Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Chrissy Metz

Thursday afternoon update: People.com posted another story this morning with more information about Metz's weight, specifically the 100-pound loss referred to below:

Six years later, Metz says she’s kept off most of the weight (though she declines to reveal her current weight) and was bolstered along the way by another revelation on the set of her first significant role after the panic attack.

Clearly I made an inaccurate assumption when I said that she had gained all the weight back, and I apologize.

Update: In my "Fun with POTUS" post I had some fun snarking about the pathetically un-proofread and stupidly sloppy "Underreported" list the White House issued yesterday. (And for the record, they misspelled Denmark too.) In the interest of balance I'll point out that Chrissy's People story isn't very well edited either:

The role also lead her to This Is Us. Baring her body and stepping on a scale within the first few minutes of the show’s pilot this past September, Metz — through her character — Kate instantly instantly became a fan-favorite.

The dashes are misplaced and the word "instantly" is repeated. Really, People, as I've implored you before, hire some editors.

On a more serious note, having read the entire story, I'm both puzzled and slightly pissed off by the following:

She set about overhauling herself physically and emotionally, including following doctor’s orders to lose weight. “I was so gung ho, I lost 100 lbs. in less than five months,” she says. “All I did was eat a 2,000-calorie diet and walk 20 minutes a day.”

As the numbers on the scale fell, Metz regained confidence. Then she landed the recurring part on American Horror Story: Freak Show that would kick-start her career. 

Playing a “fat lady” meant stepping into a fat suit. “It was sobering,” she says. “I thought, ‘What if I become that heavy and can’t walk around or get stuck in the doorframe? I was like, ‘I don’t want this for me.’ ” 

The role also lead her to This Is Us. Baring her body and stepping on a scale within the first few minutes of the show’s pilot this past September, Metz — through her character — Kate instantly instantly became a fan-favorite.

Why puzzled? Because the story, as written, doesn't make sense. (And note, I copied these words verbatim.) She "overhauled" herself and lost 100 pounds, getting so thin that she had to wear a fat suit to play a fat lady on Freak Show. Sounds great. But then she gets the role on This Is Us, where she's apparently now back to being heavy enough to play an overweight woman without a fat suit. Obviously she gained the weight back, but the story doesn't address it, which is confusing.

Why pissed off? She claims to have lost 100 pounds in less than five months, eating 2,000 calories and walking 20 minutes a day. Really? Really? That sounds like an infomercial for a miracle diet pill to me. It's possible that 2,000 calories and 20 minutes of walking a day resulted in a 100-pound loss in less than five months, but for the record I don't think so. Everything I've ever read and heard about weight loss tells me that it just doesn't work that way. Furthermore, if she really did pull off that kind of weight loss in that short amount of time, it almost certainly wasn't healthy and it obviously wasn't sustainable because she's clearly gained it all back.

To be clear, I admire Metz. "Overweight actress" is almost a contradiction in terms in Hollywood, and yet she's putting herself out there for the whole world to see. She's starring in a hit show and talking honestly about sensitive issues. She probably is inspiring women to be body positive and accept themselves at any size, which is why the "lost 100 pounds in five months" part strikes me as a bad note in an otherwise great story.

Original post:
Issued dated February 20, 2017: Chrissy Metz



Chrissy Metz, a cover story I didn't see coming, in fact I really thought it would be Beyonce and her babies. She's there, in a tiny topline story, along with Meghan (and Harry, of course,) and Christie Brinkley. Tamron Hall's been in the news lately too, although I didn't think of her when I did my guessing game story. I'm very happy to see there's no coverage of the newest Duggar baby. Does that make me a bad person?

Still no sign of Melania et al, but I'm almost certain People is working on some kind of Trump cover story. They pretty much have to be, right?

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