[user104658]

As for her comments, a bit daft in that people of all sizes have to buy clothes SOMEWHERE, but I do completely get her point in theory. Being overweight / obese in the western world is becoming "normalised" to the point that people who are, to be blunt, quite fat are seen as a normal / healthy weight. If it was only about aesthetics that wouldn't be a problem: people are free to have whatever body type they want if they are happy with it.

But when people have a distorted view of "normal weight", they are likely to think that their weight is "perfectly healthy" when they are, in fact, overweight... and then they're surprised / horrified when they start developing wider health issues related to their weight. Or rather, how much fat they're carrying... "weight" is meaningless in terms of health, only body fat percentage really matters.

But yeah... putting it simply, being an *unhealthy* weight shouldn't be normalised, congratulated or applauded. People shouldn't be shamed either, of course, and at the end of the day it's their own business if they want to have painful health complications and die younger... but, being healthy should always at least be strongly encouraged. It's NOT really "fine to be fat".

[edit] Edited to add: I say this as someone who has gained 2st (and lost muscle mass, so realistically gained more than 2st of fat) in the last 8 months so I'm not preaching from any soapbox. I'm currently not being healthy at all (went from cycling 15 miles a day for work to catching the bus like a lazy arsehole) and need to sort it out.