Oh no!!!!!!

Mutter_2

patchwork cat, it's rather sweeping to say "everyone's attitude is appalling" as at least one other poster said the same as you, britwife I think.
Not even the experts agree on whether obesity is a disease or condition.http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v25/n10/full/0801790a.html Nor is it helpful to those vastly overweight to be so accepting. It has been shown that in areas where the vast majority are overweight it is no big issue. Almost infectious as it were.
The morbidly obese would feel a lot more comfortable in Disney Florida than Paris for example.
Anyway, this isn't helping OP to resolve the issue.

louisemarie

What a charmer you are. I SO wish I was a member of your perfect svelte family.

And no I am not overweight. I have a client whose wedding dress I am currently making. She is very overweight and very ashamed of it. Having got to know her quite well I can assure you it is not always clear cut as to why someone becomes obese.

Even though this is an anonymous forum I do not feel it my place to post her story, something I guarantee would give you food(no pun intended) for thought. However I will mention it to her and with permission will post if she feels ok with that.

Anyway, if you have such contempt for your relations(which you clearly do) even if they are your childrens Aunts then just don't have anything to do with them

I would rather have people than posessions any day.

Enjoy your lovely sofas.

nursenancy

If you're worried about the sofa breaking - and potentially damaging your sisters and brothers in law - what about contacting the manufacturer of the sofa company and asking what the maximum safe weight for the sofas to bear is?

pukkamum

louisemarie wrote: »

What a charmer you are. I SO wish I was a member of your perfect svelte family.

And no I am not overweight. I have a client whose wedding dress I am currently making. She is very overweight and very ashamed of it. Having got to know her quite well I can assure you it is not always clear cut as to why someone becomes obese.

Even though this is an anonymous forum I do not feel it my place to post her story, something I guarantee would give you food(no pun intended) for thought. However I will mention it to her and with permission will post if she feels ok with that.

Anyway, if you have such contempt for your relations(which you clearly do) even if they are your childrens Aunts then just don't have anything to do with them

I would rather have people than posessions any day.

Enjoy your lovely sofas.

I never once said i had contempt for my in-laws or their weight that was said by someone else.
I did say i wasn't bothered about seeing them as they make no effort with their brother my DH or my children (their only neices and nephews).
I merely made the point that after one of the sisters had already broken one of my couches i was worried about having them on my brand new sofas and how to tackle the problem without resorting to hurting their feelings by asking them not to sit on them.

Yes there were some tongue in cheek comments made but that is what they were tongue in cheek, you would also know had you read the whole thread carefullly that i suffered from weight problems in the past myself.
I am by no means svelte i am just not obese.
Even if i were still obese i would still wash and make an effort with myself.
please read before commenting.

Apricot

To all those having a go at the OP for being "fattist"

Would you be happy allowing three people with a combined weight of seventy stone sit on your brand new, much longed for sofa?

I wouldn't. Even more so if they had been the cause of the previous one breaking.

The OP has only asked for a reason that she could give for these people to not sit on her sofa without offending them. Im sure she doesn't really care whether or not they lose weight as she had tried to help and not gotten anywhere. Whether there weight gain has a reason from depression, phsychological problems or whatever it still doesn't change the fact that the OP doesn't want her furniture damaged!

misgrace

SugarSpun wrote: »

I would have suggested this if you hadn't got there first - lightening the load on the sofas still means a large amount of unnecessary weight on them. Better just to make the room off limits with some sort of "work in progress" ruse.

Call ahead and let them know about it, you know, sort of Oh no I'm so sorry, this has happened, would you like to sit with us in the garden or would you prefer to head straight on to the Trafford Centre? If they want to see you, suggest meeting them there, maybe.

I wouldn't want anyone who was likely to break furniture sitting on mine either. A friend of mine broke the arm of my rocking chair on Tuesday - I was gutted.

I agree with the above too, I think its a brilliant suggestion.

I too would be on pins if I knew 70 stone was going to sit on my brand new expensive sofas, that I worked hard to scrimp and save for, and for what! relations that you dont see from one year to the next, who turn up to see us as a stop gap.
So they break or weaken the sofas, then the next year they come, they are now 75 stone, and crash, there goes my sofas, but thats okay, I will buy new sofas every year for when they come to visit I have loads of money to waste.;)

Britwife

I think it's rude for you to say that I'm insulting those with real diseases. At that weight they are morbidly obese, that is a disease along with everything else that comes with that. Morbidly obese people need help to lose that weight and I'm not talking about gastric bypass either.

I feel it's the same with people who smoke and alcoholics who really do want to change but can't find the willpower to do so. I have a very supportive family that have helped by not snacking on cookies and such in the house. They can do that now and I no longer eat those cakes and such.

Some can't change on their own and for some it's just not possible. Some people look at fat people as lazy slobs and most aren't. Deep down, they are not happy and will put on a brave front. However, they are human and have emotions and feelings.

A lot of the comments on this thread have been very insulting toward overweight people. Yes, we got ourselves that way but sometimes it's a big hole to dig out of and sometimes you just feel buried.

The bottom line is that they need to be told to sit down easily because the last time it was pounced on and broke.

sp1987

princessleah_ wrote: »

To all those having a go at the OP for being "fattist"

Would you be happy allowing three people with a combined weight of seventy stone sit on your brand new, much longed for sofa?

I wouldn't. Even more so if they had been the cause of the previous one breaking.

The OP has only asked for a reason that she could give for these people to not sit on her sofa without offending them. Im sure she doesn't really care whether or not they lose weight as she had tried to help and not gotten anywhere. Whether there weight gain has a reason from depression, phsychological problems or whatever it still doesn't change the fact that the OP doesn't want her furniture damaged!

I wholeheartedly agree.

I'm very clumsy and I know in the past people have ''removed'' delicate things from my path as I have the capacity to touch something and it subsequently falls apart. My dad often said that everything I owned was lost, broken or damaged along with many years of people saying I should be a product tester. :rotfl:

If I went to someone's house and they had a new something or other that was likely to cross my clumsy-handed path I would only be too pleased if they moved it/stopped me breaking it.

Why would somebody with something new want it to be broken? It isn't fattist to want to protect something you had to pay for. Would you let a poor driver drive your new car?

Move the sofas to another room or ensure they are not sat on by anyone. To be honest it saves the embarrassment for them too if they did break it.

itzmee

Personally I would be very wary of telling lies about the sofa not being delivered/wrongly delivered or carpets being cleaned etc, especially around the children because they have a very nasty habit of telling the truth! It could be very embarrassing if your in-laws show up and you're explaining that the sofa is about to be returned while the children pipe up that mummy and daddy don't want the fat people sitting on their new sofa!!! Why not just arrange to meet them while they're out shopping to avoid any awkward embarrassment or lies.

patchwork_cat

Mutter wrote: »

patchwork cat, it's rather sweeping to say "everyone's attitude is appalling" as at least one other poster said the same as you, britwife I think.
Not even the experts agree on whether obesity is a disease or condition.http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v25/n10/full/0801790a.html Nor is it helpful to those vastly overweight to be so accepting. It has been shown that in areas where the vast majority are overweight it is no big issue. Almost infectious as it were.
The morbidly obese would feel a lot more comfortable in Disney Florida than Paris for example.
Anyway, this isn't helping OP to resolve the issue.

You are a pedant - there is accepting and there is just downright unpleasant and too many (is that better) people are talking about overweight people as if they have no feelings and are less than animals - shame on you. What is the difference between a disease and a condition - pointless debate.

So all those who don't fit in with your arbitary descion as to ideal weight are to be pariahs and 'feel uncomfortable' otherwise we might get more overweight people?