Judgment, shame, and blame targeted towards people affected by obesity are neither appropriate nor helpful. Delivered as a public service announcement, this video seeks to address this problem head-on. It is stated by twenty-two representatives of people affected by obesity and is intended to be both educational and empowering.

As a nurse practitioner and independent podcaster of the Weight Loss Surgery Podcast, Reeger Cortell regularly bears witness to the pain caused by judgment, shame, and blame targeted towards people affected by obesity. “I Have a Disease; It’s Called Obesity” was written in their defense, as an unapologetic statement of facts. To bring the script to life, Reeger invited the individuals featured in the film. Despite the fact that they are all at different points in treating their obesity, they continue to share in common the scars of harsh criticism and the desire to help make a positive difference moving forward.

This video took first place in the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery video contest titled, "It Starts Now."

If you haven't watched it already, I suggest you watch it asap!

This is a great video and a great reminder that obesity is a disease.

Thanks for sharing it Alex!

Following so I can watch later.

I love Reeger. Her podcast has helped me so much!

i cant get to the disease part though, Its just me I know. and im not trying to start a fight or make light of it, but i was fat due to my own issues. Is discrimination against the obese real? yes, being obese is a gateway to death? YEP. agree with all those underlying things, but i cannot stretch my head into the disease explanation. If you wanted to say its a mental illness, i might lean in that favor as ive never met a obese person ( including myself) that didnt have issues that enabled or directly influenced their food disorder. Maybe that's a better word for me, Obesity is a food disorder like anorexia or bulimia. That i can get behind.

I just cant do the disease thing.

Im honestly sorry if that upsets anyone.

No offense intended.

I spent most of my life believing the opinions and cruel comments of people around me regarding my weight. Before puberty, I was in three sports and eating an extremely healthy diet because my mother has kidney disease and must eat healthy. I was tall, thin, and a vibrant, smart, and happy kid that everyone adored. Right around the time I got my first period, I began gaining weight and just... couldn't stop. Two years ago, I believed all of the mean and hateful and utterly incorrect things people have been saying to and about me my whole life. Learning the things these people firmly state saved my life and gave me the bravery and self-worth to even begin to think about wls and reclaiming my life instead of trying to end it with food because I felt so out of control and worthless.

In some ways I'm jealous of people who are brave enough to stand up and say these things. Even now I'm wrestling with myself trying to decide if I am brave enough to share this on Facebook. I WANT to share it, I WANT people to understand that they are so, so wrong about obesity and that their opinions and understandings of it are actually ignorant and hurtful. I don't think I'm there yet.

Maybe some day. Thanks for sharing, I needed to hear this today.

@@Stevehud mental illness certainly has a role to play in obesity, as do choices, but I think about it like this. I ate healthier and exercised more than my best friend, who is also overweight, but she has been maybe... 220 at her highest weight. I don't think she's ever been above that. When she really buckles down and works out/eats right, she can lose weight reasonably easily. And yet, I managed to gain, and gain, and gain and eventually got to be over 400 pounds, and even seeing professional nutritionists and trainers over the span of many years could not enable me to lose weight and keep it off. If there weren't some other metabolic/hormonal/etc thing happening in our bodies, she would have been the same size or bigger than me. Or I would have weighed less than her. There are some people who become very overweight mainly because of poor choices, but it's the losing part that shows you what's really going on. A person without the disease can do what those trainers do in the fat reality shows. They could gain and lose 100 pounds pretty easily (at least compared to a person who can't seem to do anything to lose it). It always frustrated me that people see these shows and think "well, look how easy it is! all they did was eat healthy and work out and they lost weight! So why don't all the other fatasses in the world do that?" The answer is... the fatasses that try and try and can't lose weight or keep it off have a legitimate disease. Losing weight isn't easy, but it's doable for everyone. For people with the disease of obesity, the first big hurdle is even making it possible for your body to lose weight. My RNY made it possible for me to lose weight and keep it off for the first time in my life. Now the losing weight part is up to me.