This was a radical view for the 1980s. Today, we would never term a man who peddles weight loss and counting calories as “body positive” — in fact, he was anything but. "He definitely believed in the importance of 'liking yourself' or 'focusing on what you like about yourself,' which isn't exactly body positivity, but it's something," says Kelsey Miller, author of Big Girl and creator of Refinery29's own Anti-Diet Project . "But, I still don't think it's fair to say he treated fat people like people. He treated them like sick, damaged people who needed help. He was like a preacher saving souls , willing to forgive you no matter how lost you were. It reminds me of those weepy new 'body positive' Weight Watchers commercials , where they tell you to go 'beyond the scale' (by losing weight?!)."