<story><title>My embarrassing picture went viral</title><url>http://www.salon.com/2013/10/02/my_embarrassing_picture_went_viral/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>marknutter</author><text>&amp;gt; I don’t generally view my body size as positive or negative — it simply is. I eat right (most of the time) and I exercise (an inordinate amount), but it does little, thanks to a struggle with polycystic ovarian syndrome and a failing thyroid gland. I’m strong, I’m flexible and my doctor assures me my health is good, but the fact remains: I’m larger than someone my height should be.&lt;p&gt;I feel for her and the negative comments are reprehensible, but what I hear in this particular paragraph are excuses. Having issues with POS and the thyroid gland do not make it impossible to lose weight, just more difficult. My advice: ignore the haters and come up with a game plan with your doctor to lose the weight in a steady and health way.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kyro</author><text>This is one of the more insidiously cruel comments I&amp;#x27;ve seen here.&lt;p&gt;Never mind PCOS, hypothyroidism is a condition that can suck you of your energy, lower your metabolic rate, put you into depression, and much more, all contributing to weight gain. Point is, it can be a vicious cycle that feeds itself.&lt;p&gt;But who gives a damn? Who am I to start judging the accuracy or severity of her diagnoses? What if she made it all up? It doesn&amp;#x27;t matter a damn bit, to me or to you. But at the end of the day, we have no reason to believe she&amp;#x27;s lying.&lt;p&gt;Wording your comment in a more civilized manner does not make it that much less childish than the &amp;quot;yeah, nice excuse, fatty, now go run&amp;quot; that we expect from reddit.</text></comment>
<story><title>My embarrassing picture went viral</title><url>http://www.salon.com/2013/10/02/my_embarrassing_picture_went_viral/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>marknutter</author><text>&amp;gt; I don’t generally view my body size as positive or negative — it simply is. I eat right (most of the time) and I exercise (an inordinate amount), but it does little, thanks to a struggle with polycystic ovarian syndrome and a failing thyroid gland. I’m strong, I’m flexible and my doctor assures me my health is good, but the fact remains: I’m larger than someone my height should be.&lt;p&gt;I feel for her and the negative comments are reprehensible, but what I hear in this particular paragraph are excuses. Having issues with POS and the thyroid gland do not make it impossible to lose weight, just more difficult. My advice: ignore the haters and come up with a game plan with your doctor to lose the weight in a steady and health way.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>voyou</author><text>If her doctor says her health is good, why should she listen to the &amp;quot;advice&amp;quot; of some random person on the internet?</text></comment>