Thursday 23 April 2015

#wearethethey - Not My Business

There has been a lot written about plus size this week. Some good some not so good but it has all made me think. To be truthful it made me think last week when one of the psbloggers photo prompts was fatshion and I searched Instagram for ideas. What I found was a huge hate campaign going on against plus sized people over there and it isn't something I want anything to do with so I stepped away from the photo prompts. I'm on the fence about the hate campaign.  On the one hand I'm all for positive body image and the self esteem it brings. These ladies are very body confident and that is a good thing but on the other hand being morbidly obese (which most of these people are) is not a good thing and neither are the bullying tactics these haters are using. There seems to be a vibe that they are immune from heart disease from eating so much fat etc, diabetes and the sheer pressure on their bones from carrying so much extra fat. Instagram is full of pics of their food intake. You don't get that size eating one or even two cakes. Excessive intake of crap or even not crap but too much food full stop and not enough exercise regardless of polycystic ovaries etc makes you fat - fact. The NHS guidelines are made up and not based on facts apparently. I only have one thing to say on that YOU DON'T SEE MORBIDLY OBESE OLD PEOPLE. 

However it isn't my business what anybody else does to their body. I feel sorry for their families as they will probably be the ones left behind in older life but again none of my business. 

What is my business though is my own overweight body. I've steadily gained weight since having my youngest child 11 years ago and am not at a healthy weight. I'm not morbidly obese but I am obese. My bmi was 34 on the scales in boots this week. In the school holidays I was puffing and red faced walking to keep up with my son on his scooter. I used to be able to run around that park. I am out of breath walking up the hill to Asda. That never used to happen. Enough is enough. Time to do something about my own business.

There was a documentary on about the plus sized clothing industry on Tuesday. I have mixed feelings about the documentary and as they are mostly negative I'll keep my mouth shut except to say Georgina Horne had the best outlook on life. Then Jamelia or whatever she's called made a comment which caused a massive uproar from the plus sized community and prompted the #wearethethey hashtag. She basically said it isn't healthy to be either very underweight or very overweight and that high street shops shouldn't  stock extremes of sizes. Whilst I agree with her comments about extremes of size being unhealthy I don't agree about clothes not being sold in high street shops. It's a basic human right to be clothed in a way you choose and why shouldn't anybody be able to buy from the high street just because they are bigger or smaller than is good for their health. Good on the plus size community for making a stand on it. 

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