Another Biggest Loser Iceland JIHAD request

[Thor]

I'm way too much in the spotlight, but the others have told me they appreciate that since I am I guess pretty good at this.

The marketing guys and producers are in love with me right now, when this negative article was written about the show they did not expect me to leap up and speak out so all in all this has been way too much about me in the news for my own liking but I feel like defending not only the other 11 people competing, but the amazing people who made the show which were nothing short of amazing.

This is from the guy who owns the marketing company responsible for the show.

Honestly, I think this is among the best letters I have read in a long long time. You are so spot-on and there is nothing I would like to ask you to change

[woob]

Good on you Thor. Hopefully you meet some lovely ladies as a result of all of this

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Thor

I'm way too much in the spotlight, but the others have told me they appreciate that since I am I guess pretty good at this.

The marketing guys and producers are in love with me right now, when this negative article was written about the show they did not expect me to leap up and speak out so all in all this has been way too much about me in the news for my own liking but I feel like defending not only the other 11 people competing, but the amazing people who made the show which were nothing short of amazing.

This is from the guy who owns the marketing company responsible for the show.

Keep up the good work. You have the full support of the fine folks on CP backing you, and apparently the show, it's marketers, and the media of Iceland.

Now that you're becoming famous, when do you get to start sleeping with supermodels?

[Thor]

Originally Posted by woob

Good on you Thor. Hopefully you meet some lovely ladies as a result of all of this

Exactly my plan!

Supermodels here I come!

Actually I just want the host on the show I'm in love with her, she's perfection.

[Thor]

Here she is, my future wife with me.

NSFW!

[Thor]

Well managed #2 on most read yesterday, over 6000 views of my facebook post and lots of compliments.

Thanks for your help guys!

[Thor]

Interesting responses from 2 people upset with me about speaking on behalf of Obese people.

Hi Thor Viðar Jónsson. I wanted to address something that´s been bothering me for the past few days. Let me begin by saying that I have the utmost respect for you and your voice. It takes a lot of courage to come out and speak about one´s experiences, like you have done. However, I must stress that your experience as a fat person is not everyone else´s experience as a fat person. I identify as a fat person and yes, I most definitely experience fat prejudice.

But this sentence: "Við, sem höfum verið of þung svona lengi, eigum okkur margar afsakanir og vorkennum sjálfum okkur. Við finnum afsakanir fyrir því að sleppa æfingu því stóran hluta ævinnar höfum við tekist á við þankagang sem hefur hvað eftir annað skaðað líf okkar og ekki er hægt að búast við því að þjálfarar láti okkur ekki heyra það þegar þeir horfa upp á slíkt" bothers me because you are speaking on behalf of all fat people. This is not my experience and it´s not the experience of many fat people I know either.

There exist fat people out there that enjoy and celebrate their bodies and take care of it in accordance by excersising and maintaining healthy relationship with food. My experience is that fat people vary just as much as thin people in that regard. The main thing that fat people have in common, however, is that we have all been victims of fat prejudice. And the main drive behind fat prejudice is the stereotype of fat people as lazy and gluttonous. In my experience and opinion that stereotype is far from true.

I respect your opinion and I respect the fact that you experience is not the same as mine. This, however, promts me to kindly ask you to refrain from speaking on behalf of all fat people when you speak about your experience. I wish you the best in your journey
and góða helgi

Thor Viðar Jónsson: I would like to further upon Tara's comment and also ask you to not speak on behalf of clinically obese people. This stereotype of the clinically obese being lazy, gluttonous and miserable people is far from true and I would like you to stop associating people like me who are clinically obese by BMI standards with those stereotypes.

Furthermore, the term clinically obese is such a fat prejudiced term in itself as it's used to describe all kind of healthy and unhealthy people that share the quality of being heavy in regards to height as having the same "clinical disease". It's just not right and I hope you see that.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I'll be the first to admit I don't know how to read or right Icelandic. However Google Translate makes it seem that the portion that was quoted was the part of your letter saying that "Sometimes people need to be called out".

If I have that right, I don't think it's far to say that you can't speak for everyone, when you stated that you're not speaking for everyone.


Secondly, I'm no doctor but I thought the medical profession made a distinction between "clinically obese" and "cosmetically obese". Louis CK has a whole bit about the doctor saying he's "cosmetically obese" but healthy. Doesn't clinically obese mean you're not healthy? Or do I have that mistaken and you can be healthy AND clinically obese?

[Devils'Advocate]

Mmm... sounds like you have run into members of the HAES movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_at_Every_Size

And I am a strong proponent of HAES. There is very, very strong evidence that those that are overweight, nearly obese BUT EXERCISE AN HOUR A DAY are healthier than those that are at a "normal" weight (normal BMI) that are sedentary. It is quite possible for overweight people to be living happy, busy, full, HEALTHY lives.

Here is Calgary-based obesity treatment doctor Arya Sharma on the topic:
http://www.drsharma.ca/obesity-the-s...size-haes.html

I can definitely appreciate their point of view. The incredible amount of fat-shaming there is in society, on this site in fact, is horrible and yet somehow acceptable. I think half the reason so many overweight people are miserable is because the not-overweight people take joy in making them feel miserable.

So when I am out making my rounds, I stay away from making generalizations about what it is like to be overweight and stick to what MY experience was. *I* was miserable. *I* was lethargic. *I* was lazy. *I* was unhealthy. *I* was eating all the wrong foods and not exercising.

HAES is linked to, but not equivelant to "Fat Acceptance" as the former requires the people to live a healthy lifestyle, even if that results in a larger body size than what is considered normal. The "Fat Acceptance" movement is solely against the discrimination and ridicule that fat people endure. Obviously the two movements overlap.

Dr. Sharma is keeping an open mind about HAES because he has seen the harm that the diet industry has done and how many patients have suffered from losing the weight. Yes, suffered from LOSING WEIGHT. Weight regain, body dysmorphia, or, as in my case, development of eating disorders.

You, like I, will face hostility from both HAES and FA. Success stories glorify weight loss and they feel that any celebrity status serves to ridicule those are overweight. it re-enforces the "overweight = bad"; "thin = good" equations. They do not understand that I am an ally; I understand the pain that comes with the constant ridicule of being overweight. But unlike the HAES people, I was unhealthy AND unhappy at 350 pounds.