Lifer
Someone who treats obesity as a chronic metabolic disease needing long-term medical management.
Definition
A person who recognizes that obesity is a chronic metabolic disease requiring long-term (potentially lifelong) medical management.
Why it matters
It is a word the community uses about itself. It reframes staying on the medicine as management rather than failure to graduate.
Source: this entry is drawn from “The Glossary” in FAT BITCH: Killing the Willpower Myth by Cat Clark (UNLIT Publishing, October 15, 2026). The full chapter has the context this page does not. Get on The First Copy List and we send the order link the day it goes live.
None of this is medical advice. It is educational material drawn from FAT BITCH: Killing the Willpower Myth by Cat Clark, and it does not replace your prescriber, your pharmacist, or your actual doctor. If something here does not match what your care team told you, go with your care team and bring this along to the conversation.