Glorifying obsesity

[Poppybob]

I find it bizarre that media and social platforms are glorifying obesity. Am not talking about people putting pictures of themselves on social media and living their lives in general, and am NOT saying overweight/obese people should be hiding.... but actual social media stars who are promoting obesity and how good/gorgeous they are etc etc. It's unhealthy!!! Takes 10-20years off your life! The Co - morbidities from being dangerously overweight alone can shorten your life. It's on par with smoking it's so bad for your health. And I worry about my kids looking at this and thinking that it will be OK for them to be very overweight.

@bellac11 , that is very disappointing if true. I have been feeling really good about myself just lately as the size 16 summer dresses and jeans i have bought for myself fit me just right. I was previously in a size 20 headed for a 22 so God knows how big i actually was. Never mind, onwards and downwards but i guess it teaches me not to be so smug in future!

Well we need to frame it as positive, dont be disappointed. As you say, previously you were in bigger sizes no matter if they were accurate or not. My biggest clothes were once a 28, so probably in reality a 32 or more!!!

But its the movement downwards we need to focus on

Any in any case these are really cheap shops, supermarkets etc so I suspect in much higher end places they use proper sizing.

What I wonder is, if I'm buying a size 10 now, then where are all the people who are a real size 10 or especially 8 going to shop? 🤔 I say "especially 8" because size 6 is far less common. I'm not really a 10 at all, much as I'd like to be.

I buy a lot from Vinted, some of it quite a few years old and 8-10 fits as it does now. So I don't think it's all shops.

Well you are a real size 10 as clothing sizes are completely arbitrary

But if you mean slim people, they buy an 8 or a 6. Every shop I go to sells down to a 6 if not a 4?

With vanity sizing the waists of clothes are getting bigger but not so much the breasts and hips. And humans in general are getting taller than say 50yrs ago so naturally clothing sizes will change

But yes I'm a size 10 now, and my mums size 10s from 30yrs ago fit me so there's not been vast change. If you follow MN every few months sizes change, which logically cannot be true otherwise we'd all be in negative sizes by now. Maybe my grandmas era, but again she's a much smaller woman than me even if we both have the same Body fat percentage

It's possible to consider someone hugely talented and also be concerned thar their health has been compromised by lifestyle choices or disease. Amy Winehouse springs to mind.

Weight is more complicated than calories in, calories out.

Eg the microbiome determines how the calories in food are accessed. Two people could eat the same meal and one would receive more calories, the other would excrete a higher proportion.

Seeing people of all sizes, on tv going about their lives such as excercising, incentivises me to excercise and to forget about rxcercising to lose weight but to fuck what anyone else thinks andnjust excercise.
previously I would have been ashamed to go to the gym. Now becauseI am trying to, not always succeeding, in practicing self love I am trying to respect the body I have, whereas before I just thought myself, I would think, fuck it, I'm a fat bastard anyway may as just go and eat cake and then hate myself some more and so the cycle continues.

Poppybob · Today 15:30
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@ThewaytoAmarula no it's that it is normalising obesity and means that people will have less incentive to lose weight
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OP posts

I agree that the NHS is in a poor state, in fact would go as far to say it's on its knees. Obesity does contribute to a lot of health issues. So don't you think it would be more cost effective for the NHS to offer more bariatric surgery to prevent the associated health problems costing millions of pounds to treat?

Countries where it’s not socially acceptable to be overweight, let alone obese, have thinner populations (see France, Japan, South Korea).
For the vast majority of people it is as simple as calories in vs calories out, but the UK has decided as a society that it will stack the odds against it. We rant and rave about supporting any kind of active travel at the expense of car journeys, and Heaven forfend we can’t get junk food delivered to our homes 24hrs a day. We get the society we deserve.

No-one becomes obese because they're not eating enough 😂

I agree the sizes in Zara definitely have gotten bigger over the past year or so! I recently put on a bit of weight and was an 8/10 rather than 6/8 (lost it again since) and could still fit into a size small

French (or rather Parisian) women might be slimmer, but are they smoking to keep it that way?

I thought I read that some years ago the NHS was doing 12k bariatric surgeries a year and now its only 4k

We're not very good at preventative care and getting people in for operations tht would prevent their health getting worse.

I think there needs to be a huge push to get more people having sleeves/bypasses (I dont think the NHS does bands anymore)

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/SH.PRV.SMOK.FE/rankings

France yes, but Japan, Korea and Singapore are considerably lower down the table than the UK, or most European countries, in terms of women smoking.

That"s interesting, I was looking at a table of obesity by country and Bulgaria was the lowest in Europe, but now, I read a day later, the highest rate of smoking, wow.

I’m size 6 and it is hard to find clothes. There are plenty of shops that just don’t stock my size. And yes, those same sizes used to be an eight!

The daily mail feature pictures of obese women to compliment their 'curves' and get thousands of comments about how fat the woman is. It's clickbait and the media knows exactly what they're doing in that regard.

Just to add to this, I've lost and kept off 3 stone since I...

• started buying nice clothes at my biggest
• getting my hair done
• doing a daily skin care routine

I gain weight when I feel ashamed about how I look.

It's very weird, but the more confident I am the more I'll lose and keep off.

Not really sure what I'm saying other than, perhaps normalising isn't so much of a bad thing if it makes people feel happier. And happier people are more likely to lose weight?

@labamba007 I never thought of it like this 👍👍

strange that, considering its exactly what i pointed out upthread this morning. but whatever.

Bariatric surgery has quite high rates of complications, and those who’ve had it have higher rates of alcoholism (I imagine a transference of addiction?). It’s not always the best option for weight loss. I think there are some newer, safer, and easily removable options though, but I think they’re only available privately.

There’s so much could be done before that point though.
Better supporting patients who want to lose weight (I could only access support once diagnosed with diabetes, then the medication made my hormones work better and I’m finally able to lose weight!)
Ozempic could be prescribed (with supervision) for more patients.
Not diagnosing women automatically as fat, no matter what the issue is - leaving women feeling ashamed of themselves (see previous posts linking self esteem and weight gain), and feeling unsupported with whatever they have gone to the dr for.

Yes its true there is a risk of transfer addiction but obviously only for those who are actually food addicted.

Also very high rates of divorce afterwards!!!

I remember trying to access the weight loss support referred to by my GP, only in working hours, I wasnt able to go to the groups due to work, there was just no flexibility or access for me

@bellac11 I waited 18 months to join a 'workshop' on weightloss. The next one is 6 months away. My GP had asked for a surgery referral. I can't have semiglutide as it is only given to diabetic patients at my practice. My friends have had it (one private, one NHS) and the have both lost many stones in weight. Neither as big as me at the time but both diabetic.
I worry about the surgery as I have other health conditions and have had alcohol issues. I joined the MN AF forum and gave it up.