"Neither, they should be held responsible for their actions. Only a change in their actions can change the outcome." Experiments strongly suggest that choice a

"Neither, they should be held responsible for their actions. Only a change in their actions can change the outcome." Experiments strongly suggest that choice and strength of willpower have little to do with body weight. Controlled overfeeding experiments in humans have demonstrated a wide variation in weight gain. Some people's bodies are simply resistant to storing excess food, while other people's store it avidly and gain weight rapidly. After the overfeeding phase of the experiment finished, they then lost weight rapidly with no perceived effort or exercise of willpower. Meanwhile various nonhuman animal experiments have found that body fat is fairly sensitive to things like gut microbes, details of food composition, and subtle differences in the environment. Not one of these can be changed by simply resolving to eat less. "Real treatment for obesity is liposuction." Obesity is a disorder of food conversion and storage, not body fat. Liposuction causes temporary and cosmetic changes. Real treatment is a drug that alters the brain centers responsible for metabolism and hunger. (And indeed such drugs exist and are spectacularly effective. Unfortunately the existing ones also have spectacular and dangerous side effects, but much better ones are rapidly being developed.)