In the past couple months there have been two very popular videos (see pics below – not sharing videos here) circulating basically calling all those with obesity lazy human beings (they used much harsher language). I made reference to this on Facebook on how these two are clearly ignorant to the complexities of obesity and the fact that shaming those with obesity does much more harm than good. 
My distaste for these two was then attacked as obesity coddling. People actually think that if you are against fat shaming, you must be a coddler. This actually couldn’t be further from the truth. When a patient comes to see me and has obesity, bringing up their weight during an office visit is one of the toughest things to do with tact. I have specialized training and a lot of practice, but even still I miss the mark sometimes and piss off the patient. Here is the deal though, just because I don’t shame them and call them lazy and tell them to eat less and move more, doesn’t mean I am coddling them. Of course these patients are at higher risk for all sorts of preventable diseases and of course I don’t want them to get those diseases! I am a doctor for god sake. I want my patients as healthy as possible so guess what I do? I bring up their weight in the office in the most non threatening way possible because it IS for their health. This is not coddling and this is not shaming. This is caring. Also, if you are not obese or taking care of anyone with obesity, you might not understand why fat shaming is so bad. It wasn’t till later in college and in medical school where I really started to understand this. When I have patients coming to me who have lost 100 pounds only to gain it back (multiple times) in tears because their friends and other people shame them, it breaks my heart. Losing weight is not so simple and it’s not just a choice.
My buddy James Fell wrote an article about this already so I won’t belabor my point other than to say, stop fat shaming, and start helping. Here is a response that is much better than I could ever do. There are a few other really good ones too.
