Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Mama June's Covid weight gain excuse echoes "My 600-lb Life" obesity myths

In this blog, I explore how I lost 100 pounds. I also look at celebrity weight loss particularly on reality TV shows like "My 600-lb Life" and "Mama June: From Not to Hot." June Shannon, the "Toddlers and Tiaras" mum of pageant star Honey Boo Boo debuted her 300-lb weight loss, after gastric bypass, a few years ago. I've always had my doubts about Mama June Shannon's weight loss. Here's why. 

So many lies: June Shannon struggled with (actually I should say celebrated) morbid obesity, through "Toddlers and Tiaras or "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." Then a new reality TV show "Mama June: From Not to Hot" promised a big makeover. Shannon falsely claimed to lose weight on her own, without gastric bypass or plastic surgery. And though she achieved undeniable weight loss, her claim to lose 300 pounds and get down to size 4 and 134 pounds was a bit much to believe. So she fudged numbers? She's still a lot less overweight, no big deal, right?  Unfortunately, it demonstrates some very "My 600-lb Life" type behavior.  

Obesity mindset (or what I call "fattitude.") Gastric bypass patients on "My 600-lb Life" exhibit Al-Anon pattern "stinkin thinkin" (blaming others, making excuses, lying about following the 1200 calorie diet, denying how overweight they are). Fattitude makes and keeps us overweight. Stinkin thinkin blames everyone else for obesity. It lies and says that we don't need to practice calorie restricting with gastric bypass. To lose weight and keep it off, we have to clean up stinkin thinkin and eating habits. Mama June never did. Now Honey Boo Boo is following suit. 

Minimizing and more lies. After a 300-lb weight loss, Mama June said in June (see FB photo above) that she gained "a tiny little" back, "only" 60 pounds. That's on top of some regained (she said 20, doctor said 50) shortly after surgery. So a little after big weight loss is normal. I lost 100 pounds by calorie restricting. I gained back 12 pounds and got right back on the 1200 calorie diet. "Mama June: Road to Redemption" and even back on "From Not to Hot" showed her eating junk food and not calorie restricting. 

Weird weight gain excuse. What really blew my mind was June Shannon's reason for gaining 60 lbs. She said it was "healthy Covid 19 weight gain" (!) My husband and I had Covid 19 and we lost weight! I dropped 10 pounds in a week and he lost 17. And while Covid 19 weight loss may not be healthy, gaining, if I'm already overweight, surely isn't. This sounds a lot like "My 600-lb Life" excuse that obesity is just "water weight." 😲😣

Getting out of denial, taking a reality check and quitting excuse-making were as important to how I lost 100 pounds as the 1200 calorie diet. 

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