... "there were no fat people in Belsen".

Exactly. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

You're right.

I should've known better than to keep repeating myself to you and expect you to eventually understand.

Lesson learned.

Bone width varies hugely between people. You only have to look at wrist and ankle sizes to see that different people can have very different bone width.