fat farm


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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.
See also: farm, fat
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 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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References in periodicals archive ?
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To artificially boost the number of "enrolled" personnel, even unfit candidates are now enlisted anyway and given (up to) 90 days to complete a "fat farm" course to get them in shape, with the hope that at least 50 per cent of these overweight recruits will successfully complete basic training.
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I'd just done The Insider and went to a fat farm just outside San Diego to re-establish my diet which hadn't worked.
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Victor said, as he nominated Kitten to lose her suitcase: "She's not all there mentally, she's mentally more at risk than the last slice of pizza at the celebrity fat farm club."
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So while the "fat farm" recruit may appreciate the $2,000 donut, they are unlikely to be very fat by the time they get to eat it.
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Unlike the lettuce leaf and water cuisine of the stereotypical fat farm, at Stobo you can really enjoy your food.
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The star, who found success in Hollywood as a character actress, spent the end-of-year break at the 800-a-week Scrublands fat farm in Herefordshire.
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A "fat farm" Springs Hydro is NOT - the emphasis is on making you feel fitter, healthier and relaxed, not starved.
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In fact, the army will enlist you and then send you to a preliminary 'fat farm' for a period up to 90 days.
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NEW comedy clubs tend to have the life expectancy of a Mars bar on a fat farm.
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