This week I had to chance to see a PIXAR movie called WALL-E. Placed somewhere in between Toy Story, Nemo, and Cars, somehow I missed it. Turns out it was one of the largest grossing opening movies, and a big one for Pixar, but I must have been out running somewhere.
There wasn’t a lot of dialogue which was pretty surprising for a kid’s movie. Usually, it’s non-stop. In the case of WALL-E, the lead character didn’t even talk, except for one word, which is pretty normal for a robot. The one word was his love interest’s name: EVE, who happened to also be a robot.
WALL-E was left behind on planet Earth to clean up the mess after everyone else left on a luxury space liner. I’m not quite sure how they fit everyone on there, but hey, it works. The sales pitch to humans to get them to leave Earth was pretty simple: “Enjoy your time away and let us (the corporation) clean it up.”
They were also told they wouldn’t have to do anything—just basically lounge around. That must have worked, because most people left. Meanwhile, WALL-E’s doing his job crushing trash and stacking it up into skyscraper size and shaped junk piles. He also saves assorted knick knacks that interest him, including an old shoe which happens to have a green plant growing inside of it.
One day, a space ship lands and he comes across a probe (EVE) out looking for life. After some interesting exchanges where he just about gets blasted, they meet each other and develop an interest in each other. But then, she finds the shoe with the green plant growing in it.
Immediately, she goes into lock down mode and apparently summons the space ship back. WALL-E tries to take care of her, but she just stays in lock down until the ship comes back to pick her up, and WALL-E too, as a stow-away. It turns out the ship travels to the space liner where the humans are, but it’s now 700 years since they’ve left Earth.
The people have robot servants and even robot chairs that take them everywhere they need to go. They never move—even the babies. Guess what. They’re all quite fat. So morbidly obese that they basically just sit in lounge chairs.
In the Captain’s cabin they show pictures of each captain’s tenure and the pictures tell the story. The first captain was in great shape, but each subsequent captain was bigger than the one before. No real surprise, since they don’t even get up and walk around.
Well, many of you might know the ending. The captain realizes that they should have been taking care of Earth and tries to go back, but the evil automatic pilot tries to stop him. Only WALL-E and EVE’s intervention save the day, and they all go back to Earth.
In the end, the people are seen planting and watering seeds so they can grow pizza (I know), and WALL-E and EVE go off happily ever after. It looks like everyone’s going to get some exercise, because they have quite a job in front of them. I love movies that have messages like this—especially kid’s movies.
Take B-Movie, for example. In that story, a bee sues humans for “stealing their honey” in a case on behalf of all the bees. They win their case, and none of the bees have to work anymore. But once they quit working, there’s an unanticipated effect—things quit growing because of the lack of pollination. So they take dramatic action to change things so the bees can go back to work!
I wonder how many parents talk to their kids about the movies. Or how many grandparents use the themes as lessons to educate their grandkids? Or do most of us just say, “Oh, that’s nice” and just go on with our business?
WALL-E had such a strong message that I was pretty surprised because it wasn’t all that politically correct. You’re not supposed to tell people that they’re fat, but guess what? Lounge around and quit moving and you’re going to get fat—just like in the movie!
It’s the same thing with B-Movie. Everything we do has consequences, and we reap what we sow. Work is important, and we all have a job to do. These things are just as true in real life as they were in the movies.
I wish I’d have seen the movies when they first came out because I would have taken their messages into my Karate for Kids classes. We’re trying to keep them moving, and it would have given me something they could relate to. But I’ll bet the kids will remember, so I’m going to use those examples anyway, just like I’m doing here. I figure some of you have seen WALL-E with your kids, but maybe some of you haven’t.
So I’ll say it again. Lounge around and quit moving and you’re going to get fat—just like in WALL-E’s world. It’s something our Biggest Losers need to think about too. It’s a lot easier to put the pounds back on than it was to take them off.
After eleven weeks, these guys and gals know what to do and how to do it. Some of them have really figured it out and by now have had some awesome results. Most of them are still working at it, but are making pretty good progress. If they quit moving, though, they run the risk of putting it ALL back on! I’ve seen it happen more times than you might imagine.
The Friday night Biggest Loser was Scott Block, who’s definitely not been lounging around. He lost 1.7% of his body weight and 3.4 lbs this week. All told, he’s lost 41.8 lbs, and 17.5% of his body weight in just 11 weeks, and he told me he doesn’t plan on putting any of it back on!
Second place went to Nicole Clodfelter, who lost 1.0% and 2.8 lbs and was the only Biggest Loser to show up for the 5K challenge in Charleston! It was really cold, windy, and she even had to run through some really wet grass. Nicole’s lost 32.4 lbs overall.
Third place went to Jackie Tyler, who ran her 5K back in the gym and pushed herself pretty hard, too, getting a time of 31:53. She also lost about half a percent and a pound, and has lost 10.0 lbs overall.
The Saturday morning Biggest Loser was once again Melissa White, who lost 1.7% and 2.2 lbs. Dale Rasmussen also placed second again, losing 1.5% and 3.8 lbs. Melissa’s lost just about 10.0 lbs so far, and Dale’s lost 26.4 lbs total.
Don’t forget to get signed up for our next community wide Biggest Loser groups which start on either Friday, April 16th or Saturday, April 17th. The administration fee is just $50 and you don’t have to be a member to participate—although you should probably be a member somewhere. Remember, if you just lounge around and quit moving, you’re going to get fat!
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