UK TV host Steve Miller suggests wearing fat-shaming badge

UK TV host and weight loss expert Steve Miller has suggested that overweight government health workers should wear fat badges because the fat acceptance trend was literally killing people. He cited that some patients would go to a dietician so they could lose weight. He commended the dieticians and said that they were role models. However, he asked how dieticians would motivate the patients if the dieticians were fatter than the patients.

“I want NHS [National Health Service] staff to volunteer to wear it to inspire not just the patient but themselves to take action. I want them to be proud that they are losing weight. I want that communicated to the patient. I think it’s a very fair message," Miller told The Sun. He added to package it right by making it constructive.

Miller suggested that the badges would read, “Be inspired ... I’m fat, but I’m losing it.” However, National Health Service staff responded with their own phrase stating, “I’m fat and I don’t care!” and “I’m chunky and I like pizza and wine."

Fat positive activist Fran Hayden wrote on The Independent that fat acceptance is good for the health.“Fat acceptance does not encourage people to be unhealthy; Fat acceptance gives people the opportunity to cast off those constant negative jibes,” she said. Hayden's view was based on a paper published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2015. The researchers based their conclusion on the three studies including the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the UK National Child Development Study and Midlife in the United States.

The researchers found three consistent evidence related to overweight perception. “Individuals who identified themselves as being ‘overweight’ were more likely to report overeating in response to stress and this predicted subsequent weight gain,'" the authors wrote. The people who believed that they were overweight resorted to comfort eating.

Miller did not support the idea of "fat is beautiful" promotional campaign whether it was directly or indirectly said. He said that any person who promoted fat as acceptable was driving poison down to the people's throats. “How can they say that to somebody? Because what you’re really saying to somebody is, ‘It doesn’t really matter if you die early,'" he said.

There were 64 percent of adults who fell under the category of overweight or obese. The experts believe that in 2025, the numbers would increase from 35 percent to 41 percent for overweight while the obese would increase from 28 percent to 34 percent.

In Australia, 63.4 percent of adults were considered overweight or obese from 2014 to 2015. The Australian Bureau of Statistics also cited that one in four children aged 5-17 were overweight or obese.