Is Body Positivity Encouraging Obesity?

Is there a link between feeling good about your body and obesity? The Doctors discuss a recent study regarding weight gain and body positivity.

About The Doctors:

The Doctors is an Emmy award-winning daytime talk show hosted by ER physician Dr. Travis Stork, plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon, OB-GYN Dr. Jennifer Ashton, urologist Dr. Jennifer Berman and family medicine physician and sexologist Dr. Rachael Ross.

The Doctors helps you understand the latest health headlines, such as the ice bucket challenge for ALS and the Ebola outbreak; delivers exclusive interviews with celebrities dealing with health issues, such as Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, reality stars Honey Boo Boo and Mama June and activist Chaz Bono; brings you debates about health and safety claims from agricultural company Monsanto and celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy; and shows you the latest gross viral videos and explains how you can avoid an emergency situation. The Doctors also features the News in 2:00 digest of the latest celebrity health news and The Doctors’ Prescription for simple steps to get active, combat stress, eat better and live healthier.

Now in its eighth season, The Doctors celebrity guests have included Academy Award Winners Sally Field, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Marcia Gay Harden, Kathy Bates and Marisa Tomei; reality stars from Teen Mom and The Real Housewives, as well as Kris Jenner, Caitlyn Jenner, Melissa Rivers, Sharon Osbourne, Tim Gunn and Amber Rose; actors Jessica Alba, Christina Applegate, Julie Bowen, Patricia Heaton, Chevy Chase, Kristin Davis, Lou Ferrigno, Harrison Ford, Grace Gealey, Cedric the Entertainer, Valerie Harper, Debra Messing, Chris O’Donnell, Betty White, Linda Gray, Fran Drescher, Emmy Rossum, Roseanne Barr, Valerie Bertinelli, Suzanne Somers; athletes Magic Johnson, Apolo Ohno and Danica Patrick; musicians Tim McGraw, Justin Bieber, Clint Black, LL Cool J, Nick Carter, Kristin Chenoweth, Paula Abdul, Gloria Gaynor, La Toya Jackson, Barry Manilow, Bret Michaels, Gene Simmons and Jordin Sparks; and celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck, Guy Fieri and Curtis Stone.

[jacindapeters]

You can love yourself while working to improve yourself.

[RobinLundqvist]

yes without a doubt. “healthy at every size” is the most delusional message ever and it surprises me that it exists in 2018 with all the knowledge and research we have on obesity.

[thewhizzkidjr]

Body positivity movement is the only movement that didn’t do any movement

[kissyoudeadly]

My cholesterol was my wake up call. I've totally turned my life around. My diet, exercise, all of this. I've already lost 15lbs and I get my cholesterol rechecked in July.

[Masi]

The problem is some people would like to be fat and promote it because they do not want to be alone in society. It is a personal decision if they wanna die earlier, but they should be stopped from encouraging people to "embrace" fatness. This "fat activism" will lead to huge problems.

[tellercamille]

accepting my overweight body has allowed my mind to be okay with eating until i became obese. that is my fault for loving the look of my body but not loving the health of my body. because i was a big girl my whole life, i ended up getting a lifelong medical condition (PCOS). my doctor advised me to lose weight to combat the symptoms of PCOS. now that i am eating right, working out right and living right, i am not only loving my body by accepting it but also by treating it right. and because i treated my body right, i now have a healthy bmi!

[ElectrikkPaperClipxx]

Idk but it encourages skinny shaming. "Real women have meat that men like and dogs like bones. Oh and zero is not a size."

[thelofithot]

It’s not for everyone but people pointing out that I was gaining weight was a wake up call for me. I don’t think they were shaming me, just letting me know and I was getting pretty big and pretty sluggish and depressed ect

[ThatsTheWun]

NUMBER OF CANCER TYPES LINKED TO OBESITY - 13. NUMBER OF CANCER TYPES PREVENTED BY BODY POSITIVITY - 0

[ashleyashleym]

I wish more doctors would speak up about weight. I've seen several doctors and only one ever mentioned to me that it was a good idea to lose weight. And I did and my blood pressure went from being prehypertensive to being ideal. Unfortunately weight lose didn't help my heart, but it did help my blood pressure and that's enough to encourage people to lose weight! It's blood pressure for me, but it might be blood sugar for you, or cholesterol for you, or cancer risk for you, it's all worth it to lose weight.

[thomasnewton]

Loving your body means eating a balanced meal plan that make sure you get enough vitamins and minerals and regular exercise

[keisi]

Individuals don't have the right to be insulting to others due to their appearance.

And...

Individuals should be kind to themselves- by being healthy.

[brittanybaxter]

I don't care. It's their choice, just don't try to take others down with you. The second someone else's choices negatively affect my life, via treating me like I am the one making unhealthy choices and bullying, it's a problem. I've had 3 babies and I work very hard to be healthy.

[SarahsUKGraveyard]

Yes. We are exposed to people now a days saying it's ok to be fat. fat is beautiful etc. but guess what? I'm fat and fat isn't beautiful and I actually find this it's ok to be fat message offensive. being fat isn't healthy and it's not sexy. full stop.

[LeslieMendoza]

Interesting, indeed a very complicated subject. One thing is for sure, body shaming is not an answer just like the Dr addressed, it will only make things worst.

[doraemintify]

My personal experience with fat-shaming is that whenever someone called me out for gaining weight I only went further down the road and ate even more. Because in my mind there was no point in trying to prove someone wrong when they already saw me as fat. But as soon as someone complimented my body it only made me stronger and more willing to lose those extra pounds. I think that's what body positivity all comes down to when it comes to regular people's opinions. Unless a certified person tells you to lose weight because your health is in danger, the ones that tell you to do so and are just normal people without a medical experience should keep their mouth shut and stop shaming because it is not helping anyone tbh. Not to mention all the stress eaters, including myself, that find comfort in eating... comfort that you will want to find after someone body shames you.

[jewatokes]

The problem is unhealthy eating! Not "how diffcult it is to lose weight".

[canusdominici]

Fat shaming can shake people out of their delusions. After all most anti smoking campaigns work by shaming through presenting the health problems that are a consequence of smoking.

[jeango-oco]

My beloved mom passed away last week due to complications from diabetes type 2. She was under 130 lbs but she still wasn't able to manage it even though she tried her best. If someone like her can contract diabetes, then the ones who are more than overweight would likely too. Please be very careful with your body.

[DamarisJohnsonnakomiah]

Like they said, "you have to talks about health." If you're unhealthy don't go around saying you're body positive. Stop spreading this contagious rhetoric.