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Dear FRONTLINE,
I appreciate your effort to provide a sensible and factual approach to the problems of overweight. Having fought the battle of the bulge for most of my life, I realize that, although it may not be what I want, it is what I am. It is unfortunate that more people in our society cannot lok at the person and not the package. Most of us are pretty good people.
Mary Neville
stockton, ca
Dear FRONTLINE, In 1988 my husband and I rode ten speed bicycles from Los Angeles,CA to San Fransisco, CA.
While it may have taken us longer than others the fact remains that we made it all the way there. Great trip and while I don't exercise as much as I maybe should, I have managed to live a healthy life at an average weight of 290-310lbs for the last 20 years. I used to work 6 days and week and most people could not keep up with my busy days which averaged 10-14 hours of working in my own business as a dog groomer.
los angeles, ca
Dear FRONTLINE, I can personally testify that it is very possible to be fit and fat. I am considered morbidly obese by physicians and yet I work out 5 times a week, walk between 2 and 4 miles a day, and work horses. As in the example in your story, all of this activity combined with healthy eating habits has me dropping weight dramatically, but I know and accept the fact that even when I level out, I will still be considered obese. Oh well! :}
Jeanette Winters
redding , california
Dear FRONTLINE, Dear Frontline,
Thank you for an intelligent and compassionate story on fat. It has always been my opinion that whatever was difficult to attain in society was then the ideal view. Back when Rueben's women were considered beautifull I will bet you that it was not the norm to be that voluptuous and now that it is easy to be voluptuous, being rail thin is the idea, because hardly anyone can do it. Also, I love the woman designer in Toronto, I cheered when she told her story. I am a large woman (size 18) and in the past was a size 8 and have lived life on both sides, and I can tell you it frightens me when the young women of today are told that a size 10 or 12 is a plus size. Thank you thank you for pointing out how incredibly insane our society has become in regards to weight. Please do more on this subject!!!
Kris Godinez
portland, oregon
Dear FRONTLINE, Well Done! Bravo!! I just watched your program on Fat and was inspired. Your message that we each need to celebrate our uniqueness was superlative! We need to hear that message from more sources. For the sake of our children, I hope your message gets through to at least one person in the advertizing, food, fashion, and toy industries. We need to let our kids know that they are loved and worthwhile whether they are black, white, brown, tall, short, skinny, or fat.
santa clarita, ca
Dear FRONTLINE, Another provocative show...Bravo! I have been interested in body typology for a long time, as I have been interested in issues surrounding race, sexuality, etc. There are so many issues surrounding weight in our society -- inevitably, the "overweight" lose. As a man, I have been intrigued by the concommitant decrease in public female body forms (read: thinner) and the rise in public male forms (read: robustness). While I agree with the "facts" presented on Frontline, i think that male insecurity in the postmodern world has a lot to do with the fear of female "largeness." From experience with the media all of us are subjected to, men are inevitably shown as physically larger than their female "co"- stars. Why must men -- even when they are short and sleight -- always be phyisically larger than the women they act with? Male insecurity is involved in the denegration of large women. (Does this result from a nationwide craze for gyms and muscles instigated by the gym culture?) I believe that postmodern males -- for whatever reasons -- have been instilled with a (or the media is merely reflecting a social) need to be larger, and appear more visually substantial, than women,i.e., retain their dominance via physical appearance?
Kevin Petty
tempe, az
Dear FRONTLINE, I am a 35 year old woman who has been "morbidly obese" all my life. I have been through every diet known to man, all the drugs, legal and otherwise, and recently, due to severe asthma, I was ruled out for Roux-en-Y Gastric bypass procedure. I have severe spinal problems which limit (to a certain extent) my mobility. In fact, I use a wheelchair to get around, although I can and do walk for short distances. I eat a balanced diet, almost no junk food (who doesn't like an occasional hamburger?), and I do exercise every day. I maintain my weight at 320 pounds, all my vital signs are within Normal limits, and my own physician has told me that this is the way I am meant to be, and that I am as healthy as possible under the circumstances. I'm happy with me.... why can't the world stay out of my fridge and quit running me down?
Morgana Gordon
san diego, california
Dear FRONTLINE, It's interesting to hear about all the attention that's paid to identifying genetic causes of obesity. It often sounds as though we're waging a war against obesity, much like we have against cancer, and that modern medicine will develop a cure.
Perhaps more time should be spent looking at the food our bodies are designed to digest.
I'm another proponent of a lower grain, lower carbohydrate diet. Our ancestors evolved on a diet of meats, vegetables, and fruits.
Greg O'Neil
salt lake city, ut
Dear FRONTLINE, I wanted to thank you for doing your program this evening. In May of this year, my loving husband/best friend had a heart attack followed by angioplasty. Four weeks ago, my sweetheart underwent a double coronary bypass. Both my husband and myself are overweight, and my husband was diagnosed as a Type II diabetic trying to control with 4 insulin injections a day, and several other medications to lower his lipid levels. What prompted his condition? There is no 'one' answer; learning to overeat as a child due to emotional need while being very active and then becoming an adult who works rotating shifts and still somewhat active, and then being put on insulin with straight 10hr work days that involve little activity there, while being fatiqued by an (unknownly) increasing level of coronary artery disease making the motivation to exercise more a losing battle at this time. Mentally, we both have known what the "right" things are to do. Food can be a powerful 'drug' that no one questions you about; one that you can not quit entirely cold turkey. I'm glad to hear the info from the Cooper Institute, in that we need to look at people more as individuals. Most of the women on the maternal side of my family have been overweight/obese most of their lives. With a greatgrandmother who lived to be 96 & overweight, and a currently living grandmother who is 94 and overweight, how do I convince myself that the blubber I carry around with me every day is going to KILL me? I truly agree we need to dump the 'ideal number', and go for increasing activity levels (especially among children), and strive for just living in one's skin (with or without stretchmarks) comfortably. You cannot judge every book by its cover!
elk river , mn
Dear FRONTLINE, I caught your PBS program quite by accident, but I am glad I did. I've been reading medical research for years, I've been in therapy for obesity and your program confirmed some of the best information I have found. I think fat people are too quick to buy into self-blame and perpetuate their obesity and depression by withdrawing from social and physical activity due to fear of censure. I urge any 'overweight' person to consider exercising in the water. Water aerobics, swimming or water jogging is low-impact and high health benefits without inflicting further damage on body joints. I don't know why Americans have developed the super-judgmental attitudes that they have now. It seems that so many Americans want to believe that their perspective is the only possible healthy perspective and are very free with hateful comments and power-positioning to inflict their opinions on others. I am an American.
I am fat, as are most of my ancestors. More importantly, I am a remarkable and gifted individual. And I deserve to be valued and respected, publicly and privately.
Pat Yates
goldsboro, north carolina
Dear FRONTLINE, Frontline, Thank you for treating the question of fat with sensitivity. As the mother of two girls, ages 9 & 6, I am horrified at their attitudes toward their own bodies. Neither is overweight at all, but even the 6 year old frets about whether her clothes make her look "fat". Many of your guests cited the fashion industry's unrealistic portrayal of "normal" bodies, but how do consumers begin to change this? Not buying their clothes is the easy answer, but how many of us really buy designer clothes anyway? Again, thank you for choosing this important topic.
Amanda O
chicago, il
Dear FRONTLINE, I just got through watching your program on FAT. I must agree that being fit is more improtant than being thin. I too am tired of the thin models and such. This thin craze has gone way too far. I do not want my daughter growing up to think that in order to be beutiful she has to be wafe thin. I have friends that have made then selfs sick trying to be thin. When what they really should be doing is trying to be fit. It is also true that it is cheeper to eat the "junk food" rather than buying the health food. Why is that? That just seems sooooo wrong. Think fit not fat or thin. Extreme in any direction is not healthy.
nampa, id
Dear FRONTLINE, Your program tonight on FAT hit painfully home. I am 5'6" and weigh 213 pounds, but have also been at the other end of the scale - 103 pounds. For 36 of my 48 years, I have been fighting a "war" against my body. For the past 25 years, I have suffered from anorexia and bulemia. Even when I taught aerobics 4 times a day for 4 years, my weight never dropped below 138. Being obese is still very painful for me
because I still see myself like most of society sees me - obese. When will we, as human beings,
stop passing judgement upon one another and learn to love each other for what we are inside?
Kathy Mowery
sylva, north carolina
Dear FRONTLINE, Society is changing. Ideals that sprouted in the 60's are being dug up and stomped on. Especially the ideal of fat being bad, ugly, and unhealthy. I've been large size or fat for a long as I can remember it counting. Exercise has never truly been a problem in my life. Recently I shocked a group of cousins between the ages of 10-12, when I ran after them. I kept pace and continued to run even after they had quit. What I'm trying to say is that fat is just a state of mind. Other's (aka society) tries to put larger people down, to make themselves feel important or more beautiful. "I may have a big nose and no money, but thank God I'm not fat." We do the same thing with race and economics. It's hard as hell for a large person to be happy with themselves when mixed message are all around. Like the grocery store checkoutwere they place candy bars alongside magazines that feature the lastest diet and the hottest thin model. Here's some advice for those who are large and feel lost in this sea of mixed messages. Find a magazine that features large size people, Mode, BBW, etc. Read the articles, study the pictures, try to do some of the things they say. Such as dressing like one of their models. Along with that have an attitude that you are beautiful and successful. It may have to be pretend at first. Like an actress in costume for the first time. But believe me, when you do it long enough and it will become part of you and will start to show without thought. Start working on your mind, and telling yourself that your weight does not determine your who you are as a person.
Michella C.
dallas, tx
Dear FRONTLINE, Unfortunately, I have once again watched a program in which all of the so-called "experts" just don't get it. I am 26 years old, 5'5", and have never weighed more than 105 pounds. I eat at least four regular-size meals a day, and yet never put on weight. I don't excercise for fear of losing weight. Strangers come up to me as I walk in the mall or grocery store with my husband, and ask, "How long ago were you diagnosed with cancer?" Why is this acceptable behavior? The expert on tonight's program who argued with Vidal Sasson, just misses the whole point. She needs to understand that everyone is different. When I look in the mirror, I don't see someone who is fat, or even average. I hate my body because people like her teach society that thin equals unhealthy, anorexic people. Stereotyping does not make you correct. I would love to love my body, but fear that while magazines show me images of my body-type, "experts" will continue knocking these images down by calling them wrong and disgusting. What kind of message does that send to people like me? People like her are no better than the stupid, heart-less people that make fun of over-weight people, they just have a degree allowing them to do it professionally.
Jennifer French
jacksonville, fl
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