Definition

Noun: A commercial establishment, typically a residential health spa or retreat, that specializes in programs designed to help people lose weight through a regimen of diet, exercise, and sometimes behavioral counseling.

Usage

The term "fat farm" is a colloquial, informal, and often humorous or mildly derogatory name for a weight-loss resort. It is used to describe places where people go for intensive, short-term weight loss programs. - After the holidays, she joked about needing to check into a fat farm. - The article reviewed several luxury fat farms in California.

Advanced Usage

• The term can carry a critical or satirical tone, implying the experience is punitive or overly strict, contrasting with the more euphemistic marketing terms like "wellness retreat" or "weight-loss spa."
• It is sometimes used metaphorically to describe any situation perceived as involving deprivation or rigorous discipline for self-improvement.
  • My new training regimen feels like a corporate fat farm.

Variants and Related Words

• Health spa: A more general and neutral term for an establishment offering health and fitness treatments.
• Weight-loss retreat / resort: More formal and descriptive synonyms.
• Boot camp: While often for fitness in general, it can be used similarly for intensive, disciplined weight-loss programs.

Synonyms

• Weight-loss spa
• Reducing clinic (dated)
• Fitness retreat (broader)

Idioms and Fixed Expressions

• "Sent to the fat farm": A humorous phrase meaning someone is being made to undergo a strict diet or exercise program, often not by their own choice.
  • After his doctor's warning, his wife said he was being sent to the fat farm.

Noun

1. a health spa that specializes in helping people lose weight