My Big Fat Stereotype

Whenever I write about my internal struggles due to being a weight-challenged person, I always wonder whether I am playing into cultural stereotypes about overweight people. For example, if I talk about my past emotional eating habits, do I somehow give credence to the idea that fat people are out of control around food? If I share the unhelpful voices that bounce around in my head, do I reinforce a belief that obese people are somehow psychologically deficient?

Yet, if I hold those things back, do I risk doing just as big a disservice? I firmly believe that a major reason so many people fail at maintaining a large weight loss is because we are not honest enough about what is required, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually even. Consider that you have to change your entire way of life, as well as learn to co-exist in a cheeseburger and cookie-obsessed world.  And as if all that were not hard enough, you also have to deal with whatever inner demons you have about food. That’s real no matter what someone else might think about it.

What about those inner demons? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I don’t think there is a person alive who isn’t a little squirrelly about something. Some of us are prone to road rage. Some of us have been known to shop compulsively. Some of us are addicted to Honey Boo Boo. And some of us have a nutty relationship with food. In other words, we are all blessed with our own distinctive dark side. It’s like that 1980s movie “Ghostbusters,” you know, the part where Gozer the Gozerian says, “Choose the form of the Destructor!” How we cling to our Destructors!

So, yes, I am a little crazy about eating. Just as other people are crazy about something else. But here’s the thing: I was not one-hundred pounds overweight because I’m a little unhinged when it comes to food. My experience convinces me that being one-hundred pounds overweight is the result of multiple causes, physical, mental, and cultural. If I were to magically erase all of my inner food-madness, I would still have to deal with my genetics, my biology and my family’s propensity for Christmas cookie overload.

All of which leads me to the conclusion that I may as well let all of my mental baggage hang out. If that causes someone to judge me (or overweight people in general) in a negative light, well, okay. You could look at it another way though. You see, surviving as a fat person in a world that denigrates you for being heavy takes a lot of strength and courage and grit. It makes you resilient. Tough. Tenacious.

Stereotype that.