My experience isn't quite in the same lines of this thread but here goes....a few weeks ago I joined up to a new tag-rugby team, about 15 players and nobody really knew eachother beforehand. Well yesterday after training I left one of the guys home in my car and we were chatting about the team...he was talking about two players in particular that are 'packing on the pounds', 'grossly overweight' and 'terribly unfit' ..but we'd just have to 'make do with them' - now these two players are a bit overweight but his comments really made me mad! The guy obviously had no idea I was ever heavier (way heavier than either of the two he was talking about) so I just changed the subject and never replied to him.

It made me sooooo mad! Grrrrrrr!

I know what you mean - my friend and I were watching Bridget Jones, which I love. But all the references in the book to how fat she is???? Give me a break. Even though teeny tiny Renee Zellwegger had to gain weight to play her, Bridget is slightly plump at WORST. Really, she just looks a little soft, not even particularly big.

i have read my share of romance novels...at last count i have over 2,000. and out of that 2,000 there is only one that sticks out in my mind as "fat friendly" its called "wishes" by jude deveraux. and in it the main character is fat (its been awhile since i read it, so i dunno the exact poundage) and she eats a lot (emotional eater), like they make references to how she can eat a whole cake at once and blah blah blah...(although i do remember thinking when i read it that if she eats like they described she's be a lot fatter than how big they said she was) anyway... her family is always making fun of her and making rude comments to other people about her..you know same old same old...but then along comes her prince charming and sweeps her off her feet. she can't understand why he would like her etc etc.... anyway, i really liked it.

I think the difference with Bridget Jones is since the entire book is in diary form, all the fat thoughts and comments come from her consciousness. I, for one, can understand what it is to *feel* fat without actually being fat.

Jemima J. was incredibly annoying though. Who goes from really overweight to lean and toned in two weeks?

Nothing count taint Lula for me...so hilarious...

but I was rather miffed as well finding out she was only 180 lbs. I mean, her size is the running joke of the series! I had her pegged at 250 at least.

Okay, well I love Lula, and maybe "taint" is a little strong. But I love her for the same reason Kate mentioned. I like that (in my mind) she was a big woman embracing her curves and wearing her leopard print spandex and feathers anyway. Now I find out she's 180 lbs. I guess I felt a little betrayed..... I would have been less surprised to find out she was 280.

But I'm still on the library's waiting list for "Lean Mean Thirteen".

I think it was more like a couple months, but really really unhealthily. Like 400-500 calories and 2+ hours of workouts a day. But thats another one, they describe her as being HUGE - and also tall, and then she is what 202 lbs to start? Sorry, the description doesnt match.

I agree on the BJ thing, lots of girls THINK they are fat when they are not - so from a diary point of view it works, but do you know they lowered the weight from the book because they couldnt have someone be believable 150 lbs. And the media made such a to do about how "brave" renee was to do the bunny outfit in the scene where she is walking home and looking jiggly. Puuuhhhhleeeeese. And then to pay her extra to "pork up" for BJII. Should have just hired a normal sized actress in the first place -

I've been a victim of someone saying in my presence that anything over 150 is obese

I'm branching into other media here, but has anyone else noticed this VAST discrepancy in movies: anyone over 140 is considered the "fat and funny friend," but the female leads are always eating. And always eating bad stuff. "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," "Someone Like You," "2 Weeks Notice"... the list goes on and on. So what are we supposed to think here, that it's funny and cute to overeat so long as you don't gain a pound?

I think Kate Winslet would have been perfect as Bridget Jones...more naturally curvy looking, though she does go up and down a bit.

Nice idea. Kate Winslet is gorgeous, and also really funny. Did anyone see her on the first episode of Extras last year (the Ricky Gervais show). She was hilarious. And she is both curvier and prettier than Renee Z--probably too pretty to be Bridget Jones, now that I think of it.

Wouldn't a person be obese at 150 only if they were about 4 foot tall? I was 150 a few weeks ago, and I wasn't even close to overweight, let alone obese! Did you hit the person for being an idiot?

It's not just the books, it's all media. I remember back before I started my new of way of life, watching the Simpsons. They had an episode where they named Homer's weight, and it was around 260 or so, I forget exactly. And I was stunned because it was pretty close to what I weighed at the time. Now, mind you, I knew I was fat. I was having medical problems about it. But I didn't think that I was worse that Homer! (I'm assuming, of course, that being a guy Homer taller than me; they don't make any short jokes about him that I know of).

I have a feeling that most writers for the mass media today feel that anything over 300 lbs is bed-bound territory.