Fitness seems to be the revolving trend in todays youth, and to think, not too long ago, being slightly overweight or lazy was actually ok. We were introduced to the image of the lazy man through characters like Homer Simpson. Yet today that same characteristic is criticised and even despised. In recent events, controversy has circulated around fat shaming and its negative affects on overweight people and their self esteem. Having never been over weight myself, it’s hard to imagine what kind of pressure society puts on the young person to loose weight, however i do understand the pressure of society when it wants you too look GOOD. Having lived a fairly healthy life throughout my childhood and teens, the image of the overweight body had nothing but a negative effect on me. I didnt want it. And i worked hard to stop that. It is true that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when the subject of someones health comes into question, the discussion of where the line needs to be drawn, in terms of fat shaming and educating, seems to be hard to evaluate.

Recently, fitness motivator, John Burke, went on a massive rant on how he views overweight people as disgusting. Having served in the army in Afghanistan and having an oddly admirable ability to scream his way into people doing the right thing by their bodies in keeping active, i have to say that i have a lot of respect for him and many others like him who encourage physical fitness and well being. However this particular video made me very confused. I don’t judge people by their looks, whether they be overweight, underweight or anything in between, and it sucks that we live in a  world in which people do. But calling the overweight disgusting seems a bit harsh. It is true that some people have legitimate health and medical issues that can cause obesity, which by the way  John agreed that that was an understandable excuse, but for the most part, being fat and lazy is something that a lot of people just are. Sometimes there are no excuses, and people just don’t want to be healthy or choose to not make a conscious effort to do so. Yes, it sucks that all people cant get into shape and look like they tore through a fitness magazine cover, and yes it sucks that people everyday choose to live unhealthy lives. But is it our place to judge them negatively or even positively. Rather than say “hey you’re a lazy shit” or “hey you’re beautiful the way you are” wouldn’t it be easier to just help these people. Wouldn’t it be easier to say, “hey this isn’t cool, you shouldn’t do this to yourself, and heres what you should do to fix it”. The fact of the matter is that being obese is not a good thing. It can lead to variety of health problem not only later on in life but also in younger people. Saying you’re beautiful the way you are when you severely overweight is not the right thing to do.It’s a lie.

People deserve the truth. They deserve to know that it doesn’t matter if you ripped to death or not, as long as you are healthy and happy thats all that matters.  Because fat shaming is shit, but lying to someones face is just as bad. We should, instead of destroying people for how they look or completely ignoring the way they are just to make them feel good, help people understand the concept of being healthy, that means both physically and mentally, encourage people to look after themselves, not to loose weight and get shredded, so that in the end they can be happy, because thats all that matters.