Are You Too Fat For Your Job?

Should job interviews include a weigh-in?

There's been some debate in the media about whether or not Surgeon General nominee Regina Benjamin is too overweight for the position. On behalf of chubby, middle-aged, smart women, I feel obligated to take up this cause.

I'd like to know, exactly which jobs do you need to be skinny for? And when is it okay to bring a little extra girth into the office?

Personally, I think Dr. Benjamin looks fine. Sure, she's no Kate Moss, but C. Everett Koop was no Slim Jim either.

In fact, I kind of prefer a Surgeon General who's a little lumpy. Who better to relate to the challenge of trying to stay healthy in our fast food, couch potato, cubicle culture?

Yet some have suggested that as the face of medicine, Dr. Benjamin's Rubenesque figure doesn't project the right image.

Uh, have you looked around the mall lately?

TV anchor desks may be staffed by skinny minnies who live on Dentyne and Starbucks, but the rest of us look more like the rounded doc from the Bayou (aka Dr. Benjamin).

But apparently a high IQ isn't enough. If you want a top job, the number that really counts is your BMI. We can now add Surgeon General to the list of jobs that require low body fat: fashion models, mannequins, featherweight boxers, porn stars and now, presidential nominees.

Perhaps the people bringing up the issue of Dr. Benjamin's size are doing it for political reasons, and it's really her potential policies that they dislike.

But the reality is the weight issue wouldn't be gaining traction if our society didn't have a built-in prejudice against heavy people. I've been both a victim, and, I'm embarrassed to admit, a perpetrator of it.

I've had the experience of going on stage, and also, ugh, television, 20 pounds overweight, and I can tell you, it takes longer for a chubby chick to win over an audience.

But honesty also compels me to admit that when I meet a skinny person in a chic, fitted suit, I'm more likely to assume positive credibility than I am for someone with a gut spilling out over their stretch pants. It's awful. But it's also true.

And even worse, I'm more judgmental of women than men.

I've given keynotes and seminars with my own ab flab sucked into a body squeezer and covered by a blazer just so the audience wouldn't see me jiggling. Yet if two other speakers walked on stage, one a buxom woman, covering her blubber with a loose dress, and the other a portly man packing a big gut behind his blazer, I'm probably going to notice the woman's weight and not give the man's girth a second thought.

How pathetic is that? I'm prejudiced against my own kind!

But I also know that I'm not the only one with this built-in bias. We make all kinds of negative assumptions about heavier people, judging everything from their IQ to their work ethic.

Dr. Benjamin's weight didn't keep her from winning a MacArthur Genius Award or from making endless house calls in a rural community. However, I also suspect that the public debate about her size is just as hurtful to her as it would be to us non-geniuses.

But perhaps she's the one who's going to teach us that talent comes in all sizes. Or maybe she'll lead the way in helping us all get healthier.

I just hope she doesn't ask Congress to impose weight requirements for my job.

Lisa Earle McLeod is a syndicated columnist, author, and inspirational thought-leader. A popular keynote speaker, she is an expert in in why seemingly normal people make each other crazy. Her books include Forget Perfect and Finding Grace When You Can't Even Find Clean Underwear. Her newest book, The Triangle of Truth: The Surprisingly Simple Secret to Resolving Conflicts Large and Small is slated for release January 5, 2010 from Penguin Putnam. Visit her site www.TriangleofTruth.com

Follow Lisa Earle McLeod on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lisaearlemc

Comments

[pinefarmerva]

Come on people. I think we all know the difference between grossly obese and full figured. Egads.

[nibblybits]

There's a difference between being chubby, lumpy, husky, zaftig, etc. vs being morbidly obese. That distinction is not being made, at least in the comments. Having "a little extra" or some "junk in the trunk" but otherwise healthy and stable with a good diet and a moderate exercise routine is fine.

But being morbidly obese is dangerous and reflects either a physical ailment or a psychological one. Unfortunately, more and more of our population is heading to this morbidly obese category. And as a nation it's dangerous to ignore. More of our children are headed into an unhealthy lifestyle, with years of physical problems ahead of them. A lot of this is rooted in an unhealthy relationship with food. It's not just an exception anymore though, so it's important to address it.

[kathy001]

I'm amazed at the number of commenters describing overweight people as lazy, unhealthy, liabilities. It's all their fault because they won't control what they put in their mouths. Some of the comments are absolutely vicious. Makes me want to go stuff a dozen donuts in my mouth.

When I went through menopause I became hypothyroid and gained 40 pounds. I did absolutely nothing different than I had been doing for the first 45 years of my life. I ate the same foods, walked the same 6 miles a day, did my own gardening and housework and worked 60 hours a week at my job. After my thyroid problem was diagnosed I still couldn't get the weight off. Only through severe dietary restrictions was I able to take off that suffocating 40 pounds and it took me a couple of years to force myself to make those restrictions. I've resigned myself to living on raw vegetables, yogurt and vitamins for life but not everyone is able to make those kind of sacrifices.

Until you have gone through it, you have no idea what it's like and you have absolutely no room to talk.

[nibblybits]

Why would your reaction be to "stuff a dozen donuts in my mouth"? Sounds self-destructive. Isn't that the reaction you should seek to avoid?

[fleaba]

As she says if you haven't gone through it you have no room to talk.

[kathy001]

Typical judgemental criticism of a figure of speech by a person who has nothing intelligent to say.

[EdCoughlin]

Hypothyroidism only affects 3% of the population at the high end. Well over 30% of much of the country is obese and over 50% is overweight, which means in about 94% of the cases where someone is fat its not due to that disease. While the "its a disease" excuse comes up a lot there are two important points.

A) everyone has a break even point where they stop gaining weight. For some it might be only 1000 calories instead of the average for their weight, but its still there. Just as some say there are no athiests in foxholes, there are no morbidly obese adults in starving Ethiopian villages. Your example proves that, maybe its annoying to eat less just as it is annoying for the lactose intolerant to not eat ice cream, but such is life, you still can't say there is NO solution, just no pleasant one.

B) While a tiny percentage have the disease excuse (even if its invalid) the vast majority of fat people do not. For them its only massive intake of food that causes them to be so fat. If you're 300 lbs it takes over 4000 calories just to maintain that gigantic body weight, so to say its just "food choices" or something else is really missing the point. 4000 calories is more then 6 or 7 big macs, noone is just magically trapped into eating truckloads of food like that.

[kathy001]

My point was not hypothyroidism. One point was the difficulty I had losing the weight and the enormous sacrifices I had to make - not just annoying little changes. The other point was that judging people strictly by their weight is unfair and, all too often, incorrect.

Whether it's a physical or mental issue, there is always an issue when someone abuses their body or fails to control themselves to such an extreme. You said it yourself, "...to say its just "food choices" or something else is really missing the point." But I think your point is mainly just to point the finger of shame and blame at people who are obese.

[GardenerNorCal]

So what happens to Santa Claus? Do we tell our kids he's not an appropriate role model?

What's considered fat to one is not necessary fat to another. If you look at prehistoric carvings of the female form you won't see runway model shapes. You see something that looks a lot like what most of our mothers and grandmothers evolve into. I think you are on a slippery slope when you seek to control the physical appearance of people based on insurance actuarial tables developed to reduce risk for those seeking profit at the expense of those that purchase their "insurance" .

I have no issue with fat people. My mother was considered fat by a lot people, but to me she was MOM. And she taught four kids how to box, play basketball and jump rope. I don't think you can legislate health. Tobacco legislation and taxation has not really created a solution, drug laws haven't eliminated drug abuse, etc.. Blaming fat people for the mess our health care system is in is simply redirection from the real root problem, which is greed.

[Balancement]

You want to deal with job discrimination? Deal with age. I'm healthy, vital, smart, experienced, willing to work hard, have a terrific work-ethic--and I've been out of work for over four years. Lots of interviews, but every job I've been more than qualified for has gone to a younger candidate. I've given up at this point, living on what's left of my savings, no health insurance--and as soon as those savings are gone--so am I.

[JimR]

Hang in there, balancement.

[EdCoughlin]

Your story is both disheartening and one of the many reasons health coverage should be decoupled from employers. As it stands if I was a small business faced with hiring an older more experienced person with a family and facing a 1000+ dollar a month hike in my premium payments vs dealing with some extra one time training to save that 1000 a month by not paying for higher individual or family coverage, it would be difficult to justify the added expense unless there was an immense difference in qualifications.

Unlike other kinds of discrimination such as discrimination based on race or sexual orientation, there is a real cost to hiring older workers which makes the discrimination more prominent and not simple to solve. Insurance companies could be forced to not take age into account for workers under 65, but that would make things even worse by making insurance cost more for everyone, forcing cash strapped employers to drop insurance altogether, the only real solution is single payer, hopefully it comes soon enough to help you.

[noneIn2008]

Health is not a private matter. The good of the country transcends private needs. America uber alles.

[kathy001]

"The good of the country transcends private needs" ? Seriously? Then what about my private need for 3 meals a day? Since there are so many people in this country going hungry and so many people out of work, should I be limited to 1 meal per day for the good of the country?

[robadeaux]

I don't know about other people so much, but I'll bet you'd be healthier on one meal a day than three... just depends on what you eat and when you eat it.

[EdCoughlin]

3 meals a day does not make you 300 lbs unless those meals are 1500 apiece, in which case you really need to make better food choices. You can have 5 meals a day, just make them reasonably healthy (IE 200-400 calories each for a 1600-2000 low weight maintaining total).

[pxgabriel]

What about all the fat politicians we have, are they qualified?

[noneIn2008]

Forget their weight, are any politicians qualified?

[pxgabriel]

You can not tell if someone is healthy by looking at them.

[EdCoughlin]

You can usually hear it though. Ever stand near a 250-300 lb person as they do even the most basic tasks, the wheezing is often almost deafening. Unless they just ran up several flights of stairs or finished running at a sprint for 100 yards plus noone should be making that noise.

[QueenMaedb]

I am appalled at the vitriol towards the overweight in the comments. I am overweight, myself, and believe me, I am harder on myself than the posters here.

However, to paraphrase WC Fields, tomorrow, I can go on a diet (and I have - I've lost 25lb on Weight Watchers) but you all will still be insensitive jerks.

[noneIn2008]

Don't let them impose their fascist Hollywood vision on you. Be who you want to be and be proud.

[Elphnessa]

Actually, that quote was initially from Winston Churchill (with drinking too much being the "fat" part). I have used it many a time "yes, I am fat, you are ugly. I can diet."

[QueenMaedb]

Thanks, Elphnessa!

It does sound Churchillian!

[EdCoughlin]

That implies the potential you (if you acted in a way you're almost certain not to) matters more then the actual you. I tend to judge people on what they say, accomplish and currently are, not what they could be if X Y and Z all changed.

Also a non fat ugly person could put 40k into drastic plastic surgery and look far better in a few weeks (vs the years it takes to lose hundreds of pounds), so everyone has the "potential" to be better, which is why in every case what you are now matters most.

I could be attractive if I cared more sounds a lot like something someone who wanted to justify being lazy says to dull the personal pain of failing to accomplish something. Trust me noone looks at someone who is 300 pounds and thinks "wow they look like a hot potential 150 pound person", they take you as you are, as they should. Life isn't Shallow Hal.

[nibblybits]

Congratulations. It's not easy to be self-disciplined to maintain the diet and workout, but I bet you feel better (health-wise, I mean) having lost the weight. It's worth doing for your own sake, not for what others may think of you. Keep it up.

[Sean Tisdall]

"I'm probably going to notice the woman's weight and not give the man's girth a second thought." I'd say this has more to do with societal conditioning about the sexuality of men, or expected lack thereof. We mock males for having a libido that cannot possibly keep up with their ugly, pathetic forms. It's been said, with a great deal of credibility, I'd believe, that if women are too often considered sex objects, men are too often considered success objects. How else can you explain why people thought Pierre Trudeau or Henry Kissinger were incredibly attractive?

[kathy001]

Very good observation.

[EdCoughlin]

There was a study recently about that point. Look up "study shows women getting more beautiful" in google. It seems attractive women are the most reproductively successful while men are judged more on their level of success (attractiveness in men is more or less a neutral variable).

[pinefarmerva]

Any criticism of the obese ends up with a critique of the criticism, which simply accelerates the problem. The radically obese suggest the rest of the world is insensitive, or "slaves to fashion". They are the strong ones who demand their right to be obese.
Prejudice does not play here.....they are not being criticized for being who they are inherently, like having dark skin or being attracted to same sex partners. This is something they are in control in most cases, so acceptance is enabling.
Surgeon Generals and most physicians should practice what they preach if they want to be taken seriously. Teachers are role models and should also portray a healthy mind and body. Has anyone noticed the average size of our teachers lately? Parents encourage their children's obesity by their own actions......just when are we going to allow ourselves to start cracking down on all of these offenders? Come on......we cannot continue to enable them.

[Rhetticent]

Tell me, pine, having attacked smoking, and now with over-eating squarely in your crosshairs, where do the nannies of government go next? What will be the next great takeover of personal liberty? We are told that being overweight shortens one's lifespan: that would tend to be a great boon to society, because we don't live as long and don't utilize resources. Want to see what happens when you live a life free of vices? Go to any nursing home. That'll keep you from wanting a good, long life.

[EdCoughlin]

I'd be happy to compromise with those who decry the nanny government. Those who are obese can get the bonus of not being told what not to do, they just should not be allowed into medicare, medicaid and other programs funded by the public until they get below certain body fat percentage levels. Fat people and smokers can do whatever they want, smoke crack for all I care, just as long as my tax dollars don't subsidize it.

[fleaba]

I'm loving all these comments about people who are not over weight. I can tell you from personal experience, it does not all depend upon diet and exercise. If that were the case many people who are hypothyroid or had type 2 diabetes would be runway models.
As for overweight people not being able to do the job, frankly that's a load of cr4 p. I currently am overweight and work a physical job inspecting boats, outside in the 90+ degree sun 8 to 10 hours a day. I work with many teens and 20 year olds. It has been my observation that I am faster, more efficient and more organized than the kids who are in great shape, but much lazier. I am on my feet all day, probably walk anywhere from 2-5 miles a day, eat sparingly and don't lose weight.

[pxgabriel]

Anybody that does not have a weight problem thinks its so easy. It is not.

[coolmaiden]

I'm approximately 15 pounds overweight as well, with a physical job, plenty of exercise, but a refusal to eat like I am dieting. I eat plenty of fruits and veggies, but I also love pasta, curries, burritos, and hot dogs (well, I DO live in Chicago.) There is a difference between being overweight and obese. I don't lose weight either, but I certainly will not allow myself to become obese. Obesity is only caused by one thing, as much as people try to deny it, and it isn't hormones. People really don't realize how much they eat until they keep track of it one day. They're usually shocked. We have to start subsidizing healthy foods before it's too late!

[sunnyjane]

Cigarettes have been taxed out the ying-yang because they are considered terribly unhealthy. Cigarette manufactureres have been brought before Congress and made to admit (or have been found guilty) that they produce a toxic product. Work places have been forced to forbid smoking on their property and restaurants and bars have been forced into non-smoking establishments.

Obesity isn't just a matter of how one looks, although fat-to-obese people ARE painful to look at. But more importantly, being overweight is an extremely serious health issue. I know because I am married to a man who is fifty pounds overweight and has gout, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. He has had a stent inserted in two arterties and has suffered a mini-stroke.

In America we have come to accept the fact that people are overweight, to the extent that television commercials now feature larger people because manufacturers realize that viewers, and users of their products, are overweight and they can more easily accept a product that is being hawked by someone "who looks like me" instead of a person who is of normal, healthy weight.

These's enough blame to go around. Snack food manufacturers, fast-food establishments, and chain restaurants serve unhealthy food in unhealthy proportions. It's a well know fact that if you eat less, you will lose weight or maintain a proper weight.

There are no good excuses to be overweight, just as there are no good excuses to be a smoker.

[lieslgee]

I am sorry that your husband is ill, but, although I am overweight, I am not ill. What I have is a risk factor, but I don't have those diseases.

[BlackbirdHighway]

Visit Europe sometime and you will be amazed at how skinney people are. Return to America and everyone looks so fat. Ever check out those old TV shows on cable? Whether it's Twilight zone or Andy Griffith or whatever, they all look very thin by todays standards.

We're going to need to work a lot harder on this. One thing I noticed about Europe is that they don't eat all the time. You can't go get a pizza at 3 PM, because they aren't open. Stores close from noon to 2 because everyone is at at lunch. From 2 to 5 you won't find a restaurant open, because that's not when people eat. In America it's all food all the time.

[Strongbow]

your right ....I've lived in Orlando and now Virginia and the amount of obese people is nauseating.....

[BluestateGuyInTX]

Although it is true that Europeans tend to be skinnier than Americans, I think it has more to do with the quality of the food (less industrial agriculture and the ubiquity of high fructose corn syrup) than when it is consumed. And Europe is not so uniform in its time of day customs that way. Germany is very strict about time but France less so. I don't know about 3pm but I have bought a pizza on the Champs-Elysées at 3 AM. In the words of Joe Dassin: "Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit · Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées". And the Mediterranean countries--even less confined to strict timing. In any case, Europeans are getting fatter and it is because American food habits are making inroads. When I was in Paris as a student in 1975 there were just 2 McDonalds in Paris (Champs-Elysées and Place St. Michel). Now I couldn't count them with the fingers and toes of my whole family. ;-)

[Texas Aggie]

For an office job you need to be able to get out of your chair easily whenever necessary and don't hold back just because you don't feel like it. For other jobs it depends on the circumstances, like do you fit under a steering wheel or between the machines?

Of the people who are obese whose diets I know, invariably they are constantly munching on doughnuts, candy bars, chips, or something else along those lines. If you asked them about their diets, they would deny it, but when you show them the empty doughnut boxes in their trash, they honestly don't know how they got there and don't remember eating all those baked goods. It isn't genes, babe, it's nurture, what you shove in your appropriately named pie hole.