Can you imagine one of your friends coming up to you and saying, “I can’t hang out with you anymore because you are fat. You are a bad influence, and I’ve just got to lose this weight?”
That is what one woman, a member of a national coalition against obesity, suggested as a means to lose weight on a CNN program Wednesday afternoon.
I missed the woman’s name at the beginning of the show, so I apologize for not including it. You know how the brain gets after you turn 40.
I was sitting with a friend looking through thousands of wedding photos for our upcoming weddings magazine when I heard the program playing in the background. I couldn’t believe my ears.
I thought this idea was about as ill-conceived as a bill authored in 2008 by state Rep. John Read of Gautier that would have forced restaurants not to serve people who were overweight or obese. The bill failed in its early stages. Thank goodness.
But it appears people’s ignorance about the cause for and cure of obesity is rearing its ugly head again.
I have yet to figure out why people think alienating those who are overweight or obese is an answer to the problem.
Why don’t we alienate all those who are skinny and see how they like the treatment?
I must admit I let some of my own prejudices against skinny people get in the way when I listened to her speak. I am human after all.
First of all, the woman on the screen was pencil thin. She may have been a larger woman in the past, but I kind of doubt it. And I honestly have no way of knowing what issues she has dealt with in her life.
As I listened intently, I thought to myself, “This woman has no idea what it’s like to be overweight or obese, and here she is telling people to stay away from those of us who are if they want to lose weight.”
As I’ve said before, I have fought weight issues since I was a youngster. I don’t know about the rest of you who struggle with weight, but nothing irritates me more than folks who have probably never dealt with it themselves trying to tell others what they should do, unless of course they are a doctor and happen to be certified in this area. To my knowledge, this woman was not.
Don’t get me wrong. There is some merit to her theory. I think she was trying to get across the fact that people tend to pick up habits from those with whom they associate. That can be true. But I don’t think being friends with an overweight person will necessarily make you gain weight either.
The woman suggested that overweight people who associated with healthier, smaller people would be more likely to pick up their good exercise and eating habits, and those who were battling weight could just as easily pick up the bad habits by associating with a heavier, unhealthy person.
She told the host that you can still care about your heavier friends, but you just don’t want to hang around them on a regular basis. Love them from afar.
Hogwash.
She referenced the new Lifetime television show, “DietTribe,” as an example of her theory. The show includes a group of five friends who are all overweight trying to go from “fat” to “fit.” I think that is a great idea. More power to them.
She apparently thinks their bad habits rubbed off on each other, and because they were all big, it reinforced the unhealthy lifestyle.
I’ve always lost more weight when I had a friend who was going through the same thing to talk to and exercise with, just as these ladies are doing.
What this obesity coalition member failed to say or maybe realize is that not all groups of friends are made up of only heavy people or only skinny people.
While I think we can learn healthy habits from the people who practice them, you shouldn’t dump your friends because they battle weight issues.
The psychological impact of that would be devastating to all involved.
Being overweight, I have always felt that I had to dress a certain way and go the extra mile just to be accepted in some circles. I doubt I could make it in this woman’s world, nor could the majority of Americans who are considered overweight or obese. We would be too fat for her liking.
I have many friends who are thin, or at least not overweight, and hanging around me didn’t cause them to suddenly gain weight.
My sister and brother are not overweight, and living in the house with me growing up didn’t make them heavier.
Everyone has different eating patterns, different body make-ups and metabolisms.
I have thin friends who eat more than I do, which irritates the life out of me. I can look at food and gain 5 pounds, and they can just eat anything they want anytime they want. I think to myself as I watch them inhale the food, “If I ate like that, I couldn’t fit through the door.”
So all people who are overweight or obese don’t necessarily stuff themselves all day long and lead completely unhealthy lifestyles. There are many issues that lead to obesity, including genetics.
Obesity a life-threatening issue, and I pray as much as anyone that we soon find a solution for our growing waistlines. But alienating friends is not the way to do it.
