Ever since I got this daily blogging gig at the Weekly, I've been neglecting this blog. If you could read me over there I'd really appreciate it (and if you comment, I'll show you my boobies).
Last night I was on the subway and I couldn't help myself from eavesdropping on these two straight guys in their twenties talking about their diets. One of them was short, but average sized otherwise. Fairly thin and trim, he'd just gotten out of the army and joked that he'd lost all his muscle and had to go to the gym more often because the girls he dated were buffer than he was.
The other dude was tall and pin skinny. He kept going on about how regimented his meals were. He was currently "obsessed" (seriously, that was the word he used) with fat-free vegetable soup. He had it at every meal. Just a small bowl of it and a tiny bit of hummus too. He was determined not to get fat, like the rest of his family. This guy was about as far from fat as you could possibly imagine.
It was weird to hear two men talking about their weight. Various girlfriends and I discuss such things, but is it sexist to find it kind of off-putting coming from a guy? I know that if I were single and looking for a boy toy, listening to some dude drone on about his obsession with fat-free vegetable soup would be a major turn-off. Does that make me a hypocrite?
Though in my defense, I think that if one of my girlfriends confessed that she was "obsessed" with fat-free vegetable soup, I'd think she'd either lost her mind (or developed an eating disorder). An obsession with buttercream frosting? Sure. Lobster rolls from Luke's Lobster? Absolutely. Even a certain kind of fat-free vegan cookie would be understandable. But broth with some carrots and celery boiled into it? What's there to love? I got off the train feeling kind of sorry for Slim Jim.
Gotta love the manorexia trend.
Posted by: diana | August 28, 2010 at 12:04 AM
No, not sexist. You're just discovering the growing trend of feminized men. Were you on the L train, by any chance?
Posted by: Lauren | August 29, 2010 at 11:16 PM
Ha! Why yes, Lauren, I was on the L train. I guess that's ground zero for manorexics.
Posted by: judy | August 30, 2010 at 12:31 AM
As long as you walk a bit and stay away from high fructose corn syrup you shouldn't get fat. On the other hand, if you ride the elevator up and down to go to Starbucks for a 1400 calorie "coffee" every morning then it's Miss Piggy for you.
Posted by: paul | September 10, 2010 at 10:12 AM
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slide/worst-bottled-tea-0?slideshow=184612#title
Just makes me want to put a finger down my throat...
Posted by: paul | September 10, 2010 at 10:14 AM
Um, I wouldn't feel sorry for Slim Jim, any straight man sitting on the subway going on about his obsession w/ fat-free veg soup and just a smidge of hummus sounds like he is pretty into himself -
and who the hell just eats a tiny bit of hummus, wtf is your problem, man up and eat hummus like a man..or woman!
Posted by: Alexandra | September 13, 2010 at 11:30 PM
omg I dated a dude (who we refer to as The Mimbo) that was super skinny and also obsessed with his diet. He read the labels of his Diet Rock Star Energy Drink and everything else to make sure there was no High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. He also checked out his reflection in every mirror we ever passed, and took forever to get ready when he really just let his hair air dry, but then had to primp and prod it with his hands for 15 minutes to make sure it was parted "just right". He was also TERRIBLE in bed. hahahah, I made sure to tell him that when I dumped his ass.
Posted by: Ronklyn | October 21, 2010 at 12:39 PM