Observation

Today my family and I were watching some dumb TV, and while my parents went to go grab a drink in the kitchen I watched an ad for an upcoming show about overweight children losing weight. In addition to this, there have been ads for a new show called Huge about a girl sent to a “fat camp” by her parents. These shows disturb and offend me. If someone made a television show about anorexic children/adults gaining weight, people would think it was distasteful and disgusting. Why is this any different with losing weight? Why is it that people who are overweight are publicly displayed to the world while those who are too thin are left to their own privacy?

As someone who has struggled with weight my entire life, I find it sad that people think that being too thin is sad while being too heavy is funny, or amusing, or “that person’s fault”. As someone who has been on countless diets and done more exercise than many of my thinner friends have in their lifetime in one week, I would like to protest this mindset. While it is true that sometimes people don’t try to work on their weight and can lead to their own weight issues, there are those of us who have tried and are afflicted with medical issues that prevent us from our goals.

So please, next time you see someone who you think brought their condition upon themselves, think twice about their situation and how they might be doing everything right and are prevented by uncontrollable means.