Machka 

I'm not talking about the obese in our society. I'm talking about people who are probably roughly in the right ball-park for their weight.

I attend a college, and I've especially noticed this phenomenon there. Young people ... say, 18-25 years old ... who have average builds, and are average weights, but who have flabby arms, legs, and especially stomachs!! I don't know if it is the clothing style these days, but the girls in particular (but also a few guys) wear these low cut pants, and short tops so that their gut hangs out for all the world to see!

Who thinks that look is attractive??

I don't recall young people looking like that when I was that age. No, we didn't have the "perfect" body shapes back then, but it almost seems to me that body shapes have changed significantly so that the stomach area is ........ much more prominent than it used to be.

Is that the fashion these days? Is a large, flabby stomach the "in" thing?

Just curious ... and a little puzzled because I grew up with the idea that we (and women in particular) should do everything we could (right down to using girdles if necessary) to hide the stomach.

Have times changed?

branman1986

I agree, before I started cycling this year, I was the fattest skinny guy you'd ever meet.

6'6", 220lbs, which is about right, but god, I had tons of fat and no muscle at all

donnamb 

Machka, I've also noticed the tendency these days for people to just let it all hang out. Current trendy fashion isn't very forgiving of an imperfect body, and it seems like people just go with it rather than resist what clothing makers shove down their throats. I, too, was raised with the directive to conceal flabbiness, so I'm really not sure what's going on in their heads.

barba

I work on a college campus. Tight low rise jeans and tight short cut tops have led to some unfortunate fasion/flab incidents on campus these days. Any available fat is forced out in a belt of flab around the mid section. For the life of me I cannot imagine looking in the mirror and saying "That looks good; off to class I go".

Michigander

I think young people these days lack direction. There are no definite styles right now, at least that I can see. And I am also currently a college student.

Rowan

Yeah... here's a good direction : Pull up your pants and pull down your shirt!

Or is that pull down your pants and pull up your shirt. Hmmmm....

bkaapcke

Hey, Americans have two BIIIGGG problems. They are called soda and ice cream. bk

derath

i have heard that the term for tthis fashionable look is the "muffin top"


-D

Rowan

On men, the ever-lasting term is beer belly.

AnthonyG

Its soda and FRIES.

Sure too much icecream probably doesn't help but its just not in the same league as soda and fries.

Regards, Anthony

krazygluon

well...beer and bad nutrition have always been the "in" thing on college campuses.

you also have to consider there's a belief among many young women that upper-body exercise leads to small breasts, and big butts are popular, so pair that with the younger generation's thirst for high-fructose anything and you've got a recipe for flab.

what gets me are the girls who are simultaneously skinny and flabby... they might have no belly flab and be at their target weight, but they have no muscular definition their upper arms look particularly...odd.

ericgu

Ah, the "muffin" look.

Machka 

Exactly!! It's one thing to have skinny yet flabby arms when you're 90 years old, but NOT when you're 19!


I can't wear a lot of the modern tops because the arms are too skinny and tight for me ... but then I work at a job (and have been working there for a year now) where there is a lot of upper body strength required ... and I've got something of a swimmer's look right now with my trapezius muscles and shoulders.

!!Comatoa$ted

The college that I go to does have some muffins, but I would say thet we are not representative of the pop as a whole. Of course the 2 biggest programmes are police foundations and paramedic.

kuan

I don't get it either. I call it the overflowing bubble butt.

I personally dislike the Ally McBeal/Sarah Michelle Gellar look. Strength implies confidence, ability, and character. Those twiggies look like they can barely lift a fork. Wait... maybe there's a connection.

EJ123

I dont think that's the thing down here in tx.

!!Comatoa$ted

Personaly I like the look of a woman that is carrying a bit of extra fat. I like them plump. I like to see men on the strong and muscular side, it make s me envious and gives me something more to strive for.

Roody

They say HFCS and transfats encourage abdominal fat over other forms. This is supposed to be the worst kind of fat for your health, too. It promotes heart disease and diabetes. So I agree with Anthony G. () that it's soda and fries.

donnamb 

Really? Where? Perhaps I should move there... Seriously, though, if big rears are the thing, they could at least adjust current trendy fashion so the pants they're selling look good on them.

Even a lot of thin women are sedentary, so flabby arms don't surprise me. Mine aren't the most toned in the world, but I go out of my way to do physical stuff like lifting boxes in the office so they're not too loose. None of my sedentary staff want to do those tasks. I'm amazed at how lazy the average person can be.

CTAC

Children in the US are not allowed to go out and play with other children. All they got is a TV or a computer. How could they not be fat?

There is so much 'care' about children here to avoid worst cases that everyone gets hurt.

barba

It seems to me that the college situation is mostly an issue of fashion that is not very forgiving but still compulsory. The thing is that the odd distribution of body fat phenomena is more than just a youth or women's issue. Last time I was home there were folks with body shapes that for the life of me I could not figure out what combination of diet and lifestyle could produce. Really weirdly fat some places, skinny in others looks. Something in the North American diet is wildly wrong.

Machka 

Honestly, some of them around here look like those pictures you used to see of starving children in Ethiopia who had the huge tummies and little skinny arms and legs. There was a medical reason for that body shape, but I can't remember what.

derath

Yea it's called malnutrition.

-D

Glenfiddich_Man

I'm 25. All I have to say is I work hard at keeping my body in shape. I expect the same from someone I am considering dating. If you can't take care of your own body, how can you manage other things. That's how I feel. Its not hard at all to get 1-2 hours a day of exercise and to eat right. I'm a cop who works 12 hour shifts, anyone can do it.

Stacy

Bad enough that we have flabby Americans but Flabby Canadians too?