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Private Notes
Kendra is an emotional eater, and her life is full of stresses that trigger her to eat, and eat. With 3 small children, financial worries, a home based business and marital strife, Kendra has a lot of reasons to turn to food for comfort. Her husband isn’t supportive and tells her that she is lazy. His comments drive her to bingeing in secret at night or when she is out of the house. Kendra doesn’t know how she’ll fit exercise in her life and has little knowledge of good nutrition. The odds are stacked against her.
Angela and Nicolle are wisecracking friends that love to bond over food and martinis. Over the years, their weight problems have increased to the point where both ladies feel that they are being held back both professionally and in their personal lives.
From the outside looking in, it might seem that Heather has it all: a great job in a male-dominated field, a husband who adores her and a beautiful little girl. However, her love/hate relationship with food, and resulting excess weight, overshadows her feelings of accomplishment.
Jocelyn’s lifestyle is seriously sedentary. She spends 3 hours a day commuting, works in an office at a luxury resort with a kitchen filled with high-calorie foods and when she gets home her idea of exercise is flopping on to the sofa. Not always heavy, Jocelyn turned to food for comfort after several major things went wrong in her life. When she was in her twenties her brother died tragically and food was there to comfort her, ditto when she lost her on-air media job and later suffered from stress-related depression.
As her 30th birthday approaches, Naomi is worried that her weight is stopping her from meeting a man, and from being truly happy. Naomi lives with her sister Sula, who can eat whatever she wants and stay slim, and undermines herself by constantly comparing herself to her sibling. Naomi is driven. She works long hours in therapeutic care homes, is studying for a second degree and hits the gym for a couple of hours a week. She really can’t see where she’ll find time to fit more exercise into her schedule or make decent meals for herself.
Working as a caterer in the movie industry means that Jeremy grazes on rich meals and snacks all day, then binges on leftovers at night. He often works 12 hour days, or longer, which leaves little time for exercise - not that he has done any since he was 7. A non-conformist who is covered in tattoos that symbolize his love for food, Jeremy is loud, fun and an exhibitionist, who is generally happy in his life. However, he really wants to get healthy so he can set a positive example for his beautiful little girl and be less embarrassed about his wobbly physique and man-boobs.
Jill has worked hard to be successful in the fashion sales industry, but long hours and copious amounts of travel means that she rarely has time to exercise or eat healthily. As part of her job, Jill often entertains clients at restaurants and enjoys fabulous rich meals. Or else she skips meals altogether throughout the day, only to end up devouring drive-through in her car while on route to yet more meetings.
Sarah’s life is complex and stressful. She fled to a new city after her best friend, Lewis, was killed in a car accident and, although she has always been overweight, losing Lewis has made her mistreat her body even more. She now weighs over 300 pounds, and is seriously worried about her health.
Jannette is addicted to candy, chocolate and caffeine, plus skips proper meals only to order take-out when she gets ravenous. With no idea of portion control, and carrying too much weight to exercise properly, Jannette has been getting steadily bigger since her twenties.
Michelle has a lot on her plate and she is both emotionally and physically exhausted. After the family lost a court battle to get more funding for care for their severely autistic son, Connor, Michelle’s husband had to quit work to care for him. This made Michelle the breadwinner. She also has 2 daughters, so to say life is busy would be an understatement.
Amy is a stay-at-home mom of 2 girls, and her weight has been steadily rising since her teens. Amy suffers from back pain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression caused by her weight. She is scared she’ll have a stroke if she doesn’t get healthy and she is determined not to model her destructive eating patterns to her daughters.
As a certified fitness trainer, Diane takes pride in motivating her clients to push themselves, yet has trouble following her own advice. As a single girl, looking for Mr. Right, Diane spends a lot of time partying and having fun, which results in unhealthy food choices and too much alcohol. Diane has always struggled with her weight. At age 22 she deliberately gained additional weight so that she could get her stomach stapled in a government-funded initiative. She has lost weight by following low-carb diets in the past, but has never managed to keep the weight off.
Although many women would kill to have Angela’s body, she is unhappy with her appearance and really wants to shed 30 pounds so that she can look good in a bikini and not feel fat next to her size 0 girlfriends. As an intelligent and articulate woman, Angela knows that the ideals of beauty pushed on young women by the media are unrealistic, so worries that she is being superficial for aspiring to them.
Valencia used to be life of the party and says that she could “drink any man under the table” until 2 events rocked her world – her father had a massive stroke that left him wheelchair bound, and she found God. She is bringing up 2 boisterous teenage boys with love and the occasional headlock. Valencia says that she thinks she is hot, but dreams of being hotter and shaking her awesome booty at a salsa club.
Nicole is at university studying criminology but she spent her entire youth training to be a professional dancer. Her lifelong dream disappeared overnight after she contracted West Nile Meningitis, which sent her into a depression and she turned to food for comfort. She misses dance terribly, but feels so self-conscious she won’t even take a hip-hop class with her cousin Stacey, a talented and slim dancer who insists that Nicole was always the star.
After winning a modeling contest at age 16, Jennifer spent 4 years strutting the catwalk and doing photo shoots. Her mom was thrilled to see her modeling but her dad wanted her to go to university. Torn between pleasing both parents, Jennifer made a decision to “get fat” so that modeling was no longer an option. Ten years on, Jennifer is still carrying the weight and her health is suffering.
For University student and breadwinner, Anthony, the day starts with drive-through. Then on the way home he picks it up for his wife Marichu and their 3 gorgeous daughters. He knows that at his size, he’ll never be taken seriously in the corporate world he hopes to join once he finishes his degree. He fears that his excess weight will kill him. Marichu has lost weight before - but Anthony was unsupportive and said that he was worried she’d be promiscuous - so she gained it all back again. She has some serious food issues and is clueless when it comes to healthy eating.
Casey’s bad habits are causing him major health problems: he sleeps with breathing apparatus and he barely has the energy to keep up with his 5-year-old son, Dylan. He smokes, drinks copious amounts of alcohol and is clueless when it comes to healthy eating. Everyone around him pushes food on him. His mother loves to feed him, cooking her infamous “chicken crackle”, which is chicken skin deep-fried until crispy like potato chips. His girlfriend Linda makes “the best” nachos, dripping with cheese, and poker nights with his friends always result in drinking way too much.
Sharla is a burned out single mother whose weight is making it harder and harder to take care of her daughter, Toni, who has cerebral palsy. Sharla struggles to lift Toni up and down stairs. If Sharla couldn't take care of Toni anymore, it would be the worst thing in the world for the whole family.
Ann-Marie is a stay-at-home mom, who hasn’t lost a pound since giving birth to her baby Sophie. Her weight gain has impacted her relationship with her husband, Robin, as she is too self-conscious to let him touch her. Because of this, the spontaneity has gone out of their relationship. Formally fit and active, with a passionate marriage, Ann-Marie feels like she has failed herself.
Since her mother died a year ago, Rae has been on a downward spiral. Rae can’t express her emotions, so she swallows them, bingeing instead of dealing with things, and withholding both physical and emotional intimacy from her husband, Ray. She can’t fit in to her motorcycle leathers and shows no interest in the road-trips with Ray that she used to love.
Nikki takes comfort in food, and loves starting the day off with a cream-filled chocolate donut. She works with teenage girls and has drawers stuffed full of sugary snacks at work, to share with them and eat alone. After finding out that her fiancé, Erich, was unfaithful, Nikki has moved back in with her mom, Bonnie, and step-dad, Danny. There were abuse issues with Bonnie, which lead to Nikki “never feeling worthy of being a thin, happy person”. Danny has always been supportive and introduced Nikki to soccer as a child - a sport she’d love to play again, if only she were fit enough.
Amy is deeply embarrassed about her weight. She used to be slim, and is convinced that her husband was attracted to her because of that, despite his insistence that loves her just as she is. Being physical with her husband was always difficult due to Amy’s being sexually abused when she was younger, but now her weight has made her feel so unattractive that she doesn’t want to be intimate at all.
Rayna is worried that her and Gary are turning in to an old married couple, even though they’ve only been together 4 years. She misses going out dancing and clubbing, and would love to do it again, if only she didn’t feel “disgusting”. Gary would love to be able to wear a nice suit and take Rayna out on the town, but at his current size that isn’t going to happen. Right now, he spends his nights on the computer while she watches TV. They’ve grown apart as they’ve grown in size.
Nima is a brilliant cook, often making lavish East Indian meals and rich deserts for her appreciative husband Claude. She is a junk food addict and her love of candy, chips and cakes is a standing joke at work. Coupled with the fact that Nima does very little exercise, and pretty much collapses on the couch when she gets home from work, the weight has piled on. No longer able to fit into her clothes without looking “lumpy”, Nima has decided it’s time to change. She has to turn her passion for food into a passion for fitness, so she sets a goal of running 10km for charity.
Jen’s stress levels are through the roof. Her 3 young boys from previous relationships are high energy, she suffers with depression and her marriage is at crisis point. She eats to feel good, because she knows that food will never reject her and gives instant gratification in her tough life. Online however, it’s a different story. Jen plays the role of female warrior in a role playing game and would love to embody that in real life, she wants to be “a gorgeous, intelligent woman with a hot body”. She wants to take up capoeira to express her desired strength and agility.
Everyone always tells Gaia how beautiful she is, especially her husband, but she just can’t see it. Even as a kid, Gaia was always been bigger than average. With her Icelandic and South American heritage she has always looked different, so she turned to counter-culture where her looks would be greeted with open arms.
Working as a patrol supervisor overseeing work crews, means that Kristi is surrounded by men, who make cracks about her huge butt. That may sound mean, but then they’re just following her self-deprecating lead. She lives a solitary life in a small town. In truth Kristi wants so much more than this, but feels like her weight situation is spiraling out of control.
As a Mormon, Debbi believes that her job is to bring more spirits down from heaven. So when her husband Chris had a vasectomy after baby number 3, she was devastated. She wants to be the trophy wife Chris desires, but is heartbroken over the vasectomy, which only adds to her struggle.
Chris has struggled with some serious health issues, including surgery to remove low-grade cancer from his leg, that have left him reliant on a cocktail of pills to get him through the day. His sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits have led to significant weight gain, and by the time he gets home from work, he is too exhausted to be fully present for his family.
By day Kristen works as an administrator, but at night she fronts a country rock band. Over the past 2 years, Kristin has gained 60 pounds. Her excess weight means that she’s out of breath by the end of every song and gives a much less energetic performance than she used to. Plus, being overweight has knocked her confidence to the degree that she’s worried that soon she won’t want to go on stage and perform at all.
At work Melanie cares for clients with developmental disabilities, then comes home to look after her 13-year-old son Matthew, who has been diagnosed with ADHD. Her marriage to Rick is rocky, which increases her stress level. Being so busy means that Melanie never eats until she is famished, then she devours whatever she can find. Her situation leaves her too tightly wound to sit down to dinner with her family, so instead she relies on high-calorie snacks and late night leftovers.
Nicola and Laurelle live together and for years have been enabling each other to gain weight with regular “pig out sessions” and nights sitting in front of the TV. Now the girls are moving out and moving on: Nicola is moving in with her fiancé and Laurelle with her boyfriend. It will be a seismic shift for these girls. Nicola says that last time they lived apart it was like separating Siamese twins.
Looking at Maggie and Liz, you wouldn’t think that they were just 21 and 26 years old. Their size makes them appear older, as do the clothes they wear to hide the weight they’ve both gained. When she was pregnant with her daughter, Caitlin, Liz packed on pounds that she just can’t seem to lose.
These stay-at-home moms have encouraged each other to pack on the pounds. Andrea has been chubby since childhood, and high school teasing about her weight left her scarred for life. As someone who likes only the most basic foods and junk, Andrea has a hard time making good choices for herself and her family. Carrie was slim and fit before she had her first child, and then twins, but hasn’t shed any of the pregnancy weight and keeps gaining. She is pretty clueless in the kitchen, but knows that she needs to learn how to make healthy food in order to control her weight.
Basketball was Mike’s lifelong passion, but since his college days he has put on so much weight that there’s no way he’d get back on a court. Weighing in at 368 pounds, Mike knows that his weight could kill him at any time. He is so ashamed of his body that physical intimacy with his fiancée Cindy is non-existent and, although he deflects it with humour, his self-esteem is at rock bottom. Mike knows that he has to lose weight. Cindy isn’t sure he’s ever going to address his problem seriously, but he’s starting on a journey to lose 100 pounds and be happy with himself.
Jamila stopped working out when she opened her chiropractic practice, and, as she excelled professionally, she stopped taking care of herself. Her weight has crept up, and she thinks that unless she does something now, it will continue to do so. Jamila wants to get a handle on her weight, but beyond that, she dreams of becoming athletic again. She wants to compete in a half Iron Man race, which involves a 1900m swim, a 90k bike ride and a 21k run. Right now, there’s no way Jamila could possibly achieve any of those things, let alone all 3.
Margaret and Kayla have always struggled with their weight, which has fluctuated with stress and life changes. They are both emotional eaters, and when Margaret’s son (and Kayla’s brother) Quentin died tragically and violently, the pair were absolutely devastated and turned to food to numb the pain. Now they have reached a point where they can look to the future, but have put on a considerable amount of weight going through the grieving process.
Until she had a car accident in her early 20s, Tammy was always athletic. She used to model and was a beauty queen, but her weight has crept up since the accident, then with her marriage and pregnancies. Since her brother died in a tragic car accident, Tammy has used food to make herself feel better, then feels guilty immediately after. “It’s a vicious cycle,” she says.
Amy turns to food for comfort whenever she is stressed out by her parents arguing. Overweight and unhappy, she has very few friends and doesn't feel good about herself. Amy’s mother, Sally, would really like to blame all of the family’s health issues on her husband Dave - from whom she has recently separated.
Outward appearances would indicate this is a well-to-do and confident family, but underneath the slick exterior lays feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. Madison appears confident, until she starts to talk about her appearance. Despite having lots of friends, she feels lonely around them at times because of her weight. The boys at school call her “Fatty Madi”, which only adds to her self-consciousness.
Daniel is very unhappy with his weight. It affects every part of his life. He struggles to fit into his clothes each morning, then when he gets to school, is bullied both physically and emotionally by the other kids. His parents, Tara and Darren, are heartsick about the bullying Daniel endures, but their own eating habits are exacerbating Daniel’s problem.
Jade was once an outgoing girl with an active social life, but she was traumatized by an abusive relationship. She became depressed and self-conscious and turned to food for comfort. As the weight piled on, Jade’s confidence and self-esteem dwindled. Unable to even zip up her riding boots, she has given up her greatest passion: horseback riding.
Kyla knows, at 15, it’s make-it-or-break-it time to change her bad habits. She admits she got to the weight she is by “sitting around the house and eating”, but the fear of being judged for her size has her in tears. Her mom, Rhonda, hurts to see her kids suffer because of their weight. She’s angry when people comment that, “Kyla is pretty, BUT…” Rhonda wants to spare her kids the pain of looking in the mirror every day and facing that they are obese.
Anthony is a lonely, obese young boy, who longs to be more comfortable in his own skin. A latchkey kid, who is often home alone, he craves quality time with his parents and overeats to soothe his loneliness. His parents, Louis and Sherri, are also overweight. Louis was an athlete, but is now morbidly obese and suffering from hypertension and sleep apnea. Louis is always at the office and Sherri finishes work and runs out the door to a fitness class. While his parents go about their busy lives, their sad and lonely son is suppressing his feelings with mounds of food.
Rose and her kids, Leanne and Aaron, live in a low-income household in a high crime area far from recreation facilities. When it comes to meal prep, they prefer anything easy – boxed, frozen or canned – that they can eat in front of the television. At 15 years old, Leanne knows there must be a better way - but has to find the confidence to rise above the limitations and challenges of her circumstances.
Rebekah is a pretty young woman who is fanatical about her appearance, but it’s dawning on her that nice hair and make-up don’t compensate for her serious weight problem. She is an emotional eater, burying her unhappiness in high calorie snacks.
Monaca’s life is spent in front of the TV clocking up over 60 hours of viewing a week. She does little physical activity and eats junk. Her mother, Tracy, is appalled by her daughter’s “laziness” and her weight gain. A former athlete, Tracy can’t understand why Monaca is not more like she was as a kid. But the more Tracy nags at Monaca, the more defensive and frustrated Monaca becomes.
At 8 years old, Randi feels self-conscious about her body. She is teased at school and already on track for a life of chronic health issues if the family doesn’t change its unhealthy ways. Randi’s parents, Terrie and Bill, jokingly refer to themselves as the “Junk Food Queen” and the “Fast Food King”, but the situation is far beyond a joke.
Her parents are tiptoeing around the problem, but Piper’s all too aware she’s the biggest girl in her Highland Dance class. Just trying to purchase a Highland Dance jacket turned into a wrenching ordeal when the store clerk bluntly told her he wasn’t sure they could make one in her size.
When 12-year-old Hugh and his 13-year-old brother, Oliver, get home from school, their parents are still at work. The brothers snack on high calorie, fatty foods and spend all their spare time playing video games. This unhealthy sedentary lifestyle has had a serious impact on Hugh, who weighs 180 pounds.
For Analisa, being overweight is debilitating in many different ways. Her mobility is limited due to her cerebral palsy: she doesn’t have full use of her right hand or foot, and just getting around the house is exhausting. If she manages to shed some of her 232 pounds, she may be able to lessen the frequency of the nightly epileptic seizures that leaved her scared to death.
Adrienne has established herself as the “big funny girl” among her friends, but she can’t escape feeling like a failure. All her friends are dating, but at her size she feels like nobody will want her. Her mother, Michele, wants to help her change her life, but Adrienne rejects her mother’s assistance as hypocritical nagging.
Liam has laid claim to the master bedroom and proudly declares himself the “man of the house”. He chooses what he wants to eat which translates to a steady diet of chocolate milk, cookies and chips. How will Liam ever get healthy when his mother is too overwhelmed and exhausted to say “no”?
13 year old Drae is a “gentle giant” who has always been the biggest in his class and the target of bullies. Things have gotten so bad that he admits to contemplating suicide.
Connor is a handful. His ADHD symptoms are a constant drain on his parents. His father, Mike, drives a truck so he’s often away and when he returns home his quality time with Connor always involves food.
16 year old Leanne’s natural exuberance is being squelched by her worries about her weight and her parent’s declining health.
Alex is the youngest member of a Russian-Jewish family that has always socialized with food. Weekly Shabbat dinners are lovingly loaded with traditional dishes heavy in starches, butter and sauces.
At 5’4”, 11-year-old Keira weighs as much as her father does at 6’1”. Keira’s mom Amber has struggled with weight all her life and had gastric bypass surgery in the past that allowed her to drop some 200 pounds from her whopping 450 pound girth. But Amber’s deep addiction to food has kept her from reaching a healthy weight and has taken an alarming toll on her family.
At first glance, 14-year-old Paige is a mouthy, moody teenager getting chubby on a diet of awful food. But behind the tough exterior is a heartbreakingly vulnerable young girl coping with a disengaged single mother and a depressed older sister.
Kaitlyn, her older sister Allisa and their mom Monique are still reeling from the death of their father and husband Gord less than a year ago. During his illness, regular mealtimes and healthy cooking took a back seat and these bad habits persisted even after his death.
Kayla started packing on weight in high school, when life became more stressful. But in fact, she’s been in training for massive weight gain all her life, her father Russell has been showing her how it’s done.
Layla has been bullied because of her weight since junior high, but lately Layla has also been dealing with brutal and anonymous online attacks. Her mom, Melody, attributes Layla’s struggles with anxiety and panic to the torment she has faced over the years at the hands of her peers.
Mike and Estelle have always been “soft” on their kids, never forcing them to eat a vegetable and indulging them with chips, treats and tasty (but unhealthy) meals. Now, both sisters are getting fat and becoming self-conscious about their bodies. Their low self-esteem leads them to lash out at each other, turning their home into a war zone and making their parents miserable.
Chris is an emotionally vulnerable, overweight and unmotivated teen. After graduating high school a year ago with no plans for the future, his parents let him move into their basement. There he spends most of his time playing video games in their basement, isolating himself socially, eating junk and gaining weight.
