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Anderson Cooper, famous for being a television journalist, stirred up some controversy recently with his remarks about Trump. Specifically, he described Trump as “an obese turtle on his back, flailing in the hot sun”. This made different communities online outraged, screaming he was being “fatphobic” by claiming Trump to be “obese” as an insult (despite how the metaphor described a reptile rather than a human).
As a person who works in healthcare, allow me to put my two cents on this remark. I worked in a pain clinic that doubled as an internal medicine clinic for about six months. We did have some patients come to the clinic, seeking to lose weight. Regardless of the reason for being overweight (overweight vs obese vs morbidly obese), we approached the patient with compassion and level-headedness. We would prescribe medication that would help encourage the body to drop the weight. We would also help create a diet plan that suited the patient’s lifestyle (cutting calories, focus on different food groups, cutting out other foods, etc.). If there were any medical problems affecting their weight (such as thyroid problems), we would address these co-morbid conditions.
If the numbers around Trump are at all accurate, he stands at about six feet three inches tall (nearly two meters tall). He weighs (again, given the information given to the public is at all…
