3/16/10 Celebrities in WL Denial

WL related things that got me crazy this morning (and it's not even 8:30 am yet as I'm writing this). I know there are many bad WL celebrity examples (did Anyone see Carney Wilson on Dr. Oz recently? She gets a crown for denial and excuses!), but here are a few that got me thinking this morning, because of their denial (and so back up my mantra on how important awareness is):

- This morning on my drive back from the bus stop I heard about a woman whose goal it is to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. She presently weighs over 600 pounds and wants to weigh over 1,000 pounds. She can't walk 20 feet now, but says she's healthy. She said running after her child has kept her weight down (running? seriously?). She's already in the book for being the fattest woman to give birth at 532 lbs. If she achieves this the GBoWR will, I'm sure put her photo in the book, and look, she's already getting press about this. This is just wrong on so many levels. That's press for someone cutting their life short. What's next, a world record for the most cigarettes smoked, the most alcohol consumed in a day?

- Kirstie Alley was on the Today Show this morning promoting her new reality show series 'Big Life' and her new for-sale WL program products ($1,700/one year membership and supplements). The woman is deep in WL denial.
---Meredith asked her if she'd thought about why she gained the weight back after her big bikini reveal on Oprah (2006)...She answered that no, she hasn't thought 'why', just 'did'...she 'did' gain the weight back and the two things her new WL plan (products for sale) help her with her cravings and hunger. Just the 'not thinking about why' and dealing with her emotional relationship with food (see yesterday's blog on awareness) means she's doomed for another regain IMO.
---I haven't been a long time yo-yoer like the tabloids say. I've only been fat four years of my life. Later in the interview she said her first weight gain was in the early '90's after a miscarriage (um, that's about 20 years ago, and her Oprah regain was over the next two years, so she's now been fat since 2008, so 2 years just from this latest yo-yo jump).
---Meridith asked what happened to her role with Jenny Craig and did they fire her/and were they mad at her? She answered that she didn't think they were mad at her and that she felt the split was mutual. Her explanation was that they wanted to go with a more serious commercial campaign and that she liked to have sillier/fun commercials. Um, did she really think anyone would believe that?
---She whined about how the press has hounded her since her first weight gain to sell papers, yet she's very publicly announced her attempt to start WL plans several times in the past and now, already did one show about her weight (I think it was called 'Fat Actress'?) and now another show. It's like telling people about your LB...you can't get mad then that those people are now asking/watching/reacting to your WL, or lack thereof. Also the WL experts agree that the stress and pressure she's under makes the WL even harder to come off...hmm 'stress and pressure' wasn't I just giving that same reason for not telling anyone about my LB at the beginning?
---Meredith asked what her goal weight is this time and she said that she always set her goal too low in the past...when she started her acting career she was 118 and so she set her goals at 120. She admits that 120 is probably not attainable now, so she has set her goal for 145. She's 5'8" and is very big busted. Um, we're almost the same height (1/2") and I'm flat chested and I can't see me reaching 145...I was VERY thin at that weight.
---Kirstie admitted getting off drugs in the past with a rehab program, and Meridith asked if she saw a correlation between the drug addiction and the food one. She was defensive that she doesn't use the word 'addiction', but 'compulsion' when it comes to food. She pointed out that you have to eat every day, it has nutrition benefits, and food is legal. Um, so is alcohol Kirstie, and doesn't red wine have benefits.

- Of course that got me thinking about Oprah as she was much thinner in the clip with Kirstie than she is now. Love Oprah, hate her thoughts on WL and the hypocrisy she spews about WL.
---I hate that's she's so solidly against WLS and then has one guest expert after another on losing weight the 'old fashioned way'...doesn't she see that she's no example of that?...she'd be better off not talking about weight at all IMO.
---The only thing that Oprah does successfully for people needing to lose weight is to make us feel better about her failure (especially those of us who have yo-yoed and/or tried everything like her). She publicly shows that you can have a raft of WL experts, books, exercise gurus and personal trainers, Medical Dr's., Nutritionists, WL Psychologist, and Private healthy chefs at your disposal and sometimes that's still not enough to keep the weight off successfully. Her example as a WL failure helped me when I reached my decision to finally allow myself to look at WLS.

I truly feel for these last two ladies, I've been them, well, without the celebrity part, although I do have the proper sunglasses. I just hate how it perpetuates the perception that the next 'diet' or 'exercise' plan that's around the corner will finally work and be our miracle. I do love that Oprah has owned her regain and is no longer blaming it on her thyroid, and she made a plan to start focusing on herself/putting her needs on the list. It's ironic though, one of the sayings that Oprah spouts out a lot is that life will keep giving you the same lesson until you learn that lesson...I would have loved to have seen her learn this one.