Seth I would admit that no amount of fat shaming ever had any real effect on me. I would deny the fat existed and walk away. Like so many others it was a realistic look at my health and health problems than finally forced me to confront dying earlier from too much body fat. or trying to get lighter and live longer. This didn't happen of course until I was mid 60's and starting to have very real health problems. Like a lot of things losing weight is also a mental outlook change. I've had all kinds of emotions and memories come forth as I've lost weight. I liken it to being at war with yourself. I took a class through my health care provider on weight lose strategies and pitfalls. The room was full of mostly overweight women and only three overweight guys. Most of us were in our 60's and suffering ill health because of being overweight. I was surprised to learn that everyone was very forthright in how they looked. Almost to a person everyone in that class described themselves as being fat and that includes myself. This self assessment leaves little room to hide behind some other reason and gets right to the problem. I recommend this type of nutrition class because it had a bunch of good ideas I use every day to help get and keep the weight off. The GCN young man's height is in itself a real problem trying to get bicycles and bicycle clothing that fits and he addresses some of his issues. I agree that a video about fitting bicycles and clothing to much bigger people would be helpful also. Your point that the person could be of average height and still be quite heavy is well taken. I've learned a lot from this Clydesdale/Athena forum.