Success and Weight Loss

Celebrities and weight loss are a curious thing; well, no, actually, it's quite sad. There I was, sitting on the can, as some people might call it. For some reason, I didn't feel like browsing TikTok, which led me to ponder all the celebrities who have successfully shed pounds. I was seeking inspiration to trim down and possibly gain some muscle. I began typing "Rebel Wilson" into the search bar, and Google helpfully completed my sentence with "weight loss" as the top suggestion. Naturally, I clicked, and to my surprise, she and I are now roughly the same weight! That feeling of "Wow, a celebrity shares my weight; maybe I shouldn't body shame myself after all" washed over me. After this revelation, I wanted to keep exploring, perhaps finding other celebrities who are in the same weight range as me out of sheer curiosity. So, I started typing "Adele," and Google, as expected, offered a prompt for "weight loss." She lost 100 pounds, which was truly unbelievable, and she's now slimmer than I am! I was close to reaching her weight, but a recent all-inclusive trip to Mexico set me back a bit.

The next name that popped into my mind was Meghan Trainor, who lost 60 pounds. The list of celebrities who have undergone weight loss transformations is growing at an alarming rate. Then, Melissa McCarthy, Chris Pratt, Jonah Hill, Drew Carey, Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson, and the list goes on and on. It was at this point that the sad reality struck me: people seem more preoccupied with their weight than their accomplishments. The strange thing is that most female celebrities receive more attention for their weight loss than their male counterparts. It's almost as if being a female celebrity means you have to be thin, and when you're not, you're encouraged to lose weight, and when you do, that's all the gossip columns in magazines can talk about. Soon, these celebrities find themselves on the front covers with headlines proclaiming, "Celebrity Reveals How She Shed the Pounds." Why do people care so much? Because it seems like all girls and women desire is to be thin and attractive. However, you can't be too thin, or people will talk behind your back, and you can't be too fat, or they'll do the same. It's a lose-lose situation we're put in.

That's where my own weight comes into play. When I look in the mirror, I sometimes think about how thin my face used to be. But, in truth, I don't think I look that bad. I turn to the side, lift up my shirt, suck in my belly, and then let it go. I do that a few times and realize I'm not wishing to be thinner; I'm wishing to be fitter and regain that hourglass figure with slight abs. After I'm done changing, I step on the scale, and that's what gets to me: "You need to lose weight," it tells me indirectly. I can almost hear the scale taunting me, saying, "Remember that O'Henry you had yesterday? Well, a moment on the lips is forever on the hips." It reminds me on my phone of how much I've gained. I look at the bar graph, showing I've gained a kilogram and a half in a week, which is approximately 3 pounds, and it took me twice as long to lose that much. I wish someone had told me that as you get older, losing weight becomes increasingly challenging, and I worry about when I have a baby, gain baby weight, and then struggle to shed it. Even if I'm consuming the right calories, eating the right foods, going on hikes, and embarking on adventures, four months later, I've barely lost a kilogram.

Then some women take magazines too seriously and think to themselves, "I wish I were that thin." Sweetheart, it's called Photoshop; no woman is that thin. Fortunately, we are now moving away from that and using real people as models. But when a woman takes it too far, you can see their bones protruding when they shouldn't be visible.

Losing weight is hard work, but you know what's even harder? Achieving success. Adele, with her sixteen Grammy awards, twelve Brit awards, and a Golden Globe award, and yet here we are, fixated on her remarkable weight loss. Rebel Wilson, who has won six awards, Meghan Trainor with fifteen awards, and Melissa McCarthy with more than eleven awards, and here we all are, focusing on the pounds they've lost in a year. I can lose weight in a year, but do you know how hard it is to earn an award? It takes more than a year; sometimes, it takes a lifetime of dedication and talent to achieve such recognition. No celebrity becomes famous without investing years of effort and talent into what they do.

For instance, when I set my mind to it, I can shed 5 kilograms within six to eight months. However, to attain the position I hold now, I embarked on a journey that spanned several years. I spent half a year in school, followed by a year working in an entirely unrelated field to my career goals. Then, I dedicated a year to gaining a foothold in a company I aspired to work for. Only after these efforts did I finally secure the job. It took me two and a half years to reach the point where I am today.