Honest question: my wife and I are overweight and not thick-skinned. Are comments or jokes about body weight common in Vietnam? Just want to know what to expect and how to react.Thanks.Honest question: my wife and I are overweight and not thick-skinned. Are comments or jokes about body weight common in Vietnam? Just want to know what to expect and how to react.Thanks.
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Yes. observation of your weight is as normal as observing tha you’re wearing a green shirt or have blonde hair. It’s said as “a matter of fact”. I am fit but I gained 15 lbs and got a little gut when I went to VN for 3 weeks and didn’t work out and just ate like crazy. My SILs and their husbands commented on how I got fat. Don’t be offended 🙂
What you may possibly get is if your stomach sticks out, then some locals may rub your belly and speak about Budda..
Yep!!! They love to make lots of jokes about your weight. Be ready to laugh with them. And with comebacks about their skinny little asses..
Clearly your post struck a nerve as we all can relate. If it is a sensitive topic and you are thin-skinned then indeed it may be emotionally taxing. Expect the comments. Expect even pinches and rubs from family members on chubby parts of the body 🤦🏻♀️ Expect the questions asked out of sincere curiosity. “Does everyone eat fast food where you live?” But then expect them to force feed you more and more food 😂 I think there is a lack of understanding of mental and emotional health.. I (along with so many viet children) were called “map nhu heo” (fat as a pig. 🤦🏻♀️) traumatizing indeed but it helps to now realize that it indeed is a cultural phenomenon (albeit painful and wrong.) So the question should be more about what YOU can handle and how you will feel. Now when I visit I expect them to press on my feet and say “wow so much meat here!” 😂
To the ppl who said no, you’re all clueless. If you’re fat and overweight most certainly some Vietnamese will joke about it. The difference to western culture is that mentioning it isn’t considered rude. It’s just how it is. Some elder generations consider being overweight a good thing as you’ve lived a good life and eaten well.
I find Vietnamese respectful, having said that the guys in our tour have their tummys rubbed. We find it funny
My mate got asked if he was expecting twins on several occasions 😂 it’s just banter
When I got fitted to Hoi An for a ladies suit, I got a lot of “Oh wow!!! Big bum” comments and
OK, let me expand on what I said earlier. I’m actually in Vietnam right now. Unless you make friends with someone, they’re not going to say anything about your weight. And it probably won’t be anything rude or super direct, but I got close with the family and told one lady that I liked her shirt. She said she would give it to me if it would fit. She was just being a grandma. Because she is one. And then another young man that I met that I’ve talked to several times that was working at my hotel said that I needed to drink more water for my weight. All of these are observations and there a matter of fact. I live in China and while I feel like it’s more tactful with older people, with children it’s definitely not. It’s just a part of the culture. If you don’t want to come here because you’re scared that someone will make fun of your weight then I suggest you stay home. It’s so easy to make friends here, they might say something about your weight. But they’re not doing it to hurt your feelings it’s not like that. It’s literally one of the best countries I’ve been to. And they’re right. I’m fat. And that’s OK. Maybe you guys need to do a little work on it before you decide to make the decision to come here. Trust me, I understand it’s hard. I deal with it every day, living in a country where people are much smaller than me, and in my own country, I’m considered normal or midsize. I get it. But I’ve also learned to take myself less seriously since I’ve been here. So who knows, it might be a good experience for you. 
They will say “oh so fat!” “What did you eat?Y look so healthy !” Mỹ friends call me “hey fat, where are you going ?”