Louis Vuitton and Love Handles

Yesterday as I was going through my head preparing for my upcoming workshop, I was standing in line at the local Starbucks waiting for my morning cup of awesome to get me charged up and jacked for the day. While I was waiting for my coffee, I noticed a couple of young (er) girls discussing one’s recent purchase as Louis Vuitton. For those who don’t know, Louis Vuitton is a brand that makes bags and suitcases and really ugly clothing that for some reason women go ape-shit crazy for. I know, because The Future has her share of purses sporting the LV logo.

Now the fact that she had purchased herself a shiny piece of luxury greed is all fine and dandy, there were a few qualifiers around said purchase that made me question her motives. First, this girl was somewhat, how do I say this? Plump? Without being disparaging, I could tell she hadn’t worked out in a while, yet at the same time her appearance was very important to her. She got the hair  did, the makeup did, the jewelry did, and the clothes were all brand-name and fairly expensive. I would venture a guess to say that she was probably around 300 pounds, and was also ordering a big-ass white mocha frappucino to go with her shiny new Louis, which would work out to about 700 calories in a sugary fatty liquid death.

What was the most interesting about the whole scenario was that she said she needed to get the purse to make herself feel better, and to have something pretty to show off. You see, she just got back from her Weight Watchers meeting a few days ago, and had some bad news. As a result, she reached out for some emotional shopping to make herself feel better. Her friend agreed with her logic as they slurped their whipped creamy bevvies. I then wanted to stab myself in the eye with a straw.

Okay, I can understand the fact that shopping can produce an emotional high, and having nice shiny things is a pretty cool feeling, but this just drives me insane. First, she takes the time and invests considerable money and efforts into her appearance, and decides to order the kind of foods that are preventing her from losing weight in the first place. Then, rather than spending the money on a personal trainer or a gym membership, she opts for the instant gratification that may have helped push her down the obesity trail. Then, her social support network reaffirms her choice and says that she agrees with spending copious amounts of duckets on a bag instead of trying the lighter options at Starbucks, or you know, hitting a treadmill.

Maybe she doesn’t want her makeup to run from the sweat? Maybe she feels intimidated? Maybe she thinks she’ll get all big and bulky from lifting anything heavier than a 12 oz frappucino? I wish the walls weren’t steel studded in commercial facilities, because it makes throwing my face through them that much harder.

This drives me batty. I’ve always had issues with people who paint themselves as victims when the power to change is right in front of themselves. The first step to losing some weight would be to put down the white mochas and maybe reach for the low-fat and sugar-free varieties instead. I know, these aren’t the best options, but baby steps, people! Next, if you’re feeling all emotional, go get a gym membership or walk it off!! Of course, working out is difficult at times and somewhat uncomfortable. But so is going through open heart surgery as a patient. So is losing a foot to diabetes. So is the lifetime of social ostricization that tends to come with being obese, so you can choose which kind of pain you want, but to create change or to stay the same it will result in some kind of pain.

As for the friend, there’s a special room reserved for you in hell. This would be the same as the alcoholic coming back from an AA meeting, saying that they had just had a drink and felt terrible about it, and decided to do something to make themselves feel better, all while discussing it over a drink. You’re missing a step.

 Now I don’t want to sound too defeatist here, because I really do hope she figures out what’s going wrong and has a great weigh-in next week. Also, I hope that she decides to spend money on something like personal training the next time she has an emotional need to get rid of some cash.