Tag Archives: fat

Big Fat Ripoff: Too Heavy to Tan

This week a story is surfacing about a woman in Akron who was told after she signed up for a month of tanning that she could not use the lay down tanning beds if she was over 230 lbs. Kelly McGrevey was allowed to use Aloha tanning salon’s one stand up tanning booth, but when it was broken, she was told she simply couldn’t tan. When Kelly asked for her money back, Aloha refused. Kelly had never been told that she could only use the stand up booth, and the salon was unable to give her any information about when the stand up booth would be fixed.

Now look. While there are some awesome facilities for bronzing, tanning salons are notorious for creating crazy policies and never, ever offering refunds. The tanning salon had an F rating with the Better Business Bureau and had Kelly done her homework, she might have been less surprised by the shady business practices. But I think the real surprise was probably with the employees of Aloha. I doubt they expected that Kelly would have the guts to make much of a fuss about the new policy. I’ve no doubt they were shocked when Kelly went public and they found themselves being interviewed by a local investigative reporter. Because I suspect that they felt they would be protected from any negative repercussions for their bad behavior by the shame the fat girl felt about her body.

Except that’s not what happened at all. And I think this should serve as a wake up call for businesses everywhere who are count on fat people’s willing compliance with their bogus policies. Fat people are fed up. And we’re rising up. Whether it’s shaming at a fitness center or the requirement to submit to tests and pay more for company sponsored health insurance, people of size seem less likely to stand idly by these days. So companies who shame fat folks should take note, that big girl you shame might just walk away crying, or she might be your ticket to a not so comfortable spot on the evening news. And I for one, am cheering.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Why I am NOT Shopping at CVS

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Employees of “Gattica” surrender a drop of blood for analysis before starting work each day.

There’s been an awful lot of talk lately about CVS and their recent decisions regarding health care for their workers. It seems that CVS has implemented a policy that states that employees have a choice between submitting to a health screening or paying $600 more per year in health insurance premiums. The screening (paid for by CVS) will measure several “health metrics” including blood pressure, blood glucose levels, cholesterol, height, weight and BMI. Apparently this information will then be turned over to a third party. What we don’t know is what the third party plans to do with this information and how the third party and/or CVS will use this information to help their employees be any healthier. I submit that helping employees be healthier really has nothing to do with it.

Look, if you want to give your employees incentives to see their doctors twice a year–fine. Regular checkups with your doctor make sense. They help employees manage health and catch problems early. But I can think of no reason why handing this information over to anyone other than your own doctor will do anything to improve your health. Not one.

The only reason to hand this information over is so that a company–be it CVS or a mysterious “third party company” can start harassing you for being in a “higher risk” category. That harassment may come in the form of emails or phone calls. That harassment may come in the form of additional payments you need to make as long as you stay in a “higher risk” category. And believe me, the quotation marks are deliberate when I say “higher risk” category.

Every single one of these metrics has a strong, and I mean STRONG genetic component. They are not measures of behavior or lifestyle. They are statistics about bodies. Lifestyle may be a component of having diabetes in some people. Some people are simply born with a very high disposition to diabetes. So you may have two people, one diabetic and one not who engage in extremely similar lifestyles with very different outcomes. The same is true of cholesterol levels and blood pressure. So how is this not a Gattica style punishment of people who were born with less than perfect genes? How much longer before, like in the movie, we will be forced to leave a drop of blood in the scanner before starting work every morning?

And then there’s the question of collecting height, weight and BMI data. Despite the overwhelming evidence that BMI, height and weight do not serve as accurate measures of personal health, we are still collecting this data. Why? I’ll tell you why. Because fat people are discriminated against in this country. Fat people are blamed for everything in the US from rising health care costs to rising prices on airlines. If you have to look to a socially acceptable scapegoat on which to visit higher health insurance prices, you will choose the fatties. Don’t believe me? Just check out the comments section of any news story covering this decision by CVS. They are universally full of righteous thin people talking about how those fatties are driving everybody’s costs up and deserve to be punished “for their own good”.

Some argue that insurance companies already charge smokers more money. But let me be very clear about this. Smoking is a behavior. You can choose to smoke or not to smoke. You don’t need to smoke to survive. Weight and BMI are characteristics. You CAN NOT determine what a person eats, how much they exercise or how healthy they are by looking at their BMI. All you know is the proportion of their height to their weight, and the proportion of extra costs and stigma it is socially acceptable to heap upon that person.

Other risk behaviors are notoriously expensive and difficult to monitor. Behaviors like drinking, not sleeping enough, distracted driving, uncontrolled stress, not looking before you cross the street and skydiving cannot be measured with a 10 second test in a doctor’s office.

So to reiterate, why are we using weight and BMI to measure a persons health risk rather than behaviors?

1. Unless you actually watch a person or test a person all the time, it is difficult to know whether they are telling you the truth about stated behaviors.

2. BMI and weight, while poor proxies for real data about health require only extremely easy and inexpensive tests to determine.

3. It is socially acceptable in our country to blame fat people for anything and everything.

This is why I will no longer shop at CVS. They have chosen to pass insurance costs on to those who may or may not engage in higher risk behavior than their co-workers but are probably less genetically blessed than their co-workers. And they are already passing health care costs on to those of us who are already discriminated against when seeking a job and are already payed less than those of us who are thin. It’s not okay with me.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Now Trending on facebook: Mannequins that Look Like People

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Late last week, these lovely ladies started going viral on facebook. Apparently a shopper named Rebecka, took pictures of these mannequins at a store in Sweden and posted them on her blog. This image was picked up by Women’s Rights News and posted to their facebook page with along with the statement, “Store mannequins in Sweden. They look like real women. The US should invest in some of these.” Since then, the photos have been seen by over 600,000 people and have become something of a worldwide sensation. There was some initial confusion. At one point, someone suggested that the mannequins were being displayed at H&M. When H&M denied that the mannequins were theirs, some media entities (including the Washington Post) declared that the whole thing was a hoax. But Rebecka assures us that the mannequins are real and are currently on display at a major Swedish department store called Åhléns.

So why such a fuss over a couple of clothing dummies? It seems some of the excitement stems from the fact that these models seem to have bodies that are at least a little bit closer to average women around the world. So often store mannequins are proportioned much closer to the tall and thin range of the human weight spectrum. While some women are six feet tall and a size 4 or 6, this is certainly not average. The Åhléns mannequins are a little softer and rounder. Maybe they look a little bit less like the personification of a media ideal of creatures who wear fashionable clothing and a little more like, you know, people. (Frankly, I adore the fact that they are wearing socks along with their pretty undies. I mean it gets freakin’ COLD in the winter, ya know?!)

It’s interesting that these mannequins have attracted so much attention. I mean they aren’t sporting alien antennas or tentacles. They were not launched with a smug press release or a huge fanfare. They were simply displayed, wearing socks and undies in a Swedish department store. And just because they look a little bit less like an “ideal” and a little more “real” to many people, they have been viewed over half a million times since last Friday. One would hope that other clothing stores and fashion designers and advertisers are taking note. What is the dollar value of the marketing that this department store in Sweden is receiving just for taking a chance on giving its customers something for which they have obviously been waiting? Is somebody taking note of the fact that there is a lot of pent up desire for seeing clothing displayed on a variety of body shapes and sizes to which more than just a very select few women might possibly relate? Good heavens, I certainly hope so!

The last five years have not generally been kind to retailers. And while it seems that sales are starting to pick up, I don’t think many would suggest that business is booming. So it’s especially important now for retailers to focus on what customers want. And it seems to me, what customers want, is to see clothing displayed in a way that reminds them a little bit less of some industry-driven ideal of how they should look and a little bit more of themselves. Here’s hoping the message is finally getting through.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for The Fat Chick Clique. It’s fun and it’s totally free, and you’ll get even more FREE STUFF!

Teenage Boy “Diagnosed Fat”–Infection Missed

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How many times have we heard this same story? A vibrant, active young man goes to the doctor, in this case, with knee pain. The doctor does a routine test and doesn’t see a problem. The doctor does see a young man who fits into an “undesirable” segment of the BMI chart. The solution, the young man is diagnosed as fat, is told that his “extra weight” is probably causing the pain in his knee and sent home. Now Kaleb is an active kid. He plays rugby, and he loves to sail. But once the doctor sees Kaleb’s place on the BMI scale, he just might think something like this: “Aha! I don’t have to say that I don’t know what’s wrong with this kid’s knee. I can write obesity in the kid’s chart and then we have a diagnosis!”

Unfortunately, in Kaleb’s case there was another diagnosis besides “fat” to be found. A short while later, he was taken to the hospital via ambulance after he fell down some steps. At that point, he was referred to a specialist that he saw two weeks later. The specialist ordered an MRI and during the scan they found a serious bone infection. Kaleb was scheduled for emergency surgery the same night. He is recovering well. So thankfully, the story has a happy ending.

But how much pain could have been avoided without the “fat diagnosis”? It appears that had this infection been detected earlier, it could have been treated with antibiotics rather than emergency surgery. Now there’s no guarantee that had Kaleb been thin, they would have found the infection sooner. They might have still sent him home and told him to take some aspirin and take it easy. Thin people are misdiagnosed too. But I’ve heard time and time again about people who are “diagnosed fat” and sent home. Remember this guy who was diagnosed fat, and it turned out to be a brain tumor? Remember his emergency surgery? I wonder if doctors, frustrated by a lack of diagnosis and discouraged from ordering expensive tests don’t lean on the BMI chart as a way to have something to write in their diagnosis box. I imagine in many cases, once patients are “diagnosed fat” and are shamed and blamed, they stop asking annoying questions. They stop demanding that doctors figure out what is wrong with them. In some cases, they stop going to the doctor altogether. This is part of the collateral damage and opportunity costs in the “war on obesity”. This is another example of the casualties that arise from singling out a body type as unacceptable and trying to eradicate it.

And we’re not just dealing with misdiagnosis here. We’re dealing with fat people suffering and dying from the mutilation of otherwise healthy tissue via gastric bypass and banding surgeries. We are seeing the development of more and more new strategies for trying to make fat people “healthy” by making their digestive systems mimic eating disorders and limited blood flow to the gut. We are so focused on helping fat people get healthy by making them thin that we are willing to make them really, really sick to help them get there. And sadly, in so many cases, the fat people who undergo these treatments end up fatter or sicker or less happy than they were in the first place.

There are weapons we can use in this war. One of them is to ask the doctor if thin people also experience the same problem. In Kaleb’s case, he or his mom might have asked, “Do thin people also have knee pain? What tests might you do if I were thin. Can we do those tests please?”

Another weapon is to help make doctors and other medical professionals more aware of the pain and repercussions of fat bias. And it just so happens that we have some terrific tools to do that. The Association for Size Diversity And Health (ASDAH) along with the Size Diversity Task Force are compiling videos about fat bias in healthcare. The project is called RESOLVED. Some folks at ASDAH have informed me that the deadlines are being extended. You can hear more about the project and see my sample video HERE. In addition, the Size Diversity Task Force has a unique opportunity through one of our members to help train medical advocates about fat bias in healthcare. But in order for your video to be used in both places, you need to submit your video by March 18. If you’re interested in participating in the project and/or have any questions or concerns, please leave me a note in the comments below. Or send me an email at jeanette at thefatchick dot com. I’d be glad to help.

Let’s do what we can to limit the number of casualties in the war on fat. Let’s help kids like Kaleb get the attention and care they need at the first doctor’s appointment–not the third. Let’s see what we can do to have “diagnosed as fat” be a thing of the past!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Joan Rivers Gets Schooled re. Why She Should SHUT UP about Adele.

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ALERT ALERT ALERT: NSFW, Plus likely loss of sanity points ahead

The following video contains Joan Rivers acting like a complete idiot and saying mean fat hating things about Adele followed by a response from Adam Hills that is brilliant but full of a LOT of profanity.

Okay, what have we learned boys and girls.

1. Joan Rivers is a mean spirited, nasty person who uses what she terms as “comedy” to spread hatred.

2. She does this on purpose in order to stir the controversy pot and get attention.

3. Some people (like Adam Hills) are starting to get more than a little sick of these tactics.

4. These people are starting to speak out.

5. People who live in surgically altered glass houses, probably shouldn’t toss rocks.

I’m not really sure what the take away message should be here. Obviously this kind of “comedy” is not new to Joan Rivers. She’s made a long, long, long career out of being mean spirited and nasty in this particular way. And she’s used to getting a lot of attention for it. But maybe she’s getting a slightly different kind of attention now than she’s used to.

Should we take heart from the fact that her appearance on Letterman was punctuated by audible boos? I mean this is not an audience known for loving kindness, but clearly even some in this jaded audience felt Rivers had gone too far. Should we take heart from Adam’s gleefully unrestrained and curse-word-laden tirade? Or should we wonder if he’s not being kind of mean spirited too? Is he justified? Is it ever justified?

Should I use my blog to shine a light on haters, even if the light shows them getting a seemingly deserved smackdown? Because the fact remains that this blog is not only adding a few more hits to the pile for Adam Hills, but also doing so for Joan Rivers.

Controversy breeds attention. There’s an old adage that says, “All publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right.” (Although my version of this saying goes, “All publicity is probably good publicity as long as it links back to your facebook page and YouTube channel.”) Clearly there’s some truth to this saying This video referenced above has already racked up over 1 million hits.

So I am sincerely asking you, should we give this kind of behavior any attention at all? Even if the attention is to shake a finger and say, “Shame on You!”? Or should I just post more cute videos of yawning baby hedgehogs? I would LOVE to hear your feedback. So fill up the comments or drop me a line letting me know what you think.

Because, even though I’m QUITE sure that there is no such thing as too many cute videos of yawning baby hedgehogs, I’m a little less sure of the alternatives.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Fit Fatties Across America–California, Baby!

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Well hello out there. I’m so very proud to announce we have reached my home state, California in the Fit Fatties Across America project founded by myself and the amazing Ragen Chastain! We’ve walked, shimmied, swum, cycled and boogied across this great country of ours for a total of over 2,500 miles! And it’s only just March. It’s just so darn exciting to see what we can do together.

I’m especially excited about the way that we are busting stereotypes with this cool project. Many people hold the prejudice that if fat people never exercise. They think we just sit on the sofa all day eating bon bons. (What the heck IS a bon bon anyway?) But our mighty group of plus-sized exercisers have racked up over 2,500 miles in just over eight weeks. It’s a testament to the power of the Health At Every Size approach to wellness, and it’s super fun!

Aside from the Fit Fatties Across America project, the Fit Fatties Forum is a great way to be inspired by exercisers of ALL sizes. Our forum currently boasts over 1,500 members as well as over 350 fabulous photos of fat people dancing, swimming, cycling, shimmying, lifting very heavy things, aiming arrows, and flashing some flaming hula hoops! The pictures are amazing. What a fabulous, myth busting, stigma shattering resource for men and women of all sizes!

Now, my loyal readers, I’d like to enlist your help. Some of us local California peeps are planning to meet at the beach to do the final leg of the Fit Fatties Across America project together on Saturday, March 19. But that means that as a group, we need to clock just over 200 miles in the next two weeks. Will you help us get there? If you’re not already a member of the Fit Fatties Forum, would you consider joining? It’s totally FREE! And if you’re already a member of the Fit Fatties Forum, would you consider entering your exercise totals for the next two weeks so we can reach our goal? And if you are a member of the Fit Fatties who lives in the LA area, would you consider joining us on March 19 to finish the last few miles of this great project together live, and in person? Let’s dip our toes in the big blue ocean together! Let’s show ’em just what a few fatties can do!

Love,

The Fat Chick

The Courage to Try

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In putting together my new college “Love Your Body” speech and in reading Ragen Chastain’s awesome blog post, one thing has been coming up over and over again. That thing is how being uncomfortable with our bodies tends to rob us of our ability to reach our full potential. Ragen talks at length about how many people in our society react with genuine surprise when they encounter a fat person with talent. I have to admit, it’s really got me thinking.

I think any time a person performs in public or even simply raises their hand in class or is willing to take a definite side in a public debate, it takes a lot of courage. Anyone putting themselves out in this way is open to somebody calling them out, calling them names or simply laughing at them. As a fat person, simply walking down the street can be enough to fuel criticism, catcalling or cruelty. Is it any wonder then, that many fat people don’t want to call additional attention to themselves by raising their hand, taking part in a debate or getting up in front of an audience to dance, recite poetry, act or sing?

Lately it seems everywhere we turn we see talented people being publicly ridiculed for their weight. Recently, star actress Melissa McCarthy was skewered by film critic Rex Reed, not for her performance, but rather for being a “cacophonous, tractor-sized, female hippo…who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success…” This woman, with her “short acting career” spanning a mere 17 years, currently stars in a hit prime-time network television show and a movie that opened number one at the box office, has been nominated for over 15 major awards including an Oscar and boasts a Prime Time Emmy on her mantle. Apparently that’s considered a short, gimmicky career if you happen to be fat.

And regardless of how you might feel about Governor Chris Christie’s politics, here’s a guy who’s had a hard time in the public eye. Apparently being a governor who has done yeoman’s work in helping rebuild New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy is not enough to quiet the noise about his weight. Christie faced criticism from Former White House physician Connie Mariano who recently told CNN that she’s worried Christie might die in office were he elected president. When Christie pointed out that Mariano has never examined him or his medical records and therefore has nothing upon which to base this prediction, a wave of sympathy was unleashed–towards the doctor. Mariano responded to Christie’s criticism asking whether he is acting presidential. However, it doesn’t look like anybody is asking whether Mariano is acting like a real doctor by diagnosing a person based on the way he looks in a suit on TV.

So what happens when you are a talented fat person, taking those first tentative steps towards sharing your gifts with the world and you are confronted with these stories? Does it help you feel more courageous? Are you eager to be creative and make yourself vulnerable in a world like this?

I have no doubt that there are millions and millions of deeply creative people in the world who happen to be fat. But in this climate, in this environment, I think it’s a wonder any of us step out into the light. Even those of us who have had tremendous success face constant criticism for our size. We are constantly dismissed because we don’t fit an exceptionally narrow standard of beauty. And so we learn, at a very young age to keep our talents to ourselves, to hide our light under a bushel basket, to be quiet, to be small. And many of us, for fear of being laughed at, may not even try. We may not dance. We may not sing. We may not even speak.

I wonder what we can do to help encourage the young people around us. It’s a tough world out there filled will bullies. Are there kids around us that we can nurture? Can we help the kids around us learn to reach deep inside in this world filled with hate and give it all they’ve got? Can we encourage them to lift their lights out of the bushel baskets and let them shine? We can, if we only have the courage to try.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Dealing with Diabetes: Episode 004 of the Right Now Show with Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

Buyer Beware: When the Trainers at the Gym are Big Stupid Bullies

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What happens when you sign one of those one-sided, draconian gym contracts and then find yourself verbally and emotionally abused by the trainers in that gym? Think you’ll get out of the contract? Maybe, maybe not. In the ever growing pile of “stuff on my facebook feed that makes me totally aggro” was this story on a site called Consumerist. This site shares stories of people who feel they have been ripped off. I am disappointed that the Consumerist felt the need to redact the name of the gym, although they are happy to name other companies (Kohl’s, Michaels) in other stories. Maybe they felt that the gym was so small it might be a little too easy to figure out who the bad guys are and where they park their cars.

Anywho, the story’s victims, Shayla and Mr. Shayla joined a gym. They took the first of their two “free personal training” sessions with a trainer who “pressured them” to sign up for personal training services. (*Note this happens very often in some gyms.) When the couple (both plus-sized) mentioned that they were going to try on their own for a while, the trainer looks at their bellies and says, “Obviously what you’re doing so far, isn’t working.” So Shayla and Mr. Shayla tell the manager they want a different trainer for their second (and final) free training session. But now the first trainer is harassing Shayla and Mr. Shayla at every opportunity. The wronged couple jumps through many hoops to try to talk to a manager. When they finally get through, they ask to be let out of their contract. They are denied at every level. As Shayla says, “I am forced to watch them deduct money from my credit card each month (a portion of which, naturally, goes to my abuser), with no recourse until my contract expires.”

At the end of the article there’s an opinion poll asking:

Should the gym let Shayla out of her contract?

___No. If she doesn’t want people to point and laugh, she should lose more weight.

___No. She should wait and see whether her complaint does any good first.

___It’s her fault for not buying personal training sessions.

___Yes. Everyone should be able to find exercise that suits them in a respectful, jerk-free environment.

First of all, let me tell you that I was able to maintain the tiny thread of hope I hold out for humanity when I saw the responses–over 92 percent voted for the final “yes” response. But I have to tell you, I thought of a few other options:

__Yes. And if the company won’t do it, she should contact her local television station and share the story for a potential “expose” story. Lots of stations love these stories and companies should expect public humiliation when they allow their employees to humiliate customers.

___Yes. And Mr. and Mrs. Shayla should get x-large t-shirts printed that say, “I don’t train with [Name of personal trainer] cuz’ he’s a bully.” and hand them out in the gym parking lot.

___Yes. And somebody should remind that gym about what happened when 24 Hour Fitness thought it was cool to put up billboards that were insulting to fat folks.

___Yes. And redacted, my @ss. I need the address, phone number and license plate number of that bozo that was doing the bullying!

But seriously folks, there are a few important lessons to be learned here. One lesson is to be very, very careful when you join a gym–especially for a period of time of one year or longer. There are many super-awesome completely reputable gyms that will give you a wonderful, safe, comfortable place to work out. There are, unfortunately, also a number of gyms out there who just want to get you to sign a contract and will never, ever, like for any reason, let you out of it. They don’t care if you have a good experience. In fact their idea of the perfect customer is the one who is a perpetual member who never, ever shows up at the gym. Don’t believe me? Go take a look at some of the complaints with your local Better Business Bureau. I’ll bet at least one group is about a lousy gym with bad business practices. Buyer beware, people. Check out Yelp. Google the name of the gym you are considering and the word “complaint”. Ask around. If you do get a contract, there should be a reasonable clause in it for both parties to opt out. Don’t listen to any glib verbal assurances given by the salespeople. Go with what’s written on the paper. Consider trying the gym for a month or even three before signing up with a contract. If there are no month to month or even 3-month options, consider this a red flag and check even closer into the gym’s practices. Again many gyms are awesome, but some clearly are not. Be careful.

And finally, yay for Shayla and Mr. Shayla for standing up for themselves. There is no excuse for any fitness professional to treat you with anything other than courtesy and respect. EVER. None. Zero. Nada. If this happens to you, call it out, complain about it, but don’t put up with it. Because people of all sizes deserve courtesy and respect.

Love,
The Fat Chick

P.S. Looking for a safe place to work out? How about your living room? You could always try my live streaming classes. They are totally cost and contract FREE!

I want to be the chubby mouse with the big fat brain.

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Isn’t it interesting how so many people who have never met us are nevertheless quite sure they know exactly what we want? I have been inspired by a number of amazing posts by fellow HAES experts this week that talk about the notion that no matter what the cost, we all want to be thin.

It all started with Ragen Chastain’s amazing post about the notion of having a “fat brain”. She talks about the various “experts” she’s run into who promise that being fat is simply a state of mind. These experts tell us that if we just get our mind right, we’ll be thin. And I have to state, I’ve run into a fair share of folk who have suggested the same thing to me. I remember sitting through a lecture during one of my fitness certifications where the leaders decided to go off book. They drew a stick person on the board with a hole in the center. They said that fat people eat because they have a hole in their lives that they need to fill with food. They suggested that once these poor fat folks figured out where the “empty spot” was and learned to fill it with something other than food, they would be thin. I wish I could say that I stood up at that moment and asked the leaders where the “hole” was in my fat body, because I sure couldn’t see it. I think I was too angry and freaked out to stand up at that moment. (And in retrospect, maybe asking a fitness instructor to help me find my “hole” wasn’t such a good idea after all. And in light of the proposed medicalized bulimia apparatus a new “hole” may wind up in the future of quite a few fat folk.) I seethed the entire weekend and ultimately wrote a scathingly bad review and called the district supervisor. But the message of these misguided teachers was nevertheless quite clear. I had a fat body because I had a fat brain. And nobody wants a fat brain, right?

Except, I kinda do. Because you know what? Brains are made up of mostly water and fat. And we can argue on and on about the type of fat that is in our brains. But no matter how you slice it, a scrawny, skinny brain is not the very best for thinkin’. I like my fat brain. In fact, I might even want to plump that bad boy up a little. So score 0 for the folks who felt quite confident they could read my chubby little mind.

On to the next cyberbump on this topic, this time delivered by the always amazing Dr. Deah Schwartz. It seems she was pretty upset about the last line found in this article discussing how endocrine disruptors have been shown to cause obesity in mice. The article begins with a picture of two mice–one skinny and one fat and ends with the line, “After all, which mouse would we rather look like?” Clearly the author believes that no one would rather look like the more rotund rodent. Just like nobody could possibly want a fat brain. Except, I’m not so sure. I think the tubby mouse actually looks a little cuter. And since this mouse study seems to indicate that mice who are on a diet seem to be depressed all the time, I think I’d prefer to look like the fluffier little fella.

Look. If you wanna be my lover (or friend or collegue), don’t assume you know what I want. Don’t assume that I am eager to meet your aesthetic standards for the way I look or what I eat or how I hope to be. If you want to know, ask. Then I’ll tell you what I want what I really, really want. The answer just might be something completely different than you originally thought.

Love,

The Fat Chick.

P.S. Tune in to the blog tomorrow for the next episode of my new YouTube show: “Right Now! with Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick). And don’t miss the telesummit I”m doing with Anne Cuthbert tomorrow about setting safe, healthy and happy exercise goals. And finally don’t forget to add your minutes and miles to the Fit Fatties Across America form. Help us get all the way to San Jose in time for A Fatty Affair on Saturday! We’ve got 1,300 miles to go, so enter your time and your miles today!