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Original poster

BBC 3 FAT people

73 replies

jollymum · 31/08/2006 22:08

OK just watched programme showing that fat people can't do this/that, have nice clothes etc etc. Right, two thoughts. One, the two girls on the programme who couldn't get trendy teen clothes were ready and willing to boycott clothes shops with placards when told to by the programme makers. Would they have done it on their own and why weren't we told why they were fat? That's the word used so I make no apolgies. Maybe the money spent on the programme could have been used to get dietary advice, personal trainers and more help for the girls so they didn't have to humiliate themselves on national TV. I know fat people can be happy and happiness is not related to size (look at anorexia). I have experience of this, but the programme was suggesting that certain theme parks should accomodate fat people because of their size. I am not generalising here but most theme parks don't cater for disabled people and they can't go on rides for whatever reasons/problems they have. SOME and I mean SOME fat people have the choice, slim down a bit and get smaller clthes/go on rides etc. That's their choice and why should everyone cater for them? The programme never once suggested/advised any form of fat reduction/diets and as far as I watched (maybe I missed a bit) didn't seem to care about the people's health, just the fact that they were "victimised" because of their size. I just kept shouting at the TV, "well try and lose weight then or explain why you can'T" but felt that this was so in your face that it almost ranked with the uniform/non-uniform debate over certain faith schools. It's everyone's right to be different but to ask everyone else to cater/pander to them is wrong.Life is unfair sometimes and that's life.

OP posts:

Joolstoo · 31/08/2006 22:12

I turned off when the guy started goin gon about making things big enough for them - car etc

Original poster

jollymum · 31/08/2006 22:15

I just think that it gave a bad impression. A bit petulant IYKWIM. I felt sorry for the people humiliating themselves even tho it was for a programme. I know the spirit in which it was made, but I kept saying "well, lose weight then.."

OP posts:

schneebly · 31/08/2006 22:22

I didn't watch this but I am fat...probably about 5-6 stone overweight and it is my fault and my problem and I realise that I don't have the same choice in clothes but it is up to me to do something about it. I wouldn't expect to be specially catered for at theme parks etc.

Socci · 31/08/2006 22:33

Message withdrawn

NotQuiteCockney · 31/08/2006 22:39

What on earth would be a reason why someone is fat? Isn't it generally: "ate too much, didn't exercise enough"? What other reasons are there?

(Or have I missed those teams of armed men with loads of cakes, going door to door?)

schneebly · 31/08/2006 22:44

True NQC (apart from those with prader-willi or thyroid issues etc.) However depression or some kind of trauma is a common cause of uncontollable over-eating - it is not always as cut and dried as 'eat less, exercise more'

maazaa · 31/08/2006 22:50

My dh and I watched this and we would both be termed overweight. I am a size 16 (with bulging pg bump too) and he is a couple of stone above his ideal weight.

Disclaimer over with, we watched this programme slightly bemused....when it seems that every other programme is devoted to the concern of Britain's increasing obesity problem, the "eat 5 a day" campaign (veg/fruit that is, not sweets/crisps), surely this programme had to be tongue in cheek???? Surely using the US as a positive role model for making large loos etc only shows that the more you embrace obesity, the more "ok" it becomes?

I have no judgement on how someone looks, but I do judge if their health is affected and that means a shorter life - just as I would with someone who smokes 50 a day....indeed it's your own right to do what you want to your body, but not if it affects your loved ones. Disclaimer number two is OF COURSE if you have a medical problem in which case you would probably fall into the category of disabled and may receive support like car adaptation or use of roomy disabled loos.

Having said all of that, I don't know how it feels so maybe I shouldn't comment.

MarmaladeSun · 01/09/2006 09:05

There ARE reasons why people are overweight, apart from eating too much and apart from prader-willi etc. Over eating is often a symptom of an emotional problem, which the sufferer isn't even aware of. Which is why diets often fail so miserably...you need to deal with the cause of the problem and not the symptom. So it's not simply a case of don't eat so much, or take some more exercise...it goes much deeper than that.

NotQuiteCockney · 01/09/2006 13:23

Sure, I agree people often overeat for complicated reasons. And they can have problems exercising because of other complicated reasons. But, in a show about fat people's rights, would it really be appropriate to get into whether these people had any interesting complicated reasons for being fat?

Saturn74 · 01/09/2006 13:38

I watched this programme last night. The impression I got was that the programme makers were stating a statistic that 70% of people in Britain are likely to be overweight or obese in 10 years time. They were showing that manufacturers (whether of cars, clothes, toilets, theme park rides etc) weren't aware of this fact, and weren't catering (perhaps bad choice of word?) for overweight people now - and had no plans to do so in the future. I didn't see it as an advice / health programme, more of a consumer programme.

nailpolish · 01/09/2006 13:43

sorry if i am repeating what others have said, but the 2 teenage girls said they were happy with their size, i think they were asked "if i had a magic want would you want me to wave it and make you slim?" and they both said "NO" firmly. so, as suggested in the OP, using the money for dietary advice and personal trainers would have been a waste. and because they are happy being that size, surely they werent 'humiliated', surely they dont want to lose weight, are not bothered about going on rides, being stared at, becuase they said so

liquidclocks · 01/09/2006 13:47

In a country where most public establishments (shops, cinemas, anywhere the public go) can't even cater for people with genuine medical conditions that they really can't do anythin about I think it's a bit rich to produce a programme advocating that we should be asking these companies to spend their 'access' budgets on fat people as a 'group'. What we really need to do is get them to plough their cash into researching and implementing inclusive design - design that works for everyone, not just fat/thin/deaf/blind. We also need a bit of realism - I get migraines from fluorescent lights - you don't see me walking into asda demanding they switch their lights off so I can do my shopping!

2mum · 01/09/2006 17:40

I watched this last night and fast food and overeating aside, i think its terrible a lot of the shops were only just about going up to a 16-18. 5 years ago i was a size 8 im now a size 16 and im hoping to lose weight. I never want to be any bigger than i am now for health reasons. But i just dont agree with the clothes sizing thing and having to ask for bigger sizes from skinny shopgirls turning their noses up at you.

Blondilocks · 01/09/2006 18:07

If I was big then my first priority would be to get back to a healthy level rather than worrying about whether I could go on theme park rides or not.

Larger people tend to have a higher risk of heart problems (or potential heart problems) so could this be part of the reason why theme parks have restrictions on size? (Although having said this I know of underweight, reasonably healthy people who have hed heart attacks).

suejoneziscalmernow · 01/09/2006 18:10

I don't just want fairground rides to accomodate my ample girth, I want a whole funfair to myself. I want thin people to have to change on the shop floor so that I can change on my own in the communal changing room without them sniggering at me. I want wider bus seats and plane seats, oh and whilst I'm at it, I want bigger cream cakes too. Mingey little small ones are no good to me.

What I don't want, is for anyone else to have an opinion on why I'm fat or any other part of my life for that matter, or to feel I'm not allowed to protest about anything I want to however pointless it might be in practice.

We all choose to do things which aren't good for us and being overweight has virtually no effect on anyone else except possibly (if you develop a weight related condition) your nearest and dearest so being fat is, in my humble opinion, about the nicest vice available. Can't think why we get so much stick about it - don't blow smoke at people, don't throw up in the street or fall over drunk, don't spread STD's.

I think we should win the "most sociable vice" award.

MamaG · 02/09/2006 11:21

Sue - you're my hero I love your posts.

BBWBabeLisa · 02/09/2006 12:09

Gotta love smug thin people. Geez if only I had known it was as simple as eating less and exercising more! Duh! I have seen the light! Thank you oh perfectly proportioned ones. It must be great to see the world so clearly.
May you never become seriously depressed and find yourself in a vicious circle with food.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/09/2006 13:33

Hey, I'm not slim, I'm not perfectly proportioned, and I didn't say losing weight was simple. I just said, what sort of "reason" would make sense, aren't people always heavy because they ate too much and didn't exercise enough. Didn't say changing those things was easy.

laneydaye · 02/09/2006 13:39

When the guy asked the 19yr old girl if she could change would she be thin, she lied, on tv she blatantly lied wether it was through embarrassment or somthing else, she lied....it was very obvious....imho if they put as much effort into being "healthy" as they did trying to get shops to stock their sizes...they would lose weight (nobody ever says its easy) and the amount of crap they were shoving down their gobs at the funfair.(ffs)

NotQuiteCockney · 02/09/2006 13:58

I'm not sure intentional weight loss really works very well. The only way I've ever lost weight is by lifestyle changes, that I made for other reasons entirely.

Ulysees · 02/09/2006 14:08

I didn't see the programme but must agree as a whole we are getting bigger. I'm a smug thin person (size 12) but I know the average is size 14/16 now so I don't understand why seats etc are so small? Then again my dh is 16 stone and can fit in airplane/cinema seats ok. That could be that men have thinner arses though? It's his stomach that's particularly big.

It'd be great if those who want to lose weight could do so easily but they can't - as has already been said. If it were so easy the diet industry wouldn't be one of the fastest growing markets.

Good for those girls I say for being comfortable in their size and trying to stamp out the stigma attached to weight. I think people should be taken to court for abusing people who are fat just like you can't be racist and get away with it.

suejoneziscalmernow · 02/09/2006 18:03

If I had a pound for everytime someone has said "eat less, exercise more" when the topic of weight has come up, I'd be at least three stone heavier.

It's quite helpful to have it repeated to me at least once a week (which is the case, luckily) as the fat molecules block the synapses in my brain. Its what makes fat people more stupid. (not having a go at you NQC - I did understand the context of you original post - more of a general comment on fat theads.)

As an aside - why when fat people eat crap do they "shove it down their gobs", whereas when thin people eat crap (apparently they do ), they just "eat"?

flutterbee · 02/09/2006 22:41

laneydaye can you explain to me why the girls lied, is it too hard for you to except the fact that someone who isn't a size 10/12 could be happy with their bodies.

Their fat there for they must be unhappy.

flutterbee · 02/09/2006 22:44

Oh and Lneydaye I may be miss judging your post but you sound just like the type of person who's - ffs shoving crap down their gobs attitude has made me stop eating in public.

laneydaye · 03/09/2006 10:20

Firstly (imho) it looked like the girl was made to feel very unconfortable when she was asked the question.... like she was put on the spot.
"the amount of crap they were shoving down their gobs at the funfair"

Why on earth would that statement be meant (only) for fat people? Who said anything about thin people "just eat"

i think your being thinist now........so stop it please

just voicing my opinion like everyone else, its why most of us are here isnt it?

And just for the record (im certainly NOT thin)

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