Ok, this is totally my opinion, nothing for anyone to get worked up about. There, my disclaimer.

I think I’ve told you about my guilty pleasures when it comes to tv viewing, some of the reality shows, like some of the baking competitions, Hoarders and My 600lb Life. Now, I watch it and sometimes even while I’m eating and wonder what is wrong with me, but that’s another analogy for another day.

I like seeing the success stories and sometimes there aren’t any. You root for them when they try, when they have little victories, you get frustrated for them when they have setbacks that are out of their control and you look at them and go ‘huh?’ when they cheat and say “but I’ve been working so hard, this little cheat won’t matter”.

It seems that most of the people who are on the show for weight loss help, they weigh 400 to 600 to even more pounds, they need the help. Before they can have the surgery, they have to prove to the surgeon that they can lose weight on their own, at least 100 pounds, so they start off having to lose 40-50 pounds, then another and then, approval.

Ok, the observation. The people are big, but so are their families. I would say at least ninety percent of the family members of these people are not just heavy or have a little extra, a lot of them are large, some are even obese.

On occassion, the families are right there, helping, participating, going on the airtight loss journey with them. But it seems like more often than not the person is on the journey on their own, no family support, sometimes making fun or sabotaging. It’s frustrating.

Of course, we don’t live in their houses, don’t walk a mile in their shoes, we don’t know what their lives were like, even though they give us some backstory, but they got that way somehow.

No matter what, shouldn’t the entire family work together? What can the rate of success be if they fight this battle alone?