Dear CNN

CNN has a "club" for people who lose more than 100 pounds to gloat. I have often thought of submitting my story in which I lost 175 pounds thanks to anorexia and bulimia to see if they would also publish it.

CNN and the TODAY show are the worst for this kind of stuff. Seriously, I remember when CNN used to be a trusted news source. Now its just a notch or two above TMZ.

I guess I don't get it. The guy was eating a greasy unhealthy diet and felt terrible. He changed his diet and in the process lost a few pounds, so what? CNN is not saying dieting is the way to go, they are saying that this particular guy felt like crap and tried to eat more healthily. After doing so he felt great and climbed a mountain.

Why is this anti-fat? I'm sure there are fat but fit folk out there who could also summit Kilimanjaro, this guy just happened to be not fit until he changed his habits. I don't think this is a lose weight article so much as a food choice/fitness article.

I don't think that it helps the fat rights movement to imply that no one person has every changed their diet from hot pockets to bok choy and suddenly felt better. It would be more productive to send a team of fat and fit people to Tanzania.

It's antifat because it says: He had to lose weight to climb a mountain. At least that's the implication all over the story.

Here's my question: who gives a good damn about some guy losing 30 pounds? Is it really that newsworthy? Do they know how many people lose 30 pounds? Lots of them. So why clog up the news with something like this when women are being brutally raped in DRC? I mean, good for him that he hiked a mountain -- that's no easy feat -- but still. Lots of people have hiked mountains. Where I live, we have bigger fish to fry, like catching whoever shot our student body president in the head for no apparent reason. This guy losing 30 pounds is not a news story.

Not only is it anti-fat, but it's freaking classist, too. He couldn't change his lifestyle until he decided to climb Kilimanjaro....which is not really an option for fatties without enough money to hire a personal trainer and travel to Africa in pursuit of weight loss (not to mention the leisure time to run 30 miles a week). Bullshit like this pretty much spells right out how much fat hatred is about class as much as anything else.

And, yeah, with a headline that says "Dad loses 30 pounds, climbs Kilimanjaro" how could it not be about weight loss, and thus fat hatred? If weight loss wasn't the point, why would it talk about how he weighed 225 pounds (SO FAT!!!) and could "barely fit into his clothes," for fuck's sake (heaven forbid he spend some of that Kilimanjaro money on clothes that FIT)?

This piece is blatantly anti-fat because the author is glorifying this guy's weight loss, in the same way that anyone who loses weight ever - for whatever reason - is always applauded.

It's anti-fat because the message I'm supposed to take from it is that this guy is better than me or any other fat person because he lost weight - and we didn't.

It's anti-fat because it unquestioningly assumes that his supposed fatness is as a result of fast and hi-carb, hi-calorie food and a sedentary lifestyle, and 195 rather than 225 must therefore be his natural setpoint.

It's anti-fat because it even implies that this fellow was a baaaad parent because he "lacked the energy" to play with his kids - not solely because he wasn't fit, but because he dared to be slightly above his Government-mandated ideal weight.

I'm a bit bigger than 225 at around the same height, and I too have difficulty fitting into clothes - surely the obvious implication being that stores should provide more clothes in bigger sizes for large guys! Common sense? Or 'justifying obesity'!?!

And it saddens me to see the decline of this once-great progressive news outlet as it, like its British cousin the BBC, increasingly chases ratings (and it would seem that the General Public haven't yet become bored with being 'inspired' by other people's amazing weight-loss tales).

But then, I'm very reluctant to trust any source that has a dedicated 'diet section' or 'weight-loss' centre' - it's just not something I think should feature in the news coverage of any 'serious' outlet.

I disliked the descriptive bit about how he "couldn't fit into his clothes" (uh, buy bigger clothes?) and "didn't have energy" and "snored loudly." What, apart from the usual mythology, does low energy and snoring have to do with being overweight?

I think CNN is promoting an anti-fat bias, even if this story was not necessarily extreme, because it ends with an invitation to "send in your weight loss success story!" Also, in my mind, it promotes the idea that feeling bad about being fat is totally cool; that if you're fat, your happiness depends on losing weight. Just because the message was mild doesn't mean it wasn't there.

Yeah the bit about the snoring - the way they harped on it - pissed me off. WTF does that have to do with mountain-climbing? My grandfather snored like a buzzsaw and he was whip-thin. What the hell?

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

And gee, his being "low energy" (which is another way of saying "tired") couldn't POSSIBLY have anything to do with having TRIPLETS.

Personally, I think is wife (assuming he has one... no mother or wife is mentioned) deserves a medal.

I'm fat, and I used to snore. I didn't stop snoring because of any weight loss. I stopped snoring because I had my tonsils out last year. TA DAH. Alert the fucking press.

**************
"A diet counselor once told me that all overweight people are angry with their mothers and channel their frustrations into overeating. So I guess that means all thin people are happy, calm, and have resolved their Oedipal entanglements."

This article is anti-fat bacause his weight loss is the reason it's being reported on at all. But the other thing it is... is sexist. And the article never calls him out on it---but that's because it would then overshadow his "achievement". He's reinforcing the myth that girls are somehow "different" and don't have anything in common with the male gender. Good thing his daughter was into mountain climbing! Because you know... father's and daughter's have NOTHING in common--according to him. I guess he doesn't read, write, listen to music, play an instrument--see, now there's something really relevant they could've done together!. With my own dad, we have music, theatre, film, art, politics, science, cooking, language, and many other things to do and discuss (not always in agreement obvioulsy---especially on politics and cooking), but the point is my sister and I have never had our dad say or think "There's nothing I have in common with my daughters."....

I found it odd, sad and well..I was offended that to spend time with his daughter he had to spend months alone preparing for it (is it THAT much work to spend time with a young girl?!?!) So he spent hours at the gym, running etc. Why couldn't he have just done those things WITH his daughter to begin with? Well, for one thing, it's something that can be done on a daily basis and not just a one-shot month long vacation to climb a big rock. "I'd like to spend more time with you dad", "Okay...see you in six months". six months later..... "ummm dad? I like spending time with you, do you think?...." "Okay, see you in six months". Of course I don't remember how long he had to "train" to spend time with his daughter, and I'm not going back to re-read the article to find out either. The article just pissed me off. I guess at least, she got to spend time with him on the internet while searching for something they could do together (oh, the irony).

Those are good points, Diane. These people are obviously not hurting for money - if he wanted to spend time with his daughter, why didn't he buy some f*ing clothes and take a TRIP (since obviously they can take trips at will to all over the world.) They could have gone somewhere - anywhere - together and had a blast - even if he was so OMG FATZ he would have had to rent a scooter. So what? It gets you on the rides faster anyway, if you go to an amusement park.

He stil could have worked on eating well (since he was Soooooooooo tiiiiiiired) and being more active at the same time. You can do that anywhere.

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

Frequently, I am surprised by the hostility expressed by some contributors here, profanity and all, but I am taken farther aback by this thread. I don't see the cause for such anger over this story. Obesity causes sleep apnea, and that is my first guess as to why this subject had so little energy during the day. His weight loss probably improved his sleep apnea, which improved his weight, and so on, as we know that cycle works. Weight loss was medically indicated, and everyone here should recognize its positive contribution to his health. Sleep apnea is a serious problem. I've discussed this elsewhere on the site.

I don't agree with many of the many of the viewpoints posted on this forum, but I try very hard to empathize with those that are reasonable. However, I particularly object to the attitudes reflected in these posts. Hair-trigger offense dominates the psyches of many here, to the point of undermining some legitimate objections that might be offered. Swearing, accusation of classism, sexism and the such are not compelling; they suggest merely a lack of manners when they are unsubstantiable.

I agree I could have better manners and that profanity is not the best way for me to make my points. I think it is important people with Lonewolf's viewpoints are at least willing to listen to us. I accept that I can be too sensitive about weight bias.

Having said that, though, I am well aware of the association between sleep apnea and weight. My own doctor once suspected it of me, but when I had a test, my oxygen levels were excellent, so that wasn't it. I know Lonewolf is not necessarily saying that ALL fat people have sleep apnea, but the problem is, so many people DO assume that, along with assuming a whole host of other problems afflict fat people because of our fat.

And when you see this attitude reflected day in and day out; when EVERY TIME you turn on the TV and some talking head is telling you how evil and lazy and worthless you are *because they don't like what you look like* and they use false concerns over your "health" to get away with this (rather than, say, *asking* you "How is your health?"); when we are constantly exhorted to diet even though diets do not work for most people; when hucksters can get away with advertising spurious physick, provided it is called a "diet aid," when people who'd react with horror over a racist joke think fat jokes are perfectly OK, when the government fans the flames of panic as a matter of policy, when an insurance company can turn you down for no other reason than your weight, with NO PROOF WHATSOEVER that your weight poses a specific health risk to you, specifically, when employers can discriminate based on size, when your privacy can be violated through workplace "wellness" initiatives; when every magazine you read is bound to at least have an advertisement about weight, or one that links a condition to weight; when people presume virtue or lack thereof based on your size; when schools spy on your kids' weight and assume you are a bad parent if they are fat; when people believe with religious fervor anyone can lose weight if they just "try hard enough," when weight loss is equated with success and weight gain, with failure; when total strangers think they have the right to attack you at the grocery store, the movies, the post office, or anywhere else; when pundits think it's clever to use YOUR BODY as the symbol of American over-consumption and greed, when doctors assume your weight is the cause of whatever complaint you have and accordingly, don't bother to investigate what else it might be, when you and your fat brothers and fat sisters are blamed wholesale for the costs of healthcare, even when as individuals you might have perfectly healthy habits, and when you complain about any of the above bigotry and hatred it is automatically assumed YOU are the problem...Well, quite frankly, it's hard NOT to be a little sensitive.

This comment is not specifically directed at Lonewolf, whose input I value. It's just an explanation of why I, personally, can become so incensed over something that might seem a small matter to someone else.

Lonewolf, first of all - I don't know Paul's policy on swearing but I curse like a sailor and always have. Even when I was thin. I always get annoyed at people who are so pure they get all bent out of shape if you say "shit." Or f***. But that's just me, and this isn't my place.

As to sleep apnea, I've had it all my life, including when I was skeletal. And I really was skeletal. So whatever. Besides, it went on and on about snoring, not apnea. We don't "know" that dieting "works" at all, so I'm not ceding the assumption there. Nor that losing weight necessarily helps IF someone has apnea - first of all he didn't lose that much weight, and secondly, sleep apnea happens. To lots of people.

I've certainly seen far worse reporting than this article, but I tend to agree - there's a bit of bullshit detection going on here - would they have reported on his jetsetting to go climb mountains with his daughter if weight loss hadn't been involved? Because it's very nice that some people have the means to do those things, and bully for them. And it really was nonsensical that he had to go off and "train" alone so he could engage in the singular activity with his daughter instead of starting his life then and there. Which is what A Fat Rant is all about - do things NOW. Stop waiting until this or that or this or that. Live in the now.

I know I'm not explaining this right, and I do know what you mean about it seeming overly sensitive, but you know what? That's rather too bad, because the message comes through loud and clear - maybe you just have to have the ears to hear it.

Edited to add I think rebelle said it a lot better than I did. Except about the cursing. I don't apologize for that. That's how I talk and I moderate it only for professional purposes or to follow the rules of a place I'm conversing at. (For example, if Paul doesn't allow swearing I'll not do it. I probably wouldn't post as much either lol. Because I LIKE to swear. I like strong language. This does not mean I am not capable of expressing myself in more eloquent and proper language; but I happen to enjoy belting out a filthy word. Sort of like this: http://xkcd.com/75/ (Please do take a look at that; it's hilarious.)

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

Yes, Rebelle did it well. Paul, I might as well ask since hints don't work so well - what IS your policy on swearing? I sure do love to do it when I'm in the mood. Let's put it this way, the funniest line in Juno to me was when the girl is in labor and says "Ow ow fu**ety-ow." Personally, I like to say f**** f*** f***ety f*** once in a while just because it's funny. Obviously I can put together many post without swear word. However, ARE we free to do it? I absolutely want to abide your rule on your blog. (1 Because I love it and 2 because it ain't my place.)

"The NIH even says weight loss only helps sleep apnea in SOME cases and that 40% of "non-obese" individuals suffer from the most severe cases. Please, stay on track."

THANK you. See, this is the thing - I was thin, and I had me some sleep apnea that I seriously thought was gonna kill me. It was accompanied many times by that thing - that sleep paralysis thing? And omg the nightmares that come with it? Holy hell. You actually might THINK you're in hell. But really it's sleep paralysis and sleep apnea.

To be quite honest I suffer from it LESS now that I've gained the majority of my weight - it was worst right around the time I was still only "obese" and I honestly thought it would kill me. After I put on an additional 80 pounds and eventually found a cure for my REAL physiological disease, my sleep apnea has decreased greatly. It is most definitely less severe and less often. Sure it sucks because you have to sleep longer to get your proper rest, but hell I can't afford that expensive mask and there's no way in hell I'd ever be able to get to sleep with it on because my other problem is intense, lifelong insomnia. (To the point of that documentary by that Jewish guy - Berlinger? It was called Wide Awake and I think it's the first time I've ever seen someone else EVER who had insomnia as bad as me. Cried all the way through it.) But my point being that weight had *nothing* to do with my apnea, losing weight isn't an option and wouldn't help ANYWAY, and that the one known cure (the mask) would eliminate all possibility of my sleeping at all. (And no, even knockout pills like Ambien do not knock me out - all they do is help me relax slightly.) So what DO people like me (where weight is NOT the issue) do about sleep apnea? Although, it isn't as much of an issue anymore, like I already mentioned.

Heh. Lonewolf, I've been wondering where you were. I'm glad you're still reading. My first reaction to this article was "Well...slightly overreacting, no?" But...then I thought about it. They're right. It's just more bullshit. More bullshit that is NOT needed for all the reasons rebelle outlined. Ok?

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

By the way, if anyone knows ANY data on how losing all your upper teeth might affect apnea, please let me know. I know my jaw has dropped some ways, but maybe losing the teeth had something to do with the apnea decreasing? I don't know. Maybe someone here does. Er...unlikely but stabbing in the dark here.

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

I watched the story on CNN this afternoon...it got me a bit bent out of shape.

Lonewolfdo, while I can see the point you are trying to make, sometimes people seem outraged about things that don't outrage me; but you lost me with the comment about sexism and classism. Very often people's response to arguments about someone's classist, racist or sexist spin is to attack the person making the claim, saying they are rude or too politically correct. If you feel this is not classist, you need to make a better claim for your own point of view, not just cry foul on etiquette. We all have different levels of comfort with language and different ways of communicating. Casual profanity, saying something like WTF, Oh FFS does not even make my radar most of the time, unless it is directed to and used to insult or degrade a person. Some of these privileges are so deeply ingrained that the act of calling someone a racist, for example, is now apparently as wrong as racism itself in the minds of some. I have a real problem with that!

On Thursday, a severe sleep apneic narrowly escaped death on my operating table. I recognized the potential challenge of the anesthetic but underestimated the degree of difficulty that was posed by his unusual anatomy. This patient is moderately obese, but I suspect that the initial problem is in the upper airway. The ensuing sleep apnea caused or contributed to the worsening of his obesity, which worsened the sleep apnea, and so on. It scared the hell out of me, but I stayed with him until my team and I saw him safely recovered.

Weight loss that reduces the submucosal fat in the pharynx improves sleep apnea, if pharyngeal adiposity caused the condition. That point does not stand for debate. Of course, obesity is not the only cause of sleep apnea, and not all obese people have sleep apnea. I did not, nor do I ever, purport that either falsehood is factual. I did not examine or treat the person in the article personally; I found out about him here. But, the case history reads like a text book. I wish the the article had been entitled, "Patient Improves Sleep Apnea and Climbs a Mountain." It wasn't. But, I bet that's what happened.

Allow me, please, to address this essentially ad hominem rebuke:

"lonewolfdo, you don't get it. You're probably not fat and have no idea what it is like to be a fat person in a hostile society. So yeah, pardon me if I get hot under the collar about the myths and lies perpetuated about me daily because of my weight."

This is my reply: I get quite a bit, actually. I am a specialist in airway medicine, and I treat sleep apneics daily, hands on. The perniciousness of the disease is matched only by the ignorance on the part of so many, including its sufferers, of its consequences. My speculations are valid, and you would hear the same words every time if you presented this same case to fifty other anesthesiologists. It's not mythical and certainly not a lie.

And this one, from the same perpetrator:

I suspect you are here to evangelize - we're not interested. You can't even comprehend why so many of us are angry, so what the hell are you doing here?

This is my reply: First, the accusation is false, and I do not expect to be spoken to that disrespectfully again unless your standing to do so surpasses conjecture. Second, I can comprehend anger, but I cannot condone displacement, and it is incumbent on you, a movement, to be rational when you address articles like this, lest you lose the very credibility you are working so hard to establish. When you hurl your anger at innocent targets, you become the enemy of polite society, and you will be viewed as nonsensical and emotionally unstable, even dangerous, not an effective way to make friends and influence people. I object to expletives in the above thread not because I can't tolerate swearing but because they further accentuate fallacies with seeming impunity.
Further, what the hell I am doing here is learning to be a better doctor to fat people, as well as occasionally contributing when I think it would be constructive. I use this forum as a perspective resource that greatly augments my insights into the challenges of obese patients, in order to make their medical experiences more humane, which will improve their health in the long run. As much as I can be, I'm on your side in the medical arena. Although I do not accept obesity as an innocuous state, I fervently insist upon the respect of every patient's humanity. I am an advocate; don't make an adversary of me. I spend a lot of time reading what is written here and considering it later when I address people's medical issues. I assert here that I spend quite a bit of my valuable time here electively; I don't have to. I do it to try to better serve people such as those in the community here, so don't question my motives imperiously; it's inappropriate. My statements to this group may be challenging, but they are soundly factually and experientially based, pleasant or not, easy or not. When I made my first post, I offered to never post again if the moderator advised me that my input is unwelcome. I repeat that offer now. If I am unwelcome, I shall stop posting and treat this site as "read-only." But, like most physicians who suffer from some codependence, it's hard for me to stand back and abstain from helping when I think I can. Please take my words in the spirit in which they are intended.

Weight loss was medically indicated, and everyone here should recognize its positive contribution to his health.

How can something be "medically indicated" that is not possible on any kind of permanent basis for 95% of people who try it over and over and over again for decades? IOW, what part of "diets don't work" do you not understand? (And no, a few freak exceptions and temporary successes do not disprove the rule here. As a doctor, your job is to recommend treatment modalities that will work long term for more patients than they don't work for, and if a treatment has a 5% -- or even 10% -- success rate it is ipso facto considered experimental, not something a patient should be clobbered over the head to try again and again and again when it clearly is not going to work for them.)

P.S. Paul sets the rules about "profanity" here, not you. It's his blog. If he wants to tell people to stop cursing, that's up to him. You don't turn up at a rave and complain about the flashing lights.

Lonewolfdo - I've gone back to the article and read it again. Am I missing something? Because I'm not seeing anything about sleep apnea in there. Snoring loudly, yes, but not sleep apnea. There are a LOT of reasons someone might be feeling tired all the time.

I understand how you might be strongly emotional about the subject - I would be too, if I almost had a patient die on me. I suspect, however, that in your line of work, you're seeing the exceptions, not the generalities, when it comes to health issues and people who are fat. The vast majority of people, fat or thin, don't find themselves in surgery needing general anesthetic.

In the case of this article, I don't see *anything* saying that "weight loss was medically indicated," only that *he* felt he needed to make changes. Just his being tired, snoring and *gasp* his clothes getting tight were mentioned. There was no mention of his going to a doctor at all. You'd think they would write about it if he had, considering it mentioned he got himself a trainer.

From all appearances, this was something he did entirely without a doctor's input. Sure, he probably helped himself by going off his "see-food" diet, and increasing his exercise, but note that article also stated that, initially, "he wasn't getting the results he wanted at the gym." He had to go to greater extremes to loose those 30 pounds. Quite frankly, he probably would've done just fine hiking Kilamanjaro without loosing the weight, just as I did just fine hiking a canyon with my extra weight - carrying a 3 yr old for half of it, too - while all but one of the thinner people hiking with me were having a hard time.

"Weight loss that reduces the submucosal fat in the pharynx improves sleep apnea, if pharyngeal adiposity caused the condition. That point does not stand for debate."

I have a question regarding this: would a liposuction done on that area be effective in resolving that problem? If it would, I would see it as healthier and more effective than diet-induced weight loss.
After all, in my experience at least, everyone looses weight differently - meaning, in different part of their bodies at different rates. If there's a medical problem related to fat in area x of the body of a person, wouldn't a medical procedure aimed at taking away the fat from the said area be more sensible than exposing the whole body to the stress of dieting?
I am operating under the assumption that the said medical procedure can be done under local anesthesia (otherwise, it would defeat the whole point of eliminating a general-anesthesia-related risk), but you're the anesthesiologist so feel free to correct me on this.

As for the article in question, my comments are the following:

I chose not to read it. I don't need potentially triggering material right now, and I also have a sort of general rule in place not to add to the success of such "news items" by adding to the number of people who read it. That's just me, however, and I do not want to imply that anyone of you who chose to read the piece did something wrong. They did not.

This disqualifies me from commenting on the actual content, but I still have something to say on the general idea of making this series of happenings into a news item.

I am puzzled by the fact that such a story would even make it in the news. Honestly, I don't see anything worth for the general public in it. A man did something to loose weight. The same man went to Africa and climbed a mountain with his daughter. So what? It's not like he saved a kid or an elderly person from a burning house. It's not like he found a wallet with ten thousand dollars in it and took it straight to the police station instead of keeping the money for himself. It's not like he saved his brother by donating a kidney for a transplant. I just don't see what's exceptional or interesting with the story to start with.

And this is probably where the sizeist or fattist angle comes in. The point in taking such a non-exceptional, non-heroic story and slapping it on a reputable news site such as CNN, to me, smacks of an anti-fat stance in and for itself. The only reason I can think such a story would be selected as a news item is that whoever did so chose to glamourize and extoll weight-loss as something having a moral value, something putting this man above the rest of us, or at least something making him interesting and newsworthy. This is what I have a huge problem with. Fat and thin are not a moral matter, and they should not have moral connotations. Nor should, to my mind, the fact that someone decides to do something to loose weight, make this person more interesting than another. That's between him, his brain and his physician. Why should the world at large (because we're talking about a widely read, internationally perused news source here) care about this?

I've been debating whether or not to post anything more on this thread - not only because I'm trying not to take personally what feels like an accusation of irrationality and overreaction - but also because (while I do feel that this seemingly innocuous story on a mainstream "news source" is a great example of how weight loss is glorified and how class plays a role in fat hatred) this article is just one of thousands of instances of this sort of thing that crop up every single day. I don't find it particularly noteworthy beyond that and a certain farcical ridiculousness in its extremity.

Sadly, I just can't shut up. A few things:

First, I believe it has been a common practice to tell oppressed groups to calm down and be reasonable. I'm not sure if that was your intention here, lonewolfdo, but it felt that way to me. I recognize that "polite society" may find my anger "dangerous," and I am fine with that. I think the apathy I often find in "polite society" more dangerous than maintaining anyone's good opinion.

Second, I see a lot assumptions being made here (on all sides): about the motives and perspectives of others, about the health status of a total stranger based on a few vague sentences. I don't think I can know what dominates anyone else's psyche, nor whether they're here to evangelize or raise valid questions. I also don't think any kind of legit medical conclusions (be they diagnosis or treatment or outcome) can be drawn without firsthand information about a patient; any conversation about any of that is, to put it mildly, conjecture.

Finally, I want to second Viola's request for clarification re: classism. Since I brought that up originally, I am curious as to why you seem to find it so rude and unsubstantiable to bring up class in the context of this article.

CNN runs these kinds of stories all the time. Woman loses 12 dress sizes and gains stardom! Man loses 39 pounds and climbs mountain! Woman has bypass surgery and gets a new life!

They probably continue to run these "stories" because they are of great interest to the general population. Why? Because no one can figure out how to lose weight, people are miserable in bodies of all sizes, and the goal of ensuring good nutrition for people of all ages, shapes and sizes has been pushed aside by a hunger for weight loss.

What can you do? Stop clicking these links. Every time you do, CNN registers another "interested reader." Also, try as much as you can to be satisfied with your own body, refuse to criticize others for their physicality, and support the non-diet movement with your word and deed.

Just a few thoughts, from a fat person in San Francisco.

Jennifer Portnick
Personal Trainer (who is fat)

Lonewolf, if I may, I'd like to address an additional point. I both understand the visceral reaction to your initial comment (I, too, am fat and defensive about it) and appreciate the fact that you're involved in the conversation for the purpose of better treating your patients. That said, there was one phrase in your last comment that struck me as perhaps the single biggest obstacle we face as a movement in the health care arena.

"I do not accept obesity as an innocuous state... ."

In my opinion, it is this attitude that cripples our best efforts at receiving appropriate medical care. While it is true that for some percentage of fat people, obesity is not "an innocuous state," it is not universally true. Surely, you must know this. Other than needing air, water, and food to live, nothing can be universally true for all human beings. Herein lies my problem. When I go to a medical professional, it is critical that (s)he not assume [A] that I am at fault for my size, and [B] that my size is the sole cause of any symptom I'm experiencing.

Even if you are not injecting blame/morality into it, you are assuming that it's not possible to be simultaneously obese and healthy (or as we like to say, fit and fat). I know from personal experience, and from reading the blogs of many incredible people in the Fatosphere, that it is absolutely possible. It is only when my medical provider appreciates that fact that I get appropriate medical attention.

I love reading the discussions here. So many intelligent, articulate and passionate people!

The only thing I want to say is I'm fat AND I climb mountains. I live in Colorado and I don't like to ski - what else am I going to do?

My husband had/has sleep apnea. He got the extensive UPPP surgery (you can look it up) to improve his condition. He improved somewhat but he still snores loudly. He hasn't gotten his apnea episodes checked lately but I imagine it has returned somewhat.

His issue is that a) he is on medication that keeps his weight up and b) he tends to gain weight considerably in his neck, as some men (and women) do. He exercises five days a week, but, obviously, there are no neck toning/reducing machines.

I am making an educated assumption that no matter the actual overall size of a person, if they have a tendency toward sleep apnea only due to airway issues and obstructions and internal nasal problems they might be more successful after treatment than others who have ADDITIONAL tissue in the neck area causing an obstruction.

Moving on, no matter what my husband or I look like, I think we could likely incur discrimination not based on our inconspicuous health issues (such as sleep apnea, endocrine-related illnesses, etc.) but on our conspicuous appearances. I'm a strong advocate for that practice changing--NOW.

I applaud those who are looking at this article critically. As a former journalist, I think we all need to do this. I don't think this appears to me to be "hard news" since there are no sources beyond the man and his daughter. A story like this in the non-Internet world might find placement way inside the fluff/health/lifestyle section of a newspaper. Now, (conjecture) CNN sees that people click on stories related to weight loss more than other stories and so editors put the story high up on the page and give it prominence.

I'm not sure what our roles are here but we could encourage CNN to, as AndyJo and others suggested, talk about eating disorders and class issues in such an article. It's very casually mentioned that the man used a trainer. I think that begs the question: how much did he pay the trainer and what is the national going rate for such a trainer?

I would love to see more stories about the class issues surrounding weight loss pressure, discrimination and access and fat acceptance. I might have to do some writing of my own.

eurydice, whenever you start writing, be sure and let us know so we can all read it - that post alone inspired me

And hotchka - you go! Climb those mountains

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

My Boombatti blog is right here: http://boombatti.blogspot.com/ Hope you get a chance to drop by - I'm quite enjoying ranting on it lol.

Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley

"I do not accept obesity as an innocuous state... ."

Being alive is not an innocuous state.

I am an advocate; don't make an adversary of me. I spend a lot of time reading what is written here and considering it later when I address people's medical issues. I assert here that I spend quite a bit of my valuable time here electively; I don't have to. I do it to try to better serve people such as those in the community here, so don't question my motives imperiously; it's inappropriate.

Lonewolf, what I find inappropriate is when a medical professional acts like he or she is doing me a favor by treating me like a human being. You come off very pompous here, so advocate or not, I would ask that you get off your high horse. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate that you want to better learn how to take care of your fat patients, and I value your input as a doctor. But don't lord it over us, eh? Just because you're a doctor doesn't mean you're infallible.

**************
"A diet counselor once told me that all overweight people are angry with their mothers and channel their frustrations into overeating. So I guess that means all thin people are happy, calm, and have resolved their Oedipal entanglements."

In addition to reading this article, I clicked on the list of 88 previous weightloss articles that it linked to, and I watched a couple of them. I'm not a big CNN watcher, so I wanted the background. All three stories held in common an unrealistic optimism, and they assumed that all the subjects of these stories had attained "permanent" results, when many had just lost the weight or had kept it off a very short time. I sent an email to Dr. Gupta expressing how ill at ease it all made me feel. (I hope this helps counter the "positive" message they got from tallying my hits on three weight loss articles.) I got the automated "received" message. I'll let you know whether he responds directly and what he says.

Lonewolf, I am glad you're here, and that you are commenting. I had surgery once, and I tried to get to know the anesthesiologist (a book I'd read advised it) and to show him how my portable CD player worked and to request that he keep my Chopin Nocturnes playing through the headphones while I was under (to calm me and prevent me from hearing the doctors' talk, which I might find alarming in my foggy state). Although he agreed to my request, he was a truly cold fish and made me feel like I was from Mars. My surgeon patted my hand and said, "Oh, think nothing of it, they're all like that. They aren't accustomed to dealing with people who are awake." Well, you are, indeed, going beyond what many in your job do by being here and interacting. I'm sorry it's gotten so tense. I wish you'd been my doc during my surgery.

you become the enemy of polite society

Right thanks for that, because I thought 'polite society' had decided already that we were the enemy without our help, but I suppose that was wrong, other people's behaviour and attitudes is yet again our fault, not theirs.

you will be viewed as nonsensical and emotionally unstable, even dangerous

Too late!

don't make an adversary of me

Ditto us, we are entitled to let off steam, I think that compared to a lot of raging out there, we are pretty reasonable most of the time, I'm sick and tired of people adopting this condescending, civilised among the savages tone that so many like you adopt, you've so convinced yourself that we are wrong and you are here to tell us to be right, you are no better than us you should have noticed that by now, I have.