Anyone who thinks that has obviously never ventured outside their own safe little bubble, whether it was thru a voluntary choice or not. That point of view is short-sighted and lacks empathy.

Also I've watched skinny people eat my weight in pizza and people 'haha you're so lucky" but I eat one slice of pizza and "see that's why you can't lose weight."
They always say they're concerned about the health of fat people but they never seem concerned about the health of skinny people that eat piles of garbage every day

It's really pathetic for people to believe that. Fat-shaming is cruel and ignorant. People come in all shapes and sizes and are large or small for all sorts of reasons. As a larger woman myself I spent years feeling I was ugly and weak because of my size. I can say now I've finally been able to embrace who I am, regardless of my size, and any decision I make about my body is based on my health and nothing else.

The classic argument of someone who has never been overweight. There are a million reasons why a person might be overweight and not a single one of them is helped by being fat shamed. Skinny doesn't necessarily equal healthy.

Fat is caused by...
depression
hormone levels
poverty
food deserts
abuse
oppression
anxiety
poor living condisions
stress
illness

you will notice none of these are over eating or self-fucking-control.

Gaining weight is so easy.
Losing weight is so hard.

I've been this basic body shape since I was 5 years old. The story goes that my mum went into hospital for a few weeks, dropped a thin kid off with my grandparents and picked up a fat kid a few weeks later. I'm not sure how much truth there is in that, but I don't ever remember being thin. My situation is somewhat different to someone who was a normal body weight until they started to develop middle aged spread.

Self-control? Most of the thin people I know still smoke. Harming not just themselves, but those around them. Only when you have absolutely no vices (eating too much, drinking, smoking, taking drugs) should you consider yourself to have the right to be patronising to those who do.

And yes, it's quite clear that some people can eat what they want, do little to no exercise, and still stay close to their ideal body weight. There's definitely a genetic factor in this.

Perhaps back in the days when most work was physical, being overweight was an indicator of laziness. But a lot of people do non-physical jobs these days (desk work, driving etc.) still making them a much more productive member of society than a thin person who spends all day watching television at the taxpayer's expense.

Most prejudices are slowly falling into the realms of political incorrectness, if not outright illegality. You can't pick on people for their sexuality or the colour of their skin these days. But I think 'fat = lazy' and 'fat = disgusting' are going to be the most difficult ones to kick. Though reading the comments on here already, there's hope. Thank you for being so positive.

I can only add... there's no connection between "moral strength and willpower" and your weight. Be as "strong" as you like, if your body doesn't cooperate, too bad.

Wow, fat shaming is rampant. Food has so many associations and so much baggage. If the answer were only so easy as simply more will power, more strength of character. The math is simple, eat more calories than you burn and you gain weight. The reality is food is wrapped up in mental health and emotions. Food is love, food is celebration, food is life. Yeah, every overweight person needs more judgement in their life. What would I say to your family members. I'd say "Fuck you. Take your judgement and stuff it down your pie hole and I hope you choke on it."

As someone who has lost 100lbs before. I can tell you that people that have been thin their whole life have absolutely no idea what they are talking about when it comes weight loss. I started a new job in a new city after I had lost the weight. The young thin people would talk bad about the bigger people all the time. I told them that I would much rather hangout with a bigger person than any of them 100 times out of 100. Seriously people lose weight only if you want to make yourself healthier and live longer. Never do it for vanity.

Your peeps are being simplistic dimbulbs, that's what I think.

My wife gained (and lost) about 60 pounds on her small frame over the past decade and it wasn't weakness, it was suffering. Ironically, largely inflicted by her family of origin, which she is finally making a mental break from. Me or anyone else riding her about it wouldn't have helped, and shaming her about it definitely would have made it worse, given that her issues were largely shame-based to begin with. She had to save herself and I had to give her the space to do so.

Obesity, depression, anxiety, OCD, addiction issues ... our society does its best to kick people when they're down with things like that. While largely being the catalyst, if not the cause to begin with.

If not caused by medical conditions being overweight is just a matter of poor choices.
Energy used=<energy consumed.
I lost 50# using no diet just considering better choices for food.

I did also want to add that every other single member of my family is morbidly obese does my family have a genetic propensity toward being fat absolutely does that mean that I have to be fat absolutely not

I can tell you this I got very sick I was on massive steroids and I swelled up like a balloon. I was 42 pounds overweight as soon as I went off the steroids I adjusted my eating program I drop down to 12 to 1500 calories I exercise everyday I drink a lot of water and guess what I lost 42 pounds I'm not going to bash on anybody if they're overweight but unless you do have a health problem in my case it was rheumatoid arthritis making it necessary for me to take steroids being skinny is a choice

Personally, I find slender people slightly unappealing body-wise. Not trying to be a body bigot (before some stupid ass takes offense). That's just my opinion about beauty. I think curves look better than bones. And I find I like men with a little weight on them too. A study a few years back concluded that women who were slightly over weight actually had longer life spans than women who were thin. Myself, I like having a little weight on my body. I also think that if you are "over weight" and are confident and love who you are, who gives a damn what anyone else thinks.

There is an unfortunately common stigma that weight is an indication of virtue. Our society has the same stigma about poverty. Both ignore many relavent factors in order to assign a label of good or bad to strangers.

Being overweight only shows how the sugar and corn lobby won. They sweetened everything and told us for years fat was evil, not their overly sweetened product. Cut out sugar and people will be healthier, thinner, and more energetic.

There are many different reasons for a person to be overweight. People shouldn't judge so harshly. Weightloss also doesn't happen over night. When someone is actually eating right and exercising they may still be overweight and yet more healthy than the average. Everyone is different and that should be celebrated.

I have an ulcerative colitis (Bowel disease), and as a result sometimes i get a poorly stomach. On occasions I have been on bouts of Prednisolone (steroids that make you incredibly hungry like never before). I am only 5 foot 9, and before this illness I weighed about 170 pounds. With the meds on and off for about 2 years I went up to 220 pounds (this is the heaviest I have ever weighed, and I was actually really fat), 18 months on I now weigh 190 pounds. Hoping that I won't need the steroids anymore and would love to get down to about 180 pounds. So I have lost 30 pounds but still look quite chubby, Never had an issue with my weight before this condition. There is nothing I can do about it, auto immune conditions fight you, not the other way round.

When weight becomes a contentious topic, it's time to do some serious thinking about the people bringing the topic up. Whether they are family or good friends, they either love those close to them, or they have issues they need to address. I have been overweight, skeletal, etc.... The people close to me have never made one comment.

Maybe being fit provides more discipline, but if one is never comfortable in their skin, all their work is for naught.

There are also health reasons that cause weight gain, same with emotional. So one person to say fat is weakness, means they are weak themselves and they just are projecting a shallow argument to validate their egos.

Body shaming, no matter what size is the true showing and meaning of weakness. Not the person's who are fat/skinny.

One's Metabolism changes as we age. You can eat and excercise the exact same amount and still gain weight if your matabolic rate shifts even a little. Extreme stress can also trigger weight gain. Self discipline can only prevent so much.

This person clearly has no grasp of biology or physiology. Not everyone is supposed to be skinny and our definitions of overweight/obese are flawed at best, toxic at worst, and culturally and ethnically skewed regardless.

Genetics play a huge roll in determining how likely it is that we are over weight. Our ancestors just stored fat more efficiently than those of thin people Skinny people are lucky to even be alive. If society ever crumbles we will see who has the last laugh.

I am strong in nearly every way, except chocolate and other delicious sweets. Then I become as weak as a kitten. They taste so good. When I was young, I stayed thin, but now that I'm old, I guess my metabolism crapped out and I am now fat.