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This is a guest post from greenman2001.
Several times a year, People magazine publishes a “Half Their Size!” issue (most recently on 14 January 2008), in which they profile people who have literally reduced their weight by half.
This is certainly a karmic act since People is the worst offender in perpetuating the cultural norm of ultra-thin-ness through their portrayal of flawlessly perfect celebrity bodies. Whatever their motivation, People does a tremendous service to anyone trying to lose weight — their portrayal of successful dieters is one of the most inspiring tools available.
The before and after pictures are jaw-dropping. Certainly all of the subjects benefit from careful poses, professional makeup, and good lighting. But even so, the transformation of their bodies is almost beyond belief.
Most of the subjects start out morbidly obese — usually over 300 pounds. They are so heavy that their bodies and facial features have become almost androgynous; it’s often difficult to tell whether they’re men or women. As a consequence, their weight loss not only makes them more attractive (some of the subjects turn out to be as gorgeous as fashion models — some have actually become models), but in each case seems to reveal a person who was previously trapped inside a stranger’s body.
 Taina Silva at 310# (140.5kg) |
 Taina Silva at 152# (69kg) |
Beyond the photographs, the stories of personal transformation are moving and inspiring. Subjects discuss:
- What life was like before and after weight loss.
- The source of their motivation.
- The life changes that have been brought about by their weight loss.
In the most recent issue, People talks bluntly about excess skin surgery, and the fact that one’s friends may prefer that you stay fat, exacting a serious price as you continue to lose weight. They interview the subjects, asking them questions about how to start, overcoming obstacles, and the specific eating and exercise programs that they followed.
People also includes “before and after” calorie plans, describing, for example, how the previously-310# (140.5kg) Teresa Williams (now 150#/68kg) managed to consume 10,000 calories a day. (Lunch was an entire box of Lucky Charms cereal and an entire half-gallon of milk.)
In doing so, People highlights the little-discussed fact that it takes a great deal of effort to maintain one’s excess weight. It’s often an all-consuming preoccupation that allows no room for the kind of life that one might otherwise want to live. These are people who put all of their energy into maintaining grossly overweight bodies, and I often find myself wondering just what is driving them so hard to do so.
People doesn’t delve deeply into any one person’s story, but they provide an enormously beneficial service nonetheless. They combine glossy presentation with practical advice, and in the process create a tool that can really motivate people to change.
You can experience some of these stories and articles at the Half Their Size! web site. Greenman2001 is right — these stories are amazing.
Mac
9 responses so far ↓
1 TosaJen // Feb 21, 2008 at 7:47 am
I don’t find these kinds of stories very inspiring, perhaps because my weight range is +-25 pounds, not hundreds. I struggle to avoid getting to that point. (Totally not bragging — I work hard just to stay “overweight”.)
I am more impressed when an entire town changes its culture so that losing weight isn’t extraordinary. If everyone can do it — THAT I would pay attention to. I have the same reaction to the Biggest Loser — everything is so extreme that I can’t relate to what they’re doing, and I don’t see myself incorporating what they do into my life.
Was there more information about how the “half their size” folks keep the weight off than was on the website. “She exercises! She stays away from the vending machines! She drinks water! She goes on walks.” I can guarantee that there’s a lot more to it than that!
A friend of mine did a spread like this for another magazine, and she felt belittled by it, because the focus was not on HER and her growth, but solely on how much better she looks than she used to. She compulsively binges and purges to deal with her negative emotions. If she purges, her weight is less (part of her major weight loss), if she doesn’t purge, she gets fat.
Why do people eat 10,000 calories/day? Because they haven’t learned how to make themselves feel better in other ways. People eat extraordinary amounts of food to self-medicate: if you’re lonely, sad, tired, frustrated, food is cheap, always available, and guaranteed to feel good and distract you, at least for a little while. Not the kind of reality that goes into People magazine, eh?
2 Red // Feb 21, 2008 at 10:14 am
When I eat it’s just because food is delicious and available. Eating is also one of the fun things to do when you’re too fat to do anything else.
3 Pam // Feb 21, 2008 at 10:18 am
While the weight loss methods used may not be useful for the average person’s weight loss quest (almost everyone featured used a professional weight loss program; one guy was on a liquid diet for over a month), I do find these stories very inspirational from an accomplishment perspective. Look how far these people came and what they were able to do because of their determination! This, to me, is a lesson we can all take to heart, whether in regards to dieting or some other aspect in one’s life (school, career, finances, etc.).
4 elisabeth // Feb 21, 2008 at 10:19 am
“food is cheap, always available..” actually, that’s something that always amazes me about people who are obese–where is the money coming from? I do understand that simple carbohydrates are less expensive than a lot of other items, but, at the same, time, even twinkies cost more than a dollar last time I looked, and the local crisis center is having food drives all the time because we have so many people in our community who can’t afford enough food.
I do think that one reason I’m currently overweight is that we are in good shape financially and don’t have to think about how much we spend while buying groceries.
5 A // Feb 21, 2008 at 11:56 am
Elisabeth, I think a lot of it is that the food that IS cheap, easily available, and ready to consume. People forget that a gigantic Coke, a couple microwave burritos, and a bunch of Doritos can exceed a thousand calories pretty easily. Worse, because there’s no actual FOOD in there, you’ll be hungry again an hour later.
6 TosaJen // Feb 21, 2008 at 12:01 pm
There are different levels of problems being discussed here:
Sure, some people eat because they don’t know how to do anything else, they don’t understand what a portion should look like, they like to overeat just because things taste good. They don’t exercise because it doesn’t fit in their lifestyle or they don’t like it. Those are generally not the people who have another person-size amount of fat on their body. I’d guess that Mac and JD mostly fall in that category, although JD has commented on his emotional eating (as have I).
I doubt very much that if you are eating 10,000 calories a day, including things like an entire box of cereal with a quart of whole milk for lunch, it’s because it tastes good. This kind of eating is compulsive.
7 Uncle Midriff // Feb 21, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I could easily eat an entire average-sized box of cereal in one sitting. For whatever reason, I like cereal better than just about anything else. If you gave me a choice right now between a big juicy cheeseburger, a fancy steak, or a bowl of cereal, I’d probably choose the cereal just about every time. I fully understand that the other choices are “better” in many regards, but the pleasure I get from eating cereal (and plenty of it) exceeds, greatly, even that which I used to get from smoking. If you were to ask me why I was eating so much cereal, I would respond, “Because it tastes so good, and I like it so much.”
Regarding elisabeth’s comments, it’s not like you have to spend a fortune to get a massive amount of calories. One slice of a large, stuffed-crust meat-lover’s Pizza Hut pizza is 500 calories. One slice! I’ve never seen anyone eat just one slice of pizza for a meal. But even if they only eat two slices, they’ve likely had about half of their needed caloric intake for the day. A box of cereal only costs about $2 or $3 around where I live, and the off-brand bagged cereals are usually cheaper and just as good. So, I could easily consume a crap-ton of excess calories for little more than the change I can scrounge up from couch cushions, car seats, and side walks.
I’ve not crunched the numbers, but I am almost certain that the eating habit that put me over 330 pounds cost much less than my smoking habit, and plenty of dirt poor people manage to find the money to buy cigarettes.
8 Asithi // Feb 22, 2008 at 11:47 am
Elizabeth - I find it interesting that you mentioned that you relate your finances with your weight gain. I find that I have the same problem. Since we make more money now, we go out for “treats” more often. Or when we are eating out, we can treat ourselves to an appetizer or a desert. Or we find that we go “try out” new restaurant more often.
9 Joshua // Feb 27, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Uncle, I’m with you on the cereal thing. I don’t know if its a carb thing or what, but I can devour cereal like there is no tomorrow. I’m a vegetarian so I would definatley rather have cereal than a steak or burger, but even compared to pb&j sandwiches or pizza, I think I’d rather have cereal and ice cold milk. I know all to well how easy it is to eat an entire box of cereal. People don’t realize(I was in this same boat until I recently started keeping a food log) how much more than a serving you get when you “only have 1 BOWL of cereal” considering an average portion is 3/4 to 1 cup of cereal.
Eating drastically more calories than you need is not something you do with intention. Food really can be an addiction. I used to eat almost two whole pizzas or bag’s of chips at a time because I was bored, angry, depressed, etc. The more I ate, the fatter I got, the more ashamed I was, the more depressed/angry at myself I got, the more I ate….and the cycle goes on and on. I still have problems with food, obvioulsy why after losing 60 lbs, I still have 40 pounds to go. I easily slip back into old habits and my body is a real machine at fat storage anyway. You have to eat to live and it should certainly be enjoyable, but people to easily make the connection that to have joy, they need to eat. Thats why I was over 300 pounds. Thats why I still fight with these food issues every day{though I’m winning now
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Lastly, I’ve never understood why the more processed/time and work required to prepare something is, the cheaper it gets. The more simple the process, the more expensive it is. Doritos require plowing, planting, maintaining, harvesting, grinding, mixing the grain, then baking, flavoring, bagging, boxing, shipping. Ear corn requires the same plowing, planting, maintaining, harvesting,(skip 6 steps) and shipping; yet it costs so much more. This makes no sense. Crude oil is alot cheaper than processed gasoline, and the more processed the more expensive. Where’s the logic? I’ve just forced myself to accept the fact that I’m buying nutrition, not bulk, and do the best I can with my budget.
Okay, I wonder how many calories I just burnt off blowing all that steam?
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