Member-only story
The Elephant In The Room: One 460 Pound Man’s Battle Against Obesity
When Tommy Tomlinson rode the New York City subway, he would grip the pole near the doors as tightly as possible. The six foot one, 460 pound man was terrified that he would smother a fellow transit rider if he fell over after a sudden move by the subway car.
Growing up, he once reduced a wooden chair to splinters when it disintegrated under his weight after he sat down.
When the Southern sports journalist was a child, he never climbed a tree, or learned to swim. “When I was in my twenties, I never took a girl home from the bar. Now I’m 50, and I’ve never hiked a mountain or ridden a skateboard, or done a cartwheel. I’ve missed out on so many adventures, so many good times, because I was too fat to try.”
These are just a few of the heartbreaking anecdotes that Tomlinson shares with readers in his new book “The Elephant in the Room. One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.”
Tomlinson’s memoir of growing up fat, and his subsequent struggle to lose weight is a gift to us all. More than 40 percent of adult American women are obese — slightly more than the 35 percent of men, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A report published late December 2018 by the National Center for Health Statistics also found that Americans in general are…
