In a quest to help the nation slim down, last week saw me enter a mass of debate about size 16 mannequins. Surely in a time when many women want to lose weight for health and confidence reasons, bouncing up size 8 mannequins to a size 16 is not ideal. With the average British woman at 5 feet 4 inches tall it is massively likely that they are measuring in at size 16 if not more, and that it means they are too fat.
With dangers of obesity including diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and most recently reported ten cancer types, such a move is not good for your health. Don't get me wrong stick thin is equally a bad advert for physical and mental health, but where will this end; will the next move be a size 18/20?
But it is much more than that. As women (yes I do think the same applies for men), trying hard to lose weight, seeing mannequins getting fatter is not exactly going to give a boost to their confidence that they can lose weight. The advert is just simply wrong. It indirectly says 'yes, you are getting fatter but that is ok'. Fatter mannequins aren't going to inspire and motivate people to lose weight, they will just make it more acceptable to be fat.
My message to all the women out there who are desperate to lose weight is you can do it and you don't have to accept getting fatter. As you see the fat mannequin do not let it drive the message that you have to accept that you will always be fat. Simply hold your head high and see them as a fat gremlin trying to hypnotise you into believing that fat is the life you should accept. And if you hear the fat acceptance brigade trying to tell you that it is ok to stay fat and you should revel in so called curvy-ness, remember that many of them are just living a life of denial. I have met many women who at one time in their life claimed they were happy and fat, until they lost their weight. The realities of being too fat include:
1. You may die early due to cancer, or heart disease.
2. Your kids may well end up dangerously obese.
3. Your confidence and self esteem will be miserably low.
4. You will suffer mobility issues later on in life.
5. You will struggle to achieve certain life goals.
So what can you do to start losing weight? Here are five immediate strategies:
1. Ditch restricted diets. Instead live life eating healthily 80% of the time and some 'junk' for the remaining 20%.
2. Ensure you fill your mind with the right emotion. We eat too much when we are bored so stimulating the mind is critical.
3. Learn self hypnosis. Or consider visiting a respected Clinical Hypnotherapist who has a successful pedigree for treating weight loss clients.
4. Ditch every excuse, moan or blame. If you live your life with those as a part of it then you will always stay fat. Ditch them.
5. Surround yourself with people who make you feel good. And if you are living with someone that drains you, consider ditching them.
UK obesity levels are spiralling out of control and some reports claim that if the UK does not get a fat grip on the problem the NHS will probably go into bankruptcy. Any advert suggesting fat is acceptable is in my book a no-no. The good news is that we all have the opportunity to lose weight. There can be no excuse.