Obsessed: America's Food Addiction--And My Own by Mika Brzezinski Read Free Book Online

percent of their salary. 2 Based on the 2010 average US wage of $669 a week, this would be like paying a tax of $76 a week for being fat, according to health economist John Cawley of Cornell University—and that’s provided you get the job in the first place.
    Admittedly, weight is less important for men. Joe Scarborough has put thirty pounds on his six-foot-four frame over the past five years and it hasn’t hurt his earning potential at all. This doesn’t mean that men are immune to the pressures of professional judgment and public scorn, as Brian Stelter, the media reporter for the New York Times , understood. Brian began to gain weight at around the age of sixteen, about the same time he got his driver’s license. Having a car for the first time gave him not only the freedom to get around, but also the freedom to eat badly. “I trace it back to being able to go through the drive-thru, because until you have a car, your parents can control your eating more effectively,” he said ruefully.
    By the age of twenty-four, Brian weighed 280 pounds.
    “I looked like a slob, and in the back of my head I sensed that my bosses would judge me as a result,” Brian says. “I just felt in my gut that I wouldn’t succeed as much in my professional or my personal life if I didn’t lose the weight. I write about television, sometimes I’m on television, and I didn’t like the way I looked on television. And I thought to myself, I’m probably not going to be booked on the shows I want to be booked on if I hold on to this weight.”
    There was also that woman who turned him down for a date, and unintentionally helped to motivate his weight loss.
    Brian started a Twitter feed, posting every time he put something into his mouth. That helped him lose nearly a hundred pounds, and to gain a lot more confidence in himself and his career.
    Donny Deutsch is another successful man who knows that his physical condition has enhanced his value and doesn’t mind admitting it. Donny is a well-known advertising exec inNew York City and a regular on Morning Joe . In his book Often Wrong, Never in Doubt , he has a chapter called “The Charles Atlas School of Management.”
    “I always wanted to feel if shit went down at a meeting I could kick the crap out of the other guy,” Donny says. “Now, that’s obviously a metaphor, but I think staying in shape and looking good just helps your overall persona. I always say that when you look better, you feel better, and it shows self-discipline.”
    Donny, like so many of us, admits that his weight goes up and down. “I was forty pounds heavier at one point. I find the times that I am on a physical regimen and eating right and looking the way I want to look, it is tremendously impacting on every area of my life.” Adds Donny, “I’m a guy that’s been made fun of a lot, because as a CEO I wore a tight-fitting T-shirt.” Go ahead and laugh, he says, but he thinks that sends a message about who he is.
    “So many successful men are kind of schlumpy. I thought it was quite a feat to be somebody who was successful in business and at the same time focused on my physical well-being, because we all know the time and sacrifice it takes to be fit. I think people look at me and say, ‘Wow, this guy’s really got it going on! You know, he can really juggle a lot of balls!’”
    I asked Donny how he thought my looks and weight affect my value as a newswoman. As an advertising expert who has sold all kinds of products, he knows what gets people to buy something—and those of us in the television business are truly selling ourselves. “Looks matter,” he emphasized. “There’s a reason you’re in that chair versus woman X. The brains and the ability are a given, so I’m not demeaning you by saying this. Butin a visual medium or in any medium that has to do with imagery, thinking that looks don’t matter and we shouldn’t judge—that’s just not reality!”

    Comedian Susie Essman, co-star of