HUGE: Weigh-Ins And Other Dilemmas

Now that we know everyone at camp a lot better, we get to see more of what makes them tick and drives them crazy. Tonight we get much more of that...especially because the campers know there must be a weigh-in coming up soon and they have so many different feelings and mixed emotions about it.

Dr. Rand thanks George for doing such a great job with the Spirit Quest, and also the other counselors for stepping up to the plate while Shay was gone. Shay comes back, and it turns out that her daughter Roxy had meningitis...thankfully she is doing much better now. Dr. Rand is surprised to find out not only that Shay has a daughter, but that she is the only member of the staff who didn't know. She wonders if she is a hard person to talk to, and my guess is that she also wonders why she is always the one left out of things. George and Poppy discuss what would happen if one of the kids told Dr. Rand about Will and Amber going missing during the Spirit Quest, and Shay goes back to being tough on the teens.

Amber wants to borrow the book that George used for Spirit Quest, but he asks Becca if they can still use it for a while because it's her book. Becca agrees, but she can tell that something weird is going on with Amber and George. When the campers have their sharing circle, Ian says that he is scared of letting other people down, especially his parents. Everyone else there can relate...and I'm sure you can as well. I know I can, because I always worried before that I had to be perfect to please everyone. Dr. Rand reminds everyone that all they or anyone else should expect of them is that they always try their best. This is something I've learned the hard way...there are things in life you have no control over, but the one thing you can control is how you react to what happens and how you handle it. How have you learned this lesson?

Amber tells Ian that she is always afraid to share stuff in the circle, and he tries to encourage her to share next time. He catches up with Will and Becca, telling them how happy he is that Amber spoke to him for no reason at all. Will is really annoyed, and Becca of course knows why. Ian wants Will to bring his name up casually to Amber to see what kind of reaction she gets. Will agrees to do it even though she doesn't want to.

In the evening everyone is together in the recreation cabin because it's storming outside. Will and Ian are singing and playing the guitar, and Trent is jealous because he wants to play music. A lot of the kids are watching "Love Handles" on TV...when this spoof first came up I thought it was pretty funny, but this time the "bachelor" hands out onion rings to the women who get to stay. That's carrying things a little too far...even on the show "More to Love" the women were given actual promise rings to wear, and not made fun of by being given something so stereotypical. Later the girls discuss the show and how there was a challenge where the women had to reveal their weight to the guy. Most of them say they would never tell a guy their weight, but Chloe says she and Trent have told each other what they weigh. This is a question I pose to you: Do you or would you share your weight with your significant other? Why or why not?

Chef comes in and sees Alistair playing with a deck of cars, so he teaches a bunch of the kids to play poker. Shay comes in and is upset that they are gambling, and he tells her they are only using macaroni for betting. She breaks up the game and later talks to Dr. Rand about it. Dr. R pretends that she already discussed it with her dad, but when she gets back to him she lets him have it. She also reminds him how when she was 11 he gambled away their rent money and they got kicked out of their home. She wonders what else he is hiding from her.

Amber comes by the boys' cabin to get the book from George, but he quickly sends her away because the boys are being crude. She is disappointed and goes back to her cabin. George then goes to tell Dr. Rand about Will and Amber being missing on the Spirit Quest. He's glad he came clean, and she tells him that she "sees it". In his mind he's thinking she means about Amber, but she says she sees how much he's helping the kids and affecting their lives. On a hike, Michael goofs off again and Shay lays into him. She asks if her really wants to be here and he says yes as he begins to cry. He's also embarrassed that everyone sees him cry.

As the teens see the scale being set up, they start getting nervous about the weigh-in. They argue over who they think lost the most weight, Will hates that everything is about the number on the scale. She and Ian make a bet over who gets to wear her hat. Amber and Chloe are reading Seventeen Magazine and going over the Body Peace Treaty. They sign the page in the magazine. You can read and sign the treaty as well...I went to the Seventeen website and signed it online. It's all about positive ways to look at your body instead of putting yourself down, so please check it out!

Dr. Rand calls Will and Amber into her office separately to talk about the Spirit Quest incident. At first she thinks Will got lost on purpose again, but then she realizes that it really was an accident. We also find out that Amber saved up her money and paid for camp all by herself, not like the other kids whose parents paid for them to come. Dr. Rand tells Will she notices the change in her, but Will doesn't like to hear it. She's still caught between wanting to be healthier and wanting people to accept her for who she is right now at whatever size she is. Will also mentions Ian to Amber, but Amber says she thought that Ian was Will's boyfriend. In the meantime, Ian is called out for being jealous of Trent...and he admits that he is jealous of anyone who's better looking than him. Ouch...I remember comparing myself like that to other people, and I cringe when I hear him say it.

It's finally weigh-in time, and the campers are all in their swimsuits again. They go into tents individually to find out how much they lost. George tells Ian he's doing great, because Ian gets on with his back to the scale. He refuses to look at the card with his weight and tells Alistair to destroy it for him. Alistair only lost a little weight and is feeling down about it because he still has such a long way to go. Becca looks happy when she comes out. Dr. Rand tells Will how proud of her she is when she's on the scale, but Will rips up her card right in front of the doc. Amber is mortified to find out that she herself only lost 1 pound. Dr. Rand tries to make her feel better, but she is too upset. She tells Chloe that she lost 6 pounds because she doesn't want to be embarrassed, then she goes back to her cabin to stare at herself in the mirror and pinch the fat hanging under her arms. I've been here too...working really hard and not seeing the results, to the point that I kept looking in the mirror to see if there was some difference. Becca and Will argue about weight loss, as Will mentions that if this were the 16th Century everyone would be admiring their figures as they are right now.

As all of the girls dance around in their cabin, Amber writes in her journal. They joke about doing a scale dance; Amber gets upset and goes for a walk. She runs into George, and he apologizes for kissing her. He says if she were older or he was a camper it would be different. He also says any guy would be lucky to be with her, and they can't help it...they kiss again. Will sees them and runs off before they notice her. Back at the rec center, Michael is jealous of Chloe and Trent, while Alistair comes upon the Seventeen Magazine and signs his name as well. Michael goes for a walk and sees Shay on the phone checking on her daughter and crying. I'm glad we get to see the other side of Shay now, so we can see where she's coming from. Will gets her hat back from Ian because she lost more weight, but then they keep messing around with the hat and joking.

At the end of the episode, we see the girls talking about what to do for the next weigh-in to make sure they weigh less, like wearing a lighter swimsuit or taking off their earrings. These things really don't make that much difference, but they are obsessed with seeing that number go down. What about you? Have you done that? Are you still obsessed now with the scale, or have you realized it's really about being healthy? Please let me know your thoughts on the show...and your feelings about body image.