I hear you that it is hard to believe that messages coded to improve health actually have the complete opposite reaction.

You could ask questions:

• Who benefits from this/these message?

• Are companies and CEOs or individuals making money off of other people feeling disempowered by their weight?

• Have I seen people directly suffering from feeling too fat? Did they take any actions, like avoiding going to the doctor? Have I seen random fat shaming in action (like strangers commenting on someone else’s weight)?

• If the goal of society is actually to improve health, and exercise and diet tweaks are important and work to help people maintain weight, why are the only solutions to these things private companies (like Weight Watchers, gym memberships), not publicly available resources available for a low cost?

One of the most recent things I read/heard to help myself dismantle the internal pressure to feel guilt about my weight and health was a Maintenance Phase episode, where Aubrey Gordon said essentially that if diabetes was such a health concern, why isn’t insulin provided to free? If health is such a cost to our government/society, and one of the consistent correlations in people with poor health outcomes is not having medical insurance, why is that not the solution (to allow all people to be covered by insurance so they don’t delay any necessary treatments)?