Flaming hell, I must loose those few excess pounds before I am socially ostracised

[handlemecarefully]

lifestyle.aol.co.uk/fat-friends-pose-obesity-risk/article/20070725191509990003

Ah so it really isn't my fault that I'm fat, I suspected all along that it was contagious

It's completely true and IMO pretty obvious though.
When I worked on a magazine as staff I was much thinner and everyone else was slim too - I kept quite a close eye on what I ate and monitored my size. I would have felt very out of place if I'd gained weight. As a freelancer I weigh more (though getting slowly smaller) and felt OK at school gates as there were lots of people bigger than me.

"Obesity is "socially contagious", spreading from person to person in a social network"

If you can catch it off facebook, I'm screwed.

I think possibly what may happen is bigger people, when you suggest exercise, walk, swimming, bike ride...effort of any sort, well IME they say no, another time maybe, so if you go along with that then you could end up doing less exercise than before.
I am finding myself doing things on my own though, rather than not doing them at all.
Never was one to follow the crowd!

I felt a real social pressure to watch my food intake and go to the gym when I worked on a mag and all my colleagues were slim. Social pressure is important. If everyone I knew was 15stone I bet I would feel really willowy in comparison and just eat that cake that is in the fridge right now. As it is, I'm having a cup of tea instead.

Now I know why I have no friends

It's hard to say anything without sounding fattist! I was a size 16 recently, so I'm not fattist, but I know that as a 14 I felt completely out of place in teh world of the glossy mags. It would seriously motivate me to diet. I might not be happy, but I'd be thinner

I am usually very aware of my size 16 figure when I am with all of the size 10s at the school gates and I am usually very careful about what I eat. My SIL was here for two weeks visiting and she to is a size 16 and I did eat more because I didn't feel as out of place

The guy who led the research was on Radio5 tonite, worth catching on the Listen Again feature because he corrected a lot of the way the story is being misreported.

He said that if your friend puts on 40 lbs, you tend to be more likely to let yourself go. And if your friend lost 40 lbs, you felt a social pressure to do similar (to losing weight is contagious, too). It was friends changing their weight that had an influence, not whether they were fat or thin already.

Oh, and if your good friend with fluctuating weight lived 2000 miles away or next door had equal influence, as long as they were equally important people to you.

If god wont make me thin - make my friends fat

I should embroider that on a pillow