#thebiggestloser — Public Fediverse posts

Maybe a decade ago I first listened to this particular podcast episode. Elna Baker, a producer at This American Life, walks through her journey from fat to skinny.

It's powerful. It's illuminating. It's tragic. It's worth your time.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/589/tell-me-im-fat/act-two-5

I will never be a skinny person, not unless there's some new miracle medication that comes out. Which will likely be dangerous anyway. My genes have the final say. I am who I am, and I have accepted that a long time ago.

If I could make skinny people understand one thing, it's simply that being fat is not a choice. No more than being bald. Or being short. Or being old. I have former-friends who still believe that myself and my wife are just not trying hard enough. We are fat because of a moral failing.

Thanks to science we know better. Some of us do anyway.

TV shows like "The Biggest Loser" do nothing to promote the science. They promote the idea that weight is a choice. They are designed for drama, not reality. The human body, however, is far more complicated than "eat less, exercise more."

#TheBiggestLoser #ElnaBaker #ThisAmericanLife