I am a psychoanalyst and I too believe that self-acceptance is much more important than weight loss. I also believe that fat people must stand up against cultural pressures and in so doing promote acceptance of themselves. Weight loss must be based on personal choice if it is to be successful and constructive. Personality assets characteristic of fat people must not be surrendered or aberrated as a sacrifice to getting and staying thin. Natural proclivities, vitality, and health must be sustained. Thinning must be a benevolent and compassionate process, otherwise it is not thinning at all, but rather destructive, obsessive dieting... We must entitle ourselves to be fat and alive in North America -- either with heavy or lighter bodies -- but as we choose.