You Never Know

I am feeling a bit pleased and proud of myself.

I got an e-mail, that had been sent to all the staff at the law office I work for, saying that they were going to do a Biggest Loser type game for the staff.

Total trigger for me.  I’m furious.  I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to hear about this.

So I sent an e-mail to everybody at the office saying, “Please do not put me on copy for any of this.  I am a proponent of size acceptance with a focus on health and not weight.”

What I did was take care of me.  If other people at work want to do this, that is not my problem.  None of my beewax.  As Samuel Goldwyn once said, “Include me out.”

And now I know that several other staff members have now spoken up about not wanting to participate or even hear about this.  One acknowledging that I had put into words what she felt.  Yea me. Yea them.

I feel like not only did I stand up for myself, but I helped some other people stand up for themselves.  To tell the truth, I was a bit surprised that other people at the office would feel as I do.

So when you stand up for yourself, you may be helping or educating others.  You never know.

Filed under: Fat Activism, health, Size Acceptance

Quick note on the look of the blog

I’ve just changed the blog’s “theme” (the template for its appearance) to “grid focus”, which I think is better looking and better organized. Just so you know.

Filed under: About the blog, Just Fun

Even If They’re Right . . .

Think about this. Let’s suppose for a minute that those who believe in the “obesity” epidemic are right. That we fatties are eating more than we need to make up for sadness elsewhere in our lives. Or perhaps we are self-medicating for depression. In any case we’re making ourselves fatter and happier, and we could choose to be thinner and healthier (by some measures), but less happy.

My answer is, “so what?” There are two points here: (1) all medicines have side effects, and (2) mental health is as important as any other type of health. People are prescribed anti-depression drugs even though weight gain is a common side effect because the disease is so crippling that it’s an acceptable tradeoff.

There might be some fat folks who eat more because they’re self-medicating. That is, they’re cutting out the middleman, so to speak, and rather than take anti-depressants, just eating more to feel better. To me, that’s also an acceptable tradeoff. Why is the weight gain acceptable in one case and not the other?

Filed under: health, Science, Size Acceptance, Size Discrimination

DIETING MAKES YOU (LITERALLY) FATTER

I’ve been saying this for years.

Okay.  A study looks at how when older women diet and they regain the weight (as we know they are going to do), what is it that they are losing and what is it that they are regaining.  And the answer is:

Specifically, for every 1 kg fat lost during the weight-loss intervention, 0.26 kg lean tissue was lost; for every 1 kg fat regained over the following year, only 0.12 kg lean tissue was regained.

Get it?  You lose fat and lean tissue.  When you regain, you end up literally fatter and with less lean tissue, even if you don’t weigh more than when you started the diet.  (And they don’t even get into the fact that fat cells are forever – unlike lean tissue cells, fat cells do not go away – they simply “deflate”, unless you physically remove them – and even then, there is evidence that your body will create more fat cells to replace those your removed.).

And while there are a lot of new studies out there talking about the protective nature of fat as we get older, loss of muscle and bone is detrimental, especially to older people.

Now want to go crazy? Here is what the lead author of the study had to say about weight loss for older women:

“But despite the great likelihood that people will gain it back and the suggestion that it will have an unfavorable impact on their lean-tissue-to-fat composition, ‘I think there are huge benefits to losing weight,’ she says. When older obese people deliberately slim down, their osteoarthritis improves, Nicklas says. They can get up out of chairs and climb stairs more easily. Even if they eventually regain all of the weight, she says, it usually takes a few years to do it.”

Except the study showed that 80% of the women had regained the weight within one year!  And I’m pretty sure in order to get out of chairs and climb stairs you need muscle (i.e. lean tissue).

So this doctor ADMITS that dieting will ultimately have an unfavorable impact on most of her patients, and yet she is still pushing for dieting.  Talk about drinking the Koolaid.

http://www.webmd.com/menopause/news/20111216/weight-regained-in-later-years-has-more-fat

http://www.ajcn.org/content/94/3/767.abstract

 

Filed under: health, Science

Staying Informed

The popular media have just now found out about a horrible ad campaign in Georgia that stigmatizes fat children. I am heartened that the size rights community has responded, but I wish that there had been an equivalent response when NAAFA first reported on these ads ten months ago:

http://www.naafaonline.com/newsletterstuff/oldnewsletterstuff/March%202011%20NAAFA%20Newsletter.html

There’s only so much that NAAFA can do to raise awareness. There’s not really a NAAFA army, just a handful of volunteers who issue press releases (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naafapressreleases/message/61), talk to news organizations, and basically try to work the media. Some readers of that issue of the newsletter probably did do as NAAFA asked and e-mailed the organization’s director, but the effect of these actions isn’t apparent. One additional thing NAAFA could have done was start a petition like this one: http://www.change.org/petitions/childrens-healthcare-of-atlanta-end-the-stop-sugarcoating-campaign; petitions can do a lot of good sometimes.

As I said, the current reaction by the fatosphere is great, but the ads have been on for a while, and a lot of damage has already been done.

So do me (and yourself) a favor: go to the first link above and take a look at last March’s NAAFA Newsletter. (There are more (and newer) newsletters here: http://www.naafaonline.com/dev2/about/NEWSLETTERS.html) If you like what you see, and want to stay on top of issues like these Georgia ads, click on the button in the right column that says “Join Our Mailing List”, and you’ll get a NAAFA Newsletter once a month. (Note: I help prepare the newsletter.) It’s free, it’s only one e-mail a month, it’s fun, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Try it!

Filed under: Body image, Fat Activism, health, Size Discrimination, NAAFA, petitions

The REVOLUTION is on for 2012!

It’s happening again. The New Year’s REVOLUTION is on for 2012!

Instead of making new year’s resolutions involving weight loss, you know, the ones that end in sadness and self-revulsion, join us in the REVOLUTION. Make a resolution (or goal, or idea, or just something to have fun with) to love your body and yourself, and spread the message of HAES, health at every size. Change your facebook page to a size-positive image, tweet about HAES with the #HAES hashtag, read a fat-friendly book, or just be the fabulous person you are!

Check out the resources here: http://revolutionsresources.blogspot.com

Filed under: Body image, Fat Activism, health

Fatties United in 2011: a summary

The number-crunching robots of WordPress have prepared a year-end summary for Fatties United.  If this interests you, take a peek!

 

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Filed under: About the blog, Just Fun