I like to watch fat people sweat. Self included. It’s become a national past time you know. The reality show, The Biggest Loser (finale is tonight) kicked it off, but then shows like HUGE (sit com about a fat camp for kids), Heavy (documentary about fat people exercising at Hilton Head’s Health complex) and even Ruby (a 500+ pound woman losing weight) have all captivated an obese nation. But it’s not just the heavy folks watching for inspiration.

Skinny people are mesmerized by these shows too. And as a storyteller I have to ask why. Unable to sleep the other night I went to hulu.com and watched 6 straight hours of Heavy, and of The Biggest Loser, a total sweat marathon. I went to bed inspired and may have lost 10 pounds just from watching (I wish).

The story line is simple - obese person has an awareness or event (death, diabetes, stroke, intervention etc) and decides “It’s time to lose weight.” They fill out an application to get on a reality show, get selected, then spend the next 3-6 months sweating and huffing at a luxury resort to lose 100+ pounds. Some lose 200+ pounds. The transformations are the closest thing to magic that many of us will ever experience. The journey is almost always punctuated by insight, epiphanies and an awareness that they are “emotional eaters” (eating when feeling stressed, angry, sad, lonely etc rather than when they’re hungry). And that - I figured out - is why people watch. These are NOT how-to shows. They’re shows about the emotional struggles we all go through with our addictions - be they food, sex, gambling, alcohol, drugs or work. We all struggle - it just shows more on some of us. Viewers want (1) to see how these people stay inspired, (2) They want to get motivated themselves, (3) They want to see someone triumph over their addiction/weight/issues. Why? Because we identify with people who are in the same boat as we are. If THEY can do it? We can do it. It makes for compelling television to a lot of people.

I’ve begun confronting my own emotional reasons for eating rather than feeling and it’s been rough. I’d much rather spend four hours in the gym sweating and working out than 30 minutes processing a memory or emotion. It’s damn hard work to do the emotional component of weight loss and don’t let anyone else tell you different!

Fortunately I have an awesome trainer - someone who has been down the weight loss and emotional eating road herself and knows how to navigate the tough stuff. We’re working on a book that’s devoted to the issue and we’re in the process of launching a website to blog JUST about emotional eating issues. I hope you’ll join us. It will be a different take on weight loss and one that we both hope will help a lot of people. In the meantime - if YOU or someone you know has any questions about emotional eating, food, weight loss, workouts etc., please email me - use the contact form on this site. You can remain anonymous. Just let me know! Thanks much!