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I have heard all sorts of anti-fat rhetoric in my life: “Just lose weight;” “Try this diet;” and “Work out more.” The list goes on and on. And in recent months, I have heard so many people talking about Ozempic and the weight loss associated with it. Bariatric surgery is another big one I’ve heard tossed around.

These medical weight loss options are pitched as miracles. I do not see them as such. Ozempic is not a weight loss drug — it is for diabetes. Bariatric surgery has a whole host of issues, including chronic nausea and hernias.

Besides, I do not want to lose weight. I like my body. It does everything I need it to do, and it looks good doing it. And no one else has any business commenting on it.

The only person I would maybe give that pass to is a medical professional, but perhaps medical professionals aren’t as good at treating fat patients as one might want to believe.

“An unconscious bias like this is dangerous, as it leads people to think less critically about their beliefs. Bias like this is very likely to cause inadequate care.”

I haven’t always had positive experiences at doctor visits. I’m already an anxious person at any medical office. The most obvious anti-fat experience I had was as a teenager. This doctor took one look at my body mass index and told me I needed to diet. The BMI indicates nothing. I’m a short, fat girl, which therefore qualifies me as “obese.” I personally don’t think height and weight have anything to do with each other, but that’s an argument for a different article.

This doctor asked nothing about my current diet, but I had to cut out sugary drinks and junk food and eat more fruits and vegetables. I am a vegetarian — most of my food is soy protein and vegetables. I rarely ate junk food. My favorite snack for a while has been freeze-dried fruit. The most sugary drink I drank was iced tea. Unless this doctor was telepathic, she had no way of knowing this because she did not ask. She looked at my body and told me I needed to fix it without knowing anything about my dietary habits.

Luckily for me, this is the worst of my experiences as a fat person — others are not as lucky. Author Aubrey Gordon said in an NPR interview that certain blood pressure cuffs can give fat people “artificially-high” readings. In her book “‘You Just Need to Lose Weight’: And 19 Other Myths About Fat People,” she said fat people tend to receive shorter visits and fewer personal interactions with doctors and face misdiagnoses that chalk most problems up to weight.

Vogue writer Emma Specter said she felt shame after a gynecologist all-too-casually mentioned the virtue of a daily walk — without being prompted. These things tend to lead to a general distrust of medical practitioners.

This anti-fat bias in doctor’s offices is not specific to a handful of anecdotes. This bias has made itself known in multiple studies. In one study from 2019, it was found 69 out of 77 nursing students hold more bias against fat people than they realized. An unconscious bias like this is dangerous, as it leads people to think less critically about their beliefs. Bias like this is very likely to cause inadequate care.

A separate study from 2015 found that providers were more likely to call visits with fat patients a waste of time and spent 28% less time with fat patients compared to average-weight patients. This same study also found fat people were more likely to avoid treatment, leading to more complicated issues.

If 35% of adults are obese, then it should not be so stigmatized, especially not in medical offices. Fatness is not a disease. It is not something that needs to be fixed. Medical practitioners need to do better. More people need to explore their own biases, even if it makes them uncomfortable.

Reach Audrey Weishaar at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.