I’ve been thinking a lot about how people comment on my weight, assuming I’m unhealthy, and it’s frustrating—not because I’m sensitive but because stereotypes have seriously messed up how we think about health. Even people who claim to be 'healthy' have these ingrained biases that completely ignore the complexity of health itself. It’s like saying a mentally ill mother will automatically be a bad parent. Sure, that could happen, but it’s not a guarantee. A mentally ill mother could be the most empathetic and loving parent, determined to give her child the best life. Or she could struggle to cope. It depends on so many factors beyond just mental health. The same applies to weight and health. Being plus-size doesn’t automatically make me unhealthy, and being of a certain weight doesn’t automatically make someone healthy.

And to all the people so concerned about my weight, let me clarify something: first of all, I’m not getting a single penny from your wallet to buy my food or pay for my health. So why is my body taking up so much space in your brain? It’s almost funny how invested people get in someone else’s weight when they have their own habits to deal with. Like, focus on your own plate before commenting on mine, you know? But society’s obsession with stereotypes blinds people to nuance. It’s like they’ve decided that being of an average or certain weight equals healthy, and anything outside that is a failure.

How do others in the plus-size community or those who were plus-size handle comments like this? How do you respond to people who claim to be concerned about your health while ignoring their own bad habits? Am I wrong for seeing it this way, or are these stereotypes really as harmful and biased as they seem?