Do people respect you more if you're not overweight?

I cannot answer your question because I am still overweight. Check back with me when I am no longer obese. My experience is that people have disrespected me. Was it because of my weight? I do not know. All I know is that I did not care. That has now changed. I now care whether people disrespect me. However, I cannot expect people to respect me if I do not respect myself.

I think it has to do with what type of attitude and energy you're projecting. I'm very overweight (obese) and people talk to me and guys are nice to me.

I lost 60 pounds in 5 months a few years ago (85 in all). It's amazing how differently I am treated. Disgustingly amazing.

Edit: And I mean by the people who knew me before I gained the weight in the first place. It's like they went from treating me one way, to ignoring me, and back to being interested. Needless to say, most of those people aren't in my life anymore.

I mean this in the least mean way possible. People are overweight because of the choices they make and what they put into their bodies. Some call it hereditary but, it still comes down to wanting a change and you have to make it if you don't want to be obese. But if you are content with that then fine. So I say its all about how you carry yourself. If you feel confident with yourself then people can see that. If you feel disgusted by yourself people see that as well!

Generally, yes. Two years ago I applied for several jobs, all requiring me to do extensive physical work both in the store and in the back and I was denied each one despite having the qualifications. I thought perhaps it was my lack of previous work until I went in one place I had applied to as a customer and saw the assistant manager training a very thin, very stupid (I'm not joking, this one was a chicken short of a 12 pack of eggs) guy. I thought it was weird he hired a guy for what was really more suited for women, but I learned later the guy was gay and had hired eye candy that, months later, were all fired because they couldn't do their jobs. Another job told me I obviously wouldn't have been able to lift inventory boxes, which I could but I guess they were trying to avoid a lawsuit.

I'm also an actor, though not professional. When I was in high school I did a lot of work with the children's theater since they allowed you to audition until you turned 18. The community theater, linked with the children's theater, has never given me callbacks even with someone I've worked with before being a judge. And really that's theater, they don't have much use for fat people unless you're an older guy or you're putting on the musical Hairspray.

And stupidly enough I'm not respected as an artist (which is sedentary) because of my weight. Just yesterday I was talking to a gentleman and when I mentioned what I did, the first thing he did was look me up and down, focusing on my stomach. It wasn't until I pulled up my work on my phone that he believed me. Several others have the same reaction, especially when I used to attend figure drawing classes. The teacher was a thin hippie type and all her students were thin "artsy-fartsy" girls who thought as long as they were cute and drank wine their work was good. And that is the artist stereotype here. I've learned to carry my portfolio in the car because it's not a matter of people wanting to see, they want to know if I'm lying.

My mother, back when she still worked, had a hard time finding work after Hurricane Katrina because she too is overweight and companies see it as an increase in medical bill expenses or having to modify something so they'll fit through the door or whatever.

I believe confidence is a big part of it. When I was younger, i was very thin, but very, very shy. I was pretty much ignored, never listened to, and never respected.

Then as an adult, I became a Christian, realized the love of God (and also a great husband), and discovered my value and therefore worked to overcome my shyness. As a result I can see how much better I was treated, heard, and respected, and by then I was over 200 pounds.

I am not sure repulsive is the word I am looking for, but there is a weight bias out there. A lot of people feel like overweight people have not self-control, are sloppy, or unmotivated. It's a shame that people are so judgemental based on appearance only.