Is being overweight the norm?

Watching the news today and englands cheif medical officer Dame Sally Davies annual health report is stating.


Overweight 'being seen as the norm' BBC News - Overweight seen as the norm, says chief medical officer

'Being overweight is increasingly seen as the norm'

' many people did not recognise they had a problem.'

I'm surprised to hear many people not aware they are overweight I've always known

Not sure larger mannequins in shops is a problem either its not as if mannequin looks human anyway. Some I find quite scary!

What's everyone's thoughts on this report?

I read that on the BBC website earlier & I sort of agree I think it's become acceptable for people to be larger and for them to be happy that weight, that said there are also a lot of people who are aware they are overweight and want to lose weight.

Interesting topic.

My thoughts on this are that being overweight is the norm, and that shouldn't be demonised! I think most of us know we're overweight, with a few exceptions, we're overweight, not stupid!

Obviously healthy eating and exercise should be encouraged, we should all try to maintain a healthy weight, people should be educated on making healthy lifestyle choices and how it can affect you if you don't, I agree with that, but making people feel bad for being overweight isn't the way to get people to lose weight, it is more likely to have a contrary effect which would be even more detrimental in the long term.

And people aren't overweight because the media 'allows' them to be, we're overweight because of many different reasons, from simply enjoying eating and drinking to incredibly complex emotional issues, etc, etc, but not because M&S have fuller figure models or shops mannequins that are slightly larger.

Obviously, it's just my opinion, but I think this demonising of overweight people and blaming everyone from soft drinks and fast food companies to clothes shops for an obesity 'epidemic' is overlooking, even ignoring, the real issues of why people get fat, because they're so diverse and individual to everyone, it's impossible to get to the root of the problem, as there is not just one root. x

TBH, as long as healthy foods - such as fruit, veg, lean meat,...... are so much more expensive than all the processed cr*p, people will tend to make the unhealthier, but cheaper choice. In addition, I know many young (and even older) people who can't even cook a simple meal, to the extend that they'd burn water.
And to top it all, Sally Davies is not stick thin herself.
The nanny-state raises it's ugly head again. Educate people? Yes! Make healthy food cheaper? Definitely yes! Carry on trying to patronise an entire nation? No and bugger off. :Na_Na_Na_Na:
Dame Sally Davis and the Normalisation of Obesity | Scottee

I agree that being overweight is now considered normal in the UK.
When you go to other European countries such as Spain and Italy everyone seems so much slimmer!

I immigrated to the UK 8 years ago. One of the first things I noticed on settling here is that overall people were bigger than what I was used to. It did seem to me that being overweight was considered 'normal' and being a healthy weight was more unusual, whereas I was used to the opposite (i.e. healthy weight being normal and big being unusual.) Having a problem with my weight at the time it made me somehow feel more relaxed about being overweight because I didn't stand out as being the fat girl any more, I was just another one of the girls. That was 8 years ago. We don't notice the things that we experience around us every day, only the differences when we have become used to other experiences, so yes, I would agree with the medical examiner in this case.

I agree hexe, food prices are a major factor! Since doing SW my weekly shop has got more expensive & I've had to budget much more for it. You can feed a family for a week for £10 on ready meals & frozen foods. I spend that just in the fruit & veg aisle these days.

I agree that being overweight has become the norm, you only need to do a sweeping survey on the bus or walking through town.

But, as many other posters have said, that's not to say people are unaware of it, or even happy with it.

Make it more affordable for people to eat healthy, balanced meals (& fast food more expensive!) and the country would soon see a change!