For shame, Oprah, for shame

6th February 2008

For shame, Oprah, for shame

posted in Arts and Music, Diets, Fat Bias, Pop Culture |

Earlier this week, Fillyjonk offered up a confessional about her messy, cluttered home, opining “I’m sure some pop-psych frauds would love to theorize that my house is messy because two fat people live in it, and we are lazy and can’t take care of ourselves or our surroundings.”

Is she prescient or what? Magic eight-ball says: All signs point to yes. Check out the subject of Oprah’s Thursday segment:

Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? with Peter Walsh

Clutter expert Peter Walsh is back with a bombshell—clutter can make you fat! Peter helps an overweight family declutter their lives room by room and pound by pound.

Tune in Thursday, February 7, to see what happens.

The self-described “part contractor, part therapist” will launch the release of his new book of the same title as the show’s segment. According to the book’s blurb:

Peter Walsh, the bestselling author of It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, believes that the secret to successfully losing weight is to forget about calorie counting and weekly weigh-ins. Instead you need to focus on how, why, and where you eat. When it comes to clearing clutter (the fat in our homes) it isn’t about the stuff itself, it’s about the life you want to live. The same is true for losing weight: It’s not about the pounds, it’s about living the life you deserve in the body you want.

But as Fillyjonk notes:

But if you’re just marking time in your body until your new, perfect one comes along, through luck or dieting or illness or whatever, then you’re going to be terrifically disappointed — and worse, your metaphorical house is going to be a mess.

You live in this body for good, so don’t treat it like a squat. Maybe it’s not your dream home, but it’s your home, and that will count for more the more love and effort you put into it.

And of course, Walsh’s introduction, as featured on Amazon, goes on to conflate being fat – what Walsh calls our “national pastime” – with overconsumption and that if we just go to Ikea or Organized Living and buy a whole bunch of commercially-processed, oil-produced plastic bins, we too can simultaneously lose weight and save the planet all in one neatly organized fell swoop. Walsh has some good points about our nation’s overconsumption epidemic, but his anti-fat rhetoric drowns out the best of these talking points.

Oprah is always good for some comic relief and this show will certainly give FA bloggers fodder for a long time to come. It’s funny that is, until you watch the preview clip offered on the show’s website.

Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure by the end of the show the crying mother realizes the folly of her big fat ways and is now worshipping at the tidy, uncluttered altar of Walshdom.

The fact that the Oprah show would exploit this woman’s pain and self-loathing on national television to garner ratings is sad. It also sounds like the show may have misrepresented the segment to the woman and her family.

But what’s even more tragic is that more than 49 million viewers tune in to Oprah each week and three quarters of them are female. It wasn’t that long ago Oprah went on a liquid diet, inspiring thousands of viewers to embark on their own liquid weight-loss diets. She’s the poster child for unproven, untested, unsuccessful and medically unsound weight-loss plans galore – plans that despite their proven ineffectiveness, continues to motivate viewers to try similar methods because Oprah did it and look at her! And yet Oprah, who I’m sure has a maid to scrub her toilets and clean her immaculate mansion, continues to gain weight. Obviously, there is something far greater to body weight than having a messy house.

The fact that Oprah of all people would present yet another crazy weight-loss bandwagon for her viewers to jump on is deplorable. For shame, Oprah, for shame.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Arts and Music, Diets, Fat Bias, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 On February 6th, 2008, Shinobi said:

If there is anyone on earth who really needs fat acceptance, it is Oprah.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

2 On February 6th, 2008, Shinobi said:

… I just realized that my comment made it sounds like I don’t think everyone needs FA. I think they do. Duuuuuuhr.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

3 On February 6th, 2008, attrice said:

Gah.

People will connect any trait with being fat so long as they can find one single fat person who has that trait. Personally, the messiest people I ever knew were a family where the parents were obsessed with being thin. So I’m going to write a book called “Put down the rice cake and pick up your shit.” I’ll expect my spot on Oprah as soon as it’s published.

Also, I keep hoping that Oprah, who’s had all these public dieting failures, will get it and come out in support of HAES or something. I wonder how someone who has built this media empire can still believe that all her dieting failures are just because she hasn’t tried hard enough or something.

4 On February 6th, 2008, KarenElhyam said:

Oprah is just one giant infomercial series these days. No two ways around it. People hock their shit to one of the biggest TV audiences in the country, and no one sees it for the problem it is.

This man is a quack, and Oprah’s adoring, trusting audience will lap it up.

Disgusting.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

5 On February 6th, 2008, Fillyjonk said:

“Put down the rice cake and pick up your shit.”

Hahah! I’d buy that book. I mean, not for me, just to display it on my very messy coffee table.

I think people connect traits because their personal mythology says that they make sense together. So fat=lack of control=messy. Or fat=unattractive=hiding from sexuality. Some people don’t even need one concrete example to pin it on; theoretical plausibility within a particular reference frame is enough.

It kind of hurts my feelings that I channeled Oprah. Cut that out, Oprah!

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

6 On February 6th, 2008, Sandy said:

I think this is just all wrong. It is SOO freakin wrong to equate messiness with fatness. I have known PLENTY of fat people, some even morbidly obese that can barely walk…and they kept immaculate houses. I have also known extremely then people, borderline anorexics and bulimics…who have had the worst houses I have ever since and never wanted to visit them because of it.

I have to say though that there is a huge difference between living in a messy house (I personally have not had a clean house since I had my son…I joke that if we got rid of my son and his stuff my house would be clean!)…and being someone that hoards. People that hoard things have a mental issue. Maybe they were abused or neglected as children. Many hoarders are fat…but not because they sit around and eat…it is usually because of this underlying mental illness that prevents them from seeing themselves as worthwhile individuals.

A lot of people have messy houses because they have families and both parents work. 99% of the time the kids aren’t going to clean up on their own and the parents are too damn tired trying to make a living to worry about it when they get home.

I, personally, refuse to spaz over the cleanliness of my house and prefer to spend more time with my husband and son. The dishes and laundry get washed…but the rest can wait until tomorrow.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

7 On February 6th, 2008, Sandy said:

ps I apologize for the misspellings and bad grammar above…my 3yr old was hanging on my arm and yelling in my ear. I hope you all understood what I was trying to say.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

8 On February 6th, 2008, Tari said:

It kind of hurts my feelings that I channeled Oprah. Cut that out, Oprah!

No doubt. Sharing any headspace with Oprah would make me feel dirty. Blech.

I have respect for the fact that she’s made the world a better place (in terms of charity work) and apparently worked very hard to get where she is….but I think she’s yet another symptom of the Sheeping of America, and a particularly scary one. I mean, “weight loss sheroes”? Really?

And this whole “cleanliness is next to thinness” thing is utter bullshit. Shame on her is damn right.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

9 On February 6th, 2008, jen in ny said:

“Put down that rice cake and pick up your shit.”

That is the funniest thing I have read in weeks. Thanks, I needed a laugh today. I see absolutely no correlation between being fat and messy. I’m obsessively clean / neat and I’m fat and I know a lot of really skinny slobs. So wtf?

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

10 On February 6th, 2008, Charlotte said:

You know, if Oprah was a man, we probably wouldn’t even be having this discussion.

I’m pretty tired of Oprah’s dieting drama. The money and time wasted on the ridiculous diets that didn’t work could have been used to further better causes besides Oprah’s personal endeavors to be thin.

And yes, shame on her for presenting this b.s. to her audience.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

11 On February 6th, 2008, Meowser said:

Then I guess my friend B., already pencil thin, shouldn’t bother cleaning up her messy house because then she’ll starve to death? “Put down the rice cake and pick up your shit,” indeed. Hahahahaha.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

12 On February 6th, 2008, Thorn said:

I never was much of an Oprah watcher, but the more I learn about her, the less I respect her all the time. I mean, honestly, Martha Stewart gets tons of flack for making average women feel crappy about themselves and inferior – where’s Oprah’s flack? Every damn time I’ve seen her show, she’s either playing infomercial or as you noted, she’s exploiting some poor woman and using them as some kind of object lesson on How You, Too, Can Become A Perfect Person.

Seriously, Oprah’s show is a televised “women’s” magazine – Cosmo, Parents, Good Housekeeping, all rolled into one slick TV package.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

13 On February 6th, 2008, Linda said:

Hi All, my comment is not associated with this blog entry, I hope it is not unwanted. I am new to the fat acceptance movement, and I was not sure how to get my message out there. I hope you will all read this. Last week, everyone was very upset about that bill in Missouri that would not let restaurants serve fat people. Many of you, including myself, fired off an angry response to that representative. However, I was thinking about it last night, and I thought it might be a good idea if we all wrote letters to our own representatives telling them that we were upset about the bill and that they better not try to pass it in our states, as well as encouraging them to pass a bill that makes size discrimination illegal. Please feel free to pass this along to as many people as you want. I am including the letter I wrote, feel free to adapt it or even copy and paste.

Dear :

I am writing to you regarding a bill called house bill Number 282 that was recently introduced in Missouri. I do not know if you are aware of this bill, because it was introduced only in Missouri. However, the contents of the bill were very disturbing and I writing to you to inform you that I would be very angry if a bill was to be introduced in , the state in which I reside. The bill proposed making it illegal for restaurants to serve people with a BMI of 30 of greater. This is a case of blatant discrimination, as well as a disaster for the local economy. To me, this bill demonstrated a growing fat hatred in this country. Fat people already face a lower quality of life. They face a lower standard of health care, because doctors are often too quick to blame serious symptoms on the patient’s weight and prescribe weight loss, instead of examining the patient properly. Furthermore, it is legal to discriminate against fat people in the work place. People have been denied jobs because of their weight, and charged more for health insurance because of their size. Fat people have also been denied the right to adopt children, and it has been suggested that fat children should be taken away from their parents because their parents are allowing them to be fat. Fat hatred is getting out of control. This is no different from discriminating against someone because they are black, female, gay, or catholic, etc. It is time to introduce a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against fat people. At this point, I am inclined to believe that you are thinking, “But fat is unhealthy, we have to do something.” Fat people are not a threat to our society, whether or not they are healthy. The real threat to our society is fat phobia. It is encouraging legalized discrimination, which runs the risk of spilling over to include even more groups of people. I am urging you, as a lawmaker, to stop fat discrimination. I would like to reiterate that I would be very pleased to see you introduce a bill making it illegal to discriminate based on size. As a regular voter, I hope that my voice will be heard. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

14 On February 6th, 2008, Linda said:

Doh, I meant Mississippi, not Missouri. Good thing I proofread before I sent it to my Rep.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

15 On February 6th, 2008, Liz said:

Ugh. Shame, after all is what Oprah sells and America has been buying for years.

The fact is, the opposite is true for me. When my home is cluttered, I don’t want to be there. So instead, I go out and remain active, rather than coming home, sitting on the couch and doing nothing.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

16 On February 6th, 2008, Kristin said:

From the clip, it does look like they misrepresented the purpose of the show. I can barely imagine how I would feel if I had been told people were going to come help me organize my house and then it turned into dissecting my body. If that is the case, though, I wonder why the family allowed it to air? Does anyone know how that works? Are you allowed to withdraw?

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

17 On February 6th, 2008, Nikki said:

As a person who continously organizes and rearranges things for a living, as well as having a part time home business organizing people’s homes and offices, I take serious offense to this BS.

I worked as a visual merchandiser for seven years doing hard core lifting and carrying eight hours a day – that included 18 ft. ladders, full tool kits, power drills, and all the various display pieces ranging from manniquins to freaking 30-40 pound display cases.

My home’s organized and clean as well.. in fact I was thinking I needed to clean out the closet and re-organize it this weekend to avoid my brother and his “I’m a size 0!” wife were coming up.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

18 On February 6th, 2008, ShannonCC said:

Well, I do have hoarders in the family and yeah, we’re fat. I have never in my wildest dreams thought the two were connected. But because of a lot of the reasearch I’ve done into hoarding, the clip hit me from another angle. I’m not saying I know the woman is actually a hoarder or what, but I’m betting the emotional freak out was not because of her weight but because some jerk was coming in and forcing her to give up her stuff. Sometimes that needs to be done, sure, but all it’s going to do is upset the woman (like possibly to nervous breakdown point) and then as soon as the camera crew leaves, it will start all over. You need to actually find out why the person hoards whether it be emotional trauma or chemical imbalance, etc.

I’m betting she thought they were going to help her “get organized” and instead they came and took away her stuff which is pretty much what she cries at the end of the clip.

I’m beginning to really dislike Oprah too. Such potential to do good and all she does is make people cry and feel shitty about themselves instead.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

19 On February 6th, 2008, Cindy said:

Just yesterday, I (the fat one in the relationship) went on my normal, twice weekly cleaning binge. Then, my skinny spouse came in and there was immediately a trail of clothes, books and paper from the door to her side of the bed.

I’ve always said that, in our relationship, I’ll be blamed for the messy house because I’m the more feminine-looking one. Now I realize I’m doing double indeminity because I wear lipstick AND I’m fat.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

20 On February 6th, 2008, Simone said:

This is an interesting one for me, because I’m not neat by nature, but the messiness of my home tends to increase with my levels of depression and fatigue from CFS. I don’t clean when I’m depressed and tired, but I clean when I’m on an upswing. At the same time, I gain weight when I’m more depressed. Hmmmm, I guess that’s just another case of correlation NOT equaling causation, but I am always fatter when my house is messier because of this connection.

Things like this messy=lazy=fat concept really bother me because I have to constantly remind myself that depression and CFS are not the same thing as laziness. When you think about it logically, messiness shouldn’t correlate with fatness (“you are messy therefore you have a tendency to overeat/eat the “wrong” foods/gain too much weight/not starve yourself” — they all sound just plain wrong). In fact, that’s insulting, because it’s like saying that fat bodies are “messy” bodies, which they are not. Ok, now I’m a bit pissed.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

21 On February 6th, 2008, Rachel said:

You know, this whole show just smacks of desperation to me. As Oprah shows, liquid diets don’t work, nor does yo-yo dieting. Apparently, having your own personal chef and trainer and millions of dollars and leisure time isn’t guaranteed for weight loss either. And for some, even WLS doesn’t work. This show just appears to be grasping desperately at straws now to find the magical weight loss elixir.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 6:50 pm

22 On February 6th, 2008, Devi said:

“In Tudor England, it took hundreds of gardeners, farmers, hunters and butchers to keep Henry VIII fat. In America today, anyone can bulk up without help, but it takes a new set of vassals – personal trainer, nutritionist, private chef – to keep Oprah from looking like Henry VIII.” ~ John Tierney

I do tend to take better care of myself when my apartment isn’t messy (which is a bit of a rarity). I’m more likely to cook things involving more effort, try some yoga, or just dance around to the Grease soundtrack. It’s a bit like dressing up for work on the days I need to feel more confident or in charge. The difference is completely in my mind, but I have more of a swagger. That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m going to loose weight because everything is in it’s proper place. If that were the case, I’d have never gained a pound (having grown up in an immaculate house).

It’s sneaky because I bet a lot of people are going to make the leap from “Hey! I do feel better when the house is tidy” to “This is so going to help me lose weight!”

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

23 On February 6th, 2008, DawnD said:

I’ve done a couple of talk show appearances, and narrowly missed appearing on Oprah last fall–and thank goodness I wasn’t on! That show, like this one, was a nightmare for the gal who did participate. These shows DO often misrepresent what they’re up to, usually by failing to mention important parts. It’s very VERY difficult to get a fair shake, and unless you have been particularly savvy in the contract-signing portion, it is NOT possible to back out once you’ve done a show.

My heart goes out to those poor people, to have had this done to them. Shame, shame on Oprah and everyone connected with this farce.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

24 On February 6th, 2008, AnnieMcPhee said:

Shinobi, Oprah knows about fat acceptance. She jumps on any bandwagon that catches her fancy as the years roll on. I remember a show she did before she went on the OptiFast liquid diet and it was about fat acceptance, about whether or not people could be fit and fat, what kinds of prejudice fat people face, why they shouldn’t face it, etc. Nothing sticks with her. She’s no friend to fat people, and she’s leading people down the primrose path of one kook diet after another (meanwhile having lost her weight through her personal chef Rosie and her personal trainer – now to be gaining it back again anyway.)

This doesn’t surprise me in the least; she’s been the poster child for yo-yo dieting and not accepting yourself since she started on network TV (which is when I started watching her – I stopped around the time she started touting the weight loss she did with Rosie, and slamming her OWN prior efforts to lose weight – which she pushed on her viewers – as “unhealthy.”)

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

25 On February 6th, 2008, AnnieMcPhee said:

“This man is a quack, and Oprah’s adoring, trusting audience will lap it up.”

That’s the problem – she herself buys into all these quack theories, and it never seems to occur to her that they might not be true. Then she pushes it on others. Aside from an odd episode or two over the last decade or more, I think the last episode I watched was her pushing some new age guru Maryanne Williamson. Everything she hears (except for genuine FA it seems) sounds good and like a new direction she has to take, and she’s taking others with her. It’s a very deep-seated insecurity and special kind of gullibility going on there.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

26 On February 6th, 2008, Fat Girl said:

When I was little it used to be my dream to go on Oprah and cry about how horribly I’d been treated for being overweight and then have her pay for me to lose weight (probably through fat camp, gag me).

I don’t know what I was thinking.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 10:21 pm

27 On February 6th, 2008, K. said:

Oprah has had some really, really helpful shows– last year’s domestic violence shows, the “I left my heterosexual marriage to live my truth” show (loved that one), all the “get your financial life together” shows… the list goes on, and I am generally in school at 4:00! So I respectfully disagree with whoever said all Oprah does is “make people cry and feel shitty about themselves.”

Oprah’s weight fixation (and I’m not going to deny she has one) is unfortunate. Her refusal (?) to embrace fat acceptance is a political choice that I disagree with. At the same time, as a vegan I am grossed out every time she has a “world’s best pizza/hamburger/cheesecake” show. That shit is dumb as hell — and didn’t she forsake cow after the texas lawsuit debacle? Her refusal to be vegan or even give vegan options on her show is another political decision of hers I disagree with. However, I’d never try to disparage all the excellent work she’s done because of these political disagreements.

Maybe this show helped the family involved, and will help others. We don’t know.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

28 On February 6th, 2008, Bree said:

Where I work, we call people like Oprah “seekers.” They constantly have to seek new concepts and people, even if they’re no good, because something is lacking in their lives. It’s an obsessive form of experimentation. If it doesn’t work for a while, they go on to something else.

Oprah’s problem is that what she latches onto 99% of the time is complete crap, especially with these fad diets and buying into the “obesity epidemic.” It’s dangerous, because she has a loyal following that will go right along with her, and people will want to get on her show because of it.

I remember one show she did where she took a group of fat people and they were each on a different diet, like some competition to see who would lose the most weight. Most of them were not successful and they were unhappy. Then she had a so-called expert basically bully them throughout the whole show for being fat and not working hard enough to drop the pounds. One woman being lectured was not even what I would consider obese. I saw this show with my fat aunts and cousins, and I said outloud how stupid this was. Bullying and shaming people into losing weight is downright dumb and it’s sad so many can’t see that. People should be allowed to make that choice on their own.

posted on February 6th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

29 On February 7th, 2008, cggirl said:

Ah, oprah. I so agree with what shinobi said.

Recently i caught oprah’s show about teens who get WLS (in mexico if need be) because their parents are “saving them” from being 200-sometihng pounds. holy crap. when is aw the before pic of the teenage girl, she looked so cute it was so odd to me that this was considered so horrific that she should lose weight by any means necessary… whatever, you guys already know everything i have to say about that.

i hate when oprah says ‘i’ve been fat. so i KNOW. there is a reason why u get that way (meaning something emotional) and nobody is happy that way, blah blah blah…’
how can she be so stupid as to believe she knows ANYTHING except for what it was like for HER to be that fat, and that SHE had emotional reasons for being that way.

well, this is the same woman that airs all kinds of unvetted crap (friggin airbourne, for instance, which is a bigass scam)

don’t get me wrong, she is clearly a person who wants to help people and is doing many wonderful things in this world. but when she says she considers herself a “journalist”, i crack up.

sorry for the horrible spelling/grammar/etc. i’m just tired and lazy (with my fat lazy butt). but keep up the great blog!

posted on February 7th, 2008 at 12:17 am

30 On February 7th, 2008, Limor said:

If cleaning=skinny, then I should be a waif. I have become much more of a neat freak since I stopped dieting. I think that I’m channelling all of the energy that I used to put into starving myself and exercising excessively into cleaning and organizing. I also know some seriously messy people, and they are all really thin. I don’t understand why Oprah has to keep her vicious dieting circle going. She’s an intelligent, powerful woman, who is loved by millions, and yet she’s still convinced that she needs to be thin to be at her best.

31 On February 7th, 2008, Linda said:

Oh my god, how incredibly exploitative and violating! If I had any respect left for Oprah, it’s gone with this video.

posted on February 7th, 2008 at 12:32 am

32 On February 7th, 2008, Kate said:

Did anyone here realize that Oprah just did a show on weight loss surgery in CHILDREN?!? I used to like this woman…jesus christ!!!!

posted on February 7th, 2008 at 1:28 am

33 On February 7th, 2008, AnnieMcPhee said:

Bree, the first two paragraphs of your post are what I meant and couldn’t articulate properly. Very well said!

posted on February 7th, 2008 at 1:45 am

34 On February 7th, 2008, Sarah said:

Oprah and I have a complicated relationship: sometimes she annoys me, other times I find the topic interesting but today’s show bored me and I wandered off to clean the kitchen. Having some of the friends I do, I’d never equate fat with messy. One of them is the type of person who genuinely apologizes to her guests about the state of her house and we all look around and go, “uh… okay” because the place is spotless. My other friend would more likely need an intervention to slow down on the cleaning. I think she shifts the furniture everyday for cleaning purposes and I’ve actually seen her dismantle a chandelier and wash and polish every single crystal. Both friends do everything in their life with such care and thoughtfulness.

posted on February 7th, 2008 at 2:21 am

35 On February 7th, 2008, Olly said:

*Snort* So fat and messiness are related, huh? I’d like to see that asshole watch this. I like Kim and Aggie much better than that dude anyway. Kim is big herself, and they’re not mean-spirited enough to enjoy making people cry. That trailer looked horribly exploitative and demeaning, but they’re obviously relying on the fact that so many people will think that woman’s getting what she deserves for being fat.

Also, my mum is the cleanest person I know. When I still lived in student housing I had to keep her out of the kitchen or she’d start cleaning it. I’m not quite as neat as she is, but I do clean regularly, and guess what? My mum and I are both fat. This is just another way of making fat people look inferior.

posted on February 7th, 2008 at 8:44 am

36 On February 8th, 2008, Raven said:

mmmmmmm kay… well i guess i’ll have to tell my 5’9 140lb fiancee that he is secretly a fattie. he’s so messy that i call him hurricane chris! this whole show is revolting. i haven’t watched oprah in years. now i remember why… it frequently requires that you remove your brain from your head while viewing.

posted on February 8th, 2008 at 2:40 am

37 On February 8th, 2008, AnnieMcPhee said:

So, I work at the time Oprah is on. Anyone know when or how I’ll be able to catch this episode? Can you see it online anywhere?

posted on February 8th, 2008 at 2:41 am

38 On February 8th, 2008, Anwen said:

Ugh. I am extremely messy, and a bit fat (well, I’m clinically obese, but I constantly get people telling me they can’t believe I could possibly be a UK size 16-18, so I guess I’m a Stealth Fatty…)

Neither of those things is because of laziness, the messiness is basically because I have ADD, fibromyalgia, mental health stuff including OCD/anxiety/hoarding/compulsive acquiring things, a probably ADHD eight year old daughter who has hoarding/compulsive acquisition issues, a very demanding part time job, and a two hour journey from home-school-work and another two hours back each day for four days a week! I have TOO MUCH DAMN STUFF and no time or energy to go through it all and get rid of the excess, and fight with my daughter about all the damn stuff. I’m trying to get it sorted little by little. Like weight loss, it is bloody hard work and a very long and complex process. UNLIKE weight loss, I can honestly say that although I’ve been struggling with it for eight years and am certainly far from tidy, I am a hell of a lot less messy than I was when my daughter was born, I could conceivably work my arse off and have the flat presentable in a day or two as opposed to three or four weeks. I’ve been dieting on and off for the same period, and (of course, this will be no surprise to you) I’m 7lbs heavier than when I started, in spite of having probably lost a total of 5 or 6 stones (and I am only 3 stones over my ‘ideal’ weight) during that period.

That would be because of the fact that, luckily, improving the state of my home isn’t dependant on COMPLETELY DEFYING BIOLOGY. Phew.

Er, anyway, sorry for the book! Hi there, I’m Anwen! SO glad that my lovely friend Shira introduced me to the Fatosphere, and by the way, I saw the video of you and Mo and am totally in awe of you both!

posted on February 8th, 2008 at 8:57 am

39 On February 8th, 2008, Sherie Sanders said:

I see this as nothing but a marketing gimmick. Anything that features weight loss sells, so this jerk wants to jump on the bandwagon. Americans have been overconsuming for decades. They are also incredibly overworked. Lack of time and the insuing stress can contribute to both weight gain and messy homes. Sadly, successful marketing always has emotional appeal. U.S. sheeple will relate to feeling frustrated about the lack of perfection in both their homes and bodies. They will never fasten their critical thinking caps to see it is much more complex than sound bites on an “Oprahmercial.” (I borrowed KarenElhyam brilliant point!)

Despite all, I can’t manage to hate Oprah. It is not her fault she keenly realizes there is NO limit to the gullibility of the U.S. public. My one consolation is at least some of that $ she makes does some good in the world.

posted on February 8th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

40 On February 10th, 2008, hotsauce said:

i do see how he managed to arrive at this theory (warped as it obviously is). i can believe a person might gain weight if his/her kitchen were a disorganized mess and that caused the person to wind up ordering take-out every night instead of cooking from scratch. reorganizing the kitchen to make it more comfortable to work in could inspire the person to make more home-cooked meals that involve things like chopping a ton of vegetables. that i can grasp — i know that when our kitchen looks like crap i’m not whipping up stir fried veggies and tofu because something like that needs the counter space that is covered by dirty dishes. and plus i don’t even want to look at the mess when it gets bad. the first of many places where he went wrong is that, although reorganizing a kitchen may translate into eating healthier, it doesn’t translate into thinness…. i’m so tired of people like him getting book deals.

and ditto on being tired of oprah.

posted on February 10th, 2008 at 10:01 am

41 On February 21st, 2008, signthelist said:

I think it’s interesting that one of the most influential women in the entire world works so hard to make herself thin.

She has millions of dollars that she can waste on every exercise machine, organic vegetable, and Ab-Roller. Yet she cannot radically change her natural body shape. So why do average women think they can, too? Why are do we expect ourselves to?

One of the hardest things for me to deal in my ongoing quest to stop hating my body: my hips aren’t getting any smaller. It’s a bone and it’s not going to go anywhere. I will never be a delicate wispy flower. Even if I restrict myself to 200 calories a day, I will never, ever be able to wear a size 2 because bones don’t shrink.

I don’t watch Oprah anymore. I hate how the audience claps in the middle of people having significant self-realization moments. Most talk shows do that. I can’t stand it.

posted on February 21st, 2008 at 1:40 am