Fat Chicks Rule

Mixing messages

On Friday night I attended a class called "Fat, the First Lady, and Fighting the Politics of Health Science" with Dr. Bianca Wilson. One of Dr. Wilson's points was about mixed messages from Michelle Obama and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin regarding the Health at Every Size and the "obesity epidemic".  Dr. Benjamin who has been attacked due to her size, released a video which started off with the OBESITY KILLS message ended with a positive HAES message. Let's Move also has a mixed messages. (I say even more mixed than Dr. Benjamin.)  

The fact is Let's Move's campaign associates health=weight allowing Mrs. Obama to open herself up to criticisms from right wing pundit Rush Limbaugh that she doesn't practice what she preaches because she, dare I say it, ate ribs. The left on the other hand defended her not by saying eating well doesn't mean every single food that goes in your mouth has to be "Healthy" (The majority of it should) but by defending the ribs as being lower calories. They also attacked Mr. Limbaugh's weight. (BTW Limbaugh made fun of Michelle Obama's weight as not being "supermodel").

So essentially all we get is two sides using fat as a method to insult each other.

Fat Hate Bingo

Okay trolls. Please use this handy chart when responding to my posts. I am asking that you respond with "But I don't want to be fat" So I can get the middle vertical row. 

 

 

Not trying to lose weight, the biggest exercise motivator.

AOL has a fluff piece from which starts with the "tried-true" method of weight loss eat less and exercise more (despite having yet to find a study proving that really works in the long run.)

And apparently all that we are missing is motivation.  

Here's motivation for you. You are very excited to do a new diet (let's say Weight Watchers). You start off perfectly, carefully counting your points, going to the gym every day and the pounds begin to come off. You continue with this cycle despite the reality that you are always hungry, feel cold and tired but it doesn't matter because weight is coming off. Cut to a few weeks, maybe even months later. You are still cold, tired and now irritable. The weight loss has stopped and every waking moment is filled with thoughts of food until you give in to a massive binge. While you are binging and off your diet, you see little point in exercising. 

Movement is good for everyone. We can't all be marathon runners (and kudos to those who are.) Do as much as you are able. Even if it's a slow two block walk. Accept that some weeks you may exercise more than others.

And the biggest motivator for movement is to NOT DIET. You see when you tie exercise to diet, you lose the motivation to exercise when the diet fails. Do what I do. I exercise a minimum of 3x a week, and don't care whether I lose weight or not. That has kept me motivated for exercise. 

Fat Bottom Girls

In the past I have posted that the television show Glee has done some fat positive things. The character Mercedes for example is a wonderful, talented diva. In the episode Home, she is told to lose weight or get kicked of the cheerleading team. She tries dangerous dieting but eventually accepts herself as is.  

After that Mercedes' weight almost never gets called out. Now we have another fat character on the show Lauren Zizes (Played by fabulous Ashley Fink of Huge). Actually Lauren has been a background character on the show since the beginning and now seems to be bumped up to a recurring character. Considering they seem to be adding new main characters on the show constantly, I am hoping to see Lauren as a regular in the future.

Is Lauren a fat positive character? Mostly. She seems comfortable in her skin but she is obsessed with food. In in many episodes she asks for food for favors and is option depicted as a loser. It turns out she's a wrestler which is why she eats so much and when confronted by mean girl Santana, she beats the crap out of her. (Yea!)

In the most recent episode Silly Love Songs, Lauren is wooed by bad boy Puck. Puck is indiscriminate on who he dates (he in fact dated Mercedes until she dumped him), but he is drawn to Lauren not only for her curves but she plays hard to get and she's "Bad ass". Lauren seems like she's content with her life and unwilling to change for anyone. And in this case she is positive. 

Blogger Lesley Kinsel of Two Whole Cakes was upset that Lauren was so bothered about Puck singing her Fat Bottom Girls. Granted Fat Bottom Girls is considered a positive anthem for Fat Acceptance, and I love it because we make the rocking world go round and it was sung at a service for the late Heather MacAllister. However if you read the lyrics to Fat Bottom Girls it actually isn't that positive. I always thought it was about fat girls being easy.

I don't know how much the Glee writers know about the fat acceptance movement and the song or if Lauren is part of it. But not all fat women would be happy to being serenaded with a song calling them fat. Lately I haven't been as much into Glee due to the terrible rendition of Rocky Horror. Having been a fan of the movie since I was 15, I was upset to see Transsexual was removed (Perhaps to not be offensive?) but calling a girl fat is still allowed. Just for the record neither terms bother me. I just find it odd about what is offensive and what isn't.

That being said, Glee still is more fat positive than most that is out there in the vapid sea of plastic surgery and unnatural thinness but it still doesn't reflect the real world.

Fat Acceptance in NYC

If live in or near NYC, there are three up coming Fat Positive events.

On Friday Feb 25, Fat, the First Lady, and Fighting the Politics of Health Science  at the CUNY Grad Center. 

On March 4-5 Sarah Lawrence College Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics & the Dynamics of Difference with Keynote speaker Marilyn Wann. 

March 18-19 Endangered Species at the New School featuring Erica Watson, Wendy Shanker and Deb Burgard. 

 

 

 

Eating normally and FDA just says no, again.

Alternet has a fantastic article by Judith Matz about how diets make you fatter (and to reliterated, had I never dieted I would have been fat but significantly less than I am now.) It's a long article but worth the read. I agree with Judith that people that dieting is a large contributor to the "Obesity Epidemic" (although not fat people are that way due to dieting, as some people are naturally slender or fat.) I also believe yoyo dieting causing a significant amount of "obesity related diseases" such as heart disease and diabetes. 

And the FDA has rejected the diet drug Contrave:

For the third time in less than a year, the Food and Drug Administration has rejected a drug promising to melt the fat away. The agency said yesterday it wouldn’t consider approving the diet drug, Contrave, until its manufacturer conducts a clinical trial to further assess its heart risks.

So let's have another comparison

Health at Every size -- Learn your body's hunger cues, eat well, love your body.

Diet drugs -- Maybe have a heart attack.