Whatever Happened to MYOB?

MYOB – the classic advice to stop giving unsolicited advice – seems to have fallen out of daily conversations. Or so it would seem when the subject is someone else’s health and weight. Right now social media is all atwitter over how skinny or fat plus-size model Ashley Graham is.

Last week, she posted a photo of herself looking less plus-sized and a storm of commentary followed on social media. “Where are your curves?!” “You did lose a lot of weight. I am no longer a fan of yours. You betrayed a lot of people!” Graham rejected the criticism, saying “I’m good enough for me. Angles will make anyone look bigger or smaller and I just happen to know mine.”

Even outside the realm of celebrity gossip, you will see resentment toward people who lose weight. Studies have shown that people who lose weight through bariatric surgery face discrimination for having had the procedure.

We are seeing a similar sort of hostility in reactions to the recent FDA approval of the AspireAssist medical device for treating severe obesity. “I am absolutely, utterly, and totally appalled that it was approved,” says Joseph Gutman, an endocrinologist from Pembroke Pines, Florida. His objections are, as far as we can tell, purely subjective.

Thank goodness that FDA’s approval process was more objective.

How much a person weighs and how they manage their weight is intensely personal. Unless invited to discuss it with someone, the best advice is to mind your own business.

Privacy Fence, photograph © Dean Hochman / flickr

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July 26, 2016