Each body has a weight range where it naturally tends to stay. Dieting has an adverse affect in that it changes the way the body responds to calories. When deprived of calories, the body assumes it is starving and will defend the body fat that is left by burning the calories available more slowly. Feelings of shame, inadequacy and the drive for perfection result in withdrawal from friends, family and pleasurable activities the very things that promote healthy feelings of happiness and success. In reality, most people who are large eat no more than people of normal weight.
Many large people are a product of their genes, or altered body chemistry.
It is now known that years of repeated and strenuous patterns of dieting and exercise, often called yo-yo dieting, can result in cumulative weight gain over time. People come in all shapes and sizes. Neither starving nor force-feeding will change the fundamental genetic and metabolic predispositions that determine body size and shape. While all people can lower their health risks through proper nutrition and regular exercise, most evidence indicates that neither shape nor size, in itself, poses a significant health risk. Many mistakenly believe that overweight people lack self-control, that they eat too much, or are just plain lazy.