> I have told plenty of friends and family that they are fat gross slobs and need to lose weight, and that is the cause of many of their non-specific maladies that doctors can't seem to pinpoint. Sometimes you need to sit someone down and level with them, I'm not going to pretend.
Key question: are they cured now after you were a jerk? What was the ROI on relationship damage per pound lost?
Great question - it has worked sometimes. I don't just do it for the fats. I had a serious discussion with one of my best friends who narrowly escaped a DUI after successfully beating the patrolman's tests and lucking out when they didn't have a breathalyzer, and he stopped drunk driving. Another time I told my friend he was a fat, disgusting lard and he successfully slimmed up and hit the gym more. So it depends.
Sometimes if you just outright tell someone they are making huge mistakes in the bluntest terms it can shake them, when they know you are their friend.
You're having this conversation as if I'm against having honest conversations with your loved ones.
Actually this conversation is about what is an effective intervention for our obesity epidemic, and there's pretty much zero evidence that "tell the fats they're making a huge mistake in the bluntest terms" is a meaningful intervention at any scale that matters.
OK well if they are disgustingly obese, gross, and dying of being fat, which is 100% preventable by not eating a ton of gross shit, then looking them straight in the eye and saying "You are not only an unattractive obese blob but also about to die" sometimes works
Key question: are they cured now after you were a jerk? What was the ROI on relationship damage per pound lost?