Big Meets Bigger

AJB

Silver Member
Has anyone seen this show? I'm just watching it now (at midnight on BBC3 so I'm assuming its a repeat) and just had to stick a quote on from one of the obese girls on there when she was asked about her weight:

"If you've got straight hair you want curly hair. If you've got curly hair you want straight hair. If you're tall you want to be short. If you're short you want to be tall. You just want everything you can't have. I think the main thing is to find that happy medium and realise that you need to be happy with yourself. Stop trying to want other things. Stop trying to be other things and just work with what you've got."

I don't know about you but I've said similar things to myself in order to convince myself that the size I was at was ok. That I was ok and happy with being a size 20 and that it wouldn't make a difference to my happiness if I lost weight. What utter bullshit! Who was I kidding?!

I just hope that by the end of the program this poor girl sees the light!
 
Personally, having been at both ends of the spectrum - I can tell you, being thin will NOT magically make you happy. Being happy with yourself is the key, no matter how big or small you are. I was fat and miserable and then I was thin and, also, miserable - because I didn't like myself.
From experience I've also met a few people who would be considered quite overweight, but they didn't mind it. They were happy with themselves and when that happiness shows, I actually didn't see their size at all. They were perhaps the most beautiful people I'd ever met.

The thing is... just be happy. Learn to like who you are. I am still learning this aspect, and I always come to the same conclusion. The more I hate myself - the more I punish and hurt everyone around me because I 'feel' like I don't deserve love etc. etc... but, in doing so, I am also denying my family and loved ones the love they deserve from me...

I dunno.. I'm blabbering... but... like... don't be so harsh on the girl in the TV show. Life really isn't all about how thin or fat someone is. ;)
 
Min, wise words, I swear you've been on this planet before!

I'm lucky in that I liked myself fat and thin. I did not like 'being' fat but at least I liked myself as a person. I think I'm pretty nice really...:) However, it took me a long time and a few tries at counselling to get there. Everyone has their battles I reckon.
 
For me I had become unhealthy - I wanted to be healthy.
My wish was granted.
 
The girl in the show was actually deluding herself into thinking that she was healthy at the weight she was (23 stones) and despite a family history of heart disease and diabetes still wouldn't do anything about it.

After a visit to the slums Argentina and staying with a family where they were all (including the children under 10 years old) morbidly obese - not through choice but through lack of options (it was too dangerous for the children to play out and living on £4 a day to feed the family - fatty foods were the cheaper option) she was shocked into admiting that she wasn't healthy and had run out of excuses for doing nothing about it.

Fast forward 6 weeks on the cambridge diet and she'd lost 3 stones, applied for a fashion photography course (her childhood dream was to have one of her photos published in Vogue) and a vastly improved attitude on life.

I'm not saying bigger people can't be happy it was just seeing her making the same excuses that I had told myself prior to LL suddenly gave me a lightbulb moment!

 
I didn't see the show, but I can relate to what you say. I used to kid myself that I was happy and comfortable and healthy when I was over 21stone.
I was kidding myself, but I REALLY believed it at the time. It just creeps up on you gradually. I think for most of us there is a light bulb moment.
 
For me my lightbulb moment was at the start of this year. My daughter is type 1 Diabetic and quite bad. Anyway every 4 wks at her TOM she goes into a diabetic coma and we have to phone an ambulance. That morning - when she came back round again - the ambulanceman was trying to get her talking and just happened to tell her that sure her mum was going to be a Diabetic too within 2 years. I was fuming inside but something just clicked in my head and I thought
(a) Yes he is probably right and I can carry on stuffing myself and let it happen
(b) Get my weight off and give myself a fighting chance.

So I choice option B and joined LL. Best decision I have made in a long long time
 
Well done IWGT. A lady in our group was able to come off her medication for diabetes and high blood pressure after she did LL.
It's life changing and life saving.
 
My brother was diagnosed with diabetes that he has to control with medication this year. It was a big shock as I never saw him as being too fat or unhealthy (being 6ft 3 he could get away with carrying more weight) and suddenly I looked at myself in a whole new light - I was clearly going to make myself ill carrying on the way I was with regular takeaway treats etc. its such a shame it took him getting ill for me to take a proper look at myself and make some much needed changes!
 
I was never happy when i was 17 stone and i don't think i ever really tricked myself into believing i was - but i did trick others into thinking that i was completely happy with the weight i was and it didn't bother me but inwardly i despised myself. My friends were so shocked when i started lighter life because they had got so use to my lie that i was okay with being obese.

Lighter life has been such an eye opener for me, im getting to like myself more and more each week with ever pound that drops off - infact at some times i think im damn hot these days! haha. I just wish i had known about it sooner and done something about my weight years ago!

Im really enjoying the big meets bigger series on BBC3 and i saw the episode you wrote about, im so glad that both the 'bigs' decided to make a change to their lives and it looks like they convinced the 'biggers' to change theirs too! =)
 
So sad that it sometimes takes something to happen to another person we love to give us the kick up the backside me need.
AJB my daughter is only 14 but is 5ft 7 and a size 6. She just looks like ur normal teenager but is on 8 injections a day. Splitting them is the only thing at the minute giving her a bit of control. I am hoping it is just hormones as she has just recently hit puberty. So fingers crossed things will hopefully settle down - eventually.
Calico you are doing so well. You must be so proud of ourself. Wish I was as close to my target as you are. Well done
 
watched all three so far on iplayer.

The attitude of the Brits is pretty much what I had. ie "technically" obese. i eat well, i know good nutrition, it'll not happen to me.

As I think I have said on here, reason I am doing this is for health and I know an obese guy nearing 50 had to have his foot off due to diabetes.

Dad died at 50 due to heart trouble, uncle diabetic, maternal granny thyroid, paternal granny died stroke and had diabetes, I think I am a pretty good candidate and I thought I had to pull my finger out.

Really enjoyed the show, I will have to remember it whenever I feel like regressing backwards.

I do feel sorry for these people who do not know how to change, I feel worse for the argentinians who can not change.

I think the big problem for most is that we like food, we like eating, but oince you get to a tipping point it is really hard work to change,...that is why I am loving LL. So quick, the motivation just keeps me going, the achievement so far is immense, yes I blipped last week with some chicken (I do feel awful, weigh in today and I hope it has not done too much damage), but the speed will kepe it in my mind set.

Weight loss conventionallyby healthy eating and exercising is soooooo hard and takes forever, and that is why I think so many overweight people fail. it is such a long road without an end. LL shortens the road and keeps you focused.

I would be interested to see a follow up programme.

From the concluding remarks it seems so far that only the lass from Essex who was jogging, and the fashion girl from Portsmouth who seems to be on a LCD - lost 3 stone in 2 months or summit. The rest just lost a stone or so by reducing intake....that is all well and good but several months in and they will get bored as I am sure all of us have. Good luck to them all, and thank you for the programme makers to show us how bad our lifestyle choices could be.

Wish more of these weight loss problems showed more of this side of being obese...not just "let's laugh at fatties working-out" or get a camp guy to belittle a fat family. This is the first weight loss programme I have identified with the participents, their attitude, lifestyle and struggle. well done BBC. (on a side note - and I hope that this will not decend into a licence fee debate - This is why the govt shouldnt cut the fee, becuase the bbc will turn to more talent and dancing shows and less quality programmes such as this. No way would commercial demand require a four part series like this when the mney could go to chewing gum TV)
 
I agree Flex this programme is an education - there's little I watch on terrestrial tv (I'm a fan of US shows like Law & Order, CSI etc.) so its good to actually get to watch something for my licence fee!

Tonight's episode sent them to Kuwait - the country is rich through oil and now the whole country is obese through sheer gluttony and bone idleness - shocking!!
 
let me know what you think of their version of a fast food drive-through - had me in stitches!
 
let me know what you think of their version of a fast food drive-through - had me in stitches!
watched it earlier.

the guy with elephantisis was an @rse. poor wife.

the drive through, nice idea...but seems like what I imagine from AMerican diner type places in the 50s in the USA if "happy days" and Flintstones are anything to go by.

It really spurs me on when I see these obese people struggling with diabetes and loosing toes and feet etc.

STill think the best was the USA one.
 
oh and one thing that was said I thought was a great point was that fag packets have warnings but burgers dont have anything. I doubt we would have the obesity problem if there were more health warnings regarding high fat foods.
 
That's so true about the warnings - what I loved about the restaurants in New York was that their menus had the calorie count and fat content of all the meals - some even had weight watchers points values - so there's no excuse for saying you don't have a choice!
 
that is fantastic, is that as standard?

would be good to have more widespread overhere. never seen that.

I have seen 5% fat type stickers etc but nothing on calories.

WW must be huge over there to make it on to menus.
 
Weight Watchers is really highly regarded over there - I think its a regulation the Mayor of the City brought in this year because when I went on holiday there last year not all the restuarants we went to had it - even the fast food restuarants have a massive list at the till :D
 
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