Fat Hate? Interesting article.

I'm going to be the minority here - and maybe it's because I'm still so "fat" or morbidly obese. Don't get me wrong - there is an immense amount of stupidity in this article; however, the author makes a very few good points.

1) Little is as mortifying than having people (often coworkers or acquaintances) loudly praise your food choice in large groups. It kind of makes me want to crawl under the carpet. Let my closest friends do it privately.

2) The example of “That guy must own stock in Cheetos.” It makes you wonder what they are saying about me when my back is turned. Sometimes it's like people forget you are fat and don't realize how that feels.

3) For high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, etc it should absolutely be brought up by health professionals as result of being obese. However, I've had many a doc (not neurologists) tell me if I would just lose 10 lbs or 10% of my weight that my migraines would disappear. You know what, they haven't even lessened. I was thrilled to tell a new doc recently that I'd lost 50 lbs. He just stared at me confused. That being said, I truly hope that they believe they are doing the right thing.

that article should be titled :

"I'm fat, and don't want you to point it out or help me so here is a list of 21 things to not say around me"

That's the way I saw it too.

If everyone here is so concerned about the health of people who are overweight or obese, then I think the next question to ask yourselves is whether any of the comments mentioned by that writer would actually help that person. The mocking ones certainly wouldn't, and the suggestions to help or giving advice probably depend on your relationship with the person.

I do believe that fat-phobia or fattism exist, if only because our society pushes us way too much to look a certain way and that's not just skinny, but a certain kind of skin, shape, skin color, etc..

And I agree that much of the mockery and association with being fat with other negative characteristics is a sign of the problem in our society.. I think all of that is inappropriate and unfortunately happens even here on MFP. It's really a form of bullying and actually does NOTHING to actually get the overweight person to change.

However, I do think that some of it is a little extreme because I think many of those statements can be used in situations with people who are not overweight or with close friends who are. That said, I probably wouldn't make any negative or positive statements to people I don't know.. or people I work with.

If they strike up a conversation, I'm more than happy to speak up, but even though I'm a public health researcher and professional, I try not to go judge people based on how they look and certainly don't go around telling people what I think of their weight or their appearance.

THANK YOU! Society does not help and it SHOULD BE considering bullying or harassment.

Number 10 made me literally roll my eyes. Sometimes losing weight IS the best solution to whatever is ailing you. And doctors should be able to say that to their patients. Durdurdur.

Yup, losing weight/exercise (as she pointed out, I can't separate the two) fixed my back problems and I wish a doctor had at least told me to exercise, if not than actually said to lose weight.

Also, it's hypocritical to say you don't want me to treat you differently because you're fat, but I'm not allowed to talk about things I talk about with thin friends, like how much I deadlifted, what race I want to run, and whether or not paleo is a crock of ****.

I hate to say it, but I judge unhealthy people. Thin and fat, when I see them take the elevator up or down a floor. I judge people who have mobility issues due to weight and don't try to lose the weight, I judge people in line at McDonalds (at which point I'm obviously in the line too, I judge me as harshly as everyone else). I don't assume that someone slightly overweight is unhealthy, but there is a point where just having that much extra weight is taxing your body and is unhealthy. Oh, I also judge smokers. In fact, I judge exercising smokers pretty hard because why put in the effort to exercise if you're just going to follow it up with one of the most unhealthy habits around!?

Maybe that makes me a bad person, but I am happier now that I am healthier, and I believe the same would apply to everyone, if they were willing to put in the work to be healthy.

ETA: my judging is purely mental, I would never take it upon myself to make someone feel any less than amazing. I also try not to say anything to a third party because that just seems rude and cowardly. I was just confessing to being a mental judgey pants.