This was my response to a post at Fierce Freethinking Fatties. The post was actually about the new television program, Heavy. Which is a bastion of enlightenment compared to hate-filled crappage like "The Biggest Loser." Who do I think is "The Biggest Loser" meaning loser as in a real shit of a person as opposed to loser meaning someone who has lost weight? The producers of this piece of shit hate-fest, that's who. Oh, and Jillian Michaels. I cannot abide that bitch. Being skinny does not make you a good person. It doesn't make you a bad person either, it just makes you a skinny person. Jillian Michaels is a rotten excuse for a human being who just happens to be skinny.
Now, here is my response to the post.
I am a heavy person (270 pounds) who has certifiable mental health issues (bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, OCD) and it is very rare for me to "throw fits." I generally do not cry in front of people and if I do, it's very subtle. Anyone can be driven to "throwing a fit" if they are needled at enough.
As a person in the medical field, I can say that there is a difference between true morbid obesity and being fat. I mostly work with the elderly. The "death fat diseases" like hypertension, heart disease, and type II diabetes effect elderly people of all weights EQUALLY! The difference that I have observed is that heavy people tend to have more trouble with osteoarthritis in the joints of the lower body (knees, hips, ankles) while very slender people tend to develop osteoporosis. It's kind of six of one half dozen of the other. The extra weight provides weight bearing resistance, which is why one doesn't tend to see heavy people with osteoporosis. But it puts more stress on the lower joints.
While doing clinicals at the hospital I took care of three people who were truly morbidly obese. It impacted their ability to move. I will tell you that all three of these people had kidney problems. So, how much of the obesity was due to complications from the kidney problems? I don't have the training to say.
Even the large adult blood pressure cuffs did not fit these folks, the smallest of whom weighed 350 pounds. I had to use the cuff around the lower part of the arm. Perhaps this means that a third size of BP cuff needs to be developed. This woman, who was 30 years old, was able to help in her care and was able to transfer to her wheel chair with stand by assist.
The next was an older woman who probably weighed around 450 pounds. Until her condition suddenly worsened, she too was able to move with stand by assist. She was fairly tall so her weight was more evenly distributed. We also had a patient of around 450 pounds who was short. She was barely able to move and was non-verbal. There were folds of fat around her ankles that had become infected by fungus because she couldn't reach them to clean herself. This woman hardly spoke. I'm not sure if there was true dementia or if she was simply so depressed that she had become non-verbal.
Is being that heavy a health issue. I would say yes. But did these people become that heavy because of other health problems? Possibly. Again, I don't have the training to say for sure. One thing I do no for sure is that SHAMING these people for their size would not help any of them, and putting people on crash diets is never, ever, ever the answer.
Most heavy people are able to move and you know what? I can think of no "lazy" fat people who aren't also depressed. Depression causes inertia. The myth of the "lazy lard ass" is just that--a myth.
I would love to see a program that taught Health At Every Size as opposed to fixating on a number on a scale. Also one that taught self-acceptance. But yeah, that wouldn't make for "good TV." Actually, it would. It just wouldn't make for good voyeurism.
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