Weight Stigma: The Hidden Barrier to Health

Last week was Weight Stigma Awareness Week, a time to recognize the very real harm caused by weight-based bias. While people of all body sizes can experience weight stigma—through comments, assumptions, or pressure to look a certain way—it is especially harmful for those living in larger bodies, who face higher rates of discrimination in healthcare, work, schools, and everyday life. Weight stigma doesn’t just affect self-esteem; research shows it has lasting consequences for both physical and mental health.

What Is Weight Stigma?

Weight stigma refers to the negative assumptions, stereotypes, and discrimination directed at people because of body size. It shows up in many areas of life:

• Healthcare: A doctor blaming your health issues on your weight without doing further testing.
• Schools: Children teased in gym class or excluded from activities.
• Workplaces: Employees judged as lazy or unmotivated because of their size.
• Social settings: Friends, family, or even strangers making “jokes” or unsolicited comments about weight.

How Weight Stigma Impacts Health

The evidence is clear: weight stigma doesn’t improve health outcomes—it makes them worse.

• Mental health: Experiencing weight stigma is strongly linked to depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem, and even suicidal thoughts (Puhl & Suh, 2015).
• Physical health: Weight stigma increases levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, which can affect blood pressure, blood sugar, and heart health (Tomiyama, 2014).
• Healthcare access: People who have faced weight stigma are more likely to delay or avoid medical appointments, sometimes until health conditions become serious (Phelan et al., 2015).
• Eating behaviors: Far from “motivating” change, weight stigma is associated with binge eating, emotional eating, and disordered eating patterns (Hunger et al., 2015).

Instead of encouraging healthier habits, weight stigma creates stress and avoidance that directly undermine health.

Real-Life Impact of Weight Stigma

In my practice, I see daily how weight bias affects people’s lives:

• Clients who avoid medical care for years because they fear being shamed.
• Teens who begin dieting after hearing critical comments about their body, only to get stuck in cycles of restriction and overeating.
• Adults who stop exercising because gyms and fitness spaces feel unsafe.

These stories aren’t isolated—they reflect how deeply weight stigma shapes health behaviors and self-worth.

Beyond the Scale: What Health Really Means

Health is not a number on a scale. Research on the Health at Every Size® (HAES®) framework shows that focusing on behaviors rather than weight leads to improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and overall well-being (Bacon & Aphramor, 2011).

Supporting health without stigma means emphasizing:

• Nourishment and enjoyment with food
• Joyful, sustainable movement
• Rest and recovery
• Stress management and coping tools
• Supportive social connections

These health-promoting behaviors are possible at any size—and they are undermined when weight stigma is present.

How You Can Help Reduce Weight Stigma

Be mindful with language: Avoid labeling foods or bodies as “good” or “bad.”

Challenge assumptions: Health cannot be determined by appearance.

Speak up: Interrupt weight-based jokes or comments.

Offer compassion: Treat yourself and others with kindness, regardless of body size.

Final Thoughts

Challenging weight stigma isn’t just about creating a more compassionate world for people in larger bodies—it benefits all of us. When we stop judging health based on size, everyone gains access to more respectful healthcare, more inclusive communities, and the freedom to care for themselves without shame. By dismantling weight stigma, we create space for true well-being, dignity, and joy at every size.

If you are looking for more support in improving your health without shame and need help navigating weight bias, I’d love to chat! Reach out to me here.

And for more resources on weight stigma, check out these here.

Key References:

• Puhl, R., & Heuer, C. (2009). The stigma of obesity: A review and update. Obesity, 17(5), 941–964.
• Puhl, R., & Suh, Y. (2015). Health consequences of weight stigma. Current Obesity Reports, 4(2), 182–190.
• Tomiyama, A. J. (2014). Weight stigma is stressful: The Cyclic Obesity/Weight-Based Stigma model. Appetite, 82, 8–15.
• Hunger, J. M., et al. (2015). Weighed down by stigma: How weight-based social identity threat contributes to poor health. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(6), 255–268.
• Bacon, L., & Aphramor, L. (2011). Weight science: Evaluating the evidence for a paradigm shift. Nutrition Journal, 10(1), 9.