My 600 Pound Life?

AskTracyAnnK28

Bookworm1860 wrote: »

BinkyBonk wrote: »

There's so much help out there for people today, some of it valid, some of it not. There are a lot of reactive "solutions" (surgery, diet pills, diet food, crazy fad diets), but nothing PROactive. How about teaching nutrition in school as part of the curriculum, etc? Education is power. Generally, people just don't have the tools they need to have control over their health. If people understood how to keep their weight under control, we could eliminate so much of the burden on the healthcare system (free here in Canada), and the emotional and physical toll it takes on people.

We used to (in the US at least). For decades we had substantive Home Economics classes teaching not just food preparation (and safety) but science based nutrition in junior highs and high schools. 20 years after WWII the huge societal changes made the perceived value of those programs diminish. All too many of those programs dumbed themselves down in response instead of fighting back and proving their value. By the 80s they were being taken out of many schools.

In the past decade or so there has been a huge push from other organizations to pick up where the schools dropped the ball. Much of this is coming from colleges with medical and/or nutrition programs but not all. Most seem to be going into pre-school and primary grades. There needs to be more of this and a more organized effort. Since we've got several generations of parents who skipped any sort of nutrition education the parents really need to be involved too. Way, way too many people get all of their nutrition "education" from the internet, something made worse by the fact that we fail to teach people how to evaluate what they read so they can separate the junk from the real; and we fail to teach people how to evaluate how the real science is reported (spun) so they can make informed and reasoned choices.

Society caused the enormity of the problem by devaluing education. Society can fix it by addressing that. If you care - go to your local school district and ask them what they are doing. Go to your county Cooperative Extension offices and ask them what they are doing. Educate yourself, there are some great MOOCs out there being taught by universities which are geared towards consumers not nutrition students.

Putting my soap box away now....because I could go on, and on....

I remember learning about the "4 Basic Food Groups" (later turned into the Food Pyramid)in health class and being shown healthy cooking in Home Economics. Not sure what they teach in health right now...but I think Home Ec has been cut from the budget.

I'm not saying my generations (Gen X) is better than today's, but at least we were given the tools to know how to eat healthy and exercise.

LAWoman72

I absolutely love this show but I missed last night's episode because my monthly bill came and I went to bed at 8:00.

I don't love it because it's a train wreck. In fact, the part I like least about the show is the beginning, with all the sensationalist of showering ("Oh my GOD, how does she even fit in that shower?") or being bathed ("Oh my GOD, how can she stand someone else wiping her folds?"), and being in the store ("Oh my GOD, how can she buy all that crap when she weighs 600 pounds?"), and of the person's back story ("Oh my GOD, she was molested"). It's all pretty much the same thing every time and painful to watch: enablers stuffing the person due to the codependent push-and-pull of guilt and the person making demands and the enabler needing to have a permanent baby; the physical pain; the emotional pain. Often I'll just skip the first 10 or 15 minutes of the episode because I don't need it and I don't want it. That's just me.

What I love about it is the transformations! I have always loved a Cinderella story; any type. The look on the person's face when s/he sees a loss on the scale, the excitement over being able to get up and move around and work out, the joy...I love love love seeing that. I can watch it over and over again, and I do.

Not everyone watches this type of show because they enjoy grinning slack-jawed at someone else's pain. FTR.

I love seeing a person's life turn around; seeing him or her put on that smaller pair of jeans, get a date, go on the swings with a child. It is SUCH a good feeling and I know that feeling, and I look forward to having it again.

LAWoman72

^ That's also why Penny's and Pauline's stories frustrated me. I couldn't come to a resolution with them and I was frustrated and a little angry. I'd be angry at myself, too, if that were me. It HAS been me, on a physically smaller scale. When I finished those shows (I don't know how, LOL), afterward, I pretty much wished I hadn't watched them. But oh well...what can ya do.

And I do agree that to an extent they must be scripted. But a person in a size 24 jeans at one point and a size 14 jeans at another point can't possibly be scripted. With reality shows, you do need to realize you're going to have your emotions played with (or attempted to) and gloss over that aspect, or else not watch the show. For me, with the majority of reality shows, it's the latter - why watch? But with this one, I generally hang in to see the person's successes, and just that look on the person's face...that is just a treasure.

Re: Home Ec: we had that in school, and that's what it was called. This was in, hmm...1980, I believe. Middle school. Both boys and girls had to take traditionally "boy" and "girl" things. So IOW, the boys sewed and the girls made bookeneds in wood shop. We thought it was great fun. It was a "throwaway" class, one that you didn't have to study or anything in order to make the grade. Everybody passed everything (the tasks weren't all that hard - sewing was a pillow of your first initial, for instance; cooking was some simple but tasty thing, can't remember). Nutrition wasn't stressed in any way. My favorite among these "skills" classes was Mechanical Drawing (obviously this didn't come under the term "Home Ec" but was grouped in with this set of classes...hmmm) which, oddly, involved a silk-screen T-shirt (I made a Snoopy; he was off-center; I got an A anyway) and a radio (it cost EIGHT dollars for the supplies but my mom let me buy them anyway; I didn't finish the radio; I got an A anyway).

My bookends didn't match. My little wood car was wonderful and I gave it to my brother. I got an A.

Cooking: I burned the butter. The teacher yelled. I remember we ate whatever it was our group cooked anyway. We got an A.

softblondechick

I don't think that this extreme obesity is related to lack of education about correct foods to eat. It is addiction to food. And availability of highly processed carbs, fats, and sugars. Caloric values of foods has increased, not the least of which is due to our "super sized" perception of correct portion size.

I think the real issue is the role of the enablers. Especially for those who are too obese to even leave their beds. The only way they get food is from the enablers.

AskTracyAnnK28

I watched "Amber" last night and I found her to be so inspiring. I love it when they can admit to Dr. Now that they love to eat and eat too much, instead of being like "I don't know why I'm so fat - I eat Bran Flakes!"

Did anyone watch "Betty Jo"? I missed the last 20 minutes last night. She was the one who had the really skinny husband who felt like if Betty lost weight she'd leave him and was getting really angry at her at the therapists office and stormed out of the session.

He was making Hamburger Helper and she was asking for greenbeans and he was being a little b*tch about it. It was heartbreaking to watch.

LAWoman72

tracyannk28 wrote: »

I remember learning about the "4 Basic Food Groups" (later turned into the Food Pyramid)in health class and being shown healthy cooking in Home Economics. Not sure what they teach in health right now...but I think Home Ec has been cut from the budget.

I'm not saying my generations (Gen X) is better than today's, but at least we were given the tools to know how to eat healthy and exercise.

For us too it was the "Four Basic Food Groups." We also (informally - at home) were constantly drilled to have our "three square meals" a day. A "square" dinner was a protein (about half the dinner plate), a vegetable and "a starch." You ate those, or no dessert. Dessert was small-ish. Three small cookies or two "bigger" cookies (i.e. Chips Ahoy were "bigger" cookies). Or a little dessert dish of ice cream, probably half a cup? Dessert was a garnish; if you felt hungry for a bigger or "more" dessert, you were told you should have had more dinner and were encouraged to get more pot roast or green beans. We really didn't snack; a few kids had snack after school, something SMALL...which is why it was called a snack. Two cookies, or a slice of bread with butter.

Generally, the idea was: if you needed to snack, you didn't eat enough at breakfast/lunch/dinner and being hungry was your lesson to eat more "real" foods during those times. Only infants were expected to need a refill every 2-3 hours.

Today, there's dessert with EVERYTHING (dessert with lunch? WTF?) and if Little Savvanaugh is cruelly forced go more than two hours without something in her face, she might suffer a hypoglycemic episode so QUICK, get a granola bar, a single-serve Goldfish crackers and a giant-size Capri Sun Squeeze into her, STAT. Or let her go to the vending machine (vending machines at schools, double WTF???) with the $20/week allowance she gets for breathing and not having knocked down a liquor store that week.

Ugh, never mind, this sort of thing just makes me mad.

ETA: Oh, as far as "lessons" in the importance of exercise in school: None needed! Just get your *kitten* outside. You're young and full of energy, there is NO excuse for not playing PHYSICALLY outside between after-school (if you didn't have a sport which, go figure, was exercise) and dinner, then going back out after dinner and coming back in for homework. During the summer, we'd be outside with all our friends until the street lights came on our our parents yelled for us. And yes, I am aware that right now I sound very "get offa my lawn" and like I was born in 1910. I was actually born in 1967. When, go figure, kids didn't have Type II diabetes.

By the way. Get offa my lawn. And if your ball lands in here...I'm keeping it and no, your parents aren't taking me to small claims court in support of the injustice I've just done you.

(Insert Dana Carvey's Grumpy Old Man here.)

Ameengyrl

Betty Jos story scared me so much because she's only 24 years old. She gained that much weight in such a short time... Whoa. I also find it scary that the disclaimer at the beginning that says hundreds of 600 lb plus folks get surgery to change and only 5 percent succeed. FIVE PERCENT. That's like the stats for heroin addicts. I am dropping this weight and for good, no up and down for me. Don't wanna end up housebound being passed food through the window

hezemakiah

I watch it every day with my husband (although not at 600 lbs) he has a lot of weight to lose and just won't give up the crap food and I have seen him exercise twice. He has been told by docs that he needs to do it - he's on heart meds. What more motivation should one need than to save their own life?

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

tracyannk28 wrote: »

I watched "Amber" last night and I found her to be so inspiring. I love it when they can admit to Dr. Now that they love to eat and eat too much, instead of being like "I don't know why I'm so fat - I eat Bran Flakes!"

Did anyone watch "Betty Jo"? I missed the last 20 minutes last night. She was the one who had the really skinny husband who felt like if Betty lost weight she'd leave him and was getting really angry at her at the therapists office and stormed out of the session.

He was making Hamburger Helper and she was asking for greenbeans and he was being a little b*tch about it. It was heartbreaking to watch.

I really liked Amber's episode last night. I was happy to see that she was doing well at the end of the episode and helping to take care of their child.

Betty Jo's episode was good, too - I definitely couldn't stand her boyfriend's attitude, but he started to get better at the end. I don't think she lost as much weight as Dr. Now would have liked, but I think she was on her way to a healthier attitude.

Ameengyrl

Betty Jos boyfriend was a complete lunatic. They probably emotionally abuse each other because I heard her say a few times that he's her caretaker and she wonders if they have anything beyond him just taking care of her. Meaning she says it to him. So no wonder he's scared she'd leave if she lost weight! That'd make anyone crazy who's really in love.

AskTracyAnnK28

Ameengyrl wrote: »

Betty Jos boyfriend was a complete lunatic. They probably emotionally abuse each other because I heard her say a few times that he's her caretaker and she wonders if they have anything beyond him just taking care of her. Meaning she says it to him. So no wonder he's scared she'd leave if she lost weight! That'd make anyone crazy who's really in love.

I don't want to sound mean, but Betty Jo seemed a little "slow" if you know what I mean?

Ameengyrl

tracyannk28 wrote: »

Ameengyrl wrote: »

Betty Jos boyfriend was a complete lunatic. They probably emotionally abuse each other because I heard her say a few times that he's her caretaker and she wonders if they have anything beyond him just taking care of her. Meaning she says it to him. So no wonder he's scared she'd leave if she lost weight! That'd make anyone crazy who's really in love.

I don't want to sound mean, but Betty Jo seemed a little "slow" if you know what I mean?

Yeah... Maybe just very mild. But I think she knew what she was doing in manipulating her boyfriend. He seemed slow too honestly.

wearmi1

I'm obsessed with this show. It fascinates me. I'm sure there is some staging for the sake of TV but realistically they didn't get to be 600lbs in the time it took for TLC to shoot the show. Watching their struggles to fight for their lives is inspiring especially when you see them finally "get it" and figure out how to make their weight loss journeys work for themselves.

jazzine1

I like watching this show as well as the show "My weight is going to kill me"(something like that), because I feel if they can do it so can I. They are all very heavy and do get surgery to help them but they have to continue to eat and move in order to see results and it motivates me to stay on this journey. I love to watch the follow ups to see how much they have lost and how their lives have changed or if they have returned to their old habits and how that has affected their results.

AskTracyAnnK28

Have ya'll noticed that a lot of these women are blaming their weight on prior sexual assult/sexual abuse/child molestation?

I get a little irratated when I hear that because (sadly) I know victims of these awful things and none of them weigh 650 pounds...I feel like they're using it as an excuse and I find it offensive.

LAWoman72

tracyannk28 wrote: »

Have ya'll noticed that a lot of these women are blaming their weight on prior sexual assult/sexual abuse/child molestation?

I get a little irratated when I hear that because (sadly) I know victims of these awful things and none of them weigh 650 pounds...I feel like they're using it as an excuse and I find it offensive.

I have noticed it, but I do think it can be a component. You have to be through it to know how desperate you are to have some control over your body. Desperate. And angry. ANGRY. So angry you're afraid of what you might do to someone, or yourself - so you JERK yourself into some other state, whether with chemicals, food or whatever. It's frightening. Terrifying. I just can not describe the feeling. There is nothing else like it in the world - thank God.

I was anorexic for years; later I binged. Overeating like that gets you to a "numb" state. Sexual abuse is a very common reason for self-destructive behaviors, specifically ones that directly affect the body, the physical - that thing that was never actually yours. You're going to MAKE it yours - one way or another. Some escape this, sure. But many turn to drugs, alcohol, or food. Even knowing, fully, logically knowing this was the reason didn't stop me (until I really took control). It's like telling someone, "Okay, you're going to stick your hand in a fire, and it's going to hurt a lot, but don't take it out right away." You may even take classes on how to keep your hand in a fire. You may psych yourself up for it. But when that feeling hits, slams into you, bam.

No, I'm not trying to make excuses. Yes, as adults, sexual abuse survivors need to take matters into their own hands. No, I don't condone saying "I know this is the reason but I'm not going to do anything about it" and/or "I know this is the reason, therefore I CAN'T do anything about it."

Nor am I angry or even annoyed when people who can't understand this, well, show that they can't understand this. I rejoice because it means that the person was abused but somehow bypassed this or, better, much, much better, that the person never went through it. And every person who wasn't abused - I feel such joy. More, more, more of these people! I don't care if people don't get it because it means that they didn't have to experience it. All I feel is pure happiness and relief. Because it's proof positive that there are still children in the world who aren't harmed. There are still parents who care. That is huge for me, and puts things in perspective.

And no. I never got to 660 pounds.

LAWoman72

Oh, and no, most sexual abuse survivors don't weigh 660 pounds. Most people, period, don't weigh 660 pounds. As prevalent as overweight and obesity are becoming, that degree of overweight is still, by comparison, rare.

tat2cookie

tracyannk28 wrote: »

Have ya'll noticed that a lot of these women are blaming their weight on prior sexual assult/sexual abuse/child molestation?

I get a little irratated when I hear that because (sadly) I know victims of these awful things and none of them weigh 650 pounds...I feel like they're using it as an excuse and I find it offensive.

I find this rather offensive. Our basic psychology is so different from one person to another. As a person who was sexually abused, I have met many others, both men and women, whom, without really knowing it, started some form of distrustive behavior. I drank and cut myself because that was the only way I could deal with it. Others ate, not all became obese, mostly due to good genes. Some became violent, some turned to hard drugs. And some can't handle being touched. To day that they use that as an excuse to be fat isn't fair.
Do we all have a personal responsibility to control what goes into our bodies, you bet we do. Unfortuanitly for some of us it's a whole lot harder then others. To have that totally and completely overwhelming feeling that if you don't eat you become angry, you shake, you will literally do anything to get that food, sucks beyond all control. We get to hear things like, well just eat less and move more, or join weight watchers. It's like sending an drug adict to after school councilng then sent back out to the ally where you buy drugs and are expected to just say no. It's a nice idea, and may work for some people, but not for everyone. I have a bleeding heart for these people because I am one of them.

Lourdesong

Betti jo was huge before she was assulted, she's been huge her whole life and there didn't appear to me that there was ever a time when she wasn't piling on the pounds. Her rationaliation is a story. Just like when she told dr n that she's been overeating cuz she's been depressed. Another story she tells to get left alone and not badgered for her behavior.
I found it amusing that she thought adding green beans to hamburger helper would accomplish anything meaningful. And that she thinks her supet skinny husband should change how he eats as if he also has a quarter ton of weight to shed.
I Felt like his coming right out and saying he's afraid she'll leave if she loses weight was scripted. It seems like the show has been wanting that angle and this kid is the first person to agree to be fed that line and promote that narrative outright.
He said at dr n's that he just stopped fighting with her about the food (why would there be a fight if he wants her fed as bad as wants to eat?) and then when the dr left the room i heard the husband say to betti joe that she better not bite his head off [if he doesn't buy junk, etc].

Lourdesong

I think it's offensive when people excuse contemptable behavior because of some violation, as if that violation predisposes people to behave in contemptable ways. There was a homicide case where the killers sentence was reduced and he was released because he was sexually abused as a child. Apparently the logic is that sexual abuse predisposes victims to have homicidal tendencies.
How do victims of sexual abuse like those implications? I think it's revolting.