The Country Where it's Illegal To Be Fat | Will Tennyson

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:03]All right, folks. I want to introduce you to a little somebody here that is Will Tennyson. And it's he's not little by any means whatsoever. He's actually a fitness influencer that I am very familiar with. He has amazing quad. And I'm saying that respectfully because hey, as a man, you have got to be able to see those kind of things, which is literally what most people talking about bodybuilding do. But will put out this video about him investigating um the country where you're not allowed to be fat and immediately you kind of know which one it is at least which one of the two it is because in one you literally can't and the other one you get not necessarily shame but at least you will get some weird looks if you are this of course South Korea that we're talking about and given that this is a topic that is a little bit recurrent sometimes in my sphere of the people who follow me who at time ask for fitness advice and kind of stuff. I like to tell people to uh take care of their body, exercise, that's just that's just good.

[00:01:04]Feel your body, move, eat some good food. Like we already all live an extremely sedentary lifestyle. So at least enjoy what you have. But when a society starts hyperfocusing on aesthetics, it can be a little bit problematic. So let's check out what this is about. Of course, make sure to go and like and also subscribe to his channel. And let's get into it. Don't be fat. Don't be ugly. Don't be poor.

[00:01:27]>> I'm sure you know like it's like the plastic surgery capital. Do >> you think an overweight foreigner coming to visit Korea would have a negative experience?

[00:01:35]>> Sadly, I've heard that a lot.

[00:01:36]>> South Korea, the world's beauty capital, where being fat isn't just frowned upon, you're openly shamed.

[00:01:42]>> Shop owners will clearly say to you like, "Oh, yeah, there's no clothes for you."

[00:01:46]>> In a country where appearance can feel like currency, the pressure to be thin is everywhere. On billboards, subway floors, and storefront windows. a constant reminder to change and be better. Creating a standard so intense it's driving a surge in weight loss drugs, extreme dieting, and potentially something much worse.

[00:02:03]>> Okay, so I have to get to 75 kg.

[00:02:05]>> I'm here to find out just how bad it really is. Welcome to South Korea, everybody. Before we get started with the day, I want to >> Holy [ __ ] 75 kg. Listen, guys, that's what I weighed at 18 just naturally without Okay, I did exercise. I I was a runner, but a runner's build at 18.

[00:02:26]Almost no muscle mass on my frame except for my legs at the time. But then you end up that's scary. And I'm going to suppose that that was for a man. What the hell is that going to be for women? Jesus.

[00:02:40]See what level of freak show the locals are going to see me as. So behind me there's a fat test that are in all the parks in Korea. They really just said, "Let's gify emotional damage." So whatever I get here is going to dictate how I feel about myself today and probably how I eat. So, according to Google Translate, this first one here, it says, "You're an alien." Dot dot dot.

[00:03:00]I mean, I'd rather be called an alien than a fat ass. So, I guess if I can't fit through this, I'm not considered human.

[00:03:08]That was that was very close. This next one is, "You shouldn't be like this," which kind of sounds like a threat.

[00:03:16]>> It sounds like a threat.

[00:03:20]Oh my god, I'm I'm scraping it.

[00:03:23]>> We didn't pass that with flying colors.

[00:03:25]Level three.

[00:03:27]>> Like Will is a nowhere fat. He's even wearing a slim jacket. Like give me a minute.

[00:03:34]>> Few moment.

[00:03:35]>> Like this is what I wore today. It's kind of something similar to his, right?

[00:03:40]But this is an extra large. I know clothes don't do me any service. That's kind of a thing that ends up happening when you get bigger because proportions don't make sense. You have a slim waist, but your chest and you know your rear don't quite match with conventional clothing. So, you're kind of forced to have different attire, but the way that it is sitting on him makes him look slim. So, like visually speaking, it doesn't make any sense. And 26 cm, that's 10 in people. 10 inches.

[00:04:15]That's a problem.

[00:04:16]>> You have a slim heart. That's aggressive.

[00:04:24]>> No, I have a slim body.

[00:04:29]>> Okay, >> that's like two fes.

[00:04:31]>> So, the next one is just chubby. So, not as wordy as the other ones, but still just as hurtful. Chubby.

[00:04:40]>> Yeah, you're not getting past that.

[00:04:43]This is changing the breakfast plans very quickly. No. Crazy to think that I'm considered chubby in Korea cuz I like to think that I'm in pretty good shape. So, after chubby, here we have average, which I would never be so grateful to be called mid in my entire life. I just I'd love to be average.

[00:04:58]>> And then we have thin.

[00:04:59]>> Thin. And then here says skinny. And it looks like they've removed actually >> one of the poles here cuz maybe like it was probably too extreme. Like I I don't even think a 90day fast.

[00:05:09]>> Are you kidding me?

[00:05:12]My arms.

[00:05:16]That would be my arms. [ __ ] hell.

[00:05:19]>> A caved in rib cage. I can fit through that because like thin barely my quad goes through that. And the crazy thing about all of this is that this is literally in the middle of a children's park and they're probably going to see this as a game and you want to beat the game. So I just go to this and if I can't fit through it, I'm going to do whatever it takes to be able to fit through it eventually. So, I think it just causes a lot of issues.

[00:05:42]>> Wow. The gamification of body dysmorphia was not on my bingo card when I clicked on this. But I will say one thing though. It is always very interesting to me to see how it is that different cultures are handling the issue of possible obesity. And I do say possible because that is a term that tend to be used rather loosely. Let's take an example. We I I know that generally the the the fun joke is to be like haha American fat, right? But like it's not that every other places around the world are exempt from it. Quite the contrary.

[00:06:20]Let's take us here in Europe, right? I think that from statistics that I looked up some time ago, I think around 50% of Europeans like in total of like all the 53 countries that we have in there are uh obese. at least between overweight to obese. And that's bad. That's obviously bad. But then it kind of relies on one thing, the metric of BMI. And BMI can be very loose. I don't know precisely what I weigh right now, but I will bet you that I have a BMI between like 25 and 27 in there, and I could be considered as being obese because I'm 183 and I'm pretty big. the scale will say that I'm fat that despite the fact that I have a slim waist, a nice heart, no history of like cardiovascular disease or sugar disease or anything of the sort. But that's not what gets taken into account when you make this calculation because in comparison right in the United States a near similar figure could be found if you only took into account BMI. data from the USDA rank adults I think around 43% in the obesity category with like nine I think 9.7% of them being morbidly obese and that's just the adult if you take the whole number and you account and you like stretch that bar a slight bit beyond just BMI and you account for such things as waist side and all that you get that number to almost 70 so that's obviously pretty messed up. So what does a country do to remedy that? I could take the example of Denmark. We like our freedom.

[00:08:05]We don't really like to be threat on or being forced to do certain things or adopt our lifestyle according to other people's pressures. So you will not see our government kind of tell us to be like Japan and have a uh fat tax or like have our waist measures every now and then to make sure that our health system just works for which I have to clarify this is a joke. Okay, this is like a halftruth that gets spread around a lot.

[00:08:33]And I guess that by me making that joke I kind of perpetuated it. But that's not the point here. The truth of the matter is that Japan has this thing called the Metabolo Prevention Act. something that was enacted all the way back in 2008 which was uh put into motion so to prevent metabolic disease hence the name so you are accounting for everything from high ball wow I can't speak high blood pressure high blood sugar levels excess body fat around the waist and other areas like the whole cortisol level and all that so like a cluster of whole things so to prevent such things as heart disease strokes and diabetes now the thing that gets usually made fun of is the fact that it does require citizens to have a mandatory screening.

[00:09:20]This from the age of 40 onwards till they get old and it's done annually but nobody's ever fined for it and you are not punished in any way. It's just as a means to prevent you know future diseases which is nice. For one, you get to reduce long-term health care cost associated with chronic lifestyle diseases. And of course, you just push on a culture of being more preventative rather than actually having to treat advanced diseases when you actually have them. And so you end up having situation where men, as an example, need to have like an 85 cm waist in circumference.

[00:10:01]That's like 33 in and I think it's 35 in for women. But that's Japan. Denmark, as an example, then sees our prime minister and her government say that we should instead ensure that teens as well as the elderly get an easier access to the gym, which is okay. I like that actually.

[00:10:23]Elderly get to build more muscle. They are incentivized now to spend more time at the gym to build muscle, which is good. It prevents a lot of issues when you get older. And now as well for gym classes, I get to see a lot of teens that are now attending my gym whenever I go out to train and they're taking all the machines. It's [ __ ] annoying. But good on them. They actually do that instead of just jogging all the time.

[00:10:46]That being said though, the government also went ahead and put a tax on the gym now. And that's not all. They went ahead and removed some of the taxation that is put on sugary stuff. Candy. What? And their reasoning for that was that we are making sure that the Danish people have an alleviated room, you know, in the wallet to enjoy themselves for which I'm like, I how about you lower the cost of, you know, the healthy food that could help maybe? No. Okay. Like what I'm getting at with this long tirade is that I think that sometimes the solutions that we end up having for these problems can be way more complicated than just tackling the base fundamentals because anybody who has ever trained to a certain degree would tell you of seriousness that is will tell you that you cannot outrain a bad diet. So like incentivizing more healthy eating and promoting that from the ground up instead of like necessarily pushing people, younger people to get into an environment where they need to work harder for their body which at the very same time might end up given the kind of body inflation epidemic that we have right now lead them into weird territories could end up doing more damage than good. But again, I'm just an observant. I don't exactly have a solution for it, but it's interesting to see how different places tackle these things. And in this case, you can gify that of having a certain size. Korea has a zero calorie and zero sugar obsession. And because of that, there's tons of different spots that cater towards that. So, if I want to be able to fit through that tree a little later on, there's certain things that we have to do. So, the first spot that we're checking out is the Zero Store.

[00:12:45]So, zero calories and zero employees.

[00:12:47]This is just kind of like a serve yourself kind of place. This is pretty sick, >> right?

[00:12:53]>> I just feel like I found a loophole in my fitness journey. No way. They have zero calorie ice cream. That's sick packaging. Like zero cow, zero sugar. They have zero calorie peanut butter.

[00:13:04]>> Oh god.

[00:13:05]>> Which sounds like I'd rather have a nut allergy than taste that. And a bunch of high protein foods here. This is sick.

[00:13:11]Wow.

[00:13:15]I've never seen a Coke Zero Tall Boy.

[00:13:18]Oh, I have to get that. That's so sick.

[00:13:21]I wonder if they have zero calorie pizza just like cardboard that has a tomato scent. 43 g protein in that. That's a hefty boy. I swear this I think this is this must be what heaven looks like.

[00:13:33]There was so many different options of zerocalorie, zero sugar snacks to choose from, especially jelly, which is often seen as Korean ompic providing you with something to fill your stomach with little to no calories at all.

[00:13:45]>> All this un that feels wrong.

[00:13:51]But I guess it might work. I mean, zerocalorie drinks are just fine. There's no issue with them at all. Like here's an example. something that people often don't get to see on off screen for me because I'm nleptic. So sometime I need a little bit of a pickup which is one of these. This is no co and uh yeah it's a coffee need a drink and it has four calories quite literally does like zero there's like nothing in there but this one is largely amino acid. A thing that people tend to complain about will be the arpetame as an example and arpetame there's no issue with that whatsoever.

[00:14:33]People like to complain over sugar alcohol the methanol that gets produced out of that you know it's a byproduct the thing however is that you already have plenty amount of methanol in your gut. So whatever gets converted from you consuming just a soda like that one or two a day is not going to affect you whatsoever. Even if you want to go with 10 or 20. Now, I wouldn't recommend going with 20, by the way, or 10 for that matter because who the [ __ ] drinks that many and probably somebody out there, but you get my point. There's not really anything to worry about there as long as you again as everything, keep it in moderation. When it comes to replacement food like the one that he mentioned there, the cardboard pizza that might be tasting a little bit weird with the sauces, that's where you might have a little bit of an issue, unless you are dealing with uh like outright greens, which I don't think that this is going to be, but stuff like conjac noodles as an example, stuff that made like gelatinous material from plants like the conjac.

[00:15:36]It is a plant, isn't it? I think it is.

[00:15:39]I'm a little bit confused here because it's called shiitakei in Japanese. But regardless, stuff like that do absorb a lot of water. So le you want to piss yourself, I also recommend eating those in moderation. And likewise also with the sauces that sometime can have a diuretic effect. So it's all just filling you with water and can be beneficial if you actually are on a diet. But again, moderation >> supervised protein is pretty incredible.

[00:16:07]Koreans must be trustworthy. All right, so we got a few things from the Zero store. We got to start off with the zerocalorie ice cream. I don't like what is this? Is this supposed to be like great white shark flavor? Like it doesn't really tell me anything and I can't really understand the back of it, but it's pretty in your face about being zero calories, so you can't forget it.

[00:16:26]>> All right, so visually sharklike, as in gray and ominous. It looks like meat that's been left in the freezer for like a month.

[00:16:34]>> Yeah, kind of. Smells actually fire though.

[00:16:40]Wow. What? Not as offensive as I thought it was going to be. That's actually quite good. There was a lot of flavor going on. I thought it was going to be very neutral. It's very fruit punchy. Oh >> yeah. We've become masters.

[00:16:55]>> It doesn't taste bad. It just doesn't taste like anything really.

[00:16:59]>> We've become masters at fruity. Inside's nice and like red like that.

[00:17:06]If I was on a diet to keep my mouth out of trouble, very good. We're going to be trying the infamous cutting jelly, as in the malnutrition maximizer, because there's literally I mean, there's nothing in it. Zero calories. This is just really to fill volume in your stomach.

[00:17:26]H, not bad. Have a couple of these, like three of them for breakfast, and you're good. Crazy to think right now as we speak I'm losing weight eating ice cream and jelly. There's no calories in it, but I'm burning calories talking to you.

[00:17:38]Think about that. We got a protein muffin, 200 calories, which practically at this point feels like a binge. I don't know if I should do it. I kind of feel bad.

[00:17:45]>> I want to fit through that tree.

[00:17:47]>> Wild. It's a wild thing to say.

[00:17:49]>> A chubby boy in Korea enjoying a muffin.

[00:17:53]Running on just 200 calories for the day, I headed to another spot built entirely around low calorie, zero sugar options. We're in a zero sugar cafe right now where the owner actually invented their own sweetener called Swellow, not to be confused with the Pokémon. But as you can see, they have protein overnight oats, no sugar added cream pudding. I got two spoons with my order, so I don't know if I'm being fat shamed right now because to me, this looks like a meal for one. But maybe she thinks that I need to share it. the chubby boy over here. But we got the overnight oats. We got a drink. I've given this place multiple opportunities to earn my trust. So, it's sugarf free, low calorie, and gluten-free. So, my mouth isn't exactly watering over here, but you never know. Let's try this overnight oats.

[00:18:38]>> It might taste good.

[00:18:39]>> Oh, it's it's thick. Just put it in right like that.

[00:18:44]I love when it's thick. If it doesn't fight back a little, I don't want it.

[00:18:50]That's will for you. You need those jokes in there. M.

[00:18:55]>> That's fire. My blood sugar isn't spiking, but my happiness levels definitely are. So flavorful. Swellow needs to be FDA approved ASAP. How many calories?

[00:19:08]>> Wow. Now we have this coffee drink with a sugar-free foam on the top. It's a butter pecan flavor.

[00:19:21]Scrumptious. So far, we have been given every opportunity to be skinny and no opportunity to blame the food.

[00:19:29]>> 500 calories. Korean American content creator Daniel O who uses psychology, philosophy, and his cross-cultural perspectives to help women build self-love.

[00:19:38]>> So, am I consider like chubby in Korea?

[00:19:40]>> Not chubby. You would just be considered like a buff dude. If you look at the vast majority of like idols, for example, they're really skinny. I even have a friend who was an idol trainee, but he started working out and he wasn't even like bodybuilder big. Like he was probably around my size and they were like, "You can't be an idol anymore cuz you're too big."

[00:19:58]>> Wow.

[00:19:59]I mean, when I hear stuff like that, it kind of feels odd to me because you have shows like that physical 100 that is literally I mean it exploded because it showcased the amazing physiques that many Koreans had, right? Of course, a lot of them were like top athlete, but not every single one of them dealt in fields where they had to just lift heavy weight. Of course, you will have some judo cars that are built massively better. Every single one of them were looking like bodybuilders, but in the cases of you then being a bodybuilder. Take the example of somebody like Chul Soul, uh this is an old ass name, I know. I got into fitness when the first fitness influencers actually started making it big on the internet. So, like he's one of those names. the guy that you may most likely have seen doing the shuffle and dancing like crazy with a head that doesn't seem to fit his body and a little bit of a strange waistline. It was kind of odd, but Joel Saul uh also getting into a Lambo. Good god, it's a comic character, but regardless, how is he seen in Korea? Because if the idol boys who like barely get to have a certain look or even actors as soon as they put off a little bit of weight are kind of seen differently already. Jesus that's wild.

[00:21:26]>> So they actually dropped him from the training program because they were like you're going to be too big compared to everybody else on stage.

[00:21:32]>> What is the ideal male and female physique?

[00:21:36]>> I think for men it's the same anywhere in the world. You got to be tall, right?

[00:21:39]So if you're 180 and above, that's like you're considered handsome cuz you got that going for you. Uh yeah. So Will definitely would be considered a handsome guy in Korea. But actually, I could use just Will as an example of like why you would be considered a handsome guy by Korean standards. Yeah.

[00:21:52]So you also have what's considered like a small face.

[00:21:55]>> So in Korean uh society when people say you're beautiful, you're handsome for men or women, one of the things they'll comment on is like, "Wow, you have such a small face." Basically what it means is like if you look at the proportion of your face to the rest of your body like it looks smaller, right? And so that's what people mean by having a small face.

[00:22:11]It has a lot to do with proportions.

[00:22:13]>> So does that also explains the phenomenon of like the whole shoulders and like people actually wanting to have wider backs. It not only gives you the X frame that a lot of bodybuilders are yearning for, right? You need to have the the the widest shoulder possible and be extremely slim. Yeah. So it kind of give you the illusion of having a smaller head. Look, I understand this things in the context of a sport that is exclusively made for you to sculpt your body through the hardship of it all. But none of that is healthy bodybuilding as I know it. Okay.

[00:22:53]There there are different there are different class of that as a person who's done calisthenics I know the bodybuilding part of it that is about strength and fitness that's cool the part about aesthetic is not healthy >> and of course you have like a very defined jawline so I think in that regard it's not too different from what this the standard would be for men anywhere you go in the world right and then for women this is like super stringent standard there is like a specific angle angle of like your forehead to your nose and then an angle of like your nose to this part of your face right here. And so like those angles are all like measured according to like what's called the golden ratio or the physical sequence. If you are I think over >> 60 I would say like 4 kg you you're considered like chubby for >> What the [ __ ] No. No. No. No, you first and foremost, you cannot tell me that you are having a country where to like having somebody be considered beautiful. They've got to be first like, "Yo, Fibonacci, get in there. Uh, can you go whole chronology on this person?"

[00:24:14]Like, I'm sorry. I I don't mean to make fun of somebody's culture, but that's insane.

[00:24:20]64 kg. Most muscular female athlete that I encounter at the gym the same time I shredded but look petite are around 64 kilogram. They will be considered to be fat. What the calm down different cultures different methods. I I just find it odd. I mean yeah you can take into account the whole thing about being skinny fat, right? Subcutaneous fat does appear very differently. I noticed for my own sibling, she hasn't worked out a single day, but she looks fit as [ __ ] That's mama's jeans.

[00:24:59]>> 4 kg.

[00:25:00]>> Yeah, for a Korean woman. Regardless of the height.

[00:25:02]>> Yeah, regardless of the height, too.

[00:25:04]Yeah. It's tough because nowadays Korean women like they are also conscious of like their breast size, but because like naturally Korean women just don't have a lot of like subcutaneous fat, it's hard to get that naturally. So, one of the most common procedures that women will get is like breast implants, right? And it's like, again, sometimes you can kind of tell because it's like you have a very skinny woman, but her like breasts are large. And it's kind of like, well, how do you get that? That's kind of like I would say the most toxic aspect of the beauty standard that Korea is known for.

[00:25:35]>> As soon as we started walking, we were flooded with more zerocalorie stores on every corner, plastic surgery ads everywhere, and impossible beauty standards at every turn. These are the kinds of signs that you see in front of every single gym. Like talk about a transformation. Like I don't think I've ever related so hard to a before side of a transformation in my life. Like when I see this, I don't see motivation or I just see pressure.

[00:26:00]>> Yes. Exactly man. And as I spoke about the uh the uh physique inflation, while I know that it is extraordinarily bad for women over there, you get to see how it also affects men. And then imagine how that propagates with now social media and people being prompted into use utilizing peptides and then adding on to that plastic surgery and then societal pressure. Good lord, how are people surviving in South Korea?

[00:26:34]Somebody's going to write in the comment section like, "But that's the trick, Jack. We don't." I'm sorry for being morbid, but this is depressing.

[00:26:41]>> These ads on the wall. This This is not possible to be attained naturally.

[00:26:45]>> You can get it naturally, but there are some markers that show that it is plastic surgery. So, for example, this like angle from forehead to nose bridge is kind of what I was talking about earlier of like that ideal angle that like women want. And then this like pointed nose and this angle from like here to here. Again, more often than not, you actually need an implant to get that pointy nose because it's very rare to see that like just naturally uh through genetics.

[00:27:16]>> Yeah. So the the lenses now it's to the point where like a lot of women will feel self-conscious going out not wearing lenses because it's just become so you know common place.

[00:27:25]>> So would you say anime has a big impact?

[00:27:28]>> Thank you.

[00:27:29]style and how people look. I think it has a lot more to do with Korea is such a trend driven country. So if they see like oh u you know this this influencer that I follow on social media started wearing colored lenses like I want to do that too. Yeah. And then like trends just move so fast.

[00:27:45]>> So we're walking by a bunch of these markets and the clothing is so small it's insane. On this tag over here it says F which stands for free. So free size is basically the idea that like it's like stretchable. So if you're a Korean person, you should be able to fit >> one size fits all.

[00:28:02]>> Yeah. But as you can see here, it it's not a very friendly size for a lot of foreigners, right?

[00:28:08]>> I feel like I'm at a pet store shopping for my dog. I was going to say like I feel like in the States I'd see this at like the children's place, you know?

[00:28:16]>> I think that if I went into a store and asked for my size, they would just hand me a salad or something. I like that is that is cra I don't even think my quad could fit in that. Yeah, I think that's actually No, you're right. Yeah, that's like the size of one of your quads.

[00:28:28]>> That's literally my quad. I have a mini schnowzer at home. This would fit him, I think.

[00:28:33]>> But we wanted to see if the men's clothes had more realistic sizes.

[00:28:36]>> So, I kind of want Will to try this one because it says here, which stands for overfit. And it's the idea that like it's a baggier fit. So, >> yeah. I don't know, man. I literally cannot fit my head through it. There is a button if you want to unbutton that thing there and see if you could pull it through. There we go.

[00:28:54]>> I mean, I get it on >> like if a Korean dude was wearing it, it's supposed to be very loose. But now you just look like a private school boy.

[00:29:02]>> That's supposed to be like a baggier fit, I believe. But you make it look like a regular fit.

[00:29:07]>> Yeah.

[00:29:08]>> Yeah.

[00:29:08]>> Jeez.

[00:29:08]>> I only have to fly halfway across the world for my calves to feel above average. But the fact that this is oversized, I kind of feel fat.

[00:29:14]>> Dieting alone can't always get you the body that you want, which is why Korea is packed with beauty clinics promising to speed up the process. Hi, we just wanted to see like if you have like a menu of different um like fat loss >> options. Lipolysis injection. So, these are kind of like the fat melting injections that I talked about. So, they got like stuff for double chin over here.

[00:29:35]>> Um contouring for the face.

[00:29:37]>> Oh my god, that feels so odd. You get the whole menu like you were entering a cafe or restaurant.

[00:29:46]Dude, the prices. For a little over $100, you can have your double chin removed.

[00:29:54]What?

[00:29:56]What is going on, man? And people obviously go with that because there are some stubborn spots on your body that you just cannot target. You can't spot reduce fat. So, they get an injection that hits the place locally just like where you going to the dentist. But it's cheaper. It's cheaper to go to the D to to this than actually attending a dentist.

[00:30:19]>> And it's 99,0001 for a session. So that would be like around right now change rate maybe.

[00:30:27]>> No, not even $70. So this is like specifically targeting arms, thighs, abdomen. It's like very popular cuz again it's like >> oh my god, >> it's hard to actually do the work of like eating properly, moving properly, right? But it's like why do all that when you just melt it off?

[00:30:43]>> Yeah. And the proportions that are like people want to see are literally impossible to get. So you have to do it this way.

[00:30:49]>> That's right. Cuz you can't target fat loss through natural means. Right.

[00:30:51]>> You guys want to see le the amples.

[00:30:53]Right. This is the le injection. One of the most famous fat melting injection in the world. It actually kills the fat tissue.

[00:31:02]>> Are the are the people some of the people coming in pretty young asking for this stuff?

[00:31:05]>> Um yeah sometimes but usually 40 to 50.

[00:31:08]Would you ever have any like thinner people come in requesting stuff like this?

[00:31:11]>> Sometimes. Sometimes, >> but I try to tell him to do another thing like more at least >> aggressive way to reduce fat.

[00:31:21]>> So, what do you think of Korea's body image culture?

[00:31:24]>> Unfortunately, I I like it because I get money from those kind of culture. But I don't think it's super dangerous thing because you know cultures from the America or the Europe they are really >> damaging their health. Ideal culture must be between the European star and Asian star.

[00:31:44]>> What's your opinions on Korean beauty standards?

[00:31:46]>> Yeah. So uh I'm French now it's much more standard standardized in Korea. So yeah.

[00:31:51]>> Yeah.

[00:31:52]>> I'm sorry I'm laughing because dude's accent just came out straight out of it.

[00:31:58]Dude was like, "I'm French with a Jesus."

[00:32:02]You can hear it.

[00:32:04]>> When you moved here, did you look a lot different than you do now?

[00:32:07]>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, so when I moved here, I was overweight. Basically, there was kind of a pressure myself to to fit in. Like in France or in Europe, you will never have, I would say, kind of negative remarks, but in Korea, they'll be like, "Oh, yeah. Oh, that's why you're, you know, you're fat or something."

[00:32:22]>> Oh, so they're a lot more like forward here.

[00:32:24]>> Yeah, exactly. Which, to be honest, it's not that bad. Once I've lost weight, it's like much more direct. Also in the on the other way, >> if I did gain a little bit, people would make a comment straight away and say like, "Oh, you gained some weight." And the whole reason to make that comment is like, "I noticed you or like I care about you." Um, and so you're supposed to feel good. Like you're supposed to be like, "Oh, she noticed and like she really cares about me and she thinks I should lose weight for my health."

[00:32:47]>> Are Koreans a lot more direct with how you look? Cuz I feel like in North America, if someone gained weight, you wouldn't really say it, >> but maybe you just like think it. So here they actually would just tell you straight to your face.

[00:32:57]>> Straight to your face. Even like when I meet up with my friends and I haven't seen them in a while. If like my skin is looking worse, they'll be like, "Oh, yeah. You you just got some looks like you got some trouble on your face. Ugly sucks. You look a little bit bigger."

[00:33:06]Like the first thing they'll be like, "Oh my god, your face looks a little bigger than the last time I saw you. You look like you gained some weight." Or like >> it kind of depends on culture though. In certain places that can be a little bit endearing. I don't know an English person who doesn't jump at the opportunity of making fun of a mate for having gained weight or not. But yeah, it depends. vice versa. You look like you lost weight.

[00:33:25]>> Do you like how forward people are in Korea or or what do you think about that?

[00:33:46]>> Could you ask her to tell her tell me like the first thing she thinks about when she sees me and to not worry I won't get offended?

[00:33:56]He's a married man.

[00:34:07]>> We were a longtime friends and you saw me built like Superman. Have to say to me that's a golden proportion of your face. I learned recently it's like one one and 0.8. So maybe your like bottom is a bit long at this part. my bottom.

[00:34:25]>> She went straight like, "Mate, the Fibonacci uh the golden ratio. It's like 1.6." Yo, 1.8.

[00:34:37]Oh, that's wild. Is it This is wild.

[00:34:39]>> Is that long? That's it.

[00:34:41]>> And like you could get some facial for your skin.

[00:34:43]>> Is it hard being a girl in Korea?

[00:34:46]>> Uh, I think so. There's many things that girls need to do to upkeep their appearances.

[00:35:05]We've been walking around looking for interviews, but we were getting no luck with girls because they're all just like they don't have makeup on, their hair is not done, their outfit's not good, he says as he passes by two ladies back there fixing their makeup.

[00:35:22]You can't make this [ __ ] up.

[00:35:31]Wow.

[00:35:33]Holy Jesus.

[00:35:35]>> On their hair is not done. Their outfit's not good. So, most of them are rejecting us right now. It's like they want to do it, but they just don't feel confident.

[00:35:42]>> And then the employee is sitting there, I guess.

[00:35:44]>> Actually, the person we just asked, she does have makeup on, and she still didn't want to do it cuz she wasn't confident in >> she needs more makeup on. So, you've been asking girls to do interviews and a lot of them are just like, "I have no makeup on. I can't." Like, is that very just common?

[00:35:55]>> Oh, yeah. If you like leave the house without makeup on, then >> mostly you'd wear a cap or like a mask to cover your face >> when looking for like a a girlfriend.

[00:36:03]Like, what kind of traits are you?

[00:36:05]>> Wow, that's a mad thing. I always used to consider that as just like an act of decency for people who for example would have got a cold or be just slightly sick to ensure that they would not contaminate other people, right? They wore face masks before we wore face mask in 2020. But no, apparently that was like a fashion thing to hide their non-touch faces. You mask to cover your face.

[00:36:39]>> When looking for like a a girlfriend, like what kind of a traits are you attracted to?

[00:37:00]What's the main reason in your opinion as to why a lot of people in Korea are so skinny?

[00:37:06]discipline.

[00:37:31]Yeah, that's an argument that I've that I hear a lot. That's something that my partner and I do associate with our bodies that being muscular was something that we associate with a certain degree of discipline. somebody who actually both takes care of their body might translate that rather easier into just the life, right? Pretty routine individuals might just follow it through with other aspects. But at the same time, when it comes to attractiveness, that might not quite be the thing that most people go after. From what I know, and I may have said this many times before, but in our circle of friends, I know very few of, let's say, the girls of my partner's friend group who are attracted to this type of body. They prefer more chubby types or rather skinny boys. Men, not boys, men. But that's cool to each their taste, but again, it depends on the individual.

[00:38:28]That's where that's why I find it a little bit odd that when it becomes like a societal thing that it becomes a little bit weird to me because I can see discipline in the same way in a person that is on a bigger side and likewise in a person that is very skinny. I don't I do not automatically associate that a certain degree of fitness with actually being healthy.

[00:38:54]>> How do you think Korean people look at fat people in the attractive for that matter? care about themselves and they don't care about their family too because a lot of the family members usually as I mentioned if you gain a bit of weight you would say something so it's kind of like you didn't care about what your family said or your family are not pointing out that you're unhealthy >> would you associate >> yeah just to clarify like my personal st is that of muscular individuals women okay I find that very attractive but I totally understand that other people do not >> skinny with being healthy to a certain point. I I think it can contribute to like better health because, you know, I think having more weight on you can really hurt your knees a lot and your joints. That's one of my problems that my parents have. So, I think that kind of weight really if they didn't have it, I think they'd be feeling a lot better and they feel a lot healthier for sure.

[00:39:42]>> So, would you rather be skinny or healthy?

[00:39:46]>> I think be healthier, but I think some of them kind of overlap in some extent, but I think being healthy is more important and just living like a long and happy life is more important. Do you think a an overweight foreigner coming to visit Korea would have a negative experience?

[00:40:01]>> Sadly, I've heard that a lot. Shopping is difficult, too. And when you go shopping, the shop owners will clearly say to you like, "Oh, yeah, there's no clothes for you." Like the the reaction is very obvious and I think they feel a bit left out sometimes.

[00:40:16]>> Are there any extremes that people do to like look a certain way here? Uh, I mean I think the most extreme one, most obvious one is like plastic surgery, but I know there's like especially with women, they go on like really crazy diets. Uh, back like 10 years ago, there's this one K-pop idol called IU. I don't know if you know her.

[00:40:31]>> No. But her one of her diets went like infamous cuz like she all she ate for the day was like one sweet potato, like one apple, and like ice cubes or something. So >> she have like 200 calories for the day and that like she lost like 10 15 kilos in like two weeks a month or something.

[00:40:45]>> And a lot of people fall, right? Yeah.

[00:40:46]Exactly. A lot of women tend to follow that kind of thing. So starvation.

[00:40:49]>> Yeah, it's definitely very severe.

[00:40:50]>> K-pop starvation diets don't just stay in the industry. They reshape how people everywhere see food and body image. When extreme restriction is framed as discipline and constant hunger starts to feel like progress instead of a warning sign, that mindset spreads fast with people normalizing undereating and fearing calories just to chase an unrealistic look like calling 130 calories a meal or using formulas like height minus 120 as a body weight goal.

[00:41:16]So, I spoke with the K-pop singer who had to stay anonymous to avoid backlash about what that pressure actually feels like behind the scenes.

[00:41:23]>> Do you think there's a lot of pressure on you to be skinny?

[00:41:27]>> Yes, for my fans.

[00:41:28]>> Is that good?

[00:41:29]>> I don't think so. But they need my fans need like that.

[00:41:34]>> Korea ranks very high on rates.

[00:41:37]>> Yeah.

[00:41:37]>> Why do you think that would be >> idol culture?

[00:41:40]>> Idol culture.

[00:41:41]>> Yes. They need skinny shape and pretty face. So >> So the rates being so high, you think are related to the K-pop culture?

[00:41:51]>> Absolutely.

[00:41:52]>> So the girl back in >> for both men and women and you can't even voice that directly. You have got to hide behind something that looks like witness protection program.

[00:42:03]Dude, that is so sad.

[00:42:05]>> The cafe said that she needs to be skinny for her fans. Does that make sense to you? Oh yeah, 100%. I would imagine that like a lot of her success is going to depend on her followers and fans hyping her up, sharing her music, and just continuing to engage with her content. But if she were to gain weight, then they're just going to like lose all interest in her because >> regardless of talent.

[00:42:26]>> Oh, yeah. Regardless of talent because it's just kind of like no matter how talented you are, it's not like I couldn't find 15 other people who are equally as talented as you. So, if you want to make it, you have to be talented and you got to be beautiful and you got to be a great dancer, rapper. Like, that's the industry.

[00:42:41]>> So, we found a place for lunch called preppers, which I'm It kind of sounds like contest prep. Like, you're prepping for something. And then the funny thing is it says >> food, not healthy food. Cuz I feel like healthy food wouldn't be as much of a draw to go in. Like diet just sounds like more like weight loss, right?

[00:42:58]>> Yeah, I think you nailed it on the head.

[00:42:59]That would be my guess, too. And yeah, I think it is for like weightlifters. And I see more and more popping up all over the place.

[00:43:04]>> So, a bunch of pasta bowls, rice bowls.

[00:43:07]You recommend the double bowl?

[00:43:09]>> Yes. For me, only the double bowl gives me enough protein. Combo comes with a drink. For example, amino drink over here. Wow. That's one of their things that they're known for. I have yet to try it, but I heard it's pretty good.

[00:43:19]So, and then they got like protein milkshakes and stuff. Protein coffee milkshake. It sounds amazing. Like places like this in North America like don't show up.

[00:43:26]>> And I feel like that's because there's like they don't think there'd be enough traction.

[00:43:29]>> Right. Right. Right. So, I feel like there's obviously a lot of traction and like demand for this.

[00:43:32]>> Yeah. Like for me, when I first came to Korea, they didn't have shops like this.

[00:43:35]So, I missed like Chipotle or like Cava cuz you could get pretty good macros for those even though they have like high sodium. But, you know, now they got stuff like this. It's not every day you see a fountain drink station where it's only the zero sugar stuff. I feel like Coke Zero is water here.

[00:43:48]>> I respect that. Cheers, man.

[00:43:50]>> Cheers.

[00:43:50]>> When a place has Sprite Zero, >> you just know it's going to slap because this is a rarity. This is a rarity. Most places have Coke Zero.

[00:43:58]>> Sprite Zero. You don't know how lucky you got it, man. Wow. I There's It's everywhere here in Korea, so I just assumed that it was Wow. And also, the fact that this place is 24 hours is insane. I love that. Yeah. Oh, I wanted to get the pasta bowl, but I feel like if I ordered that, I would have got bullied or something. It seems like a trap. Like, who gets the pasta in Korea?

[00:44:16]All right, here we go.

[00:44:18]>> You want to make sure you mix it all up nice.

[00:44:22]>> That's a big boy bite. Mhm.

[00:44:25]>> So, good.

[00:44:26]>> Mhm.

[00:44:26]>> Nice. I like that. that it's like a it's a reflective plate >> on the bottom of the plate.

[00:44:32]>> You can see your skinnier reflection when you're done. What would you say is like a big factor in Korea's low obesity rate? Would you say it's all lifestyle or is there any like genetic components to that? So, I think one of the things that people don't know is that in addition to the social pressure that there is to stay thin and stay healthy, East Asians have a way lower subcutaneous fat cell count than our Western counterparts. And this is quite common in Korea where you you'll see like those skinny fat body types, right?

[00:44:58]Well, you'll see men or women that don't look that fat, but they have really high visceral fat levels just because there's not a lot of subcutaneous fat that can hold it. So, they won't look as big, but they'll still have heart issues, diabetes, pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, like all across the board.

[00:45:15]So, it doesn't take that much size for a Korean person to be equally as unhealthy as like, >> you know, a Europeanbased or Yeah.

[00:45:23]>> Okay. How many calories would you say this bowl is? If I had to guess, >> I would put it around >> 700, >> 800, >> 600. Okay. I was going to be like around 700.

[00:45:36]>> Have you heard of macroactor?

[00:45:38]>> I haven't. It's the quickest and easiest way to track your calories.

[00:45:40]>> Great ad.

[00:45:40]>> And if you don't have a place that has the calories on the in your bowl, >> take a photo and it gets pretty close.

[00:45:45]That'd be awesome.

[00:45:46]>> So, boom. Uploading. So, it even says the rice, steak, scallions, sesame seeds, >> right? So, 775 calories in the plate.

[00:45:56]Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty accurate.

[00:45:58]So, I mean, it tells you all the macros and you just log it to your >> Dude, that's nuts.

[00:46:03]>> Yeah.

[00:46:04]>> There's also a new feature where you can upload a recipe including ingredients, instructions, and servings, all with just a snap of a picture.

[00:46:10]>> So, if you guys want to try the Macroactor app, make sure to use code will for two weeks free. We are now in Chongo, which is known as the obesity drug mecca of the world. And literally, every single building is a pharmacy just selling fat loss drugs. It's actually pretty insane. So, there's a pharmacy right here. And then there's a pharmacy right here, and then literally like five more feet. There's another pharmacy right here. And then next door is another pharmacy. And then, >> man, come on. At least pull all the the cool ones, man. They don't even have what we have in Southern Europe. The one with like the snake and the cross, you know? Good old Bethesa.

[00:46:54]The one that flash up like crazy. Like where you attending a rave.

[00:46:58]We don't have them in Denmark anymore.

[00:47:00]>> Across the street there's moreies over there, which is like I don't know why you need this manyarmacies. I guess the demand is super super high. So, we are going to see how easy it is for me to go to a clinic, get a prescription, and get some Moi. Let's see.

[00:47:17]>> Oh, >> that's it. Here. Here.

[00:47:19]>> Oh, [ __ ] >> Wow.

[00:47:22]>> It might be busy.

[00:47:23]>> Yes.

[00:47:27]>> Camera. Right up.

[00:47:30]Right up Main Street.

[00:47:31]>> What's the name that you use in Korean?

[00:47:33]>> Will. I just walked in, said my name, gave my ID, and it's good.

[00:47:40]>> Do you have a preference of a goi or mjaro?

[00:47:42]>> What does he recommend?

[00:47:45]>> He said then you would have to get a consultation with the doctor.

[00:47:47]>> So, I have to see him here right now.

[00:47:48]>> Right now.

[00:47:49]>> What is it?

[00:47:50]>> Long wait.

[00:47:51]>> I don't think it's going to take that long.

[00:47:53]>> Okay. We're in the waiting room right now for the weight loss drugs. Everyone in here is also looking for the same thing. People are just coming in asking for it. They're like, "Yeah, just take a seat, eat with the doctor, and you're good." So, >> we're going to have prescription in like 15 minutes. We're just crazy here.

[00:48:07]>> It should No.

[00:48:09]>> Here we go.

[00:48:10]>> Is it your first time doing me?

[00:48:12]>> Yes, first time.

[00:48:14]>> How about your height?

[00:48:16]>> 6 foot.

[00:48:16]>> How about your weight?

[00:48:18]>> Around two.

[00:48:20]>> 90 kilos.

[00:48:20]>> 90.

[00:48:22]>> 90. Yeah.

[00:48:22]>> What is your normal body weight?

[00:48:25]>> I just want to get shredded.

[00:48:27]>> Mhm. After I gave the doctor my height, weight, and goal, he implemented my stats into a BMI chart and called me obese. This presentation, you will have the some obesity, your BMI index 24.47.

[00:48:41]>> And he kept adding lower weights until it put me in the normal category. No, >> you have some weight loss about 15 kg, you will entrance to the normal body.

[00:48:53]>> You can't do that. You guys just You guys just start tweaking the thing and being like, "Hey, well, if we adjust this and adjust a little bit of this, a little bit of that, you know, and a pinch of salt and the secret chemical X, it should not be this easy." And he hasn't even asked him for like, "Do you have a what's your medical history? Do you have any issues or whatever." No, it shows your height.

[00:49:23]Let's adjust it just a little bit.

[00:49:26]>> Perfect.

[00:49:26]>> The doctor is telling me I have to lose 15 kg or 33 lbs without any sort of background knowledge of my medical history or even my body composition as fat and muscle ratios greatly impact your BMI score. And these lax measures are causing serious harm. And just like that, I got a prescription adding to Korea's major drug misuse problem.

[00:49:48]>> Oh, she's asking if you want to get the injection here right now.

[00:49:51]>> No.

[00:49:51]>> Oh my god.

[00:49:52]>> All right. And so this is pretty insane.

[00:49:54]We got it super easily within like 10 minutes.

[00:49:58]And there it is. So the doctor said I need to get to 75 kg, which now that I'm thinking about it, that's below my bodybuilding stage weight.

[00:50:08]>> So I think I would actually die.

[00:50:10]>> Yeah. You'd be like 168 lb. That's how much I weigh and I'm 5'8.

[00:50:15]>> Yeah.

[00:50:16]>> Yeah. So I don't they don't look at like your body fat percentage. They just go like, "Okay, height, weight, you're obese. And then there's no other discussion about like, do you work out consistently? There's here you go. 150 bucks.

[00:50:29]>> Yeah. I don't think he even asked you any questions about your overall health.

[00:50:32]Yeah. There was like no diagnosis. He was just like, "Oh, you want the drug?

[00:50:35]Like, okay, here's how to use it. You know, here are some side effects to expect." And I think they even offered to give you your first injection like right now.

[00:50:42]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm not going to do that. No. I just got it for a prop.

[00:50:46]I'm not going to use it. I'm not going to use it.

[00:50:49]It's clear Korea is facing a serious issue that can't be ignored. The relentless pressure to look a certain way combined with a deeply ingrained culture of body shaming is quietly taking a toll on people's lives. Over time, it doesn't just affect how you see yourself, it consumes your thoughts entirely and eventually you give in.

[00:51:10]Wow, what a video, man.

[00:51:13]Listen, we ought to teach more people to have selflove.

[00:51:18]Having more self- loveve does not mean that you are just going to let yourself go. You can have discipline and love yourself enough and cherish what little fat that you have on your frame and or if you have too much lose the amount that gets you to a point of being healthy that it doesn't burden your body. All that kind of thing that is doable. It's bloody doable. But in Korea, it seems like the the motto goes as follows. Don't get fat, don't get poor, don't be ugly. If you get any of the three carpool and also the weird overlap is so clear like I would hear sometimes people who are glorifying this thing because well it promotes a healthy society. Again, thin does not necessarily mean that you are healthy. a vast majority of them are suffering from mental illnesses because of the hyperco competitiveness of the Korean society the way that it is now also adding on to that this compounding effects of social pressure to look a certain way to achieve a certain status all of that bound to your looks your economic status dude it's it's a loop that you can't escape from and that reaches all the way to what the one doctor at the start of the video there, the one in the clinic.

[00:52:49]What does he say? The people who took those syringes were what the age of 40.

[00:52:54]>> This is the cle injection. One of the most famous fat melting injection in the world. It actually kills the fat tissue.

[00:53:02]>> Are the are the people some of the people coming in pretty young asking for this stuff?

[00:53:05]>> Um yeah, sometimes, but usually 40 to 50.

[00:53:08]>> 4050. So, you know that Korea already has a very low birth rate.

[00:53:16]Just a couple of years back, it was down to 0.8.

[00:53:22]So, getting people to get together, of course, is already difficult because economics doesn't make sense. But then if you have to factor into that attractiveness, 50 or something years old being the majority who partake in this, it gives me just a slight bit of hope because perhaps these are the actual people who do it because they have reached a certain age where things become a little bit stubborn and they might not have developed the habit of going to the gym or walking outside.

[00:53:57]Walking is [ __ ] important. It's one of the easiest way of actually getting that goal of losing weight. Well, perhaps they couldn't do that because they had to overwork themselves in an office. H but that at least give me a little bit of hope. But you now have a huge generation of young people who are also partaking in this and imagine now that you're coupling up with somebody and then those features that you work so hard to kind of hide then appears in your child.

[00:54:25][ __ ] [ __ ] man. There's a there's so much [ __ ] up with this. I This is just like scratching the surface. But good on the will for covering this because like I said, uh people need to exercise a bit more self- loveve and that needs to be promoted more. And if the government can't do that, people amongst themselves need to uh you know create those communities and attempt to get to a thing where they feel a bit more self-fulfilled. That being said, folks, thank you so much for checking out this video. As always, make sure to go and subscribe to the main creator of this being Will Tennyson. And of course, if you got anything out of my reaction if you enjoyed it, give me a follow and or subscribe rather said or a like if you want to. And with that, I wish all to have a wonderful day. Stay healthy and I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye.