7 Things You Should Never Say To An Overweight Person

To you, ‘fat’ may be just another three-letter word for you to throw around carelessly but what you don’t realise is the fact that it is like a bullet in the loaded gun that is your mouth.

Calling people fat or saying some off-hand discriminatory things to people based on size can have lasting effects on their physical and mental health.

Teni the Entertainer| Photo: Youtube

Overweight people have enough to deal with already without you being another source of hurt so if you are done hurting people involuntarily, keep reading to know some thoughtless remarks you can avoid saying to the overweight people in your life.

Have you lost weight?

Not only is asking an overweight person if they have weight awkward, it becomes even more so when they have not. Adding salt to injury is telling them they look great for losing weight because it means you have equated the standard of beauty to just their size. Saying something like this also implies that you need to lose weight to look great or that being thinner and looking good are directly related.

It’s not about appearances. I just care about your health

Perhaps you have convinced yourself that the only reason you are concerned about your loved one’s weight is their health and not necessarily how they look but the fact that people still equate weight with health is honestly tragic. Research clearly shows that not only are people born with different body types that have individual health requirements but that the constant pressure to be a specific size also causes physical and emotional damage.

Your life will be so much easier if you slim down a little

As earlier discussed, equating beauty to a standard of weight means you are telling some members of society that they are wrong for looking a certain way. Yes, you may not be outrightly saying it but by telling someone they need to slim down a little, you have as good as equating waist measurement to a person’s worth.

Do you really gain weight that easily? Man, I wish I could do that, I’m so thin!

It is understandable that thin people have their own struggles, but saying the above is still a shady comment. If you make it sound like being fat is a privilege and you’re at a disadvantage as a thin person, just stop.

Aw my little panda bear/baby whale/baby seal

It is definitely not cute when you call people by animal names. Stop calling people giant animals like it’s cute and endearing instead of offensive. Nobody wants to be called a baby whale or a chipmunk or a seal or whatever else animal you might decide sounds cute.

Are you sure that doesn’t look a little indecent?

Telling overweight people they can’t wear certain things because of their weight is not cool. If you think fat people can’t wear something but your loved one is an exception, that means you think fat people just can’t wear it.

You’re working out? I’m so proud of you!

The automatic assumption that fat people should work out to lose weight is borderline fatphobic.