I don't think it's that simple when it just comes to appearance. Fat people love to trick themselves and others with their weight loss schemes. I think it's pretty easy to get taken in by them if you're just in the periphery. Take the "healthy eating fat" at work. Everything can seem great because you're not hanging out with her socially and probably not even eating lunch with her. That piece of fruit she has on her desk for a snack in comparison to someone elses bag of chips can really be deceiving. Plus there's their whole facade of "working out" or going to the gym.  Obviously not something that's going to fool anyone here. And obviously not even anyone who's spent very much time with any fat people. But when you see that kind of thing again and again in the periphery I think it's easy to get taken in by them. Even more so because there's an even larger question there. Why would someone do that to themselves? If they had a choice of being that way, it just seems borderline insane that they'd do so. It's hard to take in that such a huge percent of the population really is that lazy, stupid, weak willed or a combination of all of it. I don't think most people get it until they've had the bad luck of being socially closer to multiple fat people. It's only then that you see that their "workouts" are something you'd be embarrassed by on days you've set out to just relax. Or that the apple on their desk is followed by an apple pie at home.  One of the biggest problems with fat sympathy is the fact that they' lie about their lifestyle to others and to themselves. I think it either takes real world experiences of seeing their lifestyles closer than a superficial level or just a more rational cynicism about human nature than a lot of us have.