Here's bad news for fat people living in Britain. A survey of British personnel officers said they were less likely to hire and promote obese individuals even if they did a good job. Worse, many of them perceive fat people as greedy, lazy, and stupid!

These startling findings were uncovered by Personnel Today magazine and The Obesity Awareness and Solutions Trust (TOAST) and reinforced what they knew all along: fat people are being discriminated against. With 65 percent of adult women and 70 percent of adult men in Britain who are overweight, that means millions of workers are suffering because of their weight!

"With obesity directly affecting one in four women and one in five men in the United Kingdom, this is a grave injustice to millions of ordinary workers who could, at any time, find themselves unemployed and unemployable, or suffering from bullying at work. Besides that, it's just plain ignorant, hurtful and unjust. Obesity is hard enough to fight, without having to bear it as a social stigma," according to Anne Diamond of TOAST who calls "fattism" as "the last remaining prejudice."

"I knew that fattism was the last remaining prejudice in this country. But I had no idea that it was legal - and being openly practiced in the business world," she added.

Of the 3,000 human resources professionals surveyed, 93 percent said they would rather give the job to a thin person than a fat one even if both had similar qualifications. Thirty percent said they would not hire obese individuals and 37 percent said they were not sympathetic to fat employees. Since there is no discrimination law for obesity in Britain, that makers it legal for employers to fire someone who is obese even without proving that the condition affects the person's work.

"The assumption is that someone slimmer will do a better job than someone fatter, and that simply isn't true. They're not even referring to obese people, but fat people, and with 65 percent of women and 70 percent of men in this country overweight, that's a significant proportion of the workforce being discriminated against. If people don't employ people who are overweight, they're not going to have a workforce," warned TOAST chief Executive Louise Diss.

Other key findings of the survey as reported in UK News are:

> While bosses claimed to have good attitudes towards obese workers, few workers had seen any evidence of this.

> While 69 percent of bosses said that they would seek medical advice if an employee's weight gain began to affect their work, only 4 percent of employees said they had ever been offered it.

> And while an impressive 92 percent of bosses said that they were proactive about encouraging more healthy lifestyles, only 36 percent of workers said they had ever seen any sign of it.

While being fat isn't a crime, you certainly deserve better opportunities and a better life. Looking at the mirror and feeling sorry for yourself won't help. If you really want to lose weight, then do something about it! It may be difficult at first but the rewards are great if you try. Focus on your goal and work on it through healthy eating habits and a good exercise program and you'll be surprised at the results. To help you shed those ugly, unwanted pounds quickly, take Phenocal, the natural weight loss aid that's safe and effective. When used as directed, Phenocal will enhance your diet and exercise plan and bring out a better you. For more details, visit http://www.phenocal.com.