FAT TUESDAY: Biggest Loser’s Unintended Message

Lots of fat people watch it.  Even healthies tune in.  NBC’s The Biggest Loser has been a cultural and weight loss phenomenon.

Little known fact to some who read this blog – I actually auditioned for Season 8 of the Biggest Loser.  I went through several rounds of casting before I got cut — and it was devastating.  Truly, I would rank it as one of the top three most disappointing, and in some ways disabling, moments of my life.

In the five years that followed, I picked up on some subtle messages that BL sends the viewers.

You aren’t a winner until you lose the weight.   Weight loss is worth any price – loss of dignity, endurance of abuse, ‘playing a game’.  Relationships only matter insofar as they benefit your position.

Don’t misunderstand – there are some really positive, life-changing messages, too – and I would jump on that show in one hot second.

But my life goal is not what it was five years ago…my intent is no longer ‘thin’.  Now…it’s ‘whole.’

Fat Tuesday: Healthy Fat People

“You’re the healthiest fat guy I’ve ever met.”

Yes – another doctor singing the praises of my healthy heart.  Apparently guys as fat as me are ticking time bombs.  The truth is – all of us live on numbered days….some of us just count faster than others.

I’m glad my heart – and pretty much the rest of me – is hanging in there exceptionally well, especially considering the abuse I’ve put it through in the last 20 years.  (But I mean, c’mon, if ice cream and pizza are considered abuse – please don’t file a report!)

Anyway…I’m losing control of this post.  My intent is:  even doctors make some assumptions (granted, with medical evidence backing them, but still) about what fat people can do.  News flash – many of us can do whatever we want.

We might be slower at it than some.  We might not be as good at it as others.  But we aren’t lazy, sloppy, clumsy, or deficient.  And seemingly, some of us aren’t even afflicted with heart disease…yet.  My goal is to keep it that way.