With all due respect, Jessica, you need to read what I wrote, not conflate what you want to respond to with what I wrote. You’re “strawman-ing” me. I specifically wrote “being a lot overweight (not just ‘soft’) has societal costs. I said nothing about eating disorders nor being thin.

That being said, you cannot be a lot overweight and “live a healthy lifestyle.” There are many causes — in 2021 US many(!) are systemic (h/t A. Nonymous)— but that does not change the fact that people who are overweight and above, i.e. non-athletes carrying average muscle mass with a BMI over 27 or so are NOT living a healthy lifestyle.

You cannot put that much excess stress on your joints and organs and live a healthy lifestyle.