I started to write a post about why I don’t like the term “fat acceptance”, but the tone just wasn’t coming out right. So I recorded my first podcast. If you click ‘Click to Play’, you’ll need to wait about 60 seconds for the file to load up.
I started to write a post about why I don’t like the term “fat acceptance”, but the tone just wasn’t coming out right. So I recorded my first podcast. If you click ‘Click to Play’, you’ll need to wait about 60 seconds for the file to load up.
I generally agree with everything you say here.
My weight problems (and drinking problems) were largely due to consuming for comfort. In May 2002 I was 315lbs. Through various methods I got down to 265-270 in the next ~year and then in 2008 I started Fast-5 Intermittent Fasting and am now hovering in the 215 range (but dropping slowly again with lower carb intake).
What I hear you say here is you had a particular experience. And because of YOUR experience, you have certain feelings about the idea of fat acceptance. Your experience is valuable and absolutely how it worked for you. That doesn’t mean it’s how it works for other people.
Your view of Fat Acceptance is skewed in a way that really bothers me personally. You’re saying you have a lot of concern, based on your experiences and how things worked for you. But it is not the same for everyone, at all. And just because someone is fat does not mean they’re making bad life decisions nor that they are not fit.
Fat Acceptance also is part of Health at Every Size. It means trying to take care of yourself without focusing on weight loss. To try to be active in ways that work for you and eat in an intuitive way without criminalizing food (because obsessing about forbidden things is a pretty crappy way to live your life). To try to make the best choices you can for you and your health.
Also regarding actual health, there is a lot of CORRELATION between disease and obesity there is NOT a lot of CAUSATION. there *are* lots of articles that don’t know the difference. For example a lot of articles correlate obesity and diabetes. Studies have shown that the same genetics that cause diabetes are also related to obesity, NOT that obesity causes diabetes. So fat and diabetes are often present together only b/c of genetic factors. And that’s just the most common. Statistics can be tweaked to represent either side of the story. I keep this in mind whenever I read an article about any kind of health.
I am pro exercise and pro eating in a healthful manner (whatever that means for you which, as I always remind people healthy means different things for different people).
And you know, I do yoga, go to the gym (for the yoga, strength
training and cardio), walk 2-3 miles as part of my commute,regularly walk my dogs ~2miles am all into healthful eating and the vegetables. I also have plantaar fasciitis (which is a bitch) and exercise induced asthma (ditto). I love doing yoga I love how it feels and I love strength training and being strong and swimming…I don’t love the recumbent bikes at the gym, but I do love riding my bike (and it rains a lot here and gets dark early so sometimes it’s the recumbent bike). OH MY GOD I am fat and I am OK with that AND I ENJOY exercise! I am into Fat Acceptance and I like and enjoy exercise and movement and in fact encourage others to do the same.
I am fat. In fact I’m morbidly obese. My doctor asked me about my family history (genetics) tested my blood pressure my cholesterol etc and decided that since I have GREAT numbers all around and look just like my mom (one of the hardest working most active people i know), her dad and his sisters etc, I am in fact healthy.
MY DOCTOR SAID I AM HEALTHY. Not, I think I am. Not, my friends say I am. My DOCTOR says I am. After a butt load of tests.
Even if I lost weight (again, cuz I have, and it was a terrible experience in so many ways it would take me pages to detail) I would never be a small woman based on my build/genetics. I will never be a socially acceptable size and shape.
I need to accept who I am the way I am and the way I will be. And I need to live my life not put my life on hold because the shape of my body isn’t ok with other people.
And regardless, it’s no one’s business but mine and my doctor’s. And no one who looks at me in passing knows any of the stuff I’ve just told you. And they judge me. You know they do. So I am pro Fat Acceptance. I am pro the idea that I am ok as I am. That the fact that I am a full-time student, a part-time office assistant, a wife, a pet owner, a dedicated volunteer, a creative person, a caring person, a great hostess, a pretty decent yogi, an artist..etc etc is pretty fucking awesome, regardless of my size. My life is, just like everyone’s is a work in progress and I can strive to be the best me I can be without caring about the size of my clothes or what other people think.
And I don’t want your worry or your concern. I want your respect and your friendship, cuz I think you’re pretty keen. But you can keep your worry and your concern (which is utterly demeaning and condescending assuming that you know anything about any other person and their circumstances and what they want or need or their health just because they’re fat).
And I don’t want to be seen as a future anything. I am me. Right now.Living my life.
Your story? Is not my life. Nor is it anyone but yours.
I completely agree that my story is not anyone else’s. My experience is not anyone else’s. I also agree that skinny does not, in fact, correlate to fit. There is plenty of evidence that many skinny folk are not healthy (e.g., many smokers are skinny). So can we perhaps change the vector of the discussion a little bit? Can we agree that there are certain things everyone can do to be [fit/healthy] irrespective of their body type? Can we agree that this discussion is not about getting skinny, but about getting [fit/healthy]? Can we agree that it is worthwhile sharing the knowledge that all of us have gained through trial and error and research and put into practice in our own lives with people who may not have taken the time to learn it independently and who may not have thought about putting it into practice in their own lives?
And so I propose that we stop talking about weight loss and perhaps start talking about how to make good food choices and what one means when one says “make good food choices.” That we talk about the importance of cardio vascular health that can only come from actually going out and walking or running or biking for a minimum of 30 minutes 3 times a week. That is a discussion worth having and one worth sharing. Can we talk about the fact that we lose 30% of our flexibility in our 30s unless we do something about it (e.g. yoga, pilates, stretching 15 min a day) and that loss of flexibility can lead to injuries that can make it harder and harder to stay [fit/healthy]?