>LIVING LARGE BY MICHAEL BERMAN
Who has it tougher, overweight men or plus-size women? Berman, 66, a lawyer and the head of a D.C. consulting firm, has written a memoir about his lifelong struggle with the scale. Now 239 lbs. (down from a high of 332), he says it took years before he could get on the scale and "understand I'm weighing my body—not my self-worth." Still, he thinks there's no question his sex gets off easier in the weight stakes. Some thoughts on why:
FACE IT—MEN ARE SHALLOWER "How many times do you see a really fat woman with a thin man? It's harder for a fat woman to have a great social life."
THE JOLLY FAT GUY FACTOR "I've been Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny—have you ever seen a woman play those?"
OFFICE POLITICS "Anyone overweight walking into an interview will have a problem, but studies show job discrimination is worse against heavy women."
YOU SAID IT, BIG GUY "People of my volume, especially if they happen to have bald heads and mustaches, tend to be remembered and taken seriously. In my work, I don't have to be pretty."
ON THE OTHER HAND ... "Women talk openly about fat—men make things harder by holding in so much. When I wrote this book, even my wife said she never would have guessed I had all these feelings."
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