IS FAT UGLY? FAT IS UGLY? THE THIN LINE BETWEEN BODY POSITIVITY AND GLORIFYING OBESITY.

By Dr. Shazna Nawaz

Does the number on your scale determine if you are healthy or not? 

The recent debate on Piers Morgan attempting to defend himself after being accused of “fat-shaming” a plus sized model who was featured in a renowned magazine cover, by stating “not healthy” and “nothing to celebrate” brings out some food for thought. 

Most who argued against him went with the literal meaning of his comment. when he stated featuring a plus sized model in an influential magazine cover and captioning it “this is healthy” was wrong, what he actually meant was, the cover should have tried to portray the beauty of the woman, regardless of her weight. 

But is body positivity also encouraging obesity? 

Let’s start with the terminology. Fat-shaming is the act of humiliating someone due to their weight where weight-bias is the negative attitude towards excess weight, which started gaining massive attention in the recent past. This gave rise to an entire community that targets people who wanted to accept being obese and live with confidence, forming the “ fatosphere” or the “ fat acceptance movement”! 

The digital community is very vocal about their sense of belonging to eradicate the stigma against obesity. They have gained massive momentum making people feel comfortable irrespective of the number on the scale. But this philosophy needs to improve. Obesity worldwide is a blatantly visible pandemic accounting to multiple health hazards. It is affecting children and adults posing as a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke, cancer and premature death. 

If cigarette smoking causes cancer and is no longer accepted by society norms, how is obesity healthy? 

There definitely seems to be a very fine line between “body positivity” and normalizing obesity, which is almost confusing. 

But here is the good news, there is a middle ground; you can be healthy at any size;

Pounds matter less and what actually counts is the type of body fat!

In the medical practice, as a day-to-day occurrence we see very motivated individuals following a healthy diet and exercise routine with excellent blood works giving out an external false impression that they are “unhealthy” due to their “size”. 

We’ve adapted to measuring if a person is hale and hearty by theoretical values such as weight, height, body mass index. when we fall within range it gives us a false sense of reassurance. Health is something more nuanced than a single calculation. Obesity is multifactorial caused by factors like gender, genetics, stress, sleep quality, smoking status, diet and recreational habits like smoking and alcohol consumption. 

Correcting obesity also includes remedying the above factors.

There has to be a shift of thought where “losing weight” is purely a personal choice but staying fit and healthy regardless your weight should be mandatory. Health education on where you stand with your body type and what risks you carry should be the goal of “body positivity” . 

In summery, body shaming is NOT okay but obesity is not healthy either. Show yourself selflove by finding fun ways to work out and stay healthy. You should thrive to have access reliable health information, credible researches and always seek the help of a healthcare professional because most causes of obesity are treatable medically and with lifestyle changes. 

Having a positive body image is of utmost importance but being aware of your health also helps you be the best version of yourself!

Dr. Shazna Nawaaz