It's Not Fat Shaming, It's Honesty

The author of a report says we should avoid calling people fat and should use the term overweight or obese instead. As a fat bird, I disagree. The one thing I need as a fat person is tough love. I put this weight on intentionally and it will be a struggle to lose it.
ITV

A bunch of researchers who clearly had nothing better to do than follow 3,000 fatties around for four years have found that telling people they are fat makes them fatter.

You see, you there in the skinny jeans. You with your fat shaming eyes, ignoring the woman wedged in the changing room, YOU are to blame. It is your fault ten tonne Tessa is so big.

You made her feel bad about herself and, in retaliation, she needed to sit on her sofa and stuff a packet of Jaffa Cakes down her throat.

If you had been nice and complimented her on her earrings or shoes maybe she wouldn't be feeling so bad about her body and she wouldn't have eaten the eighth doughnut.

Personally I wonder about these researchers from University College London. Whenever they want to make a bit of noise about themselves and drum up some more funding for nonsense, they come up with findings that make great headlines but are based on very little substance. All fur coat and no knickers - in layman's terms.

The data is ridiculous. These fatties put on around 2lbs in four years if they felt bullied about their weight and 1.5lb in four years if they didn't.

I put on nearly four stone in three months to prove a point to fat people everywhere so the relevance of 2lbs in a discussion on obesity seems ridiculous.

2lbs? In four years? For most fatties this would be a triumph. I can lose more than that by going for a long wee and blowing my nose.

The author of the UCL report says we should avoid calling people fat and should use the term overweight or obese instead.

As a fat bird, I disagree.

The one thing I need as a fat person is tough love. I put this weight on intentionally and it will be a struggle to lose it.

Trying to run this week reduced me to a shuffling beast. Puce in the face and sweating from places ladies don't talk about.

But the shame of being fat is enough for me to know I can't afford to stay like this. Knowing people are calling me fatty or laughing at me from or at my behind is enough to motivate me to get back to a size eight.

When you are fat you have two options. One is to stand naked in front of a mirror and admit I am fat. I need to do something about this. There are no excuses.

The other is to buy into the sympathy and support, listen to people that say they don't judge and keep on supersizing your world to protect your feelings.

The latter may seem like the easy option but it isn't. Being fat is hard.

Carrying around four stone or more in body weight is tough. My knees ache, my thighs rub together and my gut festers on the top of my legs when I sit down.

If, like me, you are carrying extra weight - I would encourage you to face up to the fact life is better being slim. Step away from the Krispy Kremes and walk for an hour at lunch.

We do need to tell people they are fat and we shouldn't flinch from saying things which are difficult. It isn't fat shaming. It is honest.

As the fattest nation in Europe, one thing is certain. Tiptoeing about and supersizing everything from kids uniforms to car seats so we don't hurt people's feelings certainly isn't working.

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