I was watching a nationally syndicated talk show a few mornings ago and became very frustrated with what I was watching. “What did you see Fat Chick? Please share.” I know that this is what all of you are saying to yourselves right now so I will share with you BUT ONLY YOU!!

I was watching and in the “sneak peek” they said that they would be talking so someone who lost a “tremendous” amount of weight. Well, this peaked my attention since I too want to loose a tremendous amount of weight. I sat, glued to the TV, anxiously awaiting the segment to begin and after 3 minutes of commercials about Fast Food restaurants, feminine hygiene products and Direct TV, it began. The host spoke of how this young woman had struggled with her weight all of her life and finally DID IT! As I heard this, I wanted to grab my pom-pom’s, leap into a spread eagle jump and give her a cheer. I was going to see a segment about someone like me and I really needed the encouragement to get my weight loss train a chuggin’ again. They showed a current picture and she was a young girl, maybe 25, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. As they talked, I couldn’t wait to see where she started and how much weight she had lost in total. As her “before” picture came onto my TV screen, all of my anticipation came to a screeching halt and I felt the need to scream at the top of my lungs! The picture on the screen was of the same girl with longer hair and about 40 lbs heavier than she currently was on the show. Since when is 40 llbs a TREMENDOUS amount of weight? I was expecting to see someone who had lost 150-200 lbs, maybe even 300 lbs but no, I see a woman who “waged a battle for 4 whole months” to loose 48 lbs! My right thigh probably weighs that much! Heck, 5 lbs of the weight was probably from getting her hair cut! And as she spoke about how she lost her WHOPPING 48 LB, I began to daydream about how awesome it would be to only have to loose 48 lbs. She cut her soda intake down to 2 cans a day, and drank diet soda instead of regular soda. She ate salads for lunch each day and had small meals for dinner so she didn’t have all that food in her stomach before going to bed. As she gave her tips and the host looked at her in awe, I began to get really frustrated - Don’t get me frustrated, you wouldn’t like me when I’m frustrated!! (Sorry, saw a trailer for the new hulk movie.) I watch these TV Talk shows and many of them do segments about weight loss but rarely do we see someone who has to loose more than 75-100 lbs. Now, that is a great thing but don’t my fellow fat chicks and I deserve to see someone who has really waged the BATTLE OF THE BULGE. Maybe 200-250 lbs lost? Let’s get nuts and make it 300 lbs! Then I start to wonder why we rarely see that and when we do, why is it normally a pre-recorded segment? Are they afraid that the overweight or formerly overweight person is going to eat everything in the Green Room and then go on a rampage thru the studio eating trinkets from people desks and rummaging thru purses and drawers for loose candy and snacks? Maybe they think the overweight or formerly overweight person will scare the studio audience. The children in the audience will scream for their parents to save them from the BIG FAT LADY who is sniffing their hair because they used Cotton Candy shampoo that morning. Could there be a fear that they will break the furniture and attack the host, grabbing them and climbing up into the rafters like King Kong did.
I guess I am also wondering why weight loss programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use people who have lost 30-40 lbs in their commercials when using someone who has lost 210 lbs would really show the effectiveness of their programs but I guess they just wouldn’t be “pretty” enough. The only time that we see these people are when the talk shows want to talk about the dreaded weight loss surgeries – then they are more than happy to show the 400 lb woman who is having a majority of her stomach removed to loose 250 lbs along with the woman who now weighs 125 lbs but use to weigh 375 and had her stomach stapled or banded up so that her body wouldn’t and couldn’t absorb the nutrients needed so she could loose that 250 lbs. And do we often here about the problems that went along with the surgery? Nope!
I am a self proclaimed Fat Chick on a mission. What is my mission? To open the eyes of our Thincentric society to the fact that Fat People are not going to disappear just because you pick on them and call them names. We are flesh and blood, just like them. We have feelings, just like them. We too want to be happy and healthy, just like them. The difference is that we have to get there on a different road but our roads will cross sometimes and it would be so much easier to be able to just coexist without the boundaries of weight.
Come on people, can’t we all just get along!