I've learned to treat my memory as vague and unreliable territory, but IIRC I read an interview years ago when Buffy was airing, where SMG was asked about her diet and fitness regime (because obviously, every female actor has to be asked about their weight and diet habits) and she commented that it toook a lot of effort to stay in shape for the show, both from her and from her chef, dietician and exercise coach.

One of the reasons I like Vera and like Dalziel and Pascoe as tv shows were because they actually had overweight people in the roles of effective, successful detectives. As far as Hollywood's concerned, for my entire life people who look anything like as far as me have either been comic relief at best or degenerate villains at worst.