To ask what you think when you see a young, fat person?

A couple of stone overweight, I would think nothing of it.

If you're morbidly obese, I would feel sorry for you and feel worried for your health - particularly if it looked like you had DC.

If you had morbidly obese DC, I would critically judge you I am afraid.
I think it's verging on child abuse to have morbidly obese DC - yes there will be a small % of DC who have medical issues, the vast majority will be obese due to what their parents let them eat.

Ditto. I feel the same. I've been overweight since around the age of 6 due to parents not having a clue about healthy eating and nutrition etc., and having a "chips with everything" attitude, and excessive use of tinned and packet foods. That led to the "school doctor" blaming me for being fat at the age of 8, which led to excessive "diet" of basically salad for everything imposed by my parents (whilst watching them stuff their faces with chips every meal), which led to hidden binge eating. I was morbidly obese by the age of 19! And have y0-yo'd between diets and binging ever since.

I can only feel sorry for people with eating disorders just as I would for anyone else with an addiction - and for most people, that's exactly what it is, as well as a mental health issue. I strongly believe that there are "reasons" for those who over eat, as a coping mechanism for emotional problems etc.

My diabetic nurse once said to me that everyone has a "crutch" - for some it's smoking, for others' it's alcohol, for others it's drugs. It rationalised it for me and helped overcome the "self hate" that addicts suffer them, often causing them to smoke/eat/drink more!

The vast majority of fat younger people will have a mental health or emotional reason for doing so. I think that "greed" and poor choices such as lack of exercise/wrong foods, etc., are more of the reason for older people getting fat. But for younger ones, it's almost always something to do with problems in childhood.

Goldenbear

Well that's surprising as a size 8 is not tiny by any means“

It is if you’re 5ft 8. I looked ill.

I feel sorry for obese people as I know the vast majority are likely unhappy about their weight and size

Again, everyone I know except my children are watching their weight in some way, trying to achieve that magic number of perfection and I have a big circle of friends and acquaintances in early to mid 40s so maybe that's why but it is Men and Women. I only know one person who is happy with her weight well she says she is but her habits say differently. It isn't like everyone chats about it non stop but I can't think of many people that don't touch upon it and yet on MN it is described as you are describing it with an element of disdain, I'm sure they don't want to yo yo diet but maybe they haven't mastered the art of denial like others, they are probably clumsily trying to establish whether that is what you do but you don't. Many people I know that are very thin just don't eat so there is no secret unfortunately. I say very thin not just medium slim before people jump on me.

I think we all have our unconscious biases and will notice and judge others based on how they look a lot more than we like to admit to ourselves! It's difficult because society as a whole judges fat people and sometimes thoughts like that do obviously creep in for a lot of people. Personally it's something I would notice if that makes sense but I wouldn't immediately judge necessarily

In my experience the people who have ‘“taken the time to comment” are the ones who are obsessed with their own weight. The yo-yo dieter types who are a different size every time you see them.

If they can wear a crop top I don't know why I'm so worried about me wearing one. And why on earth was I worried when I was 48kg?!

Good on you for recognising that you are overweight and doing something about it. I was very slim until I hit about 30 then lots of terrible things happened and amongst other things my weight suffered . People treated me very differently when I was fat much more dismissive. I look at fat people and am judgemental too , only in my head though. If most people are really honest they do judge. I saw a programme last night where they swap holiday, rich / poor or something, the young woman was quite overweight and they went to the Maldives. It was obvious she was uncomfortable and sweating struggling with the heat , struggling with the activities offered eg yoga. She should have had the time of her life and she probably did but you could see it was definitely marred by her being so overweight. OP you definitely are young despite some people saying you're not, you will enjoy it much much more if you lose the weight good luck .

That is incredibly rude thing for colleagues to say to you but I'm surprised people take the time to comment or notice because where I live lots of people are thin mind you out of all of the ones I know personally none of them are naturally thin either disordered eating or none stop exercise.

But the OP is not discussing being 'thin' they are discussing the comments about being young and overweight. The reality is being thin is desired and being overweight is judged negatively, to deny this is a nonsense. Many of these threads mention Marilyn Monroe and people go to great lengths to object to the theory that she was overweight as clearly she wasn't! People are so obsessed with people being thin in the past because of the sin that is 'fat'!

Well to be fair, it’s mainly my in-laws, they are all size 16 plus and call me a twig 😂.
Though working in schools I’ve had bitchy comments from colleagues.
One (on meeting me) rudely said to me ‘do you starve yourself to stay that size?’ , I told her the truth ‘no, I eat what I want, it’s in my genes, a lot of my family are the same size’. It clearly hit a nerve and she started yelling at me that I had insulted HER!
I also had a colleague who said to me I bet when you walk passed lamp posts it’s ‘now you see her, now you don’t’.
People can be quite unkind to slim people.

As someone who is very overweight (20 Stone) I would generally feel sorry for them and really hope they can lose the weight and get healthy and not spend 25 years yoyo dieting like me!

If you are just a bit overweight I wouldn't notice, you won't be out of the norm as the population as a whole is over weight.

If you are very over weight, as a person who has battled with weight all my life I would feel a bit sad for you because I know how shit it feels and I know it's not as simple as " eat less move more".
Good luck with your efforts now. You don't want it to affect the things you can do in life and it's easier to tackle now when you are young than it is when you are older and much more sedentary.

It depends how big we're talking, and to be honest probably what you were wearing too, in terms of if it was a flattering/well fitting outfit or if you were wearing something that highlighted your figure - such a crop top for example.

If you're an say size 16/18 I'd probably not even notice other than there is another human in my presence (depends on scenario).
If, like this morning, I saw a young man who was really very large, belly sticking out below his t-shirt, I think to myself, I hope you can get yourself sorted out.

I have younger family members who are quite overweight and to be honest, I mostly blame their parents.

But we've got a huge obesity problem in this country and it's really apparent when you visit like zoo's etc. I went to one recently and was genuinely saddened by the number of men, but mostly women (perhaps because it's more mums that take their kids to these places) who were what I would consider very overweight. It felt like the majority. I'm afraid I did feel quite judgemental that day.

I know that but apparently others don't! My BMI (although I know that not a great indicator) as always been in the green, no doctor has raised concerns but still I have been asked if I am bulimic and told I need to eat more donuts on more than one occasion. Just because you and I know its a regular weight vs height doesn't mean the comments don't happen

I walk up to them and ask them where the best take away is and what they recommend.

No, I’m kidding. I don’t really give it much thought unless them being fat is actually impacting me (like if I was sat next to someone fat on a 10 hour flight I might be a bit miffed but I wouldn’t say anything) I know my mum (who is in her 60s) is very judgemental and says stuff like “no one was that fat when I was young” and talks about how easy it is to lose weight when you’re young and all that. I used to be fat when I was a teen so I know it can be hard to lose weight even at that age, my mum has never been fat. People I know who haven’t been fat are always more judgemental in my experience.

This. I have always been slim, and that apparently means that it is okay for some people to pass comments on that. I have had hurtful things said to me regarding my weight, by people who should really know better. I would never comment negatively on someones weight if they are overweight. They are completely aware of that themselves. I make my food choices that please me, and believe in nourishing my body, apparently that means I have a disorder of some sort.

I find that people are rude behind fat peoples backs and rude to skinny people's faces. Neither is acceptable.

I think of Wall-e

Just over 5ft and size 8 wouldn't be exceptionally slim unless you live in a region of the country (if in UK?) that has a high proportion of overweight people.

I have had the same at just over 5ft and size 8. People just comment because they can

@YourMommaWasASnowblower I'm not doubting you, but nobody says "I hope a skinny person doesn't sit next to me" or "I assume skinny people aren't very intelligent" - which are just two of the comments/judgements that have come up on this thread.

It doesn’t really register to be honest unless someone is really obese which I think is so sad as it must be really hard to get around and very uncomfortable.

However, if I see someone who is overweight going for a run, I really do think that is brilliant and demands a lot of respect. I know how hard it is to start from a low base level of fitness and how self conscious I feel all red and puffed out.

Completely agree! I have had so many unnecessary comments about how "You need to eat some donuts", or "your skin and bone" or being accused of being bulimic. I'm size 8 and just over 5ft. I don't look unhealthy or unwell. I have put on some weight recently and people seem to be now passing comment on that too! You cannot win no matter what size you are