Tons of Fun

I have the bad habit of watching TV late at night on weekends and breaks when I should be sleeping so I can get up and be productive the next day. Last night was no exception. I was up until 1:30 watching pretty much nothing.

But occasionally I watch something slightly educational. That is how my evening started out. I was watching TLC and three shows in a row came on that had me glued to the set, Half-ton Mom, Half-ton Dad, and Half-ton Teen. I was both fascinated and horrified at the sight of a woman over 800 lbs (they kept saying different numbers, so I am not sure how much she actually weighed and yes, they had her on a scale), a man who weighed 1032 lbs (holds the record so far) and a teen who weighs 800 lbs. The documentaries follow their journey to a gastric bypass clinic in Houston, Texas which is the only hospital that will handle patients that big. Most places won't touch a person who has gone over 500 lbs as I understand from the shows - I was flipping around the channels a bit. All three patients are from Texas as Texas has the distinction of having 6 of the fattest cities in the U.S., Houston being one of them BTW.

(Half ton Mom)

But what I found more fascinating then the actual patients was the way they lived. More specifically the level of denial of the people around them. When you get to this weight, mobility becomes an issue. Only the teen was mobile and even then for only short bursts of time. So there is someone who is bathing and feeding these individuals. Listening to the way they talk to the camera, you can see a level of disconnect to how their actions contribute to these problems. I think the teen documentary was the saddest to me. A 19 year old whose mother treats him like an 8 year old. Their's is a sad story of a first child who died at 19 months but still. I cannot help but admit that I am a tad judgmental when I was watching this show. Hello! Your actions have a direct affect on your son's life and you are killing your child! And of course, the people around these extreme cases are no skinny minnies themselves.

I'm not one to talk about having will power when it comes to food, nor am I a shining of example of exercising on a regular basis but sheesh! These documentaries show how the U.S. has become a nation of excess. This is why we have shows like "The Biggest Loser" (which had a marathon yesterday, I watched parts of it) in which there were contestants from all 50 states. Makes me happy to go outside and take a walk, and I really don't like exercise.

On that note, time for me to log off.