The fat is in the fire at Air India. Perhaps that should read (may the grammarians forgive us): 'The fat are in the fire'. India's national airline is targeting the overweight. In March, Air India asked its cabin crew aged more than 40 to undergo a body mass index test. No way, said the crew; they want the management to first pay for a gym membership. Air India has around 4,000 cabin crew, around 70 per cent above age 40. Rival airlines have cabin staff in the 20-30 years range.

Air India has faced turbulence on this front before. In 2001, it sacked airhostess Nipa Dhar for being 15 kg overweight. The High Court accepted Dhar's plea that it was a medical problem partly caused by job -related issues.

Can your job make you fat? Well certain professions – sedentary in nature — do shower avoirdupois largesse on the large. A CareerBuilder survey puts administrative assistant at the top of the 2013 list (see box), with 69 per cent of them considering themselves overweight. Others fated to be fat include nurses (51 per cent) and judges (48 per cent).

The CareerBuilder survey is an annual exercise. One should expect fat jobs to remain fairly steady. But the 2012 survey has rather different results. Topping the list last year was the travel agent. He must have been travelling since then to lose weight. Others in the top 10 include attorney/judge, social worker, teacher, artist/designer/architect, administrative assistant, physician, protective services (police, fire fighter), marketing/public relations professional, and information technology professional.

Why do people gain weight? The top reasons according to the survey are: Sitting at my desk most of the day (56 per cent); Eating because of stress (35); eating out regularly (26); the temptation of the office candy jar (17); having to skip meals because of time constraints (17); workplace celebrations (potlucks, birthdays – 17); pressure to eat food co-workers bring in (9); and happy hours (4). You can't keep everybody happy.

Some say they eat too much because of stress and camaraderie. Others say they eat too little because of stress and punishing schedules. Both make you fat. Similarly, those tied to a desk say that lack of physical activity makes them fat. Those on the move say that eating out too often is what adds the pounds.

How big is the fat problem? Some 80 per cent of urban Indian working women in the 25-45 age group are fat, says a study titled Rising Workplace Obesity among Indian Women conducted by healthji.com . The IT sector is particularly prone to weight gain. (Incidentally, exercise scientist John Buckley from Chester University has a solution: work standing up for three hours a day, he says. But would such standing instruction to your staff work?)

Is fat all that bad in the workplace? Well, there are professions in which you can't be fat. Have you seen a fat ballet dancer? A fat belly dancer may, however, have charms of her own. The problem with fat is not size but health implications.

It is difficult to control fat, however. Last year, Denmark abolished the world's first fat tax. It was introduced in October 2011 to curb the consumption of fatty foods and chocolate. It ended up — absurdly — in driving people abroad to make purchases and even have dinner. Some 47 per cent of Danes are overweight and 13 per cent are obese.

The argument against the fat tax has had resonance elsewhere. In the US several cities have enacted laws against weight discrimination.

The first state to bow to the fat activists, as they are called, was Michigan.

Elsewhere, discrimination is only increasing. A few months back, Samoa Air introduced a pay-what-you-weigh policy. Passengers are charged on the basis of their weight. It has faced heavy weather.

Says the airlines' website: 'No more excess fees are charged and no more discrimination, because as we know a kilo is a kilo is a kilo.'

Air India, meanwhile, is watching with eager interest. The cabin crew would like nothing better than to redirect weight-watching moves to the passengers. They also serve who only stand and weigh.

THE FAT OF THE LAND

Professions most likely to report weight gain (% saying they have gained weight):

Administrative assistant       (69)

Engineer       (56)

Teacher        (51)

Nurse       (51)

IT manager       (51)

Judge        (48)

Machine Operator       (45)

Scientist        (39)

Source: Harris Interactive survey for careerbuilder.com conducted online in the US.