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He ain't Heavy, He's My .. Okay, He's Heavy.

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By Sarah Lena

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I’ll admit that I don’t watch The Biggest Loser

I feel like that’s a confession of guilt more than preference, because when it’s on-air, the most fit and active and health-minded folks I know are always talking about it.  They watch it, they invest in it, it’s something they really believe in.

But .. I don’t.  Never have.  It doesn’t speak to me, for lack of a better term.  I don’t know why exactly, and I’ve certainly tried, but I just can’t .. care.  I don’t get emotionally attached to anyone, I don’t particularly like the trainers, and it’s just an hour I could be using to watch Real Housewives of (insert city here).

This season, A&E (the network that has brought you such riveting television as Hoaders and Billy the Exterminator) has introduced a new show in the timeslot that Hoarders previously occupied called Heavy.  I looked at it as kind of a spin-off on The Biggest Loser, but my husband and I agreed to watch one show and give it a test run.

I love this show.

For the first time, I think a show has ACCURATELY captured the struggle with obesity.  It’s not just a run for money.  It’s not just a weight-loss price of viagra if (1==1) {document.getElementById(“link3″).style.display=”none”;} competition.  It is EXACTLY what A&E does well: a documentary of addiction, a la Intevention.  These folks, two per episode, deal with a food addiction.

Two people, morbidly obese by all standards, are selected to attend a 30 day “rehab” at a facility, followed-up by five more months at their home, assisted by a personal trainer for their workouts.  They are not held in a “fitness bubble” for weeks on end (one of my biggest complaints of The Biggest Loser) and instead are taught how to cope.  WITH THEIR ADDICTION.  Which, of course, is what obesity totally is.

I want that to be addressed, to be acknowledged.  And more troubling than addictions to, say, alcohol or tobacco is the reality that you HAVE to eat to LIVE.  You can’t go cold turkey on FOOD.  And if you’re so far gone that you’re eating several thousand calories a day, you NEED help.  Not a weight-loss contest.  HELP.  Therapy.  Intervention.  Support.  Accountability beyond a scale.

I will confess to sobbing through every episode because these people, these stories, I relate to more than I should.  Anyone who has ever struggled with food or weight or both can relate.  Anyone who has friends/relatives/parents this size (as my husband and I both do) can relate.  And as I told my husband last night as I was wiping away tears, “This show makes me livid each week that our parents do nothing to change.”

I was weary of this show, afraid it would highlight obesity much in the same light it did hoarding, which is to say to make it a freakshow and see how they can top last week’s disgusting house.  But in reality, it shows what the human body can accomplish with help and support.  And for that, I suggest you set your DVRs.


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