[ben voyonsdonc]

Obesity is a far more complex issue than just "shoveling food down one's throat". Eating food is the symptom of a problem rather than the actual problem.

I'm a guy who has struggled with my weight as well. I was raised in a single parent family without money and my mom worked several jobs to keep any food on the table. I ended up having to cook for my brother and sister but we often were eating hot dogs, KD and super salty fluorescent Lipton soup. None of this had any real nutritional value. My biggest fear as a kid was that we would not have anything to eat and would starve. Often we got pretty close to having nothing at all in the fridge or in the cupboards. Leaving behind a clean plate was something that was just part of life for me. I think that my upbringing taught me that I needed to eat as much as I could because another meal wasn't really guaranteed. I still struggle with controlling my desire to overeat.

I grew up to be a teenager who was dealing with the fact that I was gay and happened to find myself part of an evangelical church who consistently told me how evil I was. Food was one thing that didn't judge me...when even I was judging me.

I was never huge. I stopped weighing myself but I probably ended up at 230-240 at 5'9. I was certainly obese according to BMI standards. More important than my weight was that I was miserable.

Even though I never became morbidly obese, I can certainly see how that could be possible. If I felt miserable, I would turn to food. If I was happy, I would turn to food. With food there is no abstention. You have to eat. When you have 100+ lbs to lose it is incredibly diffiicult to see light at the end of the tunnel. Exercise becomes more difficult with each pound and physical issues like back, knee and other joint pain can limit the amount and type of exercise that you can do. Being laughed at by immature and meanspirited people isn't motivating...it is demoralizing and dehumanizing. If you don't feel like you have any real value, why would you make the effort to lose the weight?

I was lucky. When I came out of the closet and ditched my religion, I gained some confidence and a sense of self-worth. I worked really hard and got down to 150lbs. However, I still struggle to see food in a healthy way. I still have issues with comfort/celebration eating. I still struggle to eat an appropriate amount of food. I have gone up and down and am currently up a bit (175ish). I don't feel good about myself for it but I have faith that I can get on track again.

Obese people are people. Mocking them is not going to help. Supporting and showing people that their self-worth isn't connected to their weight is a far more effective way to help them build healthy relationships with food and motivating to be physically active.

I also find it so sad that people who have vices like smoking, drinking, drugs, and promiscuity would feel somehow entitled to mock someone who is possibly already feeling pretty bad about themselves.