Overweight... The new normal !

quirkytizzy

There's another alarming trend that doesn't get discussed as often.

As the average American grows heavier, so does the fetishization of the unhealthy LOWER weight bodies. A pendulum that jerks back too sharply in the opposite direction. We, as a nation, are unhappy with our bodies and thus catapult those with underfed bodies, dangerously low body fat percentages, and begin to trend towards "making up the difference" with anoretic builds and disordered eating to get there.

So yes, overweight is the new normal. But that's had more of an effect than just making us all fat - and I sometimes wish to scream this second trend from the rooftops.

RoadsterGirlie

It's everywhere you go - at the grocery store/ mall / work / vacation / restaurants / parks, etc. Pretty much any public place.

What's even sadder is the children. Overweight children are everywhere too. It used to be that you had one overweight child or so out of a whole class. Now it's 2/3rds of the class or more.

Shameful.

DawnieB1977

It's everywhere you go - at the grocery store/ mall / work / vacation / restaurants / parks, etc. Pretty much any public place.

What's even sadder is the children. Overweight children are everywhere too. It used to be that you had one overweight child or so out of a whole class. Now it's 2/3rds of the class or more.

Shameful.

I'm a teacher and I don't find that there are that many overweight kids in my classes, but I would imagine there are more than say 30 years ago.

It is sad when being overweight becomes the norm. My BMI is about 26 now, but I'd like to lose another 10-15lbs. I get looked at like i'm a bit mad when I tell people I want to lose more. Granted, I always look smaller than I weigh, but I know I definitely need to lose a bit and tone up more.

icimani

This all started when it became "illegal" to tell a girl she had gained weight.

Not illegal - just incredibly rude.
(Just as it would be for a woman to tell a man he's gained weight!)

FawnAnnette

I too have noticed the sizes are upped in the past decades. I used to shop for a size 14 which would be it. No larger size available. Suddenly about 15 yrs ago, size 16 and 18 began to show up. I would shop for a special occasion dress and find those sizes. Which made my shopping easier for sure. However, this did allow me to size up myself. Get fat in other words. Way too fat. I've lost 44 lbs so far and am only halfway to goal. I have one person call me 'tall and slim' which I have not been called for maybe fifteen years or more. I was flattered. Makes one consider that I am moving downwards on the scale and upwards in self-respect and motivation.

Katbody10

I agree!!!
People tell me skinny and I'm really not lol
but lots of moms let them selfs go

OUCH! That's unfair .. I'm 46 years old .. my son is 18 now ..

I've NEVER let myself go and lots of moms I know don't .. don't stereotype people..

I'm 5'4 and weigh 113 lbs! I don't think I'm anywhere near fat .. and I hope to always be normal. I'm happy with my current weight. Which is about what I've weighed my whole adult life (105-110 lbs) .. except when I was pregnant of course.

RoadsterGirlie

Congrats on your success, FawnAnnette!

I can identify with that as well. When I was slowly gaining weight over a period of 10 years or so, as soon as 16s and 18s became more available, thats probably when I was at my highest, and unhealthiest in terms of eating.

Flixie00

I too have noticed the sizes are upped in the past decades. I used to shop for a size 14 which would be it. No larger size available. Suddenly about 15 yrs ago, size 16 and 18 began to show up. I would shop for a special occasion dress and find those sizes. Which made my shopping easier for sure. However, this did allow me to size up myself. Get fat in other words. Way too fat. I've lost 44 lbs so far and am only halfway to goal. I have one person call me 'tall and slim' which I have not been called for maybe fifteen years or more. I was flattered. Makes one consider that I am moving downwards on the scale and upwards in self-respect and motivation.

Yep, also a UK size 14 from 20 years ago is now a UK size 12, vanity sizing. Shoe sizes are just as bad.

almc170

It's rather sad, really. I've been accused of having an "eating disorder" so many times in my life, I can't even count. And I'm not underweight or anything. In fact, I'm on the high end of the normal weight spectrum for my height. Unfortunately, perceptions have become so skewed as to be utterly distorted.

NCchar130

Our pediatrician mentioned this to us a few years back when we were discussing our older kid's weight. She was on the very low end of the weight scale and we were concerned. His response was basically, look, your kid is fine, its the percentages that are really out of whack; and the real problem is convincing parents that their kids (and they themselves) are overweight. People are so accustomed to seeing so many overweight children that they have forgotten what kids looked like 20, 30 and 40 years ago. The worst part about it is the extreme anger from people when their doctors tell them they, or their kids, are overweight or obese.

Its like any other problem people have, addiction or otherwise - admitting you have a problem is the first and often hardest step.

I think that's a really interesting story. I have noticed a lot of people get EXTREMELY upset if a doctor tells them they are overweight/obese. There is a disconnect between being called fat as an insult and the medical definition of 'overweight.' I think lots of people can't tell the difference between them. I don't appreciate being called fat either, but it's never bothered me when a doctor has mentioned the need for me to lose. I think a lot of people seriously internalized all the self-esteem boosting "we're all winners", "I'm ok, you're ok, we're all PERFECT JUST THE WAY WE ARE" messages that have been put out there for years and years.

edited to add: I don't mean that overweight/obese people are defective as people, by the way. I know you can be fat and still be an awesome person (my dad struggled all his life). I just mean that the self-esteem boosting messages make it easy sometimes to ignore the very real health risks of continuing the habits that make you fat.

briannadunn

What a sad thing to have to face. I feel the same way about thinking a person should be what weight you think they should be at..My own family say I should be X amount but for the last 18 yrs, I haven't been X amount because of the crap I got fed as a child and then I didn't know how to eat right. Now I am working my way back down. It is messed up and a way this Country can't afford to go.

Katbody10

Our pediatrician mentioned this to us a few years back when we were discussing our older kid's weight. She was on the very low end of the weight scale and we were concerned. His response was basically, look, your kid is fine, its the percentages that are really out of whack; and the real problem is convincing parents that their kids (and they themselves) are overweight. People are so accustomed to seeing so many overweight children that they have forgotten what kids looked like 20, 30 and 40 years ago. The worst part about it is the extreme anger from people when their doctors tell them they, or their kids, are overweight or obese.

Its like any other problem people have, addiction or otherwise - admitting you have a problem is the first and often hardest step.

I think that's a really interesting story. I have noticed a lot of people get EXTREMELY upset if a doctor tells them they are overweight/obese. There is a disconnect between being called fat as an insult and the medical definition of 'overweight.' I think lots of people can't tell the difference between them. I don't appreciate being called fat either, but it's never bothered me when a doctor has mentioned the need for me to lose. I think a lot of people seriously internalized all the self-esteem boosting "we're all winners", "I'm ok, you're ok, we're all PERFECT JUST THE WAY WE ARE" messages that have been put out there for years and years.

edited to add: I don't mean that overweight/obese people are defective as people, by the way. I know you can be fat and still be an awesome person (my dad struggled all his life). I just mean that the self-esteem boosting messages make it easy sometimes to ignore the very real health risks of continuing the habits that make you fat.

Very well said!! I agree with this :flowerforyou:

FawnAnnette

Thanks for note back so quickly! I just feel sort of bamboozled by the glee of over those years finally finding clothes to wear for special occasions. It was hard in the beginning of being adult, married, pregnant, then not,, then pregnant, then not, then preg, then not, then pregnant for the final time. I was a yo-yo. It started up and creeped. Until I was a size 22! I was thinking this winter and early spring that I'd have a heart attack or something awful. My right knee with osteoarthritis went out this August. I was using a knee brace for two months. As I lost more weight, I began to feel so much better. Now I am 44 lbs less. My right knee feels very good, not healed, not normal, but so much better. I think alot of the health problems of Americans are related to being overweight. I really feel sorry for children who are obese. It puts them at such a disadvantage playing. How can they enjoy themselves with friends if they cannot run, play tag, climb a tree or explore a wildplace/park?

SpecialSundae

There seems to have been a fairly dramatic change in body shapes over the past few decades. I'm not really sure when it happened and it's not only fat people who have the different shape. I don't think that being fat is good and I know that as a society we need to get healthier, but I think there's more going on than just weight change.

sandip69

over here in the UK, we are beginning to see a similar phenomenon. There is a worrying tactic seen in clothes stores called "vanity sizing". You try on a pair of trousers and are surprised that you can fit into them given that they are a certain waist size. You then go home, measure your waist and find a large disparity between your actual size and the size that your trousers/dress/blouse etc is meant to be. We Brits are getting larger and our department stores are not helping. I am a doctor and I get tired of people telling me that they aren't overweight or don't eat too much when they clearly do. There is an increasing need for special hospital trolleys, beds and ambulance stretchers to accommodate the grossly overweight. We find ourselves sending patients to the local zoo because out scanners cannot tolerate their weight. BMI is a useful indicator to point you in the right direction. On my one and only trip to the US, I was genuinely appalled by the large number of morbidly obese adults and children in the street. As for the gorging that went on in restaurants, it made me feel ill. Can we not exercise any self restraint. If your gut is hanging over your trousers, then you're overweight!!!

fittocycle

I've noticed this as well. I'm right in the middle of my BMI but some people have commented that I looked too thin. Interestingly enough, all those people were overweight. It seems that people forget what a normal size looks like because so many people are larger than what they should be.

Have you noticed how furniture has grown as well? Couches and chairs are much larger than they were years ago. If you look at antique furniture, you can really see the difference! I find it amusing that as a population we have more "padding" than ever and yet mattresses have now have pillow tops to make us comfortable!:laugh:

watcheronthewall

**eye roll**

DebbieLyn63

I have to agree. As a senior in HS in 1980, I was 5'6" and around 120 pounds, which was heavier than many of the girls my age. I wore a size 5/7 jean then, which is now the equivalent of a size 0/2. Women who weighed over 200 pounds were unheard of back then, and they certainly couldn't buy clothes in the regular stores. I would never have imagined myself ever getting that 'huge'. But here I am 30 years later, thrilled to be down to 200 after 3 months on here.
Out in the real world where I live, (Texas) I am actually smaller than the average middle aged woman. The Womens/Plus size sections are the largest department in many stores now. All the 'accommodating' that society has done over the past 20+ years has just made it so much easier to let ourselves get larger and larger.

I remember a McDonalds commercial back in the 70s where you could buy a hamburger, fries and drink for under $1. It showed a grown man ordering the meal and getting change back from his dollar. That meal is now the small Happy meal, meant for 2-3 yr olds.
Our idea of a 'normal' daily calorie amount has been grossly distorted.

A man I used to work with that weighed around 400 pounds at 28 yrs old, broke a stadium seat at a pro basketball game and sued the team for 'emotional distress', and was awarded over $80k. There is something seriously messed up with that.

I am hoping that the obesity epidemic and rise of Type 2 Diabetes hitting younger and younger, will be a wake up call for more people to make a change.

I don't want the media and activists today telling me to 'love myself' the size that I am! I can love myself without loving the unhealthy size of my body.

NCchar130

I don't want the media and activists today telling me to 'love myself' the size that I am! I can love myself without loving the unhealthy size of my body.

I SO agree with this. To anyone who has tried to encourage me (I guess) this way since I started losing weight (SW 217 lbs, 5'6") by telling me to love myself and not worry so much, I respond, "I love myself too much NOT to lose the weight!"

DebbieLyn63

I too have noticed the sizes are upped in the past decades. I used to shop for a size 14 which would be it. No larger size available. Suddenly about 15 yrs ago, size 16 and 18 began to show up. I would shop for a special occasion dress and find those sizes. Which made my shopping easier for sure. However, this did allow me to size up myself. Get fat in other words. Way too fat. I've lost 44 lbs so far and am only halfway to goal. I have one person call me 'tall and slim' which I have not been called for maybe fifteen years or more. I was flattered. Makes one consider that I am moving downwards on the scale and upwards in self-respect and motivation.

Yep, also a UK size 14 from 20 years ago is now a UK size 12, vanity sizing. Shoe sizes are just as bad.

I still have a pair of Calvin Klein jeans from 1982 that are a size 10. The waist measures 27". I wore them when I weighed 130 pounds. They are the same size as a pair of my daughter's size 4 American Eagle jeans.