A seeming side effect of supersizing is the disappearance of traditional physical boundaries -- including the human proportions studied by the ancients.

America’s love of personal freedom, the rise of working women, the sped-up lives technology has allowed and entrepreneurial spirit have combined to outweigh self-control. Bigger cars and bigger houses accommodate our quest for more “stuff” -- even as we eat from bigger plates.

Stadium seats, bathtubs, restaurant chairs and coffins have been enlarged to fit our weight gain. Just as fast food companies saw few limits as to what customers could and would consume, other marketers are happily accommodating obesity to sell more goods.

	The female market is driving the trend toward larger fitting styles. Marshal Cohen, Co-President of NPD Fashionworld, a research group that studies fashion industry trends The New York Times, October 13, 2002

Kinder, gentler marketing tactics include replacing “plus sizes” with expanded” or “curvy” sizes. Mainstream retailers like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger now offer designs for the “full-figured.”

Teen-friendly stores like Gap and Old Navy have widened their range of sizes; some now go up to size 20. One retail chain, Torrid, says its average customer is 15-29 years old and wears a size 14 to 26.

In 2002, Seventeen launched a new section for larger girls. “Curvy Girl” dispenses with old constraints, which would all be harmless broad-mindedness if it weren’t for the toll such tolerance will take on teens’ health.