Hello Charles, I am able to respond to you because I should have by all standards "earned" your respect. I am not fat, I am lean. I am in the top 5% fitness for my age and gender after nearly three years of consistent effort using fitness trackers. I advocate for people to avoid processed foods of any type and eat the simplest natural foods they can afford. I am nearly 60 years old but my fitness age is 35. Impossible? I have a resting heart rate of 51 and BMI (I don't believe in it - I clearly see how it is a biased and relatively useless measure) of 21.2. I weigh the exact same as my slim, beautiful grandmother did at the same age. I have consciously tried to mold my diet and activity to those of earlier times. Because if you had actual observational skills and knowledge instead of harassment and Reply Guy skills you'd see that so many people have become so much more overweight, with so many health problems related to metabolic syndrome, there is a clear connection to the rise of processed foods and increase in marketing of packaged sweets and other similar foods. It’s not “just calories,” it may also be related to increased infections that interfere with gut bacteria . My best friend is larger and I love her with all my heart. She has done nothing but work to be healthy her whole life. Everything the author says is true, and your respondent Kathy is correct. You didn't illuminate the situation, you added to it with your extreme "none of your business" bias. Another writer here who frequently writes abt her struggles with being overweight and a chronic illness thought I was fat-phobic because she can't listen and is addicted to western medicine. The most important point Claire makes in this article is that the recommended treatments for obesity fail a solid 95 percent of the time. And she indicates that over 80% of the time - they lead to more weight gain! Our science doesn't begin to understand the reasons why two people can be the same height, same gender, same activity levels and eat the same foods - yet one will gain weight and the other will not. This negates your entire sophistic abuse. Until you walk in someone else's shoes, Mister - don't attempt to berate them and denigrate them for something that they can do nothing about. I'm not fit because I am more virtuous than others, I look and feel younger than my age because of my genetics. My father was an Olympic swimmer and as far as I know, all generations of my family on both sides were physically fit, athletic, and healthy, living long lives. My grandmother lived to be 97, her sister, 99, and her mother (born 1865), 98. But - they also ate simple foods and had simpler, mor active lifestyles, and did not have access to the wide variety of processed foods and additives that without question, cause inflammation. Not obesity - inflammation - which a thin person can also have. There are a constellation of diseases all arising from inflammation. No one has "willpower" over chemical additives, toxic foods, or toxins in the air and water - all of which cause many different "diseases of civilization." You're prejudiced against bigger people because you're a creep who sees himself above them, and loves punching down. A woman with a higher BMI has a much lower chance of getting good medical care or support - the list of things she will not receive is nearly endless. Great job, adding to it. The author may be fat. But better to be fat in body than have a cruel, uncaring, ignorant and closed mind.