Big Sexy on TLC

 I'm surprised you would say such things being that you were obviously overweight yourself and chose weight loss surgery in order to help you get to a healthy weight.  I would think that anyone on this website, being that its OH, would know that hearing "dont get fat.  its unhealthy and you'll have to dress like a frumpy old lady with enormous granny panties" is not something that would deter many.  There are so many situations that contribute to overweight teens and youth, and while I am all for educating our youth on healthy eating so they don't have to go through what I went through as an young adult or teen, putting people down and calling them "muffin tops" or assuming they have the tools to not "get fat" seems like its just fueling the fire.

Just the opinion of someone who was overweight as a teen, who wanted to change but didn't quite know how to do so in a healthy way, and thus began a vicious dieting cycle that lasted 15 years.

I'm interested to see how the show progresses and also the public opinion.  I think there will certainly be negative talk but as many said here, hopefully give other women (and men) confidence that they yearn for.

Perhaps it's a cultural thing and a function of where and when  I grew up (northeast, suburbia, early 80's).  When I was in high school the definition of 'overweight' was quite different than it is now.  A 1982 size 11/13 was considered 'big.' The fact there were zero clothing choices for anything above that, a boy would never speak to you. or you'd be mocked into tears if you did get actually fat served as a strong deterant.    There was no "it's ok to be fat" message, precisely the opposite, and it worked at least until we discovered beer in college. 

By the same token, in 1982  the worst possible thing you could do was get pregnant.  There were NO visible teen pregnancies at my high school in the 4 years I was there.  That provided a real deterrant to certain behaviors, as well.   Now we give teen mothers their own TV shows and wonder what to do to stem the teen pregancy rate.  "Stigma", like it or not,  serves as a cultural control of undesirable behavior.