GPs and other health professionals should tell people they are fat rather than obese, England’s public health minister says.
Anne Milton told the BBC the term fat was more likely to motivate them into losing weight.
She said it was important people should take “personal responsibility” for their lifestyles.
But health experts said the word could stigmatise those who are overweight.
Ms Milton, who stressed she was speaking in a personal capacity, said: “If I look in the mirror and think I am obese I think I am less worried [than] if I think I am fat.”