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by Tara Overzat
Increasingly, stories are cropping up about people who had gastric bypass surgery and other stomach changing surgeries (like lap bands) who have put most or all their lost weight back on. Some of these people are in quite visibly in the public eye like the “Today Show”‘s Al Roker and Star Jones, formerly of “The View” and truTV. Others have gone on extreme diets that ultimately failed, like Erik Chopin, one-time winner of “The Biggest Loser.”
Many things in America are convenient comparative to the rest of the world- shopping, eating out, even finding employment. Dieting, however, has no quick fix, especially when speaking of the super or morbidly obese. Often, people who allow themselves to become that large are utilizing food the way an alcoholic uses beer or a drug addict uses meth- to self-medicate and numb oneself to pain and distress.
Shows like “The Biggest Loser” do nothing to treat the underlying issues causing the contestants to overeat. They focus on improbable feats of weight loss, accomplished by working out essentially all day with what would be in the real world a very costly trainer. In their daily lives, these same people would have to work at least eight hours a day at work and in many cases go home and have to perform family responsibilities, leaving little time to go to the gym, and probably little money for a trainer.
Erik Chopin and Oprah
Ivana Trump and Star Jones
A promo for Celebrity Family Feud with Al Roker as the host.
Not only is this rapid weight loss impractical, it is unhealthy, as is applying a dog-eat-dog competitive mentality to what should be a lifestyle change, not a contest.
Weight control is increasingly becoming a global problem, since the most convenient food is often the most calorie-rich. Along with that, the huge increase in leisure time has had a negative impact on many people’s weight. Originally, the idea of household appliances made a housewife’s life easier and gave her time for leisure activities. Now, machines can do so much more than just clean a house, and rather than filling this free time with physical activities, men and women use it to watch more television and movies, sit in front of the computer, play video games, and pursue other sedentary activities.
I have struggled with my weight for fifteen years now, and have roller coastered from a size zero jean (I still keep those in the closet) to a size ten, and sizes in between multiple times over. I am an emotional eater, and food has been a constant companion around the world for me. On my worst days, it seems there is nothing a full stomach cannot fix and I have been my thinnest only when my food choices were limited by circumstance (living on the outskirts of Beijing, staying in a college dorm). Sadly, this points to a gross lack of willpower on my part when it comes to weight control, a problem the experts on “Oprah”, “Dr. Phil” and “The Biggest Loser” cannot fix for me. I use food to self-medicate, and this is something I will have to change myself without any hour-long TV show psychology. In fact, this may very well be why Oprah’s diet attempts have failed over and over again. She openly admits to being an emotional eater, yet seems to spend more time feeling the pain of her guests than healing her own. So, no matter how much time she spends with trainer Bob Greene, she will inevitably skip the gym and reach for the Haagen-Dazs when she is upset.
The best diet of all may be just sitting still- on a shrink’s couch.
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