Celebrating Obesity

There is a new program premiering on TLC tonight, "Big Sexy."  The promotional clips for it are concerning, because they appear to be promoting obesity as fun and viable lifestyle choice.

Because I was morbidly obese for over twenty years, I am painfully aware of the prejudice obese individuals face.  I am also aware of the need to accept ourselves where we are - self-loathing is damaging on so many levels.  Regardless of our weight, we are valuable people who are loved by God and we deserve the love and respect of the people around us.

However, this program looks like it goes far beyond acceptance to celebration, and being morbidly obese wasn't something I ever wanted to celebrate.  The promotional clips show obese women having fun and strutting their style and several women seemed to dismiss the idea of ever being thin.  They are obese and proud of it and fully intend to stay that way.

I've only seen the promotional clips, so I don't know how the show will play out, but in the clips all of the women are young.  They are having fun and celebrating, perhaps even flaunting, their plus sizes, definitely living in the moment.

What disturbs me about the clips I've seen is that the emphasis seems to be on obesity as an acceptable - and fun - lifestyle.  What won't be shown is the long-term effects of this obesity.  These young women who are out partying and living an excessive lifestyle now haven't yet encountered the almost-inevitable health consequences of their obesity.

Obesity greatly increases the chances that someone will end up with Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, joint problems, and obesity is linked as a risk factor for several types of cancer.  Obesity is about far more than what size we wear or how we look in a swimsuit - obesity impacts our health.  Those health risks may be in the background for someone in their 20's or 30's, but they will eventually catch up with the majority of overweight and obese individuals.

What would be interesting to know is how many of the women on this new show have tried and failed so many times to lose weight that they've given up and lost hope.  How many of them secretly long to be at a healthy weight but have opted for a tough, in-your-face attitude about their obesity to hide the pain and despair they feel? 

My heart goes out to these women because I know life is challenging for them at their weight.  I also know that many of them are facing serious health issues in the future if they don't make changes to their lifestyle.  They may have given up hope, but we know there IS hope, and we know what it is :-).

Many of us had just about given up ourselves and had very little hope that we could ever turn things around until, one way or another, we found our way to Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  One day at a time, one meal at a time, things began to turn around for us and we ended up getting our lives - and our health - back, and some of us ended up with an entirely new life.  I'm so thankful for the ways this program has changed my life and it's exciting to see the way it's changing others' lives, too.  Those changes happen with the individual choices we make, so choose wisely :-)