ccording to the National Institutes of Health, approximately one-third of all American adults are overweight. And at any given time, between 20 - 40 percent of adults are trying to lose weight.
The most predictable reactions to statistics like these are feelings of blame or shame. But does self-flagellation really make people happier, more productive, or, for that matter...thinner?
Carol Johnson says no. Ms. Johnson has been a larger person all her life, and after years of dieting and acute feelings of guilt, she arrived at a crossroads. Either continue on the path that equates self-esteem with diet success, or set off on a new path, one that would allow her to develop a higher self-esteem despite her weight ups and downs.
Johnson chose the latter. And in 1987, she founded Largely Positive, an organization that promotes health and self-esteem among larger people. Below, Ms. Johnson talks about her journey to self-acceptance, and the cultural roadblocks that meet larger people as they undertake this journey today.
What's the business of Largely Positive?
Largely Positive is an organization that promotes health among larger people, and educates the larger population about the value of self-esteem. We produce a newsletter called: On a Positive Note, which goes out primarily to consumers but increasingly to professionals and researchers, and we have a Web site -- www.largelypositive.com, which features information about how larger people can achieve better self-esteem. I also do a lot of public speaking about my book, Self Esteem Comes in All Sizes.
What made you decide to start Largely Positive?
I have been a larger person my entire life. When I was born I weighed like ten pounds, and I was a chubby toddler and a chubby child and I've just always been a big person. And I've tried all my life to lose weight. I've been on every diet imaginable and every form of exercise, you name it, and I would always lose weight, but then I'd gain it back.
In 1987, I was in the bookstore looking for another diet book, and I came across a book called The Dieter's Dilemma. It was about why people become large and why people are born large. It went through, very methodically, all of the research that had been done up to that point about the biological and physiological underpinnings of obesity.
I was shocked by this book. I had always assumed that my weight was entirely my fault. That's what everybody had always told me, and if I'd just stop eating so much, I could lose weight. This book was an eye-opener for me, and it almost made me angry, because I thought, "There is so much that people don't know. There is so much that's going on in our bodies that isn't related to food that conspires to make us bigger."
It was then that I decided that somebody's got to tell people all of this, and why not me? I became a woman on a mission.
What was your mission?
To start spreading the word that larger people are not bad, weak-willed people. That there are factors in weight that you may or may not have control over.
So that's the 'largely' part, what about the 'positive'?
Yes. Largely Positive tries to send the message to large people that they should start liking themselves right now, as they are today. And not postpone strong self-esteem for thinner days.
Did you have a negative experience that led you to this positive message?
Yes. I was going to a diet workshop with a friend of mine. I went to a meeting one night, and the group leader said, "Why don't we make a list of all the freedoms we lose when we're overweight?"
Something snapped in me when she said that, and I thought, "I may be overweight, but I haven't lost my freedoms." The whole thing was very negative. I said to her, "Why do we always have to do negative exercises about what's wrong with us? Why can't we instead figure out how to be more healthy, and like ourselves on the way?"
I realized that maybe I'll lose weight and maybe I won't, but I can like myself today at the weight I'm at. I don't have to wait to lose 25 or 30 pounds to like myself. I wanted other large people to know this too.
What do you think are the assumptions our culture makes about large people?
I think they assume that we're lazy and that we're eating excessively. I think they assume that we don't care about ourselves and we must not get any exercise. We must just lie around all day on the couch eating bon-bons. I mean, I think all these assumptions are made about people who are overweight.
How would you characterize the way Americans approach weight-loss programs generally?
I think that people are looking for a quick fix. It's, "I've got to go to a reunion in a month," or, "I have a wedding to go to and I need to lose 25 pounds by next month." But if you talk to the researchers, they'll tell you that's the absolute worst thing you could possibly do. Because weight that's lost that quickly is absolutely guaranteed to be regained.
What I've tried to do is I've tried to say to myself, "I need to exercise always, not just for weight loss but for my overall health. And I need to eat this way always, because it's just good for my overall health." I've begun to think less of weight-loss, and more of the values and benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
So start measuring the results with different criteria?
Exactly. I consider things like, "Did my blood pressure improve?" For some people it might be cholesterol, blood sugar, overall well-being, feelings of having energy. I think people need to start weighing in other measures of success besides actual pounds lost.
Do you have a success story from Largely Positive you could talk about?
There is a woman who, at the time that she began with Largely Positive -- was having problems in her marriage. When they got married she had been in one of her yo-yo phases where she had lost weight. After they got married, she gradually regained the weight. It was troubling for him and, in a way, I can understand that. And this woman had really low self-esteem.
Now there's a mindset common among large people that they don't deserve to buy nice clothes until they lose weight. People even buy clothes that are too small as an incentive to lose weight. And in the meantime they wear dowdy old clothes.
This woman came into the program and the first thing I noticed was she started to buy clothes -- she hadn't lost a lot of weight, but she started to buy clothes that were attractive and snazzy and that fit her now. She had her nails and hair done, and you could almost see her self-esteem improving through these kinds of things.
Then she brought her husband into the program and he started understanding some of the reasons why some people are overweight, reasons that are not all associated with overeating. He became incredibly supportive of his wife.
They just went on a cruise to Hawaii. When I first met her, she would have never gone on a cruise to Hawaii. But now she's out, she does things, she's not waiting, or hiding anymore.
Is this a big issue? That larger people put their lives on hold until they've lost weight?
Yes. They have great plans for their lives, but not until they lose weight. I was like that, and I finally realized that my life was probably half over, and that I'd better start doing the things I wanted to do, because I may never get thin, or as thin as I thought I had to be to do those things. You've just got to start living your life in the body you have, and treat that body well.
What's your final message to larger Americans who are struggling to build stronger self-esteem?
Thank your body for what it does do for you. I'm thankful that my body works fairly well - that my legs carry me around and I'm able to do the things I want to do. There are a lot of people that aren't able to do that, and I think we need to be thankful for what we do have.
Carol Johnson, MA; Founder of Largely Positive