High Fat Index

"A true Luchador knows that size does not matter; weight does!"

— Rikochet, ¡Mucha Lucha!

Fat tropes can be socially complicated to explain. Depending on the social context, fat can often be scorned or ridiculed as an Acceptable Target, or praised for its voluptuousness. And though there might be various Unfortunate Implications for any of these, obesity continues to have a controversially rich existence in tropes as an increasing percentage of the population of the industrialized world fall into the category currently labeled clinically overweight — especially in The United States and Australia where obesity rates are the highest. So for better or for worse, here fat tropes are indexed.

General tropes

Acrofatic: A character is fat and agile.
Balloon Belly: A character gains a lot of weight in a short time.
Big, Fat Future: Everybody is fat in the future.
Dead Weight: Fat zombies.
Does This Make Me Look Fat?: Character wants to know if something makes them look fat.
Fat and Proud: A character likes being fat.
Fat and Skinny: Two characters. One is fat, one is thin.
Fat Camp: A summer camp where overweight children are sent to lose weight. Often the camp is mean.
Fat Flex: A fat character tries to make themself look muscular.
Fat Suit: A costume designed to make the wearer look fat.
Fattening the Victim: A character tries to fatten another character.
Geek Physiques: Nerds are either very thin or very fat.
Heavy Voice: When a character gets fatter, their voice gets deeper.
Hollywood Pudgy: A character played by an average-sized actor is treated in story as if they are grossly overweight.
I Am Big Boned: Denying being fat by using an excuse.
Nutritional Nightmare: Food that's even unhealthier than it's supposed to be.
Popping Buttons: Something doesn't fit, so the buttons come off or won't button.
Post-Stress Overeating: Character eats too much because they are nervous.
Real Women Have Curves: Weight Woe equals Audience Surrogate.
Stout Strength: A character is chubby, or even fat, but strong.
Temporary Bulk Change: Character loses or gains weight temporarily.
Weight Loss Horror: Weight loss, voluntary or not, goes horribly wrong.
Weight Taller: Gaining weight makes you taller.
Weight Woe: Character worries about their weight.
A Weighty Aesop: An Aesop about how to lose weight.
You Are Fat: Fat jokes.