We’ve all heard…and heard…and heard about how awful obese people feel, how depressed they are, what low self esteem they have. And although I do know some fat people (and some skinny people) like that, for this article I would rather focus on the positive. Are there any good psychological effects of obesity? Many would argue that there are. Here are just a few of the ones I’ve observed.

Psychological Effects Of Obesity #1: Courage

Prejudice against people who are obese—or fat, as I prefer—is the last acceptable prejudice. Strangers feel free to speculate about how anyone could “just let themselves go like that” and unsolicited advice about how many calories a certain food contains or how pretty a woman would be if she could just shed a few pounds is common and widespread. Anyone who doesn’t think it takes courage to move through a world like that on a daily basis has the imagination of a turnip.

Psychological Effects of Obesity #2: Awareness Of The True Meaning Of Beauty
Because of the way we are often judged so harshly based on our appearances, most fat people learn to look beyond the outer shell of other people and find what is truly beautiful in them. Not sleek blond hair that will thin and grow white with age, nor a size zero body whose bones will shatter from osteoporosis in fifty years, nor a perfectly botoxed face that will, nevertheless, show wrinkles some day—but true beauty. Intelligence. Kindness. A love of nature. A strong work ethic. A sense of fair play and justice. Love and compassion shown to others. We see these things that others, so concerned with outer appearances, so often miss.

Psychological Effects Of Obesity #3: Pride

Have you ever seen the Venus of Willendorf? Venus, the goddess of beauty in Roman mythology, is usually pictured as slim and titian-haired. But this Venus, believed to be a fertility statue, is fat with pendulous breasts, a protruding stomach, a large vulva, and heavy, sagging thighs.

If this female figure were once an icon of beauty, why can’t it become so again? Who says that only sizes six and below are beautiful while the rest of us must hide from the world? Who says fat isn’t in? Who says the psychological effects of obesity can’t be positive instead of negative?

Being fat does not have to and should not be a cause for psychological distress. If you’re fat, like me, identify and celebrate your inner and outer strengths. Then get out there and start living! After all, when you’re ninety years old will you care that you weighed three hundred pounds when you went to Africa? Or will you just be delighted to have the memories of a once-in-a-lifetime trip?

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