By Bill and Terri Weitze

CONTENT NOTE: Some articles featured in the Media & Research Roundup may refer to stigmatizing events or use stigmatizing language. Websites hosting the articles linked below may allow advertisements for weight loss products and/or otherwise problematic ads.

September 8, 2025: Using artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and eating disorders can lead to relying on AI for reassurance and getting feedback that includes the worst the internet has to offer.

September 11, 2025: Research is finding, more and more, that losing weight as you become old is not good for your health. A study out of Pennsylvania University finds that weight loss can have a negative effect on cognitive abilities as you age. More here.

September 14, 2025: Remember when the United States went to war with sugary soft drinks as part of the battle against ob*sity? Remember what a difference that made? Yeah, Mexico is not learning from the US and is going to double taxes on sugary soft drinks.

September 17, 2025: ABC Radio National (Australia) discusses a defocus on weight in the healthcare industry.

September 17, 2025: A study of Chinese adolescents finds that weight self-stigma along with appearance evaluation and social appearance anxiety might be offset by providing health physical and mental management.

September 18, 2025: While Fashion Week slid back into thin-centric representation, fat fashion uses platforms like Tik Tok to launch brands and to show what fat fashion looks like in real life, so we can take our billions of fashion dollars to those who deserve it.

September 19, 2025: Here’s a handy summary of some recent studies of the health effects of weight stigma.

September 20, 2025: It’s been known for a while that being moderately fat is not correlated with a shorter life; the opposite is true. So, we don’t know why this article finds it “surprising” that “a few extra pounds” can be good for you. A related study is linked here and here.

September 22, 2025: Fox San Francisco kicks off Weight Stigma Awareness Week discussing the pitfalls of weight centric comments and assumptions.

September 22, 2025: “The Biggest Loser” was a TV show that ritualized the abuse of fat people “for their own good”. It was bad, but it was even worse than the recent Netflix documentary shows.

September 24, 2025: People and other publications report that Comedian Guy Branham was physically and verbally abused by another passenger on a Delta flight due to anti-fat bias.

September 27, 2025: “Skinny Privilege” is the flip side of weight stigma. Many people in New Zealand, especially indigenous people, seek weight loss surgery to reduce sigma rather than for health.

September 29, 2025: The healthcare community sees fat bodies as a problem to solve. The author of this article recounts the interventions they’ve had over the years to reduce their size, as well as verbal abuse from strangers.

September 30, 2025: It’s not just stigma. Sometimes, hospitals and doctors offices are literally unequipped to handle very large bodies.

October 1, 2025: People who are both queer and fat are subjected to multiples of stigma. In a healthcare setting, going from weight-centric to weight-inclusive care can help.

October 8, 2025: Slimming World (a Weight Watcher wannabe organization) announces changes to its program by removing the title “Syns” from some food items due to negative connotations.

October 9, 2025: The Curvy Fashionista offers ways that therapy can help fat women, not just in crisis, but in learning how to deal with external and internal weight bias.

October 11, 2025: Doctors in Ireland feel that GLP-1s should be taken for improvement in health, not thinness.

October 13, 2025: John Candy’s children are pointing out how size stereotypes shaped their father’s career as part of the project “I Like Me”. They hope that their father’s legacy will focus on his skill and range as an actor, not the size of his body.

October 15, 2025: Commenting on an individual’s weight loss is a form of weight policing, no matter how well intentioned. The Conversation provides 5 reasons why it is inappropriate to comment on weight loss.

October 17, 2025: On November 1-2, the third annual Philly Fat Con, organized for fat people by fat people, brought the fat community together for a weekend of fun, learning, and support. Missed it? Start planning for next year!

October 17, 2025: Researchers find that defect in a gene that puts people at risk of ob*sity also causes them to have better cholesterol levels and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

October 18, 2025: UC Davis now includes a section on weight stigma as part of its Students Health and Counseling page. Editor’s note: conservative press has mocked this site and the information it provides to the UC Davis community. NAAFA encourages students and alumni to reach out to the counseling program with messages of support about this content.

October 18, 2025: Remember when the insurance companies got together to define more people than ever fat? Well, a new group is using body measurements plus BMI to categorize even more people as ob*se. Welcome to the club all you new fatties! This article decries how dangerous all this newly defined fat is.

October 19, 2025: Researchers confirm weight regain following cessation of weight loss drugs such as GLP-1s; indicating that such drugs require lifetime use if someone wants the side effect of weight suppression to possibly continue.

October 22, 2025: Treatment for PCOS needs to be more individualized because there are different causes for PCOS, and weight loss has proven to be an ineffective treatment.

October 22, 2025: The head of University of Florida’s Body Image and Weight Stigma Lab discusses her research into the physical and mental toll weight stigma has on people from all over the world and all walks of life.

October 24, 2025: Psychology Today calls out Weight Watchers for what it is, a restrictive diet program; and what it isn’t, a lifestyle wellness program; and recommends actual, non-weightcentric, approaches to health.

November 2025: Let’s do a photo shoot and video based on Hairspray! But we’re only going to use thin people in the leads. Say what? Vogue cover star Gigi Hadid seems to be missing the point of Hairspray.

November 6, 2025: A recent study in Minnesota attempts to identify weight bias triggers in healthcare settings and suggests ways to lessen or eliminate them.

November 7, 2025: The United States joins some other countries in denying visas for residence to fat people and those with medical conditions such as diabetes.

November 10, 2025: A study concludes that fat patients with renal cell carcinoma have a survival benefit, but only if they have well controlled hemoglobin A1c.

November 11, 2025: Conversational-generative AI is found to generate misinformation about fat people and images of fat people are often surrounded by unhealthy foods, amplifying fat shaming.

November 13, 2025: Tigress Osborn is interviewed on KJZZ regarding NAAFA and its work as a civil rights organization.

November 18, 2025: Oprah has joined up with GLP-1 drug advocate Dr. Ania Jastreboff to write a book about – you guessed it – weight. Oprah now says that her weight loss struggles were “exploited” (does self-exploitation count?) and that she “missed the memo” that ob*sity is a disease and not a moral failure. Too bad she didn’t get the memo that being fat is not a failure – period.

November 18, 2025: You can be fat and have anorexia. It’s just as dangerous as low-weight anorexia, and sometimes moreso because it’s not as readily diagnosed.

November 25, 2025: For good or bad, a recent Harris poll shows that the majority of Americans believe ob*sity is a disease and treatments should be covered by health insurance. Editor’s note: This study was funded by Novo Nordisk, whose marketing of Ozempic has influenced beliefs about ob*sity and who have a vested interest in showing evidence that Americans believe their products should be covered by insurance.

December 2025: Because weight bias is as pervasive in the healthcare industry as it is in society, many patients feel that they are being subjected to “medical gaslighting”, where genuine concerns about the patient’s health are invalidated or ignored without proper evaluation.