Average size of women-a statistic that does more harm than good.

SmallL

Its currently about dress size 16 (correct me if im wrong, a quick google search found this)
To me statistics like this may make people think its 'okay' to be size 16 or slightly above as its near 'normal' for the population.
'average' =/= healthy

Its worrying because people look at the statistic and think 'Oh im average, i suppose its fine to carry on'
Which leads to
'oh i suppose im only slightly bigger than average, i dont really need to do anything'

gradually that 'average' gets bigger and bigger!

More and more shops cater for the bigger sizes, iv noticed a trend in womens clothes especially at supermarket stores to be 'oversized' and in a 'non-fitted' or 'floaty' style.
Its harder and harder to fine clothes that show off a defined waist.
Its not that small sizes are hard to find, the styles of clothes seem to be changing.

(sorry if the topic doesnt really belong to this board i kinda pulled the idea from the 'sex is it important' topic)

Emmzi

I don't like threads like this as invariably these topics descend into fatty bashing threads.

Generally a) overweight people know why they are, don't like it and have the brains to know what they should eat and
b) for everyone about to say "eat less move more" - at least 12 regular posters - clearly it is a bit more complicated than that.

Lotus-eater

I like about size 16 girls, I'm not going to be complaining.

samanthag

and also sometimes a size 16/18 woman or even larger can be alot healthier than a size 6/8 woman

its not always about size its how healthy you are

FBaby

The thing is what one considers overweight from an aesthetic point of view in terms of dress size its going to be very different. I have a number of friends who are a size 12 or 14 who think they are a nice weight for them who in my view are overweight. whereas from a health perspective it its quite clear cut it isn't from what we think is attractive or even healthy looking. There its no right or wrong how we perceive it is dependent on many factors. We are all slim in my family not because of lucky genes but because we are a sporty family and health conscious so we are obviously more likely to think size 16 unless very tall is overweight.

RubyRue

samanthag wrote: »

and also sometimes a size 16/18 woman or even larger can be alot healthier than a size 6/8 woman

its not always about size its how healthy you are

Agree, in my family we are tall, my dad is 6'8 and I'm not far off 6'. I'm a size 14 in some shops and 16 in others but my weight isn't classed as over weight and apart from asthma I'm healthy.

SmallL

Its not the '16' label per se, its that the 'average' can only ever get larger due to the connotations it gives about it being normal and therefore healthy (for everyone).
There reaches a point where the 'average' isn't healthy for the average person

j.e.j.

SmallL wrote: »

gradually that 'average' gets bigger and bigger!

Maybe on average people are bigger/fatter now than they were a couple of decades ago. I notice that the clothes in some stores seem to come up really big. M&S, Per Una and White Stuff, for instance. Even the size 8 or 10 skirts are huge!

hawk30

I have definitely noticed clothes getting larger. Up until about 1 year ago I was the same size I was at 19, but had gone from a size 8/10 to a size 6 in clothes. M&S are the worst - I can't shop in there any more. In fact I've been reduced to a handful of teenage-type shops where they do small sizes.

(Ironically I was forced to put on some weight to have medical treatment - how is having to stuff myself with pasta, chocolate and build-up drinks healthy?)

puppypants

According to the charts, I should be an 8ft man!!

mishkanorman

I think its a much bigger picture than 'well everyone else is as fat as me, I'll just keep stuffing my face' which the OP appears to be suggesting !

This article is a fairly logical approach to the question of why as a nation we now appear 'bigger'

Interestingly the article points out that the only time in our history a national survey of womens figures has been done was in 1951 - and that is a world away from how we live our lives today.

I also wonder why women were singled out specifically in the OP ?