Thank you for writing this Rachael. You echo many of my own thoughts. When I was younger and weighed a hundred pounds or less, I suffered from disordered eating issues alongside and/or resulting from my physical and mental health conditions, yet nobody (not even my doctors)thought to consider or comment on my low weight even when it dipped to decidedly unhealthy levels. I’m now approaching 50, have worked on my mental health, recovered (to a large extent) from the fears and complexes I have lived with which revolved around food and weight and now weigh around 210 pounds. It’s a difference which causes shock, disbelief, disgust and horror in people who have known me a long time and the assumption that I’ve always been fat in those new to me — who also, as you mention in your piece here, then assume that I am unintelligent and offer a range of unasked for and unappreciated advice and commentary which only ever serves to tear down my any hard won but still teetering self-confidence I am feeling. The truth of the matter is, I am happier and more healthy mentally than I ever was when younger and thinner. Also, my physical issues were always present, any pain and exhaustion I experience now would have been the same had I remained painfully thin, because I suffer from multiple chronic pain conditions — and I still seem to be considerably more naturally flexible than many younger and thinner people. The simple conclusion I’ve come to is that I want to accept my size as it now is, I don’t want to lose weight and I too have moved beyond the concept of body positivity. Now I just need other people to leave me alone!