I am the wife that James and his followers took the piss out of during his live the other night, along with my husband.
I've created an account on here to write this because I don't think there'd be any point contacting JS about how I feel. He'd probably just twist it or publish it for everyone to take the piss out of again, anyway.
I recognised my best friend from some of her posts further up this thread. She said things that we've talked about together so I was sure it was her. She's confirmed it's her and thinks I should post too. So here I am!
A little history.
I've followed JS since his very early days, pre-JSA, when we would all get excited for him if he got over 100 people watching a live on FB.
I signed up to JSA on the very first day he launched it and have been a paying member ever since.
To this day, I still really like the content of the app and find the training videos really great.
The JSA FB group is awful and not an aspect I like.
I have learnt a lot about fitness and nutrition and thank him for that.
I am not one of the crazy followers of JS that is always desperate for him to notice me.
I have never, not once, emailed him, messaged him or tagged him on FB.
To me, JS is the head of a fitness brand that I can learn a lot from. He is not my friend and never will be and I find those that desperately seek his approval very strange indeed.
I rarely watch his live FB videos now as these are aimed at recruiting new members of JSA so are very repetitive and the questions dull. But occasionally I do. I have laughed along when he takes the piss out of Joe Wicks, diet clubs etc and never thought any real harm was done.
Until the other night.
Everything he said on that live video about my husband and I was an outright lie. He twisted everything for laughs and FB Likes.
A little about my husband.
He is big.
29 stone.
But he is also very tall. 6 and a half feet tall. So people never believe he weighs as much as he does. He carries it well. Neither of us deny he is fat. He just doesn't look 29 stone, that's all.
He spoke to his GP and has a referral to a 'fat fighters' help class. But COVID scuppered that for now so he agreed that he'd do it the JSA way for a little bit so see if he liked that method.
The whole point of JSA is centered around using the JSA calculator to work out your allowance and counting your calories. He always talks about not under eating and making sure you eat your calorie allowance as not eating them will cause you to binge.
The calorie calculator 'only' goes up to 180kgs.
Now. My husband and I know he weighs a lot. We do. We are in no denial of that. We know that the calorie allowance for 180kgs is a lot. But it's a big drop from the amount of calories he normally eats. And if he went from his usual amount to that amount overnight, he wouldn't sustain that. It sounds a lot of calories, yes. But that's be the equivalent of an average weight person being told to eat 1000 cals a day and no more. Not practical.
Also, there are lots of people that are a lot bigger than my husband who would benefit from JSA.
So -
*I did NOT email JS with a complaint.
On the app is a 'contact us' section.
Within that, you can send a message to the app team about various things.
One of these sections is 'suggestions and improvements to the app'.
THAT was where I sent a message. You know, because I had a suggestion on how the app could be improved!
All I messaged was that the calculator only goes up to 180kgs and could this be extended?
I said my husband wanted to join JSA but as he couldn't get an accurate calorie amount, there wouldn't be much point as that is the cornerstone of JSA. I said it's a shame as very big people are the ones who may need JSA the most but cannot access it as they cannot get an accurate calorie total.
That was it. Nothing more.
I NEVER said we didn't know his weight. Nothing even close to that.
I NEVER said he was fatphobic and prejudice against fat people.
I was NOT bitching. I made a suggestion to improve the app on the section of the app that is there specifically to encourage you to make those suggestions!
He mocked us on the live, saying it was me that contacted him and not my husband. Like my husband didn't really want it or he would have messaged himself.
BOLLOCKS.
It was me that messaged because I am the one who is the JSA member and you've got to be a JSA member to use the 'improvements and suggestions' form on the app! My husband couldn't have done that!
Comments calling me a 'Karen' or suggesting I was projecting my frustrations on to JS and making people around me miserable are bullshit. I'm not frustrated with my husband. I fell in love with him when he was big. I couldn't give a flying fuck how big he is. I love him and am proud to be his wife.
180kg is big. Very big.
I get that.
But if people think that's the upper end of 'functioning fat' people, they are very much mistaken. Not these days.
People way bigger than that go about life with no input from medical services (yet) and are embarking on weight loss journeys.
If JSA won't help them by adjusting the upper limit on a calorie calculator, more fool JS. He's missing out on a big corner of the market.
JS knew my husband's weight. That is all.
The way he described him on that live gave no context.
He and the watchers of that live we're making out like he was one of those super obese people from 'my 600lbs life' or something. Bed bound and close to death.
Hs 6 and a half foot tall, not 5 foot nothing. So he's not some huge guy with folds and folds of fat that can't leave the sofa.
He works 60+ hour weeks in a VERY physically demanding job (which he hasn't had a single sick day from in years, might I add). His main hobby is metal detecting where he walks miles at a time. He's more active than me, FFS!
But JS or the viewers who took the piss don't know any of that. Because the only information JS had was a few sentences from an app suggestion. Nothing more.
Like my friend further up this thread said, there are rugby players and other sportsmen who weigh close to that.
Greg Davis (comedian) talked about his height and weight in an interview a couple of years ago. My husband is the same height near enough as him and weighs just over 6 stone more than him at his heaviest. (just so you can visualise him).
Yes, he's huge. But not at deaths door like they made him sound like.
My husband is not aware of that FB live.
And I will never tell him. It would break him. Not because of the weight jokes, per se, as he knows he's fat and needs to lose weight. But because he has been made a joke out of on the internet.
I'm upset and VERY angry. And the person I'm meant to be able to talk to about these things can't help me. Because it's about him.
The app suggestion feature says they'll respond within 24 hours.
I have had no response.
If I hadn't happened to have seen that live, I'd have just have thought I'd been ignored. Or the app had glitches so resent it. And potentially been bullied on the internet for a second time.
JS has not messaged me directly with a response. If I'd not have seen that live, I'd never have known his thoughts on very overweight people joining JSA.
JS has made it clear that if you are over 180kgs, JSA will not help you.
Him and those viewers of the live have made it clear their true thoughts about people that size.
IF I'd have emailed JS directly and bitched and been a year, MAYBE I'd have accepted being made the feature of one of his emails or lives. MAYBE.
But that didn't happen. I didn't bother him with any of it.
I made a suggestion on the app. That's all.
JS twisted and spun a very short message in to a hateful and bullying video.
It's now made me doubt any of the other ones he's done talking about some awful email / DM he's received were true either.
Like my friend said upthread, he is a guy who goes on and on about men's mental health. But when it comes to gaining followers, he'll destroy one man's mental health for laughs.
JSA and JS has been a large part of my life for years. It worked perfectly for me.
Now, I'm so upset and angry about it all.
I feel like the loyalty and money I've given him have meant fuck all.
Not a single thing has been mentioned about that live in the FB group. There are some really overweight people in there. I don't understand why they aren't upset about it too.
I'm sure by me joining here and posting this, if JS sees it I'll be thrown out of JSA anyway. Or he'll twist it and make me another feature of a live or email.
I might not even leave it up here for long. I might change my mind and delete my account on here soon.
But I just wanted to post somewhere about how it has made me feel (for myself AND my husband).
Thanks to my bestie upthread who wrote some lovely things (without, yet, even knowing it was my husband she has been defending!). And thank you to every one else on here who has said that what JS did was wrong.
Shame on JS.
And shame in anyone who commented on that live in a derogatory way.
