Weight Loss Industry’s Grip on Health: A Patient’s Two-Decade Journey Reveals Internalized Stigma
New York, NY – A personal essay detailing a decades-long struggle with weight, surgery, and societal pressure is sparking conversation about the complex relationship between health, weight, and the booming weight loss industry. The author, who wishes to remain anonymous, chronicles a journey marked by not just physical interventions, but a relentless barrage of judgment and the insidious internalization of fatphobia.
The author’s experience began with gastric stapling in the late 1990s, a procedure undertaken to alleviate pain caused by food becoming lodged in the staples, necessitating a pureed diet. However, the surgery didn’t deliver lasting health improvements, only weight loss, and restricted their diet to foods that wouldn’t cause discomfort – largely excluding fruits and many vegetables due to acidity and fiber content. “Stomach stapling didn’t make me ’healthier;’ it only made me thinner,” they write. The surgery also failed to provide a “cure.”
More than two decades later, in 2017, facing a weight of nearly 390 pounds, the author underwent a sleeve gastrectomy, acknowledging a surrender to what they describe as the “diet industrial complex,” a “multibillion-dollar ecosystem” predicated on the belief that fat bodies are inherently flawed. This pressure extended beyond medical settings, with the author recounting instances of public shaming - being mocked for eating a donut, told they were “killing themselves” in a food court, and subjected to humiliating requests on flights. They even overheard negative comments in a language they understood, highlighting the pervasive nature of the judgment.
The author points to the broader societal context, noting that fat peopel are “consistently portrayed in the media as lazy, undisciplined or morally flawed,” citing research demonstrating how these stereotypes impact healthcare and employment opportunities.This cultural narrative, they argue, infiltrates medicine, potentially leading to unconscious bias even among well-intentioned clinicians.
Currently, at age 44, the author is taking Wegovy, a GLP-1 medication initially approved for Type 2 diabetes, now widely promoted for weight loss. Having initially expressed a goal weight of 250 pounds to their doctor, they have already reached 235 pounds after eight months, losing 50 pounds. Despite this progress, they express uncertainty about continuing the medication, feeling it represents another intervention driven by societal stigma rather than genuine health concerns.
“Why do I take it? because sometimes it feels easier to live with the physical and emotional side effects of medicalization than with the relentless judgment of others – and, most troubling of all for me, with my own internalized fatphobia,” the author confesses.
The essay concludes with a powerful assertion: “Fat patients aren’t blank slates waiting for salvation. We know the statistics, the risks, the medical language. What we also know – often more than our doctors – is the crushing weight of fatphobia disguised as medical concern.”
Evergreen Context: The weight loss market in the United States is a multi-billion dollar industry, estimated at over $94 billion in 2023 (Yahoo Finance). GLP-1 medications like Wegovy are increasingly popular, but their long-term effects and the ethical implications of their widespread use are subjects of ongoing debate. The author’s story underscores the importance of addressing weight stigma and prioritizing patient autonomy in healthcare.
