Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
Are our casual clothes making us fat??
Replies
-
When I entered the workforce, I wore suits and 3-inch heels every day. Now I wear comfy pants and golf shirts. I'm 20 pounds lighter. I don't need a restrictive waistband. I have a mirror.9
-
cbstewart88 wrote: »RelCanonical wrote: »cbstewart88 wrote: »This is slightly off-topic, but I was just thinking about the casual clothing boom the other day. When I started my own business way back when - my job consisted of going into other businesses to do my work. I ALWAYS dressed up. I loved it. I had a wardrobe of beautiful dresses and luscious heels and sharp handbags. Even as workplaces became more casual - I stuck to my guns and continued dressing up. I wanted to project a professional and competent image despite the often weird looks I would get - LOL.
So now I am retired. And there my stuff hangs. I miss wearing those clothes. Sometimes I go out to dinner just for an excuse to get dressed up again. But even in fancier restaurants the dress code has really gotten more lenient and I feel overdressed and out of place. I guess my point is - anybody in the market for slightly worn Manolo heels, size 8???
Still wear it! I love dressing up to go to the grocery store, lol. As I've become more comfortable with my body, it's been far easier to just wear what I want, and I'm like you - I love dressing up, albeit with cheaper shoes because I ain't made of money, lol. I guess it depends on the region, but people here have had nothing but good things to say. Some people at my job wear gym shorts to work, we're so casual (digital marketing), but I always dress up because it makes ME feel good.
You are absolutely right!! Screw it. I'm dressing up to go grocery shopping.
People will just assume you came from somewhere important and are so busy you can't change, lol. We are seriously causal where I live - small town in the midwest - even the fancy restaurants accept jeans (partly because we're very touristy, but also because the town in general is quite casual), so I used to feel uncomfortable about it. I would even take off my coat even if I was cold if it seemed like most people weren't wearing coats. Now, I'm in long sleeves all day err day because I'm often cold, but also more comfortable when dressed conservatively.2 -
Are you posting this to make fun of it, or to support the original post? The daily mail is like a cheesy tabloid, so it's hard to tell with no comment added.
The obesity problem will continue to be a problem as long as we continue to look for reasons outside of our own responsibility. People are overweight because it is newly possible to live an entirely sedentary lifestyle while surrounded by cheap and plentiful calorie dense food. It doesn't matter if your pants have an elastic waistband or Nike has plus size mannequins or GMOs are labeled clearly or food has preservatives or how many carbs are in your burrito or which kinds of fats you eat.
I personally have never been obese, but I feel confident obese people deal with uncomfortable and even painful situations and events far worse than "my pants aren't stretchy enough".
Commenter is the OP so I am guessing it was posted in support.
I admit I was being somewhat facetious in my original post.
And I do know that the Daily Mail is not exactly the the world's most trusted news source.
But I have known friends to complain that they gained weight when they started wearing scrubs to work...or began working from home and didn't have to put on a suit each day. But their gains could perhaps more easily be explained by the abundant supply of snacks at the nurses' station, or the fact that they were working mere steps from their own kitchen.
I'm extremely fortunate and grateful to work from home. One thing that comes with it is that I can spend my lunch hour on my bike. I've gone to (Skype) meetings in my bib shorts, which means I get to spend the whole hour riding, I don't have to waste 15 minutes changing twice and drying off.4 -
Heh, I wear jeans and T-shirt to work every day
0 -
RelCanonical wrote: »cbstewart88 wrote: »RelCanonical wrote: »cbstewart88 wrote: »This is slightly off-topic, but I was just thinking about the casual clothing boom the other day. When I started my own business way back when - my job consisted of going into other businesses to do my work. I ALWAYS dressed up. I loved it. I had a wardrobe of beautiful dresses and luscious heels and sharp handbags. Even as workplaces became more casual - I stuck to my guns and continued dressing up. I wanted to project a professional and competent image despite the often weird looks I would get - LOL.
So now I am retired. And there my stuff hangs. I miss wearing those clothes. Sometimes I go out to dinner just for an excuse to get dressed up again. But even in fancier restaurants the dress code has really gotten more lenient and I feel overdressed and out of place. I guess my point is - anybody in the market for slightly worn Manolo heels, size 8???
Still wear it! I love dressing up to go to the grocery store, lol. As I've become more comfortable with my body, it's been far easier to just wear what I want, and I'm like you - I love dressing up, albeit with cheaper shoes because I ain't made of money, lol. I guess it depends on the region, but people here have had nothing but good things to say. Some people at my job wear gym shorts to work, we're so casual (digital marketing), but I always dress up because it makes ME feel good.
You are absolutely right!! Screw it. I'm dressing up to go grocery shopping.
People will just assume you came from somewhere important and are so busy you can't change, lol. We are seriously causal where I live - small town in the midwest - even the fancy restaurants accept jeans (partly because we're very touristy, but also because the town in general is quite casual), so I used to feel uncomfortable about it. I would even take off my coat even if I was cold if it seemed like most people weren't wearing coats. Now, I'm in long sleeves all day err day because I'm often cold, but also more comfortable when dressed conservatively.
I get weird looks all the time when I go to Walmart on my lunch hour. Not many people around here dress up, either.
I've been collecting casual dresses appropriate for my days off that I can pair with comfy shoes. I like looking feminine, but I like being comfortable too
And dresses are much more comfortable than jeans to me. Plus, they look better over a wider range of sizes during the losing phase, I think. My work trousers are getting baggy again and it is super annoying because I bought them thinking I'd be in them a good long while! :grumble: 1 -
For most of my life I have either lived in workout clothes/casual wear/scrubs/maternity wear between university, working in labs, dental offices, being pregnant, a stay at home mother, etc. I have never had an issues with my weight (unless you count almost being underweight at one point). Don't get me wrong, I love to dress up when I go out from time to time, but I couldn't live without my stretchy pants!2
-
Nah...when I graduated college I started working with a CPA firm and wore tailored suits much of the time. I still put on weight and had to have suites re-tailored or had to buy new ones. I worked 70-80 hours per week most weeks and traveled 25+ weeks out of the year...the least of my concerns back then was my weight. I couldn't have cared less...I was busy climbing the corporate ladder as fast as I could.
I work in a much more relaxed environment these days and most of my chinos and khakis have a little give to them...they are comfortable to be in and move around in...I'm 40 Lbs less now than when I wore suits most of the time. My job now is not nearly as demanding or stressful and I have a lot more time to get in some regular exercise and eat properly.
As far as women wearing leggings or yoga pants...the vast majority of the ladies I know who wear yoga pants regularly are actually in really good shape....but I guess that could be because most of my lady friends in general are in really good shape...7 -
RelCanonical wrote: »cbstewart88 wrote: »RelCanonical wrote: »cbstewart88 wrote: »This is slightly off-topic, but I was just thinking about the casual clothing boom the other day. When I started my own business way back when - my job consisted of going into other businesses to do my work. I ALWAYS dressed up. I loved it. I had a wardrobe of beautiful dresses and luscious heels and sharp handbags. Even as workplaces became more casual - I stuck to my guns and continued dressing up. I wanted to project a professional and competent image despite the often weird looks I would get - LOL.
So now I am retired. And there my stuff hangs. I miss wearing those clothes. Sometimes I go out to dinner just for an excuse to get dressed up again. But even in fancier restaurants the dress code has really gotten more lenient and I feel overdressed and out of place. I guess my point is - anybody in the market for slightly worn Manolo heels, size 8???
Still wear it! I love dressing up to go to the grocery store, lol. As I've become more comfortable with my body, it's been far easier to just wear what I want, and I'm like you - I love dressing up, albeit with cheaper shoes because I ain't made of money, lol. I guess it depends on the region, but people here have had nothing but good things to say. Some people at my job wear gym shorts to work, we're so casual (digital marketing), but I always dress up because it makes ME feel good.
You are absolutely right!! Screw it. I'm dressing up to go grocery shopping.
People will just assume you came from somewhere important and are so busy you can't change, lol. We are seriously causal where I live - small town in the midwest - even the fancy restaurants accept jeans (partly because we're very touristy, but also because the town in general is quite casual), so I used to feel uncomfortable about it. I would even take off my coat even if I was cold if it seemed like most people weren't wearing coats. Now, I'm in long sleeves all day err day because I'm often cold, but also more comfortable when dressed conservatively.
I get weird looks all the time when I go to Walmart on my lunch hour. Not many people around here dress up, either.
I've been collecting casual dresses appropriate for my days off that I can pair with comfy shoes. I like looking feminine, but I like being comfortable too And dresses are much more comfortable than jeans to me. Plus, they look better over a wider range of sizes during the losing phase, I think. My work trousers are getting baggy again and it is super annoying because I bought them thinking I'd be in them a good long while! :grumble:
Seriously, dresses are more comfortable! I don't need a belt and I can't feel it if I'm bloated. I did go to Walmart just yesterday in a flowy dress with my sky-high wedges, and either nobody noticed, or my area is just good at pretending they didn't notice, lol. We are a beat-around-the-bush kind of community, according to my mother (she is from New York).1 -
And thanks to inexpensive "fast fashion" if an item became too tight (must have shrunk in the wash) it was cheap enough to replace with something new.
I've always had a taste for nice clothes. What that means exactly has changed over the years, but they've always had to be very comfortable, and functional. Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately - that means expensive. Seriously, look up what Arc'teryx charges for a jacket or base layer.2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »And thanks to inexpensive "fast fashion" if an item became too tight (must have shrunk in the wash) it was cheap enough to replace with something new.
I've always had a taste for nice clothes. What that means exactly has changed over the years, but they've always had to be very comfortable, and functional. Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately - that means expensive. Seriously, look up what Arc'teryx charges for a jacket or base layer.
YE_FREAKING_GADs man! my poor self will stick with LLBean thank you very much
1 -
glovepuppet wrote: »My pants don't hurt, so I'll eat the whole pie? Just not seeing it.
tight clothes can often be the motivation to change habits
It's not even about the clothes for me. I like what I look like naked. And I want to keep it that way. That's my motivation!1 -
Mouse_Potato wrote: »When I entered the workforce, I wore suits and 3-inch heels every day. Now I wear comfy pants and golf shirts. I'm 20 pounds lighter. I don't need a restrictive waistband. I have a mirror.
I quit my super stressful job (where I needed to dress professionally) and now I only work part-time seasonally from home. I'm also 20 pounds lighter and at my ideal weight and body fat %, even though I'm middle-aged. Getting rid of stress and having more time to go out and be active seem to be the most important factors for me. I sit around in my stretchy pants all day and it's OK with me! I'm in much better shape than I was before I started wearing yoga pants (when I was younger and stressed out.) Maybe our casual clothes are making us fit! I better go blog about it... 3 -
glovepuppet wrote: »My pants don't hurt, so I'll eat the whole pie? Just not seeing it.
tight clothes can often be the motivation to change habits
Often?
I was thin in college, wearing farmer jeans, Red Wing work boots, plaid flannel shirts, and band-logo t-shirts. I got fat after college wearing structured wool suits with tailored jackets and straight skirts.
T-shirt woman worked in a college dorm dishroom (washing 800 people's dishes with giant machines, but always on the move at work) and riding a bicycle (or walking) all around a big Midwestern US campus that put a mile or more between individual classes, sometimes. Structured-suit woman had a long-hours office job doing tech stuff (programming and systems design, initially), and enough disposable income to eat out more and buy richer foods for home consumption.
But sure, the casual clothes caused my obesity, and the progressively tighter (then progressively larger-sized) suits motivated me to go back to washing dishes and not being able to afford expensive food.
Or maybe not. <eye roll>11 -
Sizing may be a problem too...Every country is different...take UK and USA...and Asian tiny...0
-
I stayed slim and trim wearing baggy tee shirts, loose fitting jeans, flannel shirts, etc. I hated wearing tight, restrictive clothing.
I got fat with a desk job which also meant a move to slacks, suits, etc.
Now, to be fair, my big "you need to lose weight" wake up call was when I couldn't fit into my biggest work pants (after already going up 1-2 sizes) no matter how much I squeezed, sucked, or belted myself in. I stayed in a range I could get into those clothes (although not particularly comfortably most of that time).
Funny thing though - a month or so ago I decided I needed some new work clothes that fit nicely (new office, and after a move my previous outfits didn't fit with the weather here). My clothes fit nicely and are comfortable office clothes with a little stretch. Wearing clothes that fit well, and feeling like I look decent is actually MORE motivating for me than wearing clothes that are too tight!
So, each person is probably different, but tight (or not) fitting clothes has had very little to do with my weight and may have actually been detrimental at times....5 -
Had an ad pop up in my Facebook feed for yoga pants that look like dress pants. Showed a woman sitting in a chair with the waistband of her trousers digging into her belly. Alongside was a woman, in her stretchy dress pants with the elastic waist, comfortably rubbing her tummy. The model was relatively slim, but I thought isn't this why Americans have gotten fat over the past few decades. Clothes that are comfy and stretchy instead of tailored and constricting.
Has the popularity of athleisure fueled the obesity epidemic? Back in the day...and I'm not just thinking back to the Mad Men era of slim fitting suits and sharp fitted dresses...but even when I entered the work force in the 90s, people dressed up more for work. But then casual Fridays became business casual every day, Dockers and leggings became commonplace, and it even became difficult to find denim that didn't contain a little lycra for stretch.
So maybe we didn't notice when we put on a few pounds, as our clothing expanded along with our waistlines. And vanity sizing miraculously kept us in the same sizes we wore 8n college. And thanks to inexpensive "fast fashion" if an item became too tight (must have shrunk in the wash) it was cheap enough to replace with something new.
Obviously, I wouldn't dream of bringing back corsets and whalebone stays. But I wonder if a return to wearing more structured clothes would make people stop and think hmm...these are feeling a little snug. Perhaps I should get a salad or skip the pudding.
Personally, I think it's symptomatic of the inverse being true: society getting fatter is driving the trend to avoid things that are uncomfortable to fat people. Similarly, athleisure is popular to an extent that it makes people feel good about the illusion of feeling active based on their attire.4 -
cmriverside wrote: »Wait. I thought we were blaming Big Sugar?
In reality, in general, far too many people pushing blame onto everything but him/herself...
#Self Responsibility7 -
NorthCascades wrote: »And thanks to inexpensive "fast fashion" if an item became too tight (must have shrunk in the wash) it was cheap enough to replace with something new.
I've always had a taste for nice clothes. What that means exactly has changed over the years, but they've always had to be very comfortable, and functional. Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately - that means expensive. Seriously, look up what Arc'teryx charges for a jacket or base layer.
YE_FREAKING_GADs man! my poor self will stick with LLBean thank you very much
Right?
I've been eyeing LL Bean's down sweater lately...2 -
I think there's a touch of legitimacy to the idea. In an anectodal, n of 1 study I can say that I made a move from MI to AZ and enjoyed an entire winter of nothing but flowy summery dresses that weren't constricting. What an unfortunate morning it was when I realized my size 3 jeans were nowhere close to buttoning... Gotta love all the snacking that accompanies long nights of studying in medical school 🤦🤷4
-
-
Kilts. Kilts. Always an option.5 -
Kilts. Kilts. Always an option.
Or booty shorts. No judging. Just maybe a little snickering behind our hands...4 -
Wait...I'm supposed to wear them? In public? Always wondered why people are uncomfortable around me
1 -
Wait...I'm supposed to wear them? In public? Always wondered why people are uncomfortable around me
They're just jealous. Crabs in a bucket and all that. They want to shed their pansted ways but are too scared.4 -
RelCanonical wrote: »
Wait...I'm supposed to wear them? In public? Always wondered why people are uncomfortable around me
They're just jealous. Crabs in a bucket and all that. They want to shed their pansted ways but are too scared.
My kindred people
1 -
RelCanonical wrote: »
Wait...I'm supposed to wear them? In public? Always wondered why people are uncomfortable around me
They're just jealous. Crabs in a bucket and all that. They want to shed their pansted ways but are too scared.
Pantlessness and grabby crabs sounds like a really bad combination, just sayin'.
(. . . and as an aside, your post made me snort-laugh really loudly all alone by myself in my living room. Well done.)3 -
Kilts. Kilts. Always an option.
Or booty shorts. No judging. Just maybe a little snickering behind our hands...
I told you that in confidence!
Last time I trust you.7 -
Had an ad pop up in my Facebook feed for yoga pants that look like dress pants. Showed a woman sitting in a chair with the waistband of her trousers digging into her belly. Alongside was a woman, in her stretchy dress pants with the elastic waist, comfortably rubbing her tummy. The model was relatively slim, but I thought isn't this why Americans have gotten fat over the past few decades. Clothes that are comfy and stretchy instead of tailored and constricting.
Has the popularity of athleisure fueled the obesity epidemic? Back in the day...and I'm not just thinking back to the Mad Men era of slim fitting suits and sharp fitted dresses...but even when I entered the work force in the 90s, people dressed up more for work. But then casual Fridays became business casual every day, Dockers and leggings became commonplace, and it even became difficult to find denim that didn't contain a little lycra for stretch.
So maybe we didn't notice when we put on a few pounds, as our clothing expanded along with our waistlines. And vanity sizing miraculously kept us in the same sizes we wore 8n college. And thanks to inexpensive "fast fashion" if an item became too tight (must have shrunk in the wash) it was cheap enough to replace with something new.
Obviously, I wouldn't dream of bringing back corsets and whalebone stays. But I wonder if a return to wearing more structured clothes would make people stop and think hmm...these are feeling a little snug. Perhaps I should get a salad or skip the pudding.
Personally, I think it's symptomatic of the inverse being true: society getting fatter is driving the trend to avoid things that are uncomfortable to fat people. Similarly, athleisure is popular to an extent that it makes people feel good about the illusion of feeling active based on their attire.
I like the athleisure stuff not because it gives me the illusion of being active but because a) it is comfy b) doesn't look bad even on a fat person if you get the right size and cut (like any other clothing) and c) I view it as *equipment* to use to get to a *goal* of controlling my weight, and in some cases to remove even the most trivial of barriers to working out.
For me the tool aspects are: If I'm already dressed workout-ready to go pick up groceries, then going to the gym is that much less of an incremental hassle because I don't have to change in the dressing room--removes one more excuse for not going. And, if I'm in the grocery in my workout clothes, it sort of guilts me into not buying as much snacky-s***. Athleisure dressing may not have those benefits for others, but it does for me.4 -
Wait...I'm supposed to wear them? In public? Always wondered why people are uncomfortable around me
You obviously live in San Francisco, where public nudity is legal (but you have to bring something to sit on--no naked butts on the bus-stop benches. Besides you don't know who sat there before you...).
Thing about public nudity in SF being legal--it's so fracking cold there all the time pretty much nobody ever exercises that right!0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.7K Getting Started
- 260.1K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 419 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.9K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.5K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions