oh i dunno, i think it's kinda messed up to televise things like this. it's almost as bad/sad as that show 'intervention.'

It's not as heartbreaking to me as it is gross and aggravating.

And I suppose inspirational. It's more inspirational than it is sad, anyways.

I tihk its sad some people just dont know how to use food properly and end up like this trapped in their body but his mom doesnt help look at her i blame the mom

Why do we need shows like this? I feel like we're crossing over from educational to "hey! look at the freak!"

I find kind of offensive their irresponsibility to handle food: there is a lot of hunger out there...its more of a moral thing to me.

This reminds me of somethign i heard someone say a while ago. (i think it was from supersize me). we all know smoking cigarettes are bad and will kill you and we think nothing of saying to someone "hey why are you smoking that cigarette? you're going to kill yourself" but somehow weight and eating are so taboo we cant say "why are you eating that hamburger? you are going to kill yourself" it's the same way. people who are this heavy are goign to kill themsleves and it's just as irresponsible as those who smoke or partake in other lifestyles that can put our lives in danger...just treated so differently.

I saw that show and Half Ton Mom and I never once that these people are "gross". What I thought was "I am so glad that I was able to stop myself from continuing down that slippery slope and that I sought out compassionate professional and deeply compassionate friends who helped me when I could not help myself alone.

I think its incredibly sad that someone can be in that much emotional pain that they try to stifle their emotions and calm themselves by complusively overeating to the point where mentally they suffer if they cannot consume massive amounts of food.

And truly though your astounded by the sheer volume of food this SMO person is eating, you really should be trying to find out what the root cause of their problem is because food is definitely not the problem or reason why they are super morbidly obese. Emotions, pain and the inability to cope with life or trauma is why this has happened and the question is 'How are YOU going to help this hurting person realize this and deal with it?' Or are you going to stand on the sidelines and heap more pain and suffering upon those fragile bodies?

I know many super morbidly obese people now because of my gastric bypass support groups and having once been morbidly obese myself. I do not judge SMO's or MO's or ANA's or MIA's because the same underlying problem effects all of the people with different physical manifestations - attempting to gain control over one "simple" issue in their difficult lives (what, when, where and how they consume that which all humans must have to survive). One portion of being a living human that SEEMS so simple (eating) when really its incredibly complex. One must eat to survive but one must often feel some level of safety and control in their lives too to function the problem lies in when people take it too far and lose control without realizing it. The easiest thing to control is not the amount of food you consume but your emotional or mental response to that food. Does food make you feel impervious to pain and block your feelings or does food cause you to feel weak and in pain so you have to stop those feelings by not consuming as much food as you possibly can? Generally, speaking I've found that ANAs and SMO are two sides of the same issue - eating is a means to controlling the feelings that they interpret as "bad" and "too painful" to deal with.

I cannot imagine what cretin would look at an ANA say or think "You're gross and disgusting and an embarrassment to humans." But the same cretin could think or say that same thing to someone who's SMO or MO. The same cruel, heartless person could inflict more pain rather than listening and extending a helping hand and trying to help someone ease the pain in a new manner.

I think people need to understand two things: first that when an observer looks at a SMO or MO person and feels grossed out or shame or revulsion that they what they feel says more about who they are as a person than it says about the SMO or MO person.

If you look at someone who is SMO and fail to realize that their body/health issue, their fat is the manifestation of deep seeded emotion issue and a disconnect in their psyche then the observer has a problem just as bad as the SMO/MO person.

Second thing is that the difference between the "grossed out" observer and the SMO is that the SMO cannot hide their emotion distress from others any longer while the observer can.

Human empathy is a sign of high reasoning while their repulsion is a sign of a problem within the observer themselves.

It's a very slippery slope to being a SMO or MO - one could suffer any number of atrocities that could push them to their breaking point and start them down this slope. And if rather than someone offering compassion and an ear to listen without judgment you instead they hurl insults and heap more pain on someone else's fragility then you are just as culpable for that expedited death as the SMO person.

SMO are the manifestation of many supposed "thin and healthy" peoples greatest fears. "Everyone can see my pain and that I have problems greater than I can bare and that I crumble under the weight of these problems." Many thin people are horribly afraid of losing control, of showing weakness and view fat people as weak when many fat people view things differently ("I stuff my pain and its visible, while you hide yours and are a cold, unfeeling person.")

My point is...eh

+++Oh I hate chronic insomnia. I ramble when fatigued+++

Just seeing that kid balancing a plate of food on his stomach while he eats it is pretty gross to me. Wouldn't that sorta clue you in to the fact that you need to kinda, ya know, do something about it?? Denial only goes so far.

I kinda like these reality shows about the morbidly obese and their journeys to get healthy. I always really hope that they can get healthy and lose some of their weight. I also wonder how many of them are truly successful at slimming down in the long term.

I know, personally, that when I have a lot going on and am not as attentive with my nutrition and working out, and then gain an extra 5 or 10 pounds, I immediately realize that enough is enough and make strong efforts to get back on track. I wonder where other people draw the line - when you hit 300 pounds? 500? 700? I just feel like, if you hit 300 pounds, how can you NOT recognize that there is a huge problem and try to resolve it? Why, for some people, does the "enough is enough" line come when they hit 800 or 1,000 and not earlier? I just don't understand that.

It's not a matter of not realizing or not saying 'enough is enough". It's a matter of saying "I have a problem. A problem that I need help and understanding from others to fix. I need to learn to deal with trauma and life. I need to learn to love and accept myself. I need to believe that I deserve the best and I am worthy of good things and love no matter what I look like."

Until you get that you will always think it's a matter of self-control, disapline and laziness and just a matter of food.

It's not about food or not exercising it's about pain and controlling the pain.

I completely agree with wackdoodle on all points but one:

/I cannot imagine what cretin would look at an ANA say or think "You're gross and disgusting and an embarrassment to humans."/

when I was undergoing treatment for anorexia I heard the nastiest comments from people, especially at the pool. often from average sized, fit attractive women saying stuff along the lines of "ugh, i think its really unattractive when u push dieting too far. how can she do that to herself? men like curves better anyway. doesnt she realise how ugly she looks?" etc, etc..

as for the rest of the points, yes i completely agree. and i actually identify with the kid in the video to a degree, especially now that i'm back in the bulimia stages of my disorder.
to be perfectly honest, sometimes i think that if i wasn't making myself throw up x times a day and kill myself at the gym after every meal, i'd look exactly like that kid.
and who's to say that just because i don't i am somehow more in control/better/healthier/more commendable than him?

if there is one thing i learned in group therapy, it's that all ppl with eating disorders are in the same boat, regardless of what their weight is.

i agree wackadoodle! i have a family member who weighs in about 500 lbs...they had the band surgury about..12yrs ago..i think...lost a bunch of weight then gained it back over time. its not "gross"...its just life.....and i could go into a long speal but i won't cuz wackadoodle covered it wonderfully!!!

I agree with wackdoodle also.

It's not about the food really. Unfortunately, some people use food to cope with their problems, whether it's starving, purging, binge eating, etc. In this case, it's binge eating. I don't think obese people choose to be that way (actually SOME people claim to be happy being obese, but it's not healthy). It's an eating disorder, and obese people deserve the same treatment as say someone with anorexia or bulimia because they have to do with deep inner problems that they don't know how to resolve.

I think these shows are sad, but it gives me hope that people will see this and not let themselves get to that point. It makes my heart break to know that some people can't live normal lives because of their weight.

I am equally inspired and disgusted...

I find shows like this depressing.

this is the most disturbing thing i have ever seen. i wish i had seen this before i just had a spoonful of ice cream.
it is inspiring i suppose but dear lord, how do you even let this happen to yourself or someone you love?

Candy Apple - I am so sorry that those women were so cruel to say let alone say such things to you when you were in pain. I know that these cretins (morons) exist I see them everyday, I have a few in my family and had a few as friends.

Perhaps I expect too much from my fellow humans. I expect everyone to be empathetic but I know that it's a pipe dream to expect such things. Being empathetic does not mean you have to turn a blind eye to what you see but it means you attempt to see the other person's position and struggle.

If I had been with you Candy Apple I would have had to speak with those women and attempted to inform them regarding why they need to STFU and how potentially destructive their attitude and comments are to another women's health. But mainly I would have reassured and supported you that if you had any doubt that you were a good and worthy and beautiful person who's trying to...well I hope you understand.

It reminds of when my mom was trying to recovery from major brain surgery. Before surgery she was 5'6 and 145 pounds wet, she was curvy and fit, but some of her sisters would call her fat. These were adults chiding someone they claimed to love and who they knew had a critical condition. After her 14 hour failed brain surgery she tried to relearn to walk, talk and eat- she shrunk to just about 80 pounds of delicate fragile bones with skin over them. These same B*tchy sisters of my mother started to ride her about how skinny she was and how she needed to gain weight to be attractive and how she thought she was better than them. At my mom's funeral I played the audio tape of these "sisters" of hers saying these horrible things. They sat there crying saying "Oh I miss my poor baby sister! Oh we didn't mean it." BS, you knew there was nothing wrong with how my mom looked before surgery and after they decided to focus on something that she could not control - she was dying. And these women who profess to love her hurt her instead of helping her. I've made amend with these aunts since my mom died but when I was suffering from overwhelming grief over my loss of my mom and gaining weight faster than I could lose it, I stayed away from them. I didn't want to deal with their BS. I could have used their support through the grief counseling but in my mind they are heartless harpies at their core. Now as a thin women, who's learned to accept her emotions and accept and work through the grief I still want nothing to do with them and they could not understand why.

People can so easily inflict pain on another person but often fail to realize that even after they apologize the pain they inflicted lingers. It may be forgiven but never forgotten.

i think it is totally insensitive showing people like that on tv because im pretty sure it makes them even more insecure because of their weight.

I'm with lemamike and gabiushka - I find the total denial and gross overconsumption to be really irresponsible, and I have a problem with the fact that it's totally taboo to even look cross-eyed at someone who is morbidly obese, but when I was a smoker people that I didn't even know had no problem judging me vocally for my bad habit.

Everyone needs to recognize their own problems. I don't see my body how it really is, I have good days and I have bad days. There are days I think I have the fastest legs in the world, I don't but there's always something wrong. I was bulimic when I was in high school, I attribute a lot of this to my dad. My dad is probably around 350 XXXL in anything.
One day he came up to me, pinched my stomach and said "you're getting fat huh?"
I was 16 years old. As if I wasn't insecure enough.
I now believe my dad was doing this because he did not want me to end up like him.... he's having gastric bypass surgery in January.

I just don't understand why people can't just talk weight rather than have it be this huge taboo secret. Support is necessary to recovery.

This saddens me. I know that the mom loves her son, but she was acting the part of the enabler. I couldn't do something like that to someone I loved, did her grief blind her to what she was really doing? The line "I couldn't have done this without my mom" (or something like that, I really don't want to rewatch the vid) was ironic in the most tragic way. She is literally slowly killing her remaining son.

I think his mother loves him very much. but she is also his enabler. She'd most likely react the same if he were an addict. He can only get better or worse. I hope he can man up and do it on his own! It's called "faith" my friends!!!!

Yes it's sad....But it's also inspiring to watch people overcome this much adversity. And if you don't like it...change the channel.