Community

At Obesity Matters we want to build a community where we can come together to find ongoing support through forums and conversations, share personal stories and connect with others who have similar goals and challenges. By joining forces we hope to drive change to our personal health journeys as well as yours.

Obesity Matters is a safe-haven

Welcome

At Obesity Matters, we’re here to support and empower individuals living with overweight and obesity every step of the way. We know that managing your health can be challenging, and we’re committed to being a trusted source of evidence-based information, inspiration, and community connection. Whether you’re looking for tools, resources, or simply a place to feel heard and understood, you belong here.

Blogs

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome: What is It, Treatments, and Foods to Avoid

As the most commonly diagnosed digestive disorder, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects many individuals worldwide. Although it affects both women …

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Obesity Redefined: Community Insights on The Lancet Commission’s Report on Clinical Obesity

Perspectives That Go Beyond the Research On January 16, 2025, The Lancet Commission released a report that challenges traditional methods …

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Rachel’s Corner

A Fresh Start for the New Year As we turn the page to a new year, I think it’s natural …

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By becoming a member of Obesity Matters you can:

  • Get educated on the latest science-based information about obesity.
  • Find ongoing support through community forums, by sharing your story and connecting with others who have similar goals and challenges.
  • Gain access to obesity certified healthcare providers
  • Take action on important issues and help change the world for people living with obesity.

Join our community and let us support you to change:

  • How you talk to yourself: Drop the shame and blame.
  • How you talk to your family & community: Advocate for the end of weight bias and stigma associated with obesity. Dispel myths.
  • How you talk to your doctor: Empower yourself to ask for evidence-based treatment options.

Stories

People in the Obesity Matters Community have powerful stories about their experiences with obesity. We know that sharing those stories with the world, and giving people a chance to express themselves, can bring about education, advocacy, support and awareness. Stories humanize the disease of obesity and remind us that at the heart of it, individual lives are affected.

Living with obesity: ‘Love yourself, no matter what size you are’

by Robin Roberts

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Living with obesity: ‘I know what it feels like for someone to assume you are lesser than you are because you have a couple of extra kilos’

by Robin Roberts

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Opinion: Obesity Matters is more than just an advocacy group. It’s a lifetime in the making

by Priti Chawla

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I’ve Been Healed From The Inside Out

by Tanya Bender

A little bit about my journey, I’m sure it seems very familiar to anyone struggling with the extra weight they are carrying, both physically and mentally. 

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I played into the idea that your worth is tied to a number on a scale

by Rachel Atkins

Rachel Atkins is the director of strategy at Obesity Matters , where she works to leverage her own experiences — in business and body image – to transform communities, institutions and society to better the lives of Canadians living in larger bodies. She is an advocate for those have been on a similar journey, and her hope is that more can follow the path of positivity and self-love. This is her story.

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Opinion: I wasn’t born big

by Priti Chawla

Intense diets don’t work, weight management isn’t about ‘willpower,’ and your self-worth isn’t determined by the scale, writes Obesity Matters' Priti Chawla.

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The Therapist Who Didn’t Even Know He Had An Eating Disorder

by Brian Baumal

It took another five years, until August 2012, for  me to understand what was happening to me, and to address the underlying psychological issues that caused this drastic weight cycling! And throughout much of this time, I was a psychotherapist, who ought to have known better,  or at least I thought I should have known better.

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Share your story

Do you have your own stories you’d like to share? We want to hear from you! Explore below to submit your stories and share your experiences with the Obesity Matters Community!

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Together, we can make a difference.

Become a member at no cost and together let us Inspire Hope through Action