"Good job, you're right!" Happy Fat Tuesday, allies.

Just saw this short article in HuffPo about a woman's response to her little girl pointing out her fat legs.  She did a great job teaching her daughter a lesson about self-acceptance and the natural variation of bodies.  If you want to check it out, you can read it here.

As one commenter said, "Any adult who feels insulted by a child who is not trying to be malicious is dumb."  Even though I feel for the author's mother, I support this statement.

So HAPPY FAT TUESDAY to you . . . .

This picture is making me sweat.

 . . . and keep loving yourself and others!

GOOD news!

Amid the fiscal cliff and upcoming debt ceiling talks, Violence Against Women Act (RIP), continuing violence in Syria, human rights abuses in Russia, etc, etc, etc,

At least the little world of size acceptance has had some good news lately.

NYT: "Our Absurd Fear of Fat" by Paul Campos

"The study, by Katherine M. Flegal and her associates at the C.D.C. and the National Institutes of Health, found that all adults categorized as overweight and most of those categorized as obese have a lower mortality risk than so-called normal-weight individuals."

And based on the same study:

NPR: "Research: A Little Extra Fat Might Help You Live Longer" by Allison Aubrey

A large aspect of this story is the (surprise!) vehement, angry backlash to the CDC/NIH's findings.

Also, Israel has passed a law banning models with a BMI lower than 18.5 from the runway, and requiring magazines to indicate when they have airbrushed a model to look like she has less than a BMI of 18.5.

I find it problematic that the word this article uses to describe these models is "anorexic".  (I chucked at the ABC headline that uses the phrase "BMI-Challenged".)  Still, I'm glad that they are diversifying women's bodies used in the fashion industry.  The article points to this statistic: "73% of teenage girls who abuse diet pills and 79% of teenage girls who self-purge frequently read women's fitness and health magazines." (Statistic via Rader Programs, an eating disorder clinical treatment program.)

Story: Plus Model Mag: "Israel Law Against Anorexic Models Goes Into Effect" (Picture at top mildly NSFW)

Finally, there's this Huffington Post article from today, pointing out the HAES - related fail in the UK Royal College of Physicians report on obesity, including their dubious suggestions to help people lose weight, their misleading spin on how obesity impacts medical costs, pictures of headless fatties, and Meadow's assessment of why the report's entire concern is misguided.  The worst part is the first few comments I read (I know!  I know!  I gotta stop) - defensive people who are concerned with the "why" of obesity - who clearly didn't take in anything from the article.  It's definitely worth a read!

Huffington Post: "Same Year, Same Old Nonsense About Obesity" by Angela Meadows

Now, back to all the important, depressing news in the entire world.

To view other studies that I have published, check out this post.

Return of the Chris Christie

I know I already posted about Chris Christie.  So even though I think two posts is over the top, I was grateful to this article for affirming pretty much everything that I want to say:

"Unfortunately for fat people, skinny people who don’t eat their veggies don’t carry around evidence of their moral failings; no matter what a fat person does, they’re fat, and because we have accepted “fat” as a substitute for “unhealthy,” there are plenty of reasonably healthy fat people who are derided for destroying their health.The societal equation of fat with unhealthy does not square with reality. That doesn’t mean that fat people are all healthy, of course, any more than all skinny people are. Still, it’s a perception rooted far more strongly in what “everyone knows” than what science shows us."

Just want to clear something up really quick

credit examiner.com

"I can't get behind fat acceptance because I have known fat people who have been sick/have died because they were fat." -Everyone

If you want the perfect response to that misguided person (all 23498072348970324 of them), look no further.  I found it in the comments section of this Jezebel article.  Jezebel, which has criticized the Biggest Loser in the past, broke the news that this awful show will now feature 13-16 year old contestants.  Jezebel is a feminist site that runs FA articles, but,as you might expect, I saw a lot of "but fat is bad for you so I can't support fat acceptance" retorts.  And then I saw this:

"If people think the objection to Biggest Loser is because Fat Acceptance is against health, then you have no clue what Fat Acceptance is about. The problem is that the Biggest Loser promotes an unrealistic and unsustainable lifestyle with a superficial definition of health. Contestants exercise an average of 6 hours a day and engage in severe caloric restriction to get the results that they do. Actual health experts recommend a more modest lifestyle change (150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes vigorous, plus strength training) and a focus on improving the quality of your diet, rather than engaging in caloric restriction.

Fat Acceptance is not about shunning health. It's about reminding people that we all have the autonomy to make choices about our own health, whether we choose to smoke, drink, have unprotected sex, climb mountains or eat Twinkies. For health, FA recommends Health at Every Size, which basically says that if you make healthy changes, you may improve your metabolic indicators (blood pressure, sugar and lipids), but you may not be thinner for it. But medical research backs that up, as researchers now tout a weight loss of 5-10% of your starting weight as "clinically significant" in terms of the effects on metabolic health. But a 300 pound person losing 15 to 30 pounds is not good television. Forcing inhumane caloric deficits produces 100+ pound weight losses, but has been proven to be unsustainable for the vast majority of people.

So taking this already skewed and unhealthy message and applying it to children is even more dangerous. And for all those saying "SAVE THE FAT KIDS," it's worth noting that just 12 in 100,000 kids have type 2 diabetes, while 2,700 in 100,000 kids have an eating disorder. Encouraging Biggest Loser-esque lifestyle changes will not help the former statistic, it will only worsen the latter.

For an overview of some of the worst violations the Biggest Loser has committed, you can read this post I wrote about Michelle Obama unfortunately endorsing the show:[fiercefatties.com]"

credit to the awesome Shannon at Fierce Fatties.

Regan Chastain, "Fathelte" supreme

[Trigger warning for really mean trolls.  But it's nothing you haven't heard before.]

I want to turn your attention to Ragen Chastain, size activist who blogs at Dances With Fat.  (Also the author of the incredible Why I Quit Dieting: True Stories from Real Women: How I Quit Dieting.  My post can be found here.)

credit motherhoot.com

I actually just remembered a post that I read on Socimages last year, from before I recognized Ragen's name.  She wrote this guest post about trying to convince trolls that she is in shape.

Okay, so we all probably know that persuading trolls that fat isn't bad for you is one of the most thankless tasks on the planet.  This is one of the more tame comments that Ragen received on her blog:

5’4 and 280 pounds is not healthy and you’re just deluding yourself if you think it is. There is no way that you can work out the way you say you do and eat the way you say you do and still be that fat.  You are not healthy and you need to get real, stop gorging yourself and get to the gym.

Here's the thing, Ragen is really fit.  When the trolls aren't convinced by pictures and videos showcasing her incredible flexibility, strength, grace, and stamina, Ragen writes,

Many of the people who posted weren’t satisfied with disagreeing with my Health at Every Size lifestyle or calling me a liar, but actually felt the need to diminish my accomplishments. I can only assume that they were trying to avoid some sort of cognitive dissonance. In addition, the comments reflect an intense desire to convince me that no amount of accomplishment is enough if I am fat — as if being fat is such an utter failure that it eclipses anything else that I could possibly accomplish...Remember Jennifer Hudson’s commercial where she said “Before Weight Watchers, my world was can’t” even though before Weight Watchers she had won a Grammy for her first CD and an Oscar for her first film?

Ragen is an inspirational figure and excellent writer, so after reading this blog post, I enthusiastically refer you to her blog, Dances With Fat, also on the blogroll on the right-hand side of this page.

Ragen receives a LOT of hate mail.  If you're interested in hearing what the trolls have to say, and the funny retorts that Ragen fires back at them, you can click on the link below; also, in doing so, you'll benefit HAES-friendly companies and organizations.

http://www.danceswithfat.com/hate/

"But it's SCIENCE": STUDIEZ.

By now, we're all on board that we shouldn't be mean to fat people, right?

(By the way, I love how this blog has played out like a cumulative course in FA 101.  I wish I could bring in guest lecturers, just like a real course!  Or that I was actually qualified to disseminate any of this information.  But thanks for reading.  -The Phat Ally)

Okay, there's this one retort that you, my disbelieving loved one, have.

That being fat is bad for you.  It's SCIENCE!

Okay, this mentality may be a result of years of conditioning or brain washing or whatever you want to call it, but it actually can be credited with almost all our fat hatred: from well-intentioned, condescending "interventions" towards friends to whispering-behind-our-hands, this-gossip-is-justified-because-that-fat-person-has-brought-it-upon-themselves type reactions.

One thing I have definitively learned: the multi-billion dollar industry exists for the purpose of maximizing profit at the expense of the mental health of millions of people, especially women.  So be careful when you read studies.  Are they trying to sell you a diet, with a side of low self-esteem?

Enough talk.  I always talk too much.  This time, I'll let more qualified people do the talking.  With studies that I feel are rigorous and refreshingly free of the weight bias that colors so many other studies.

I hope to keep adding to this list.  Also, links may appear either blue or grey.  I wish I knew how to standardize that, sorry!

On Advocating for a Health at Every Size (HAES) public

health model:

"Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals"
Source: Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Family Medicine 

"Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index."

"They all work...when you stick to them": a qualitative investigation of dieting, weight loss, and physical exercise, in obese individuals:

Source: National Institute of Health

"Public health approaches to obesity must engage and consult with those currently living with obesity, if patterns of social change are to occur."

"Health at Every Size: New Hope for Obese Americans?"

Source: US Dep of Agriculture

"'For obese folks who can’t find a healthful weight-loss regimen that gives them lasting results, this alternative to conventional dieting may offer greater and more sustainable improvements to several key indicators of their health.'"

"Size acceptance and intuitive eating improve health for obese, female chronic dieters"

Source: UC Davis

"Encouraging size acceptance, reduction in dieting behavior, and heightened awareness and response to body signals resulted in improved health risk indicators for obese women."

"Weight loss for the obese: panacea or pound-foolish?"

Source: National Association for Physical Education in Higher Education

"Because traditional weight loss programs have poor long-term efficacy, a nonweight-centered paradigm might be more effective for improving the health of individuals considered overweight or obese."

"Dietary Therapy for Obesity: An Emperor With No Clothes"

Source: University of Iowa

"As he has ably pointed out in his accompanying article, there are numerous biological, behavioral, and environmental paths to overweight. It is not surprising that the more or less “one size fits all” approaches that have been taken in past behavioral interventions have been less than impressive."

On weight cycling being worse for you than maintaining a constant weight:

"In Obesity Paradox, 'Thinner' May Mean 'Sicker'"

Source: The New York Times

"In study after study, overweight and moderately obese patients with certain chronic diseases often live longer and fare better than normal weight patients with the same ailments."

"The effect of weight cycling on blood lipids and blood pressure in Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Special Intervention Group"
Source: International Journal of Obesity

"RESULTS: Men who weight cycled did not have the predicted smaller improvements in total cholesterol, HDL, the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL, or diastolic blood pressure, compared with noncyclers."

"Genes take charge, and diets fall by the wayside"
Source: The New York Times

"'It is entirely possible that weight reduction, instead of resulting in a normal state for obese patients, results in an abnormal state resembling that of starved nonobese individuals.'"

"Confronting the failure of behavioral and and dietary treatments of obesity"
Source: PsycNET

"The stigmatization of obesity, the overstatement of health risks, and the pervasive influence of the lucrative diet industry have maintained public demand for dietary treatment. However, much evidence suggests that maintenance of high but stable weight is safer than weight fluctuation. "

Pathways from weight fluctuations to metabolic diseases: focus on maladaptive thermogenesis during catch-up fat
Source: International Journal of Obesity

"In particular, Debray et al noted that the early increase in the weight of prisoners transferred from German concentration camps to a Paris hospital in a condition of severe starvation was largely due to the accumulation of fat rather than to the rebuilding of muscles...These findings led Keys et al to describe such preferential fat accumulation and fat overshooting as ‘post-starvation obesity’."

Dieters Put on Weight in the Long Run: Study
Source: Reuters

"'The majority of people -- up to two thirds -- regained all the weight they had lost, plus more.  We concluded most of them would have been better off not going on the diet at all.  Their weight would be pretty much the same, and their bodies would not suffer the war and tear from losing weight and gaining it all back,' said Mann."

"Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy?"
Source: The New York Times

"But before you turn to a fitness program as the solution to your particular health or weight concern, consider what science has found...Exercise alone has not been shown to bring sustained weight loss."


NYT: "Our Absurd Fear of Fat" by Paul Campos

"The study, by Katherine M. Flegal and her associates at the C.D.C. and the National Institutes of Health, found that all adults categorized as overweight and most of those categorized as obese have a lower mortality risk than so-called normal-weight individuals."




Weight loss studies tend to be biased:

"A meta-analysis of the past 25 years of weight loss research using diet, exercise or diet plus exercise intervention."
Source: US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health

"Weight loss research over the past 25 y has been very narrowly focused on a middle age population that is only moderately obese, while the interventions lasted for only short periods of time."

"Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Dieting is Not the Answer" (PDF)
Source: UCLA

"It is clear that dieting does not lead to sustained weight loss in the majority of individuals, and additional studies of the effects of dieting on weight are not needed...We recommend that researchers conduct long-term randomized studies on the effects of dieting on health outcomes, with a specific focus on whether the short-term health benefits of weight loss persist after the weight is regained...These studies must make every effort to minimize the biases that led to overly optimistic reports of the success of diets."


I will close with a quote from Michelle Allison, the incredible Fat Nutritionist:

"I am comfortable with the fact that, yes, there is a clear association between higher levels of weight and ill health...I am comfortable with the fact that, yes, behaviour contributes to weight...I am comfortable with the fact that, yes, many people do not find fat people sexually or aesthetically attractively...None of these facts shakes my conviction that It Is Not Okay to Engage In Appearance-Based Discrimination, to deny rights or enforce unfavourable social policies on people because of their appearance. 


"These facts also do not preclude the peculiar theory to which I subscribe, that people can be healthy and happy at a variety of weights by focusing on self-care instead of weight loss, and that, in my opinion, this is a preferable policy to the destructive and ineffective "War on Obesity" we have waged for the last decade."

Post in context.

Two BAFLs speaking out against fat hate

Happy anti-bullying month!  October is here.  And my non-fatosphere blog roll and facebook news feed was all abuzz about two awesome women using a public platform to speak out against fat hatred.  Do yourself a favor and check it out!

First, Jennifer Livingston, an anchor on a CBS morning station, speaks out against a man who sent her a letter critical about her body, saying that she is setting a bad example to her community.  Kudos to her for, instead of shrugging it off, calling out this e-mail for what it really is: bullying.  She says: 

If you are at home and talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat.

Of course, I dream of a world where "fat" is neutral description rather than a taunting insult, but that is not where we're at.  I absolutely agree with Livingston.  Parents set an example for their children, and we cannot accomplish anything in a world where kids are taught to be cruel.

Next is my permanent crush, Krista Burton, who blogs at the highly popular Effing Dykes.  Even if you identify as straight, I highly encourage you to read it - her long-winded posts are so entertaining and in equal measure compassionate and hilarious.  This entry's topic is about a straight woman who asks Krista to blog about how all lesbians are fat.  She pours her heart out about generalizing, the word "fat", and queer bodies.

The post is here.

Fat elevator speech

It’s been awhile since my last post.  I had to perform the essential unpaid tasks of finding a job and a new roof over my head.  I wouldn’t say that they are thankless tasks, since now I can pay to not sleep in a box on the street, but I have particularly found the job search to be very demoralizing.  Well, I had to do it sometime, and I am probably the stronger for it.  At least I know that I can write one heck of a cover letter. Last year, I had a job in the non-profit sector.  It’s exhausting to explain, over and over again, what your organization does and why it’s important.  Eventually I perfected my “elevator speech” – a concise description of my organization in the amount of time it takes to tell to politely curious strangers during an elevator ride.

It’s been really nice to get positive feedback on my blog, especially from unlikely people, who I would not have thought would be interested in fat awareness/fat acceptance.  Even if fat issues don’t resonate with them, they respect that the issues resonate with me, so they are more open to consider my views.  Which makes me feel good about my advocacy. 

But I haven’t been able to consolidate a concise, personal description of why this topic is important to me.  That is, until a friend recently e-mailed me, asking, why the blog?

My response:

I've always thought it was messed up how mean every one is to fat people, even including friends who are so conscientiously inclusive and accepting.  I have come to learn that it all stems from self-hatred, which in turn stems from our massively fat-hating culture; once you tune into it it's everywhere.  And body shaming doesn’t just happen with fat; I hear people talk disparagingly about girls who are "too skinny" too.  In both cases, people make these comments because they're “worried about their health”, but shameful discourse does not foster an environment for a constructive conversation about health and size, especially since hurtful comments are often targeted at people behind their backs.  “Worried about their health” is not inclusive of every one's personal story, which is what I believe progressive thinking is all about.  People can be healthy at any size, and if they're not healthy it's really none of your business.

You can imagine the most common response I get: but how can you ignore the correlation between obesity and bad health?  I will reiterate: I am no health expert, but my blog doesn’t focus on causes of obesity. For the record, I am interested in having a smart, constructive conversation on health, but one that includes every one.

On being an advocate, yeah, YOU!

Thank you all for the feedback you gave me about Regina Benjamin.  Thank you, AJC, for your very kind, and as always, terrifically eloquent post about size acceptance as a feminist issue.  AJC blogs about a range of feminist issues, grounding her posts in her outstanding, nuanced knowledge of history.   I should also mention that AJC is extraordinarily fly.  You can and should read her blog here: http://reachingbacklookingforward.blogspot.com/.

I wanted to make a quick note: the strong voices we need to hear in order to create a better dialogue about size in this country do not end with absurdly impressive Surgeon Generals.  We cannot wait until our role models start to talk about health at every size, about fat people’s right to exist, about losing weight as a constant goal/ideal/struggle, about that vulnerable, girls and teenagers are hearing our society’s messages about weight and learning to hate themselves at a young age.

Because as soon as size acceptance resonates with you, you have a responsibility to become aware of the ways that it affects you, which impacts your own sizeist comments and thinking.  

It takes time to undo years of internalizing a fat-hating culture.  It takes time to counter that little voice inside of you, that says, “My country is filled with a disproportionate amount of obese people, and all these Americans are idle and lazy and affecting our country’s image.  I’m not obese; I am the opposite of idle and lazy.”

With this blog, I’d like to help you undo some of that thinking.  And to remind you: sizeism is the projection about the feelings about your body on to the bodies of others.  Get off the defensive.  If we want to start feeling better about ourselves, we need to start advocating for others.

One more little gem from a wise, old, dead Jewish man:

"You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it." -Pirkei Avot 2:21.