What the heck am I talking about?
Apparently, there's a story going around the tabloids that, at the Grammies, Jennifer Hudson told Adele she needed to lose some weight and offered to hook her up with Weight Watchers. And Adele was indignant and repeated something I see a lot in articles about her: that's she's happy with her weight of 165 pounds.
Naturally, the internet is a buzz and a lot of people are upset about this and saying mean things about Jennifer for daring to tell the wonderful Adele that, basically, she's fat. But, honestly, anyone who's lost significant amount of weight has been where Hudson is is and knows how hard it can be not to proselytize. You think you've found the Holy Grail and you want everyone to know about it.
But most of us are smart enough to refrain. We know that before we were receptive to the message, we would not have responded well to someone else trying to force the issue. Especially if their message is something like "try Weight Watchers" that doesn't have that great a track record and many of us have tried at least once if not many times before.
So, assuming this story is even remotely true (which I doubt quite a bit), I say to Hudson:
Oh, honey. I know you meant well. I understand you want to help others. But wait for them to ask you. It's not like no one knows you lost your weight with Weight Watchers and doesn't know to ask.
But, Adele? You also have some 'xplaining to do. Because, at 5'9", if you truly weighed 165 pounds, you'd have a normal BMI (and probably be a US size 2). And you don't (and you aren't).
Don't believe me? Here's are some recent pictures of Adele:
Gorgeous? Yes. Normal BMI? No.
The thing is, if Adele is truly happy with herself, as she should be and she claims to be, why does she pretend to weigh so much less than she actually does?
Well many of us have been there too. And the answer is: we're in denial about how big we really are.
But talk about mixed messages. On the one hand, Adele gives interviews where she talks about how happy she is and how she'd rather be fat and be able to sing than be thin and not have her voice. And she even says she has a goal to never be thin. (Okay, am I the only one who thinks that's kind of a weird goal?) But then she turns around and lies about her weight and puts extremely Photoshopped pictures of herself on her album covers.
I just wonder what the younger of her fans are taking from this. Probably exactly the wrong message.
Why do I think this is such a big deal? Worthy of a blog post? In my opinion, people lying about their weight contributes to a general unhappiness that many of us have about our own weight and how we look, just as much as Photoshopped magazine covers of models and celebrities do. I believe it also contributes to body dysmorphia.
To that end, I will now confess that I weighed 127.2 on Sunday. (I forgot to weigh myself this morning.) Yeah, it's higher than the 125 I generally admit to. I guess I need to cut that out. Or risk being a hypocrite.
3 comments:
I agree with you. There is no way that is a normal BMI.
This is a picture of me: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ogtczgxFIDQ/T0A7wKDQndI/AAAAAAAABhk/bLHdmTUNUtA/s1600/IMG_9454.jpg
I have a BMI of about 27 (I'm working on it...)
Most people tell me I look TINY (they are confusing this with short.) People do not believe I am overweight, but I'm about midway in the category (that scares me). No one thinks Adele is not overweight.
I understand her (and her fans?) being offended by the suggestion that she HAS to lose weight. But that is NOT a normal BMI.
Well, depends on what you mean by "normal" BMI - in the truest form of the word, I'd say Adele's pretty much reflective of the norm. Optimal is another thing... Jennifer Hudson is a Weight Watchers spokesperson, and should be expected to comment on it.
Adele's comments regarding her weight remind me of Kate Winslet's - both of them I think in general have had a positive self image and have considered their overweight just part of them that should be accepted dammit, but the pressure of being in the limelight and all the criticism will take its toll.
I think it's empowering for average people to see that overweight women can be beautiful and successful, but there's often a niggling "could they be healthier?" as well, especially if (like me) you've experienced the feeling good of low carb eating and weight loss, and know that you feel better when you're not so heavy. But then at the Oscars, Angelina Jolie was looking overthin and people commented, as well. I like to think that as a society we're getting a little better informed and have a better sense for what is healthy.
This is not a well-formed comment, must run to work...
I thought about using another term for having a BMI in the range of 18.5-24.9 but "normal" is what the medical profession calls it. It might not be "average." (I think Jessim is more in the "average" range.) But Adele is definitely obese.
And I don't think she's has a positive self-image. That's her public image that she does. But then she does things that show it's not really her.
Kate Winslet does. She's very upfront about her weight. She make a comment every time one of her magazine covers are Photoshopped that she's disappointed they did that. She also doesn't go around announcing her weight and I think that's probably best. It's just a number and it changes anyway. I think she's a great role model.
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