HA, no. Wrong. Philippines, Korea, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Norway, Canada, Brazil, the UK. Even Japan, to some extent.

American portions are huge yes, and we may to be blame for influencing the portions and food choices for other countries, but we by no means are the only obese country, even in poverty.

As for your comments about “heavy” people, you’re just wrong. There are loads of people in the moderately overweight (let’s argue women’s size 10-16, though I don’t even find most size 10s to be “fat”) category who eat right and are in shape. At those sizes, it often relates more to genetics and body type than to lifestyle. At larger sizes, well…it’s almost always based on lifestyle.

PRECISELY. I’m a solid size 12, and if I work out rigorously, that becomes a 10. I am built that way. I cannot be smaller without starving myself. I will never achieve “media leanness.” Maybe Tracy Harper won’t either, but she’s not fat. Neither am I.

Also, if you forgive the snark, how could someone with such amazing nutritional knowledge and exercise experience not know that steady-state aerobic activity, starvation, and low-fat (presumably high-carb) diets are some of the worst tools for healthy long-term fat loss?

Have you considered for a second that you’re the exception? I don’t agree with the nasty comments from other users, but I’m guessing that, given your history and experience, you probably would’ve been “fat” (your word, not mine) had you lived 50 years ago, too…whereas most obese people probably wouldn’t have…

What a load of rubbish. Try looking outside of your borders and you’ll see that obesity in poverty is rife across many cultures and nations. It has more to do with the fact that it’s MORE AFFORDABLE and MORE FEASIBLE DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS to live on chips and curry sauce than healthy food.

Mordacai, Lisa and anyone else who smugly assumes they know what’s going on, I have news for you: for many people this is a social problem, not a “willpower/addiction” or “laziness” problem. And the only way it is going to be fixed is if we radically change our ideas about distribution of wealth. Deal with it.

Also, as Lisa noted, there are many, many fat people who eat healthy food, in no greater quantities than “thin” or “normal weight” people, exercise a reasonable amount and, guess what?, STILL STAY FAT. You can scream and cry about this all you want. You can throw yourselves on the ground and hold your breath till you turn blue and pass out, but that fact is not going to change.

I’ve said this before, and no doubt I’ll have to say it again: as far as exercise goes, I have done more than any of you could ever dream of doing. I have walked and ridden bikes across continents. I have swum oceans. I have lifted ton upon ton of free weights. And yes, before you tell me I must have been doing it all wrong, I have been properly trained in all these activities, and my fat ass have been complimented by many a trainer and physiotherapist for my impeccable technique. As far as food goes, I have starved myself. I have counted calories. I have counted fat grams. I have followed a “reasonable,” balanced diet. And again, to circumvent the inevitable sneering about how I must not know what that really means, when I talk to the dietitian I work with, she is amazed at the depth of nutrtitional knowledge I have as a layperson. I HAVE DONE EVERY DAMN THING “RIGHT” AND I. AM. STILL. FAT. Now get over it and stop demonising people by spouting off about things you have no understanding of.

Again – acceptance of all body types is a good thing and acceptance of individual overweight adults is fine too, but acceptance that everyone’s getting bigger because of unhealthy habits? Never okay in my book.

The fact that Americans, in general, eat 2-3 times as much food as almost any other culture really does have something to do with how fat we are….and it is a shameful waste of the world’s resources. Only in this country is obesity a problem in poverty.

i’ve heard about similar things happening with my female friends in their childhoods, so i was just kind of wondering if mothers are becoming overly critical of their daughters, or has this kind of thing been around a long time? my guess is the latter, considering the “but her Mother does” line in the sears advertisement.

Like Kelly, looking back on old photos of me I realize I wasn’t fat at all. But I was teased for being fat, even when I was 18 years old and wearing a size 6.

Odd thing is – looking back on pictures of myself, I wasn’t fat! I was taller than pretty much all the kids, and just a bit bigger all around, but I was basically concave. So looking at this pic of a girl who really does not look the least bit chubby makes me feel angry on her behalf…and on my own behalf, as a kid who had the temerity to be bigger than the others.