Athletes at Every Size
For a long time I have carried around this idea in my head that I am too fat to exercise. Despite all of the messages out there telling us we *should* be exercising (because otherwise we'll be bad fatties...ooo), there is a distinct lack of actual imagery, videos, photos, etc of fat people in the act of exercising. The media portrays all athletes as lean hardbodies and there's no room for the rest of us to see ourselves in that ideal.
About a year ago I went to Vancouver, BC to watch my brother run a marathon and it was an incredible experience. I realized that I wanted to run one too, someday. I managed to find a fat-friendly trainer (ask me about her if you are in the Portland area. She is AWESOME) and set about working out once a week, with the marathon goal in mind. I had no idea what I was capable of doing, but I wanted to give it a shot so I could maybe someday reach my goal. I'm certainly not some magical good fattie success story, but my point is that once I blindly leapt and gave it a shot, I realized I was so much more capable, physically, than I had previously thought.
Long story short, I think the lack of imagery had a lot to do with my reluctance to believe in myself physically. So I would like to invite you all to participate in a new photo project with me. I started a group on flickr called Athletes at Every Size, with the intent of getting people who don't fit the hardbody image to post their workout photos. I think it would be a really powerful thing for us to show what we can do, to ourselves and others.
So if you've got photos of yourself in the act of working out, or in the middle of your post-workout glow, or even just in your workout clothes, please post them. The point is to show the range of bodies that are capable of exercising (and hopefully enjoying it), so whether you consider yourself to be fat, fit, a long time exerciser or just starting out, please post to the group. The world needs to see you!
About a year ago I went to Vancouver, BC to watch my brother run a marathon and it was an incredible experience. I realized that I wanted to run one too, someday. I managed to find a fat-friendly trainer (ask me about her if you are in the Portland area. She is AWESOME) and set about working out once a week, with the marathon goal in mind. I had no idea what I was capable of doing, but I wanted to give it a shot so I could maybe someday reach my goal. I'm certainly not some magical good fattie success story, but my point is that once I blindly leapt and gave it a shot, I realized I was so much more capable, physically, than I had previously thought.
Long story short, I think the lack of imagery had a lot to do with my reluctance to believe in myself physically. So I would like to invite you all to participate in a new photo project with me. I started a group on flickr called Athletes at Every Size, with the intent of getting people who don't fit the hardbody image to post their workout photos. I think it would be a really powerful thing for us to show what we can do, to ourselves and others.
So if you've got photos of yourself in the act of working out, or in the middle of your post-workout glow, or even just in your workout clothes, please post them. The point is to show the range of bodies that are capable of exercising (and hopefully enjoying it), so whether you consider yourself to be fat, fit, a long time exerciser or just starting out, please post to the group. The world needs to see you!