Kevin Smith and Fat Tuesday

I know it’s Wednesday, but something needs to be said for Fat Tuesday and all the fuss over Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines, just because it was, coincidentally, a few days apart.

I feel like this story, in its individual context, has not been blown out of proportion, but rather, blown in the wrong direction. I by no means agree with what Southwest did—you cannot tell someone on stand-by to get on a plane and then tell that person to get off, fat or not—that was just stupid. Knowing that Kevin Smith usually books two seats, they should have made absolutely sure they had room for him before giving him the green light to board.

But airlines always do crappy things, like overbooking flights, and charging for a snackpack containing items you could have stuffed in your purse.

Now Kevin is upset, and I don’t blame him one bit. This incident does not set a good precedent for the way to treat fat people. It also doesn’t set a good precedent for the way fat people treat themselves, either—this sort of indifferent attitude that says, “I’m fat. I can’t help it.” Before you all comment and bring up type 2 diabetes and thyroid problems I KNOW. Plenty of heredity and environmental factors can contribute to obesity, and fighting it is an uphill battle.

I’m coming from a different angle—the size angle.

Although some people could look at the need to buy two seats to board an airplane as an unfriendly reminder of their size, I believe the most dangerous fatties are the people who fit into those seats. The Skinny Fatties. These people might be “naturally skinny”, but because of their small size, have never picked up a weight in their lives. They might wear size 2 jeans, but everything shakes around when they walk, jelly trapped in a demin balloon.

I may sound harsh, because it is these people who scare me; they can be obese and not even know it. Believe me, I body fat tested many Skinny Fatties when working as a trainer at the gym, and it was surprising how many tiny girls were actually bordering obesity.

Why? How? It’s simple—use it or lose it. That’s how muscle works. These girls might be spending hours on the elliptical, but they have no tone to their bodies, no curviness, and no idea that their bodies have probably been on a fitness plateau since the second month after they began their gym membership.

It’s not that I expect everyone to be toned, bronzed, yogurt-and-protein-shake-eating gods and goddesses. I’m more of a pizza and beer lovin’ runner who takes pride in the fact that I don’t do girly pushups and I actually enjoy lunges. But for women, not lifting weights or even trying to develop some muscle tone is a serious threat for not just obesity, but osteoporosis.

The point is, it’s not just SIZE that’s an indicator of health risks, and if you discriminate people based on size, it propels a train of thought leading people to believe that because they are small, they are safe. Imagine how many people read all the tweets between Kevin Smith and Southwest and thought, I never want that to be me. I’m gonna go puke up my food. This is called an adverse effect, and no one wants this. It’s not what people in the health and fitness fields want, either.

Instead of discriminating people based on size, airlines should be incorporating ways to help their fellow man stay/get fit. Have planes with less seats in general that allow for, say, more movement. I would love to see the day that I get on a plane and am able to ride a stationary bike for a few hours instead of just sitting on my tush. A spinning studio in the back of the plane, next to a few racks of handheld dumbbells. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Wouldn’t it also be amazing, if, transportation in general just made your human body do the work it was designed to do? For example, instead of an escalator for roughly twenty steps from one subway platform to another, why not let your body work? Why not design an escalator that doesn’t move up automatically; in other words—a staircase.

It seems so brilliant, yet transportation everywhere is in a state of flux between laziness and a growing obesity epidemic. On one hand, America is getting fatter (size wise and camou-size wise), and on the other hand, we live in an age where transportation competes by trying to make us as comfortable and entertained as possible.

So what can we do before osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol, and now, size discrimination, take over our lives?

Walk more, move more, take the stairs, eat right, etc. It sounds so easy, but anyone can tell you it takes a lot of will power. Join a gym, or get an in-home trainer. Sign up for a local walk/run. Next step would be to not just settle for nutritional information on all of our food, but to demand products that are healthier at every deli and supermarket, including poorer neighborhoods, and to put a stop to this insane portioning that restaurants seem to think is okay. You can treat others with respect and not have a preconceived notion of what fat people may or may not have done in life. You can treat yourself with respect.

But you can start by growing a spine.