Jia Tolentino

And it's incredibly difficult in reporting this piece, even in talking to people. Like, I think that the fear of fat and the bias against it is it would come out quite casually. I'm sure it's built into me in some way. you know, in the way that I think about it. But I think that there is a way to get some basic facts on the table, right?

And it's incredibly difficult in reporting this piece, even in talking to people. Like, I think that the fear of fat and the bias against it is it would come out quite casually. I'm sure it's built into me in some way. you know, in the way that I think about it. But I think that there is a way to get some basic facts on the table, right?

That BMI is based on, you know, like BMI is like a racist, kind of eugenicist standard. And there can be serious conditions that correlate with obesity, but that doesn't mean that, you know, obesity or... excess weight is in itself harmful. And so much of this is really arguably down to physician bias as well. There are OBGYNs that won't treat women over a certain BMI.

That BMI is based on, you know, like BMI is like a racist, kind of eugenicist standard. And there can be serious conditions that correlate with obesity, but that doesn't mean that, you know, obesity or... excess weight is in itself harmful. And so much of this is really arguably down to physician bias as well. There are OBGYNs that won't treat women over a certain BMI.

There's so many, so many statistically doctors self-report beliefs about patients that are quote unquote overweight or obese. And You know, they they treat them differently. They underdiagnose, they undertreat, they attribute all health problems. Yeah.

There's so many, so many statistically doctors self-report beliefs about patients that are quote unquote overweight or obese. And You know, they they treat them differently. They underdiagnose, they undertreat, they attribute all health problems. Yeah.

You need to lose weight in ways that are never sort of suspected about people of different sizes. And, you know, there's like.

You need to lose weight in ways that are never sort of suspected about people of different sizes. And, you know, there's like.

Yeah. And yeah, it was blood. Yeah.

Yeah. And yeah, it was blood. Yeah.

That was like, oh, you're like, your lungs are simply fat. Yeah. Yeah.

That was like, oh, you're like, your lungs are simply fat. Yeah. Yeah.

Blood clots. Oh, she had blood clots. Yeah.

Blood clots. Oh, she had blood clots. Yeah.

But I think, you know, you mostly find the healthy way of talking about it in people who have had to like advocate for themselves against all of these things for a long time. I also think fundamentally, probably the healthiest way to talk about health is to kind of set weight aside altogether, right? And talk about other metrics like... VO2 max and... Yeah, I don't know what that means.

But I think, you know, you mostly find the healthy way of talking about it in people who have had to like advocate for themselves against all of these things for a long time. I also think fundamentally, probably the healthiest way to talk about health is to kind of set weight aside altogether, right? And talk about other metrics like... VO2 max and... Yeah, I don't know what that means.

There are so many other metrics to talk about health that have nothing to do with weight. And probably that would be the healthiest way of talking about weight is having it be just sort of an incidental byproduct of all these other lifestyle factors.

There are so many other metrics to talk about health that have nothing to do with weight. And probably that would be the healthiest way of talking about weight is having it be just sort of an incidental byproduct of all these other lifestyle factors.

Well, this is taking it in a slightly different direction. But what this part of the conversation makes me think of and what I think this thing that was in the back of my head when I was writing and thinking about it was that...

Well, this is taking it in a slightly different direction. But what this part of the conversation makes me think of and what I think this thing that was in the back of my head when I was writing and thinking about it was that...