300+ Pounds of Ability

October 09, 2009

Recently, People magazine featured a one-page piece on Ruby Gettinger, the star of the show Ruby, chronicling her quest to lose weight.  She's gained quite a following as she's had ups and downs on her way to losing about 160 pounds.

The article details how she's been checking things off of her "Dream List."  She's been horseback riding, she's excited about putting on size 26 jeans - the first time she's been able to wear jeans at all in a very long time.  She's also taken to dancing, boxing, and riding a bike to add a new dimension to her physical activity.

She says, "I'm really like a child.  Everything is new to me." 

Of her previous existence, she says that "my weight stopped me from doing anything, but I'm no longer limited."

I've often spoken of the real problem with obesity - it's not the mortality or decrease in number of years lived that is most significant.  Rather, it is the loss of quality of life that is so powerfully tragic. 

Your world gets smaller and smaller and every small task becomes an engineering problem while big tasks become impossible.

Ruby is getting her life back.  But the interesting part is how happy she is where she is.

The People article is titled, "My New Life at 328 Pounds." 

At her heaviest, Ruby was over 700 pounds, and when she started the show, she was 487 pounds.  Add this up. 

She's rediscovering life and an ability to do things...at 328 pounds!

This is where many people give up and keep gaining.  Not many people at 328 pounds have such "joi de vie."  It's all a matter of perspective, though isn't it. 

At 700 pounds, you aren't wearing jeans and you probably aren't even moving too much.  When you lose over half your body weight, getting around gets a bit easier and you become more mobile and active because it feels easier.

Of course Ruby's not done...she'll need to continue to lose body fat to restore a healthy metabolic system (current science shows that excess fat stores have a powerful and demonstrably negative effect on health in everything from cancer to diabetes and hormone function.)

"Thin" isn't the answer to a happy life, and neither is sticking your head in the sand with the "fat acceptance" movement.  The only path to health and vitality is to be able to fully participate in your own life. 

When you enjoy your day-to-day existence, you are more likely to pursue further activities that stimulate your mind and bring health to your body. 

Ruby is a great example of defining fitness and happiness by what you can do rather than by what the scale says.  A great lesson, indeed.

Jonathan Ross
National Body Challenge Fitness Expert
on line community:
www.inspire.com/JonathanRoss/
www.AionFitness.com

Comments

[Maria]

I feel that blameing the biggest loser is a cop out for you gaining the weight back, they gave you the tools and you decided not to use them, you should have felt fortunate to even have had the help do you realize how many people dont get that chance. I also have a weight issue i am over 250 pounds and have lost and gained my whole life and never once did i blame the plan i was on it was my fault for going back to the bad eating habits, so hold yourself accountable because i dont think that anyone but yourself put the cheeseburgers and fries back in your mouth but you.