Posted on 01/11/2006 1:06:53 PM PST by misterrob
Thin is still in, but apparently fat is nowhere near as out as it used to be.
A survey finds America's attitudes toward overweight people are shifting from rejection toward acceptance. Over a 20-year period, the percentage of Americans who said they find overweight people less attractive steadily dropped from 55 percent to 24 percent, the market research firm NPD Group found.
With about two-thirds of U.S. adults overweight, Americans seem more accepting of heavier body types, researchers say. The NPD survey of 1,900 people representative of the U.S. population also found other more relaxed attitudes about weight and diet.
While body image remains a constant obsession, the national preoccupation with being thin has waned since the late 1980s and early 1990s, said the NPD's Harry Balzer.
Those were the days when fast food chains rushed to install salad bars. In 1989, salads as a main course peaked at 10 percent of all restaurant meals. Today, those salad bars have all but vanished and salads account for just 5 1/2 percent of main dishes.
"It turns out health is a wonderful topic to talk about," Balzer said. "But to live that way is a real effort."
Fewer people said they're trying to "avoid snacking entirely" — just 26 percent in 2005, down from 45 percent in 1985 — while 75 percent said they had low-fat, no-fat or reduced fat products in the last two weeks, down from 86 percent in 1999, according to the survey.
At 5-feet-6 and 230 pounds, Lara Frater likes her body just fine and turns up her nose at trendy diets.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
So you're either a Baby Got Back (good thing) or it's on the top (another good thing...) ;-) Of course your hubby would like it! Plus, as a Freeper chick you have this allure an ordinary woman doesn't.
:-)
Much more interesting that tracking the percentage of people who regard some particular person as "too fat" would be seeing, over the years, some of the people who are considered undesirably fat by 25%, 50%, or 75% of the population.
My guess would be that many people's preferences have shifted somewhat, but not by all that much. Thus, even if many people's attitudes have shifted about someone who's 5'2" and 140lbs, that doesn't mean attitudes have changed about someone who's 5'8" and 600lbs.
IF your darlin' loves the look of you, keep with it. Obviously you have something good and something right ;)
Cheers to you!
PS Most ladies look good between 21 - 23 BMI. I have it at 25 and it's just a notch below what they deem "overweight" and what my wonderful love of my life husband calls a brick 'shithouse' (apologies for the language)
In the words of my old CO - This is a good night to be on the lee side of a fat woman. The beauty of a fat woman is that they keep you warm in the winter and provide shade in the summer.
Me either. I think I'll stop at your post. Being fat, smoking and a Christian are the three subjects being prejudice and cruel about are accepted.
Thus, even if many people's attitudes have shifted about someone who's 5'2" and 140lbs, that doesn't mean attitudes have changed about someone who's 5'8" and 600lbs.
Yep. That's how surveys work! 8^>
LOL, I guess I'm a Baby Got Back since most of mine is behind me. My husband always said I had a nice back porch.
When I was younger I thought you had to be skin and bones to be attractive but times are changing. I really believe most men now prefer a little meat on the old bones. :-)
I don't want to be any heavier because of the health risk (cancer, diabetes, blood pressure) but I think 130 to 135 if fine for me no matter what the doc says. The doctor that said I was getting a little heavy also took my blood pressure and it was 117/70. Not bad for a 51 year old.
Not bad at all!
A nice back porch is a good thing!
I think that may be a man.
"Ya need to eat more girl! Guys don't like girls who are boney."
So basically
You're saying Titian, Rubens, Carrivagio, Botticelli etc...were all wrong and it wasn't until women started to look like boys, hate their hips and body fat.....
until we created eating disorders.... that we got the ideal female body???
OK, that's a snark, but I've been 99 Pounds and I've been overweight, and I'll take the over any day over the under.
Geez, was that a tongue twister.
Very true, especially if they have large breasts and curves. Not flab, just curves!
Charlotte Coyle
I am no longer obsessed about being thin. It wasn't about being THIN, it was about looking a certain way to gain a lot of people's approval. When I realised that I wasn't going to look like Britney Spears no matteer how much I wanted to, I started working towards getting healthier. I'm also not as jealous as I used to be about women slimmer and better looking than me. I will say that after being heavy all my life, I treat fat people with more respect than much of general society gives them. There's also a difference between thick and FAT as in obesity with all the deliterous effects.
The absolutely, positively, most obnoxious female on the planet is one who's constantly on a diet and that's all they will talk about. Eating out is nightmare, shopping is hell and phone calls are an exercise in patience. I love ya hun, but one more comment about your body fat percentage and I'm gonna slap you silly!
You want hell?! Spend a day on a unit with Eating Disorders (God love'm, they're so tormented) but you'll run screaming into the night at the 187th "My thighs are HUGE!!" squall fest.
Give me a woman who is comfortable in her own skin, fun and loves food!
You likey????
Word.
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