Why the fascination with Kimmer?

[ixtapacheryl]

Originally Posted by Carolina Rose

Did you know he's on that TLC show Brookhaven Obesity Clinic? This is the second time he's been a patient there. On the show, he's over 500 pounds again, but seems to be doing well with the program.

Michael first lost all that weight with the help of Richard Simmons.

I watched that show - I think it was a few weeks ago. I felt so badly for him but to be honest I was not happy with his anger over the fact that equipment wasn't big enough for him (wasn't it a scale or was it an MRI machine)? He said that this was ridiculous that he was put through such embarrassment, etc He was almost angry. I think this was after he gained his weight back.... What did you think or do I have him mixed up with another one of the patients?

[jayed]

Originally Posted by ixtapacheryl

I watched that show - I think it was a few weeks ago. I felt so badly for him but to be honest I was not happy with his anger over the fact that equipment wasn't big enough for him (wasn't it a scale or was it an MRI machine)? He said that this was ridiculous that he was put through such embarrassment, etc He was almost angry. I think this was after he gained his weight back.... What did you think or do I have him mixed up with another one of the patients?

Cheryl,

I didn't watch the whole thing but I think you are thinking of the gentleman who needed a larger wheelchair. I think they said he was over 800 pounds but I distinctly remember them saying that he had a 5 foot waistline. I was shocked. His custom wheelchair was around $9000 but he was unhappy with how long it was taking to make.

Julie

[Melle's_Sweetheart]

That Michael Hebranko has me in a quandry.....

He says that he ate a hogdog after celebrating his 700 lb loss and that hotdog set off a string of binges that eventually led him to gaining almost all of his losses....

I know how that feels because it happened to me, BUT I find it absolutely amazing that a human being could eat himself back up to 700 lbs. There must be SOMETHING to this! I can't imagine a regular person just deciding to eat a ton of food and gaining 500 lbs....it seems UNIMAGINABLE, yet this guy did it, without even realizing it, it seems!!!

Maybe it's true what they say about fat cells--they shrink, but never disappear...always wanting to grow again....

[RockyMtnAngelEyes]

tooter, that was a beautiful post.. I understand what you're saying.. If you would have spoken up back then, the things you said might happen, probably would have.. But more importantly, for you at the time, you would have had to admit to something, you weren't ready for, and were ashamed of... Why else do we all hide it? Yes, so people will stop getting after us, but also, we know, somewhere inside it's wrong, even tho we won't ever admit that... We're asheamed because somewhere inside, we know we've lost control, even tho in our warped minds we are in control... It was the only thing in my life that I felt I had control over.. And my life wasn't bad or out of control either...

[stews]

um, some did speak up. but they got bombarded and attacked and the threads would end up getting deleted. tooter, don't feel bad about not speaking up. I don't always speak when I should either. but I'm trying to speak up but with tact when I really feel something.

[cleochatra]

I spoke up and realized it was futile. If you dared question, you were a 'hater'.

You can't fight mental illness with empirical evidence.

[Texas Lady]

People did speak up. It did no good.

[Tooter]

I know people spoke up (I even said that in my post) I also know that they either got attacked or the threads would get deleted because of the fights and nastiness.

But "I" never backed them up.

Maybe it would have been futile, but I wished I would have tried. I feel like I didn't for selfish reasons.

I'm not dwelling or anything...Just being accountable.

Kimmer couldn't have gotten this far without help. By doing and saying nothing. I had my part in it.

That's all.

[rightnow]

I usually have no problem on the internet, wading into neck-deep flame wars with THE most unpopular opinion. If stated tactfully, moderators don't have any reason to react, no matter what is actually said (it becomes an opinion, not a weapon). But there are some environments where there is simply no point to even the slightest input. Cult-ish environments, where 'followers' of a personality treat even conversation-as-equal with them as a grave insult to their honor they must defend with attack, are impossible. Anybody watching these go on, knows that wading into a pirahna pond accomplishes nothing but harm to yourself. I don't think it's fair to blame yourself for not doing more to argue against a very strident and popular perspective Tooter. It's like politics, you know, if we knew we could change the world, we'd all be on the street with petitions, but knowing the odds of making the slightest bit of difference in a country so huge with corporatism so far gone as lobbying competition, makes most of us figure we'd rather spend our angst and spare time on issues we have a chance of actually doing something about. I don't think there was much that could be done about that at the time, and certainly other people tried and served as examples. So that is no diss to you. I would not have said anything either, after seeing the repeated predictable result.

[cleochatra]

Amen! It is better to affect positive change where you can than to try and do damage control during a continuing catasrophic event.

[Tooter]

Very true. Thank you Cleo and Right now.

[Texas Lady]

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

[Tooter]

Originally Posted by Texas Lady

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

I have that on my keychain so that I always carry it around with me.

[Texas Lady]

I have it on the wall. It sure helps me out sometimes.

[AllieCat0817]

Originally Posted by Tooter

I have that on my keychain so that I always carry it around with me.

It rides around in my car with me on a card. ha. God is good.

[Sharis]

I've been catching up on this thread this afternoon and my jaw has been on the floor as I watched with complete disbelieve and sheer joy at what was unfolding before me. But I couldn't figure out "the turn" that clearly had been made. What the heck happened I asked myself? Then it hit me. This thread was never about Kimmer/Kimkins. It never really was. It was about something much deeper and pervasive and insideous and all the pain and misery and self-hate that that something causes. It was about fat people feeling less than, women feeling not good enough, our girls feeling unloved, all of us feeling powerless and out of control now or at some point in our lives. Kimmer was something to focus on but it was never about it. It's like when you fight with your husband about the socks on the bedroom floor that he leaves there and never picks up. Like Oprah says "it's not about the socks." Same thing here. It's not about Kimmer.

Getting rid of Kimkins site and Kimmer won't solve a thing. This issue is much deeper than that and we don't give the issue it's due if we think that wiping her off the planet will solve anything. No, instead we need to continue to do what we are doing here. As a start anyway. Let's continue to share our pain and shame and tears. Let's hug each other and love each other and comfort each other. Then lets look around in our own little corner of our own little world and do something that might really change things. Can we find a way to make it not o.k. to hate fat people? Can we look that fat person in the eye and smile at them as we walk past and really mean it. Can we find a way to teach our sweet girls how to love themselves and feel good about themselves. Can we stop, as women, competing against each other for the attention of men by giving the trophy of power to the thinnest, prettiest, largest breasted woman around? Can we teach our girls to start competeing over who can get the best score on their MCAT's instead of who can fit into the smallest pair of jeans? Can we start to love and accept ourselves just the way we are today? Can we learn to love our lumps and bumps and lines and wrinkles and know that they do not define us. Can we decide to take our personal power back and use it to affect change in the world? Can we? I believe that we can. If we will only dare to try. I envision a world that we create where no woman would be interested in Kimkins because she would never feel she had to starve herself to force her body to weigh less. I envision a world where no one would even consider eating so little, possibly endangering her health, and paying money to do it because we all would feel too much self-respect and love for our own bodies and souls that we would never consider putting ourselves through such a thing. That is my hope for each and every one of us here and the generations of women and men who will come after.

I could not be more proud to be a part of this group than I am right now today. You are an amazing group of women (and a few men!) who amaze, astonish, amuse and energize me. Just being in your presence makes me a better person and for that I thank you all.

[Deb294evr]

Originally Posted by Samantha42

I just want to make sure that you realize that the last post in that thread was from summer of 2006. She hasn't been there in a year. Also, we are talking about the Kimkins website.

yes, the Kimkins website

[cleochatra]

I totally agree!

This is about us, but (and I have a big butt) we're also discussing the danger of an unsound crash diet.

Just because we're all adorable and sexy and own our own problems doesn't mean we abandon trying to help others and make sure a nation of people doesn't fall prey to potentially lethal advice.

Long-term, love ourselves and love each other. Short -term, be very concerned. Teenagers now have access to this plan and it will now probably be making the rounds as the latest and greatest crash diet on and off of the pro-ana boards.

We don't have to drive a GREAT car to fight for truth in the automotive industry. We're talking about safety and about consumers. This is bigger than ourselves to a great degree. When something is dangerous, it's dangerous.

And this is dangerous.

I am fighting this for my daughter and for her friends. Women, we are empowered and enabled. We don't have to be bamboozled. And when we are, we sure don't have to remain silent.

And for this thread, I applaud the sisterhood. For so many reasons.

[centralpa]

Okay folks, here's one for you ... A story in today's New York Times ... about a company executive ... a do-gooder in fact ... who maintained an alter ego in a popular b-board for 7 years. During this time ... this founder blasted the competition ... and championed his own company.

Sound familiar? Nope, not talking about ours truly. This story is about the co-founder of Whole Foods.

cheers,
wendy

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/bu...=1&oref=slogin

July 12, 2007 Whole Foods Executive Used Alias

By ANDREW MARTIN

John P. Mackey, the co-founder of Whole Foods Market, has never lacked for personality.

He is a self-described vegan and libertarian who pays himself $1 a year as chairman and chief executive and maintains a blog on the company’s Web site where the posts are occasionally barbed.

As it turns out, that was only the half of it. For seven years, Mr. Mackey had an online alter ego.

Using the pseudonym Rahodeb — a variation of Deborah, his wife’s name — Mr. Mackey typed out more than 1,100 entries on Yahoo Finance’s bulletin board over a seven-year period, championing his company’s stock and occasionally blasting a rival, Wild Oats Markets. The story was first disclosed on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site last night.

Responding to a posting on March 28, 2006, Rahodeb wrote: “OATS has lost their way and no longer has a sense of mission or even a well-thought-out theory of the business. They lack a viable business model that they can replicate. They are floundering around hoping to find a viable strategy that may stop their erosion. Problem is that they lack the time and the capital now.”

Mr. Mackey apparently did not fool participants on the forum, who occasionally tried to out Rahodeb. In one instance, he responded by saying that he was in fact George W. Bush.

In response to another posting, titled, “Hey John — I mean Rahodeb,” he wrote on June 10, 2003: “Another person who thinks my name is John (Mackey)! Well if you really believe I’m John Mackey you should probably pay more attention to what I say on this board. I would be the ultimate Whole Foods Insider!”

Mr. Mackey’s alias surfaced in a footnote in a 40-page court document filed on June 6 by lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission, which is trying to block Whole Foods’ acquisition of Wild Oats on the ground that it would limit competition among natural and organic groceries.

Whole Foods announced in February that it planned to buy its smaller rival for $565 million. Mr. Mackey posted a response on his company’s Web site late Wednesday, acknowledging that he used the pseudonym “Rahodeb” on Yahoo financial bulletin boards from 1999 until last summer. He said the F.T.C. discovered his alias “through one of the millions of litigation documents that Whole Foods provided to them.”

“I posted on Yahoo! under a pseudonym because I had fun doing it,” he wrote. “I never intended any of those postings to be identified with me.”

Mr. Mackey said the views expressed sometimes represented his beliefs. In other instances, he said, he offered different views from his own to play devil’s advocate. He said no proprietary information on Whole Foods was disclosed.

But Mr. Mackey’s writings are proving to be a critical element in the Federal Trade Commission’s case.

“There is no mystery as to why Whole Foods wants to buy its closest rival,” the government wrote in the June 6 court document. The document also said that Mr. Mackey justified paying a significant premium for Wild Oats by telling board members that the company would “avoid nasty price wars in Portland (both Oregon and Maine), Boulder, Nashville and several other cities which will harm our gross margins and profitability.”

“OATS may not be able to defeat us but they can still hurt us,” Mr. Mackey said, according to the government.

Mr. Mackey has argued that his company competes not just with Wild Oats but also with conventional grocery stores that have rushed to offer organic products, largely because of the success of Whole Foods.

Teaming with Wild Oats, he said, would create a company better suited to combat larger rivals like Kroger, Safeway and Wal-Mart.

But Rahodeb showed little respect for Wild Oats and its former chief executive, Perry Odak. In a Feb. 24, 2005, posting, he wrote, “Perhaps the OATS Board will wake up and dump Odak and bring in a visionary and highly competent C.E.O.”

At the same time, he wrote glowingly and anonymously of John Mackey.

“I like Mackey’s haircut. I think he looks cute!” Rahodeb wrote on April 28, 2000.

“You must not patronize any of WFMI’s stores,” the writer continued, using Whole Food’s stock symbol. “Tatoos, piercings, unusual dress and interesting haircuts are everywhere in the stores. In comparison, Mackey looks like a model for Brooks Brothers!”

Rahodeb’s final remarks were posted last August, after he lost a bet to another correspondent, Hubris12000, over Whole Food’s stock performance.

“Surgeon General and Boston Cowboy — you were both right about my true identity all along,” he concluded. “Congratulations on your cleverness.”

As one might expect, Yahoo’s message boards erupted with chatter about Mr. Mackey’s secret identity.

“In light of this news, perhaps the name of the company should be changed to Whole Foods Bazaar,” JimTarHeel wrote. “What a hoot! It’s so Nixonion! Maybe he needs some animal fat in his diet. I’ve known vegans who suffered from teeth and gum disease; now we know a vegan who’s suffering from ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease.”

[Samantha42]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

I'm giving you a reprieve for not bothering. It wouldn't have done any good. I grew up with a Jewish father. Who needs the excess guilt?

What does this mean?

[Tooter]

Originally Posted by Samantha42

What does this mean?

She was speaking to me. I said I really wished I had said something years ago with all the red flags. She didn't want me feeling guilty.

[lowcarbink]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

Jimmy Moore is a sell-out. He stopped espousing healthful, organic low-carb living a long time ago and has become a media ho. I'm probably the only one who feels that way, but as soon as you start taking endorsements, you can very easily start selling out.

I agree and told him he was a sell out. I also told him that I would never trust his reviews of products again. How do I know he's not being paid to say something is good?

He hasn't responded or posted my comments.

It's all about $$ with him.

[SMP]

Guilt is terrible to live with. Long ago I decided that come h or high water, I was going to open my mouth in any situation where it might make a difference, or to let my true feelings show at a time where silence was considered tacit approval. It has made me a lot of enemies. Do I regret doing so? No. I always try to differentiate between being truthful (and tactful) ...and using truth as a weapon to destroy other people. Have I always been successful? No. Some people take any negativity to their course as rampant criticism, no matter how sugar-coated. At least, however, I'm not faced as often with "if only I had spoken up" regrets and guilt.

[Cutie]

Originally Posted by Tooter

Tippy, I am so thrilled to here you calling it Goal!! I was getting worried about you. Just because we CAN get to a certain weight, doesn't mean we should. Starving to get to a number is just not right. I can so relate and from reading some of Alliecats posts, she can to. I had my weight at between 121lbs to 125 lbs. I was obsessing about it way to much. *hitting myself in the head* It finally dawned on me, I am NOT supposed to be that weight. My range now is 125 to 130 lbs. Much happier here. Much healthier.
I can also relate to not seeing yourself in the mirror. Totally.

wow...there's a powerful statement i needed to hear today, thank you!