The whole concept of "fat shaming" is outrageous. It is quite hurtful and, if the object is to motivate change, unhelpful anyway. On the other hand, the concept of "fat but fit" is also not helpful. Being fat isn't healthy, period. As one gets fatter one gets even less healthy and it also starts to impact hygiene (which itself negatively impacts health).
Humans do that. We adjust. We assimilate. We make presumptuous about validity based on what we see. That's the disease.
That said, it doesn't help that people like Oprah have led the "love your body" parade. Sure. Do it! It's your body. But that doesn't make it healthy. That does mitigate the broader societal damager you're doing.
Sure. Let's stop fat shaming. But let's also stop being in denial about the personal health implication of carrying too much extra weight.
I don't understand how we can discuss healthcare, the cost of healthcare, but then not talk about (personal) health. We want lower costs and we want to be more and more unhealthy. It doesn't work that way.
I don't know. One of my friends is fat, but she's also an incredibly competent rower (including doing it as a varsity sport in college). If that's not fit, I don't know what is.
One can be extremely strong and extremely competent - world class, even - and still not be fit.
While I applaud those individuals that have kept off weight long term, the science disagrees that is an achievable goal for everyone.(only about 5% of people who successfully lose large amounts of weight will keep it off long term)
For example here is what happened to the contestants on the biggest loser.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weig...
The body will fight very hard to get back up the heavier level. It play nasty tricks such as increasing hunger, decreasing metabolism, and nastiest of all physiologically sabotage the part of the brain that is responsible for conscience regulation of food intake(it turns off willpower specifically for food).
More often than not, the cause of the weight gain is because they fall back to bad eating habits. If you can lose it, you can keep it off. Changing to long-term good habits is extremely difficult though.
Here's one that mentions 20%. But that's at a year. The % changes depending on how long you follow up(drops all the way out to 5 years.). This is study uses keeping off 10% of body weight as the definition of success which is far less than the amount that it takes to move an individual from obese into the normal healthy range.
If you can find a study where a majority of the individuals experienced significant and long term(3 yrs+) weight loss I would be happy to see it.
Also here's a study that suggests the exact opposite, that rapid weight loss is correlated with long term success.
I was a pretty experienced athlete in high school/college, so I knew the basics well and knew if I worked at it I'd lose it, so that helped a lot, but I didn't do anything magic.
But the point is, you changed your lifestyle, and stuck with it. I think most who lose weight put it back on because they don't change anything. As if being thinner makes bad food less bad :)
Obesity is now a taboo topic in tech because you might unfortunately step on the toes of a few sensitive people and be labelled a fat shamer. This is not the case.Obesity in tech is a disease on it's own and it needs to be fought with a sharp edged pitchfork. We need to help our colleagues who have lost hope and given up on ever being fit again.
It is never too late to get healthy again. If you're overweight and believe your work schedule cannot allow you to lose weight, give yourself a 6 - 8 month break. Step over to the r/bodyweightfitness Recommended beginner routine and make a big change in your life. You don't need an expensive gym membership. You can use the floor, parks, chairs, tables, doors, ledges, trees etc.
Sustainable weight loss is achievable by everyone, whether you're 40 or 50 years or 400 pounds or 600 pounds.
Consistency over time is the key!