fat farm

fat farm

A slightly derogatory term for a clinic, treatment center, or resort that is aimed at helping people lose weight. My weight ballooned after the inactivity that resulted from my surgery, so I'm heading to the fat farm this summer to try to get it back to normal. A: "It's not a fat farm, it's a resort with dieticians and personal trainers." B: "Who are there to make everyone lose weight, right?"
See also: farm, fat
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

fat farm

A clinic or resort where people go to lose weight, as in She spends all her vacations at a fat farm but it hasn't helped so far. This is a somewhat derisive term for such an establishment. [Colloquial; 1960s]
See also: farm, fat
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fat farm

A resort or camp where overweight persons go to lose weight. Considered impolite, the term arose in the second half of the 1900s and with the growing incidence of obesity has become a cliché. The ABC television sitcom The Odd Couple had it in 1971: “If you’re not fat, it’s a health farm; if you’re fat, it’s a fat farm.”
See also: farm, fat
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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