Why I Wrote Fat People

I am one. In my adult life, I’ve weighed between 240 lbs and 490 lbs. The publishing trade is bulging with remainders about how to lose weight. The diet industry is a $60B a year business with a 94% failure rate. Even hard drug and alcohol recoveries fare better. Yet little is written about how it feels to eat compulsively or what it’s like to be fat – the place where food is at once a pleasure, friend, and virulent enemy. Medical and psychological professionals opine intellectually and scientifically about the disorder, but rarely ask the fat person how they feel, how feelings trigger their addictive behavior? Fat People was simply this fat person’s effort to instill understanding and perhaps empathy for those who struggle constantly with food.