Tag Archives: Fat Acceptance

Fat Hating German Gym Ad May Make You Stabby

haters-gonna-hate-catWarning, the bulk of this blog post (#450!) is likely to make you really, really mad.  If you don’t want to be mad today, might I suggest you refer to fluffy kitty picture above.  You can read his caption, “haters gonna hate,” and come to the same conclusion without needing to view a smug, stupid video ad from a smug stupid gym.  You’ve been warned.

For those of you who are moving on, I was on a site featuring “funny ads” and I came across this gem:


Oh my goodness.  He’s “fat” (but not really).  His pants button popped off with SUCH FORCE it hit that poor, gorgeous woman in the head and killed her.  Which, is like of course perfect, because you know, fat kills.

You see what I did there?

Do you think for one minute that this ad really cares about the fate of fat people?  Because I sure don’t.  I think this ad is for skinny people.  It reminds them that fat people are the “punch line”, are the butt of the joke, are worthy of scorn.  It reminds them that fat people are justifiable targets because, you know, health and stuff.  It says, go to the gym and get skinny or we’ll target you next.  And it will be okay, it won’t be morally reprehensible to target you, because, you know, health and stuff.

We know that shame doesn’t work.  Shame does not get fat people to exercise, or eat well, or change their habits in any positive way.  Even if fat people could statistically become thin people (which mostly they can’t) fat people wouldn’t do that because of this ad.

But this ad is not about shame.  This ad is about fear.  “Come join our elite gym so you can remain one of the ones with thin privilege.  OMG you don’t want to become one of those icky fat people do you?  Ewwww!”

rollin_man

What we know, is that in and of itself, fat doesn’t kill.  Overweight people live statistically as long as thin people and obese people who engage in healthy behavior live statistically as long and about as well as thin people who engage in the same behaviors.

What we also know is that fat hatred kills.  It kills because of the stress and the prejudice.  It kills because fat people are afraid to go to the doctor.  It kills because we are misdiagnosed when we get there.

The ad says, fat kills, kill fat.  I think it’s not such a stretch to convert this to what is actually meant, “say fat kills, and you’ll kill fat people.”  But the ad is okay, because you know, funny.

Not.

If you want to exercise, do that.  Dance, hop, swing, play, skip and do whatever makes your heart happy!  But I for one, don’t plan to give any money to an organization that teaches people how to hate me.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: Offshore Platform

oilrigI was just watching the History Channel series “The Men That Built America”.  One of the interesting bits was about how John D. Rockefeller got his start in refining oil in the great state of Ohio.  Apparently at one time, Ohio was the number one source of oil in the United States.  It was also the site of the first submerged oil wells or oil rigs.  These were located in Grand Lake St. Marys.

There are a variety of different types of offshore platforms or oil rigs including some that are fixed to the ocean floor, some that are artificial islands and some that float.  Offshore oil platforms represent some of the largest moveable man made objects.

The Petronius Platform located in the Gulf of Mexico stands 2,000 feet above the ocean floor and is currently one of the world’s tallest structures.

One of the largest and probably the heaviest offshore platform is the Hibernia platform in Canada.  This gravity base platform is located in the North Atlantic Ocean about 196 miles east, southeast of St. Johns in Newfoundland, Canada at N46°45.026′ W48°46.976′.

Here’s the stats:

Start of development: 1986

Start of oil production: 1997

Depth: The Hibernia rests on the ocean floor at a depth of about 260 ft.

Height: The topsides extend about 160 ft. out of the water

Capacity: The gravity base can hold 1.2 million barrels.

Weight Integrated Topsides Facility: 37,000 tons

Weight Gravity Base: 660,000 tons

Ballast: After the Hibernia was towed into place, 450,000 tons of solid ballast were used to secure the platform.

Total Weight: 1.2 million tons

Conclusion: Any given oil platform weighs more than a little bit more than me.

 

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

California Gov. Health Organization “Photoshops” Kids Picture to Fight Childhood Obesity

blog1

Good job California.  So you passed Proposition 10 to collect a fifty-cent tax on every pack of cigarettes.  You’ve used that money to create First 5 California, also known as the California Children and Families Commission which is:

dedicated to improving the lives of California’s young children and their families through a comprehensive system of education, health services, childcare, and other crucial programs.

And the commission you created with this money, chooses to use those resources to drastically retouch a picture of a little girl to make her look fat for an ad campaign designed to scare parents into limiting the amount of sugar they feed their kids.

Awesome!

Here’s the original photo, next to the retouched version:

First of all, whatever amount of state tax money that was used to do that image retouching is waaaay too much.  I could get far better design work than that done on fiverr.com for $5 USD.

Next, I have to ask, why would we spend any amount of state tax money on shaming fat parents and fat kids in the face of the fact it just doesn’t work?  In fact  study after study shows that stigmatizing and bullying kids about their weight not only fails to create thinner kids, but also tends to trigger more participation in unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking, substance abuse, binge eating and other forms of disordered eating.

So why exactly are we spending state tax money to create ads aimed at preventing childhood obesity that are actually more likely to increase levels of childhood obesity while at the same time encouraging our kids to engage in higher levels of destructive behavior?

I’m sure that some of the fear-mongering, hand-wringing, head-shaking folks that created this glorious ad campaign will ask you to “think about the children”.   They will cite statistics about childhood obesity and suggest that something must be done to protect the health of these poor kids.

To which I would reply, “Yes.  All kids deserve to be healthy.  So let’s focus on stuff that does that.”  Shaming kids does not make them thinner or healthier.  But there are some things we can do.  In fact, in honor of First 5, I’ll give you five suggestions:

1.  How about making sure kids have a safe place to play?

2.  How about reinstating some of the physical education programs that have been cut from schools for lack of budget?

3.  How about making sure that kids of all sizes have access to a variety of high-quality, nutritionally dense foods?

4.  How about we help fat kids learn to accept and love themselves so that they are more likely to exercise and treat themselves well?

5.  How about we add “body size” as a category for school anti-bullying programs.

Sure, these programs would be more difficult than cranking out a basic bus shelter advertisement.  And undoubtedly some of these programs would cost more than hiring the world’s worst graphic designer to “fatten up” the image of an innocent kid.  But given the fact that some of these programs might, I don’t know, help some kids live healthier lives, maybe we should just fund those instead.

As a final note, the folks at First  5 may find themselves facing some pretty well-organized and powerful opposition.  It’s already started in the form of an awesome homemade protest flyer at the site of one of the bus shelters:

Blog2But as some folks in Georgia found out, folks can get pretty riled up and do some pretty amazing things when you shame and frighten their children.

So maybe we should take a step back and a deep breath and try again.  I’m sure, upon some calm reflection, we can find better ways to promote good health for children of all sizes.

Love,

The Fat Chick

 

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Dear Dr. Terrible Your Bigotry is Showing…

professorterribleRan across this in my facebook feed today and almost wanted to cry.  This tweet from Evolutionary Psychology Professor at NYU & U. New Mexico Dr. Geoffrey Miller is really special.  It states:

Dear obese PhD applicants: if you don’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation. #truth

Here’s somebody who is at least in theory, well educated and yet he felt that he needed to tweet that absolute garbage.  Since the tweet has gone viral, he has taken it down and apologized.  But in my opinion, that is way too little and way too late.  Plus, I have to say, I find the apology a little bit suspect.  Here, let me interpret for you.

Dr. Miller states:

My sincere apologies to all for that idiotic, impulsive, and badly judged tweet. It does not reflect my true views, values, or standards.

Which means, “Oh crap, I could possibly get fired for this.  I’d better retract my statement ASAP.  I’ll just say I didn’t really mean it.  That will work, right?”

Dr. Miller goes on to state:

Obviously my previous tweet does not represent the selection policies of any university, or my own selection criteria.

Which means, “Upon further reflection (or after some very tense phone calls) I realize that some of the folks who were rejected for anything by me or any of the universities at which I teach may be somewhat upset.  In fact, they may just sue us into financial oblivion.”

So hey Dr. Miller, here’s my tweet to you:

Nobody believes your stupid and transparently self serving apology. #Find a good lawyer

I can find no excuse for this sort of behavior.  None. This guy is supposed to be a teacher.  This guy is supposed to be a scientist.  And he’s drawing this conclusion based on what evidence?  None.  He doesn’t like fat people, therefore they are lazy and incapable of doctoral level work.  Oh except, not really.  He didn’t really mean it.

The fact that this guy clearly gets to make decisions about who gets to apply for a PhD is utterly terrifying to me.  And speaking of terrified, I hope that both Professor Prejudice and his university are currently shaking in their shoes.  Even if an actual lawsuit from a student who was turned away from the  university is not forthcoming, I think might just be the opening breezes of a PR poopmageddon about to go down.  In fact, I think there needs to be a social media storm of biblical proportions over this tweet.  Do you hear that my dear readers?  Let’s start twittering and peeping and let our voices be heard!  This is a rare opportunity to talk about bias at the highest levels of our learning institutions.  This is an opportunity for us to educate the educators.  Let’s get the conversation started and keep it rolling!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Does this Blog make my Butt Look Big? Why “Fat Talk” may be Bad for your Social Life.

NotListening

La, la, la I’m not listening…

“Fat talk” is a bonding ritual that many of us learned at our Mother’s knee.  Many of us have participated in fat talk over the years because we felt social pressure to do so.  But according to a recent study, moaning about the size of our thighs or asking if our butt looks big, might not be the best move for our social lives.

We’ve long known that fat talk is bad for your self esteem (and the self esteem of those around you).  We’ve talked about that in the blog a fair bit.  But a recent study led by Alexandra Corning, research associate professor of psychology and director of Notre Dame’s Body Image and Eating Disorder Lab seems to indicate that fat talk may make you less likable to your peers.  In the study, college students were shown pictures of noticeably thin and fat women.  Each of these pictures depicted women engaged in body talk–either positive body talk or fat talk.  Those participating in the study were then asked to rate the women in the photos in a number of dimensions including likability.  When the results were tabulated, it seems that women who engaged in “fat talk” were considered less likeable than those who engaged in positive body talk.  In fact, according to the study, the fat women who had positive things to say about their bodies were considered the most likeable.  This result is very interesting to psychologists who have long thought of fat talk as a way that women “strengthen social bonds”.  But the study seems to indicate that women who engage in this behavior may be perceived as less likeable than their peers.

But, and this is a big but*, it’s important to remember this test simply measures personal perception.  It doesn’t indicate what is actually happening in a social setting where fat talk is happening or measure anything related to peer pressure.  This may explain why many of us may still feel pressured to engage in fat talk even in an environment where we may privately be perceived as less likeable for doing so.  And it is only one study.

That said, I am encouraged by the results of this study.  I decided long ago to refrain from engaging in fat talk with my friends, family and colleagues.  I’ve taken heat for not participating.  I’ve been teased for it.  But I for one, will choose to believe that I am also secretly liked and respected for my refusal to fat talk.  Because believing the best about myself seems to be working pretty well for me so far.

Love,

The Fat Chick

*You see what I did there?

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Stuff that Weighs More Than Me: Haul from the LA River Clean Up

FOLAR-flyer-color-print_no-DAY-726x1024It’s what you call a win-win situation.  You and 3,000 other people gather a big pile of debris (that weighs more than me) and you get to help clean up the river areas in Los Angeles County!

Every year (for the past 24 years) the Friends of the Los Angeles River have coordinated a huge 1-day event known as The Great LA River Cleanup or La Gran Limpieza.  This year’s event featured live music, free gifts, raffle prizes and refreshments.  The volunteers also had a chance to compare “river treasures” to see who had the wildest or strangest items pulled from the river.  Previous highlights included a mini trampoline and a valuable buffalo nickel complete with collecting case.

But aside from the fun and hijinks, the volunteers remove an astonishing amount of detritus, and make the river areas just that much more awesome.  Plus, in case you are wondering, this day’s exercise could definitely be called “fitlanthropy“.  Here’s the stats:

Collection Period: 3 hours

Volunteers: Over 3,000

Number of collection sites: 15

Total debris removed from the river: Over 25 tons

Conclusion: The Haul from La Gran Limpieza weighs more than me!

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Want to volunteer next year?  Click here to learn more about the Friends of the Los Angeles River!

P.S.S. Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: Life-Size X-Wing Fighter Made of Legos

LegoXwingOkay, take the coolness factor and turn it to “eleven” because this Lego(R) sculpture is “one louder”.  This super fun sculpture is an exact 42x scale model of the Lego kit you can buy at your local toy store.  What that means is that each 1×1 Lego “peg” of the toy is represented as a  42 by 42 square on the model.  This X-wing sculpture is the largest Lego structure ever constructed.

And this thing is HUGE!  Created from over 5 million individual Lego bricks, this sculpture required over 17,000 man-hours to complete.  Even with the help of 32 master builders that’s still over 4 months of building time.

The sculpture was unveiled yesterday in Times Square complete with light-up engines and speakers playing a pre-recorded loop of battle sounds..  From there it will travel back to Legoland  in Southern California.  Ready for the stats?  Here you go:

Height: 11 feet

Wingspan: 43 feet

Length: 42 feet

Number of bricks: 5.3 million

Weight: 46,000 lbs.

Conclusion: The Life-Sized X-Wing Fighter Made of Lego Bricks Weighs More Than Me!

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Fun with Dick and Jane (and Why Tim doesn’t Exercise)

See Tim develop an eating disorder...

See Tim develop an eating disorder…

Oh my God.  Where do I even start with this monstrosity?  I was going along, minding my own business, eating my breakfast and checking out this wonderful post on Adios Barbie when I ran into this picture linked to by Allison Epstein.  And I nearly choked on my Cheerios.(R) Seriously? SERIOUSLY?  Look! It’s Fat Shaming with Dick and Jane:

See Dick and Jane and Pat.  She Dick and Jane and Pat fat shaming Tim.  See Tim.  See Tim embody negative fat stereotypes.  See Dick and Jane and Pat revel in their thin privilege.  See Tim go on a diet.  See Tim get slimmer.  See Tim get fatter.  See Tim get even fatter.  See Mom and Dad panic.  Panic parents panic!  See Tim get a gastric sleeve.  See Tim learn about dumping syndrome.  See Mom and Dad buy Tim dark colored pants.  Dump Tim dump!  Oh No!  Now Tim smells funny.  Isn’t he funny?  See Dick and Jane and Pat laugh.  See Tim want to die.  Die Tim, die…

The thing that really scares me, I mean full-out, ooga-booga, petrifies me, is that there are three organizations that have signed on to this ad.  That means at least three, purportedly professional people (and probably more) not only signed off on, but actually paid somebody to create this crap.  But that’s okay (they reason) because kids need to get out and play more, right?  And research shows, the way to get kids to go outside and play is to shame them, right? Right?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no and how about, no!

Despite the ongoing research that indicates that fat shame does not lead to permanent weight loss, and that fat stigma leads to even less healthy behaviors among kids like disordered eating, binge drinking, and more smoking, various white-coat-wearing idiots feel the need to create ads like this one.  Why?  Are they trying to create the medical equivalent of this exercise video “accidentally” catching a pooping man on camera?  (Is it an accident, or an all-new, low-bar in publicity stunts? Either way, it’s a hits bonanza!)  Do they not care that they are harming families and especially children with their stupid ads as long as they fuel parental panic and get lots of clicky poos for their hit counts?  Or have they really just not bothered to check any of the literature that shows that fat stigma harms people?  Hmmm, evil or simply, criminally irresponsible?  Hard to imagine that either are qualities I look for in a medical professional.

What is so sad, is that this ad is likely to make Tim less interested in exercise.  And this ambivalence towards exercise may last a lifetime.

But for those of you out there who are still twisting a hankie in your sweaty fingers or running around in circles yelling, “But what do we do?”  I have this advice.  If you want Tim to exercise:

1.  Create emotionally safe places for Tim to play–free from bullying or shaming.

2.  Create physically safe places for Tim to play–safe from assault and other crimes.

3.  Help Tim reconnect with and feel pride in the body he has right now.

4.  Provide safe, well-planned and excellently-executed physical education classes, and

5.  Surround Tim with role models for physical fitness that embody all shapes and sizes and abilities–like the amazing Ragen Chastain in this recent video interview from Huffington Post Live.

Seriously people.  If you want kids to exercise, give them physically and emotionally safe places to do it, give them proper instruction, provide them with great role models and teach them that exercise is something that we do because we love our bodies.

Then Dick and Jane and Pat and Tim and Sally and everybody can live happily ever after.  That is all.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Want help getting started with exercise?  My book and DVD are designed to help beginners to safely and joyfully integrate physical activities into their lives.  Enter the code DickAndJane in the discount code box to save $5 off the cover price!

Just What the #$%&! am I Supposed to Eat!?!

eatmyshorts

So have you seen the article in the New York Times that says it might be okay to eat salt again?  It seems some recent research is calling into question the American Heart Association’s recommendation of 1,500 milligrams a salt per day.  Now on the one hand, this question is almost moot, because it’s nearly impossible to achieve 1,500 milligrams of salt a day and do things like occasionally eat food that has had any processing, eat out once in a while, or you know, live in the modern world.   On the other hand, there are some indications that consuming sodium levels as low as 1,500 milligrams per day might actually be harmful.  So it probably does merit a second look.

So according to the article, several recent studies have indicated that a sodium level goal of 2,300 might be better than 1,500 milligrams per day.  Some of these studies have even indicated that the 1,500 level might actually be dangerous for some people–potentially increasing risk for heart attack and death.  The American Heart Association has fired back suggesting that the more recent research has flaws and that they don’t want to confuse people by giving them the message that a little more salt is okay, because you know, people might then go hog wild and eat lots of salt.

And then, near the end of the article is this little gem:

Although the advice to restrict sodium to 1,500 milligrams a day has been enshrined in dietary guidelines, it never came from research on health outcomes, Dr. Strom said. Instead, it is the lowest sodium consumption can go if a person eats enough food to get sufficient calories and nutrients to live on. As for the 2,300-milligram level, that was the highest sodium levels could go before blood pressure began inching up.

Okay.  So the advice that has been cemented in stone, that is inevitably printed on that bad, multi-generation photocopied piece of paper handed to every fat person in the universe by their doctor when they go in for a check up or to get that funny looking mole checked out is based on what now?  It’s no wonder that we are confused about what to eat.  The competing nutritional studies along with the sensationalist, usually premature reporting is enough to give any potential diner whiplash.  Eat margarine!  No, eat butter!  Eat olive oil.  Eat nuts.  Eat red meat.  Don’t eat red meat.  Eat fish.  But watch out, most of the fish is full of toxins.  Eat dairy.  Don’t eat dairy.  Eat low fat.  Eat low carb.  Eat only plant-based foods.  Plant-based foods are genetically modified and full of pesticides.  OMG.  Eat my shorts!  It’s no wonder that we are going crazy trying to figure out what on earth to have for lunch every day!  Add to that the woeful lack of education among GPs and pediatricians about nutrition and you get the typical photocopied sheet of “black coffee, one piece of wheat toast, and one glass of orange juice” advice.

Now all this is not to say that we shouldn’t be concerned about what we eat.  But it is to say that nutrition is a very complicated science.  And that while we let the scientists duke it out about exactly how many milligrams of this and percentages of that we should consume, maybe we should simply focus on what foods feel good in our bodies and what tastes delicious.  I believe our bodies have wisdom, and that we benefit when we learn to listen to what our bodies have to tell us.  It may be hard to hear our “smarty-pants inner-selves” amongst all the screaming about “vitamin this” and “mineral that”.  But I for one, plan to make the effort.  Oh, and would you please pass the salt?

Love,

The Fat Chick

The unparalelled power of owning your beauty

Today I was privileged to read this powerful post from a woman speaking about how she chose to call herself beautiful in front of her daughters.  She understands the power of claiming, unconditionally, that she is beautiful in front of her kids.  She spoke of how it must have seemed confusing for her young offspring in the past, when they thought her beautiful, but she negated that reality.

She says:

How confusing it must have been to have me say to them, “You think I am beautiful, but you are wrong. You are small and you love me, so you’re not smart enough to know how unattractive I am. I know I am ugly because I see myself with mean eyes. You are my child and I love you, but I will not allow myself to be pretty, for you.

What a profound thing this is.–to understand the power we gain not only for ourselves, but also for all who love us, when we claim our power to be beautiful.  When we cast false modesty aside and inhabit our glorious, gorgeous selves we do more than make ourselves feel better.  We also create space for others to feel beautiful.  We wrest control from media outlets and glossy glamour magazines, over the definition of fabulous.  We teach our children that beauty comes in an unending variety of sizes, shapes, colors and types.  We cast aside the fear that we will never again be worthy of adoration–that we will never again be enough to make someone gasp at our audacity and amazing selves.  And we prevent that fear from tainting the lives of our children.  We own the definition of ravishing and rapturous and we choose to apply it to ourselves.  And once we’ve applied those labels to ourselves, who would dare, WHO WOULD DARE take it from  us?

I find this concept endlessly exciting.  The notion that claiming our power encourages other women to do the same.  And that making acceptance of ourselves unconditional before our children, we teach them to love themselves forever, rather than for the short time they are young, thin, unblemished, untarnished and inexperienced.  What a spectacular and lasting legacy!

So my dear friends.  What would happen for you if you cast off the need to be modest and demure?  How profound is the impact of accepting yourself unconditionally and forever, just as you are?  And just how large is the gift to those who come behind, when you model this calm, confident and peaceful contentment on a day to day basis?

Love thyself, and change the world!

Love,

The Fat Chick