"Sometimes people don't understand it," said Ruby Gettinger by telephone from Savannah, Ga., where she lives. "I'm a very happy person. They ask me, 'Ruby, if you had to do it all over again, would you be big or small?' I always say I'd rather be big. Because I feel like I'm a better person because of it because I don't judge people. And I'm not mean. I like the person I am. That may sound ironic to somebody, but if you were able to sit on the side and see how mean people can be, you'd understand why I never want to be those kind of people."
Gettinger has been overweight since she was 9 and morbidly obese her entire adult life, reaching 700 pounds 11 years ago. Most recently, she has hovered between 350 and 550 pounds, developing diabetes, thyroid problems and an enlarged heart. Last year, her doctor told her time was running out. If she didn't change her life fast, she would die. She weighed 477 pounds.
"I thought then, 'I think I'm probably going to die,' because I didn't think I could beat it," she said. "I've been happy. I've lived as much as I knew of life. Then, all of a sudden, that part of me clicked in, that part that never gives up, and I said, 'I'm not going to die. I am going to fight and conquer this.' "
And she's doing it on TV. Gettinger has allowed the Style Network to follow her on her journey to save her life, hoping that it will inspire others. "Ruby" premieres on Sunday and opens with a one-hour episode that introduces the sweet-seeming, charismatic Savannah native and her best friends. The rest of the story will be told in half-hour installments over eight weeks.
Gettinger lived in Los Angeles from 1996 to 2002 and got the idea to do a documentary based on her life while watching an "Oprah" episode about obesity. Last year, a friend put her in touch with a reality producer who connected her to Style. The network asked Gay Rosenthal, who created "Little People, Big World," to produce "Ruby."
"It's her life-saving journey to lose weight, but it's not like we're saying she has to do A, B, C, D and E," Rosenthal said. "Different things work for different people. We hope that from the show people are going to feel empowered. And not just about weight loss, about whatever obstacles or struggles or challenges they're having in their life."
Gettinger began her new weight-loss program, which includes personal trainers, a nutritionist and the support of her close friends, on March 1. Her goal is to weigh 145 pounds. So far, she's lost 100, and her life is opening up in ways she had denied might be possible.
