”Stigma affects us all! All the time! We cannot avoid it. 
It has a direct connection to our appearance, to our perceptions about our character and to the groups we want to belong to. So we learn to accept all these feelings of being worthless and not ’fitting in’. To help a person with obesity, the first thing is to help her (or him) regain her self-confidence. Otherwise, all the years of suffering under stigma and feeling worthless because of her weight will come in the way of her recovery.” – Christina Fleetwood
Download: Stigma, Identity and Living with Obesity, A patient perspective
our society. Studies conducted by the Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity found that 63% of children with obesity who attend elementary schools face higher risk of being bullied by peers, while 54% of adults with obesity report being stigmatized in their workplace. Adults with obesity (64%) also report experiencing weight bias from health care professionals.
social status — gender, class, race and age. To these, we can add size and weight. Every person can be categorized by each of these traits at the first meeting. Gender, race, weight and age are all immediately visible, sometimes also class, solely by the presence of the body. How the person is categorized by each observer influences his or her social status.
of weight stigma.11 Health professionals often have biased attitudes towards patients with obesity. This can lead to their spending less time with patients living with obesity, for example. Stigma impacts health system policies, limiting access to evidence-based obesity
overweight combined with risk of weight gain due to various factors can stir up discomfort and sometimes even hostility that in turn might openly be directed towards individuals who have overweight. Social pressures to have a thin body continue to intensify and equate thinness with “happiness” and “success”. Consider, for example, how there is a multi-billion-dollar weight loss industry promoting unrealistic weight loss and promising a happier self and increased life opportunities and success.
go or who you meet, obesity stereotypes and misconceptions are always there, sometimes openly, sometimes in the background. This recurring confrontation with stigma in your environment can lead to negative self-perception and “internalised weight bias”. You begin to believe that you are lazy or have a weak character, are unattractive, or whatever the stigma is telling you.6,14 This results in:
