FAT SHAME, FIT SHAME, SHAME SHAME

image via byteleshopping.in

From one side of the health debate to the other there’s no shortage of shamers.

A forty year old man, six feet tall, weighing 186 lbs wore a sauna belt.

In a sauna. With men and women.

He was after those excess three pounds that showed up the day before.

Did he understand the shame he was inviting?

“Do you ever get fat shamed?”

“Funny you’d ask. No, but I do get fit shamed.”

“That’s a new thing?”

“People don’t understand the fitness community. We’re as committed as anyone.”

“And you suffer shame?”

“We use all the tricks. I’m wearing a sauna belt fight now under my shirt.”

“Sauna belt? Like an Elvis girdle?”

“What’s an Elvis girdle?”

“He got big and still needed to get into his jumpsuits so he wore a core tightener like yours.”

Fat shame or fit shame, put your shame away

“I’m no Elvis.”

“He died at 42. About your age.”

“Don’t age shame me, bro.”

“I’m 62. What’s age shame?”

“If forty is the new eighteen, and sixty is the new twenty five, anyone who isn’t keeping up gets shamed.”

“You’re keeping up.”

“So are you.”

“Except I’m not.”

“No one could fat shame you.”

“I’m coming off cancer treatment.”

“Cancer?”

“HPV16 throat cancer. If you find a lump in your neck that lasts longer than two weeks, get it checked out.”

“HPV? You’ve got HPV?”

“Easy, it’s not a Typhoid Mary outbreak.”

“How did it happen?”

“With over 200 strains of the virus, getting it is is easy.”

“200?”

“More than 200. If you’ve had sex with more than yourself you’ve probably got a strain yourself.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“You never know.”

“I know.”

“That explains the sauna belt.”

“Explain?”

“The whole idea of shame is feeling better than you did, or better than the guy next to you. If you’re a jackass you let the world know you’re so much better, at least better than the guy beside them. I’m that guy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Maybe we should shame each other?”