This post glorifies obesity

It doesn't - but I am a fat woman typing so for a lot of people that counts

Over the past 3 weeks, I have noticed a major uptick in fatphobic comments on my content. Now, that could be down to my content performing better than it has in a minute and being pushed to people who are not my target audience or it could be down to the time of year.

Christmas, a time for indulgence, and New Year, a time for atonement, is the unofficial rallying call for fatphobes to grab their virtual pitchforks and get to evangelising. And in the year of 2025 where fatphobia was already on the rise, it felt louder than ever. Did you know that all fat people are just kidding themselves and we would all be truly happy if we lost that weight - we should try it and see. Tens and tens of comments have gone out of their way to tell me that I, a 33 year old fat person with a lifetime of eating disorders and poor body image, should try to lose weight by going on a diet or go to the gym or eat a (I hope I spell this right) salad. What a crazy ass notion. I have never ever had this idea before.

Over the winter break, I jumped on the “things I do that would put skinny tok into a coma” trend. This is where you describe actions you take to live a life free of diet culture and live body positive and body neutral values. My actions ranged from, “I love a candid picture at any angle” to “I love to get tattoos to adorn my body as it is right now” and “I am not interested in my weight”.

The most important part of this post was that these actions I take to live a life where I put my self worth first - they were not fat specific. They were actions anyone could take to help improve their relationship with themselves, their body and food. But the negative comments I received all told me that I was wrong for choosing to live my life by these statements. That I was unhealthy and encouraging others to live unhealthy lifestyles as I was, and say it with me kids, “glorifying and promoting obesity”.

Posting content for 3 years now, I have been accused many a time of promoting obesity. Glorifying obesity. The accusation is odd. Because if my content was all about “how to gain weight in 10 days”, “how to get fatter with this one simple trick”, “if you are looking to gain 20 kilos, swap out the stairs for escalators” - then I could totally understand the sentiment that this kind of content could be seen as “promoting obesity”.

But, shockingly, that is not my content niche. What I do post though is content where I am unapologetically myself. Where I am not interested in making myself smaller, where I like to dress to turn a head or two, where I share my advice to find true body peace. I am not trying to change myself - but that is the problem - that is the “promotion of obesity” - because in our society, all fat people need to be constantly apologising and atoning for the sin of existing as we are.

To exist loudly as a fat person is offensive to many. Because we have all been socialised to believe that being fat is one of the worst traits someone can be. A recent example is Trump, who is one of the most heinous men to exist in history and who is destroying democracy and responsible for the wide spread kidnapping of people off the streets. Far too many people who rightfully criticise this man cannot help but also bring up his size when they mock him- because they view his fatness as a reflection on his morality. And it’s the same with me, my fatness is interpreted by many as a poor moral failing - and therefore I should not be upheld on some pedestal as a positive influence - because I am bad. I am fat and bad. And I need to be undermined in order to thwart any perceived authority or influence I may carry.

By not actively encouraging my followers to lose weight I am seen as encouraging them to “stay fat” or to not “better themselves”. But I am hoping, if I have done my job right, it is clear that my content is about reminding you time after time that you are worthy of respect and goodness, regardless of what weight you are. To me and to many people who still believe in true body positivity and body neutrality; your dignity is inherent, you should always be afforded kindness and you are allowed to exist in peace just as you are and at any size / shape / ability you may be in the future.

Body positivity was a political movement to fight for all bodies (but mainly fat bodies as it was borne from Fat Liberation) fair access to the world and society, it was about representation and education to dismiss these harmful stereotypes. But, it got hijacked by lesser marginalised bodies. Body types that made the notion of dismissing these stereotypes a bit easier, because they weren’t that fat. A great example of this is how we talk about the era of Richard Curtis films and Jessica Simpson in the early 00s. “Bridget Jones wasn’t even fat!” - yes. But even if she was fat that’s not a bad thing. Body Positivity repositioned itself to determine which bodies were unfairly treated through a fatphobic lens and mislabeled as fat but also encouraged and reinforced a body hierarchy where some bodies on the topper end of the spectrum were considered fat and that was still bad and should be worked on at all costs to resolve. Larger fat bodies were not seen as appropriate role models to take on the mantle of body positivity as the movement and society didn’t want to be seen as responsible for continuing to encourage “unhealthy lifestyles”. Its the “its great you feel good about yourself, but what about your health?” type of criticism. Fat people’s health is constantly questioned in order to dismiss them as intelligent and educated people (“What do they know if they can’t even look after themselves?”). No one cares about fat people’s health really, because no one cares about anyone’s health. But all of a sudden when you exist proud and fat, we get all these concerned citizens, sure Jan - you don’t have an ulterior motive at all!

And that brings me to one of my most hated groups of commenters, former fats. The reason why this particular sub genre of hate comment riles me up so much is because they should know better. It’s like a woman subscribing to the patriarchy and being a misogynist - like girl you are fighting against your own self interest! Former fats are people who used to be fat but have lost weight and love telling people all about it. They will come into fat people’s comment sections and they will say “Take it from me, as someone who used to be 300lbs and is not 190lbs through hard work and commitment, I know how hard it is to be fat, and I now know how much better it feels to lose the weight. I am actually happy now, clothes fit better, people are nicer to me, I don’t have to lie to myself anymore and you wouldn’t need to either if you lost the weight too. Don’t just do it for yourself, do it for your family”. You would think they were the first person to lose weight ever with they way they can self aggrandise their achievements. I really liken it to being sermoned at - they are trying so hard for me to see the path back to righteousness.

I am not anti-weightloss. If you want to pursue weight loss for any reason then please do so - it is your life and your body and I am in no way criticising people who are on weight loss journeys. But, what I am very vocal about is time and place. Being “pro-weight loss encouragement” is very very normal - it is definitely the default setting for most people. It is reported in the news! It is framed as one of the biggest achievements someone can make. The vast majority of people are trying to lose weight and love weight loss content. Most spaces welcome that rhetoric with open arms.

So if there are spaces created (like my pages) with the full intention of not having weight loss / thinness / diet culture on a pedestal - a safe space for people to congregate where it isn’t centred - that is very fair and understandable - not all content is for all people. But the former fats (who may once have found solace in anti diet culture communities) cannot help but centre themselves in a space where that conversation is not welcome because they believe people who look like the “old them” need to hear their truth and see the light. Every other space is for that rhetoric, share your story there and get the praise you so desire.

But, in defence of former fats as I used to be this person so I understand completely - it is intoxicating the praise you get from others. Being accepted as not only a thinner person, but someone who did the “impossible” and lost the weight! (For something that they claim is super easy (“calories in vs calories out” or “just take the jabs”), its weird that they uphold weight loss as one of the greatest achievements one could make). You become a piece of folklore - someone your family and friends will talk about in such high esteem. So no wonder you want to sing it from the rooftops of anyone who would listen to keep that praise coming. Even when it is clear it will not be received well in certain spaces. Like body positive / anti diet culture / fat lib spaces. Just; read the room.

I want to be clear, because I can already see some people saying “Hannah, you sound jealous.” and of course you would think that if you believe that all people want to be thin. But, and this may surprise you, being thin is not a goal of mine. I am offered weight loss surgery and medication every week - if I wanted to be thin I would have taken the drugs. I can only ask you to believe what I say, but I cannot force you to believe it.

It is a cliche to say, but if you are spending your time in fat people’s comment sections leaving rude and nasty comments or promoting your own weight loss journey in order to dismiss the fat person’s content - then you are not living the fulfilling life you are claiming to be living as a non-fat person. Happy people don’t leave hate comments.

There is an obvious hierarchy of body types, shapes and sizes. And I cannot help but think if a someone else was to have posted the exact same content as my “skinny tok coma” post with a more slender woman accompanying each statement - it would have been received a lot more positively. Even though the words and intention are the same. But being fat, I am not allowed to feel confident or positive about my body. And it pisses people off when we go “off book”. Because if you had learned all your lines as the script had prescribed, done all the drills to ensure you remembered them exactly as they were written, I would be pissed off too if someone started improvising and thriving while doing so.