Less is More...

...except when it isn't

Weight loss comes with some paradoxes that have never made much sense to me.  Now, with surgery a week and a half away, I seem to be thinking more about those paradoxes.  And I'm remembering some moments from my previous successes with shrinking, brief as they were, that bothered me.

I suppose the most obvious paradox is that "Losing is Winning!".  Television made that paradox literal with the program, "The Biggest Loser", where the person losing the most weight during the show's season wins a boatload of cash for their efforts.  I won't bore you with my opinions about diet and exercise for profit, either the contestants' or the television network's.  How they choose to go about the process is up to them.  I will say that I heard (from a VERY reliable source) that the show's executives/producers urge those contestants to try to look as bad as possible in their audition tapes and in the first few episodes.  It makes the contrast at the end of the season much more vivid... and it's just good television.

Then there is the whole attitude that "Less is More".  Having been a plus-size lady for most of my life, I can speak to this with some authority, particularly regarding how American society views plus-size people as invisible...but once we shrink, all of sudden, we are indeed visible.  During my last major weight loss many moons ago, I had some weird moments.  For example, people who had never given me the time of day before started coming out of the woodwork, suddenly interested in hanging out and getting to know me better.

Why?  Why was I suddenly worth talking to when I had not been worth it before?  I was the same person I had been 50 pounds ago.  I had been right there under their down-looking noses all along.  All that changed was how I looked.

If I seem to have a chip on my shoulder about this, I do indeed.  Because of my own weight and size issues, I have always been very aware of how often people are judged solely based on appearances.  Being a singer has both helped and hindered me in this regard, because people halfway expect classically-trained singers to be a bit zaftig.  Just not too much.  It's a thin line between "curvy-cute" and "gobby fat".


I've walked on the wrong side of the fat thin line for a long time.  And the paradoxes will continue to intrigue me.  Less body weight for me will indeed mean more strength.  So by losing, I will gain, and win.