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

MandM90

Gloomendoom wrote: »

There is an argument that, if it results in health problems, it affects the population whole as NHS funds are diverted from caring for people who are ill entirely through no fault of their own.

It's an argument that isn't restricted to obesity though. Riding a motorbike is another example. There are probably many, many more.

DW used to work on a surgical ward has told me countless stories of obese patients going in for various treatments and the hospital having to rent larger beds, HCAs being more strained as it's near impossible to lift some of them and many of them - despite knowing full well why they are there - spending the majority of their time stuffing their faces and asking for second helpings of food (even ones with a gastric band in :eek:)

With coronary heart disease being the number one killer in the UK, I think it is something we as a society should be worried about especially given the apparent rise in childhood obesity.

Nicki

lostinrates wrote: »

i know a few, not huge numbers, but a few! Plus doctors have a high rate statistically of alcohol abuse i think? Doesn't say much to me tbh!

I've spent quite a lot of time in hospitals with sick kids sadly. There are a lot of obese and morbidly obese nurses around insofar as you can judge this to the naked eye. I'd say about 50% of the nurses I've personally encountered in the last year would fall into that category. Of the doctors, most are overweight or obese, but yes I agree I haven't come across a morbidly obese doctor yet.

DevilsAdvocate1

With regards to size, I don't think there has been any actual research into at which point (and age), size makes a difference to health. The BMI was used by the American Insurance industry and as far as I'm aware is just an arbitary figure. It wasn't based on research.

While I can see that there comes a point where someone is so obese that they look like walking is difficult, at size 20 and even 22 I did not feel like that. I could still run for the bus! And my weight did not stop me from doing anything that I wanted. I even did a huge zip wire over a lake.

But I don't want to spend my life the way my nana did. She battled with her weight her whole life. She was 4'10" tall and weighed 8 and a half stones, so she wasn't really huge. However, she thought she should weigh 7 stones, so spent her life on a diet.

She was 85 when she died. She was fit and healthy, until one day she had a massive stroke and that was that. When we cleared out her stuff, we found wardrobes full of gorgeous clothes which had never been worn. She used to wear the same baggy clothes day in and day out. All these beautiful clothes were a size too small. I can only think that she hoped to wear them when she finally lost weight. How sad is that?

My aunt on the other hand, didn't battle her weight. She said she was who she was. She was also 85 when she died. She had 2 years of slight ill health as she had a heart attack at 83. She still went on a cruise to see the millenium in at the island where the sun rises first. She was a good size 20 to 22 her whole life.

So looking at these people, I find it hard to believe that I need to be like my nana. At least my aunt lived a full life and didn't wait for the day that she would finally be thin.

FatVonD

My favourite quote about size was from a girl band member who'd been brought up in a house with her single mum and two aunts of whom she said 'none of them were ever going to see a size 16 again but you could never say they weren't sexy'.

I'm overweight (size 16/18) and I know it's because I overeat and don't exercise enough but it's also to with body type. My husband eats twice the amount I do but is still slim but he has a totally different body type to me and so do his kids. I swear all their toes are as long as my fingers, they're just naturally long, skinny people!

claire16c

squirrelchops wrote: »

it definitely is a matter of perception within any gien culture as to what it deemed acceptable.

I'm a size 14/16 and 5'6" tall. In France compared to the average size I felt absoutely huge. Back in the UK I looked around and felt fine as there are so many grossly overweight people around.

Therefore i could convince myself based on what I saw around me that 'oh I'm not that big' - when actually my BMI is on the obese level at 30.

Its interesting you say that because when I went travelling we were in Asia for 2 months, and then went to Australia. We'd been in Sydney for about 24 hours, and both me and DH said to each other, wow everyone is so much bigger here- talk about going back to the western world. You only noticed it when youd been out of it for so long.

thegirlintheattic

Some people are healthy at a size 16, some at a size 6 but having the 'average' getting bigger does make 'some' people think that it's perfectly OK to be a bigger size even when they are not healthy.

BitterAndTwisted

giantmutantbroccoli wrote: »

And have you ever tried to buy a larger size in a fashionable shop like Oasis or, god forbid, Armani Exchange? It's harder than you'd think! I wish you'd posted which shops these are that are catering to larger sizes, because the struggle I go through just to get stylish size 14/16 jeans or trousers is a real pain in the proverbial.

Try Nicole Farhi: I am reliably informed that all her clothing is sized down, so her 14s will fit you if you're a 16.

It males me wonder sometimes exactly what manufacturers and retailers are up to: these organisations are supposed to be astute profit-making busineses. If it's true that the average size is indeed a 16 why do they bother making all those size 6s and 8s? They'd make more money offering greater quantities of 14 and upwards. Not every woman who wears and 18 or larger wants to wear a shapeless tent.

On the other hand, when I rule the world it will be a hanging offence to sell leggings in anything larger than a 14 unless the buyer can show a gym-membership card or similar

DevilsAdvocate1

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Some people are healthy at a size 16, some at a size 6 but having the 'average' getting bigger does make 'some' people think that it's perfectly OK to be a bigger size even when they are not healthy.

But do they though? Do you have any evidence for this? I can't imagine anyone thinking, "oh well, I'm only just above average so that's okay then". More likely they are happy with how they are and don't understand what all the fuss is about.

Why all the bashing of those who are bigger but healthy. Why note those who are thin and unhealthy too?

Gloomendoom

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

Why all the bashing of those who are bigger but healthy. Why note those who are thin and unhealthy too?

Because there are a lot less of them and they aren't as easy to spot.

delain

I'm a 16, (18 in 'skinny' jeans) and I walked almost 3 miles this morning without breaking a sweat and I do this regularly. Previously I've always been very very pale and much of the time, slimmer than I am now.

People keep telling me how much better I look now I'm out in the sun either walking or waiting for buses, so I don't think weight is the only thing people judge by visually speaking, because I am now much healthier than I was when I was a size 10!

I do have friends who would give their dress size as an 18 who look about 3 stone up on me... and they will shoehorn themselves into clothes that size, or buy things that are synthetic and stretchy, or are intended to be floaty and fill every inch of it to the point where I'm surprised they can breathe.

I'd sooner by a bigger size that fits, myself but each to their own