I am not your cautionary tale
I'm gonna get kinda body-politicky on you guys. Feel free to move along.
Word Choice:
I call myself fat as a descriptor, not as a perjorative. It's what my BMI tells me I am. So when you read what I have to say about my body, feel free to substitute 'overweight' or 'curvy' if it makes you more comfortable. I call myself fat because it is liberating for me to be able to say, unapologetically, this is how my body is. I have dealt with it. You can too.
I struggled with my weight for years. More recently, I stopped struggling. I came to a truce with my body. I learned to enjoy exercise for its own sake; for the joy of movement and of feeling strong, rather than as an antidote to food. I learned to enjoy food of all types in moderation and in a way that makes my body feel strong. None of that has made my body smaller, though. And that's ok.
But this article really, really resonated with me, because this is what it's like every day to go to the gym:
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"Fat=bad/thin=good" is so seamlessly built into our culture that people I consider close friends don't hesitate to lament their weight "problems" to me-not stopping to consider that what they're saying, to my face, is "becoming you is my worst nightmare, and not becoming you is my top priority."
And that's why it is politically transgressive to simply be fat and happy in public. It is against all the rules.
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I go to the gym and I climb walls as a fat person. They gym I went to didn't actually sell a harness that fit me! Hilarious. I somehow still manage to climb walls with this body, though. I lift weights. I ride my bike. And I do it knowing that people who see me think that I'm trying to redeem myself in some way, that they're further up the body-virtuosity path than I am. And I take it on myself, here and there, to try to gently introduce the idea that maybe I'm on a different path altogether, that maybe your body size doesn't reflect your morality, or even how healthfully you life your life.
I try not to denigrate other folks' choices to try to lose weight, or see eating and exercising differently than I do. I understand. I've been there.
So it would be really great if the rest of the world could just refrain from implying that my choices and my body are some kind of failure state.
http://jezebel.com/5963364/hello-fellow-gym+goers-look-at-my-fat-butt?utm_source=jezebel.com&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=recirculation
Word Choice:
I call myself fat as a descriptor, not as a perjorative. It's what my BMI tells me I am. So when you read what I have to say about my body, feel free to substitute 'overweight' or 'curvy' if it makes you more comfortable. I call myself fat because it is liberating for me to be able to say, unapologetically, this is how my body is. I have dealt with it. You can too.
I struggled with my weight for years. More recently, I stopped struggling. I came to a truce with my body. I learned to enjoy exercise for its own sake; for the joy of movement and of feeling strong, rather than as an antidote to food. I learned to enjoy food of all types in moderation and in a way that makes my body feel strong. None of that has made my body smaller, though. And that's ok.
But this article really, really resonated with me, because this is what it's like every day to go to the gym:
--------------
"Fat=bad/thin=good" is so seamlessly built into our culture that people I consider close friends don't hesitate to lament their weight "problems" to me-not stopping to consider that what they're saying, to my face, is "becoming you is my worst nightmare, and not becoming you is my top priority."
And that's why it is politically transgressive to simply be fat and happy in public. It is against all the rules.
------------
I go to the gym and I climb walls as a fat person. They gym I went to didn't actually sell a harness that fit me! Hilarious. I somehow still manage to climb walls with this body, though. I lift weights. I ride my bike. And I do it knowing that people who see me think that I'm trying to redeem myself in some way, that they're further up the body-virtuosity path than I am. And I take it on myself, here and there, to try to gently introduce the idea that maybe I'm on a different path altogether, that maybe your body size doesn't reflect your morality, or even how healthfully you life your life.
I try not to denigrate other folks' choices to try to lose weight, or see eating and exercising differently than I do. I understand. I've been there.
So it would be really great if the rest of the world could just refrain from implying that my choices and my body are some kind of failure state.
http://jezebel.com/5963364/hello-fellow-gym+goers-look-at-my-fat-butt?utm_source=jezebel.com&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=recirculation