To Shea R., author of “Fat Chance,” I understand what you are going through. I used to be slightly overweight and yes, the ridicule and looks people give you can be bad, but not eating is not the solution. Healthy eating and exercise do actually work, you just have to put your mind to it.

If you decide to make your life healthier, please remember one thing: do it for you and no one else, certainly not those mocking you, or the media who put pictures into everyone’s heads of what you should look like, and not even your family who may nag you. Do it for yourself. I hope that Shea and everyone reading this will realize that there are healthy ways to try to make yourself look good.