Tag Archives: health

Why BMI stands for “Blatantly Meaningless Information”

Yup, higher shoe size means higher BMI. Maybe we should re-institute foot binding for better health?

The LA Times has published another awesome article, this time taking aim at BMI. The article headline states “For nearly 1 in 5 Americans, BMI may tell the wrong story”. Although one of the main studies actually places the misdiagnosis statistic closer to 2 in 5 Americans, I have to give the LA Times credit for posting this story which goes on to detail something that many of us in the HAES (R) universe already know: BMI is not a good predictor of individual health. In short:

Having a high BMI does not mean you have poor metabolic health. Having a low BMI does not mean you have good metabolic health.

So why is this important? Well for a lot of reasons. First off, if your doctor is using BMI to determine whether or not you should get further screenings or tests, he or she is using an extremely unreliable metric to make this determination. This means as a fat person you may be exposed to a lot of tests you really don’t need. This means as a thin person, your doctor may miss some stuff that is really important or even life-threatening. I often wonder if a significant proportion of the medical costs associated with fat people are because we have so many more tests done. Or even if higher percentages of certain diagnoses among fat people are in part because we look so much harder for these diagnoses among fat people.

Another reason that BMI bias is such a big problem is that the workplace wellness gurus are using it to coerce or even force us into interventions that may be entirely inappropriate for us. For example, I’ve been talking a lot about this Michigan “walking program” for fatties. BMI was used as the sole determinant as to who had to participate. Those with higher BMIs were told they either had to wear a pedometer that reported their steps to the “home office” or they had to go to Weight Watchers. There was no initial fitness assessment done. There was no assessment of eating behaviors. The program simply assumes that people with higher BMIs don’t engage in fitness and eat very poorly. It’s entirely possible that people in the program had to reduce other, more strenuous and more enjoyable exercise programs in order to comply with the stupid walking rules. It’s entirely possible that people in the program with well-balanced healthy eating habits were encouraged towards more disordered eating habits after their new stint with Weight Watchers. It’s almost certain that people with low BMIs who are also sedentary and eat nothing but junk food were patted on the head and told to “keep up the good work”.

But we’ll never know because they never tested this stuff.

You know what? When company money and government money and my money gets spent on stupid health programs that are just as likely to make people less healthy than before, and nobody bothers to test the hypotheses because “fatties” I get pretty annoyed. In fact I’m crossing right over the line towards enraged.

It’s not like this research is all new. It’s not like the problems inherent in the BMI as a measurement of individual health haven’t been known for decades. But as long as entire industries are set on putting their fingers in their ears and chanting, “La, la, la, I can’t HEAR you!” I’m just gonna have to keep on saying the same things over and over and over. As long as people walk around with misdiagnosed brain injuries because doctors simply think they need to lose weight, as long as thin people miss out on important medical screenings because they are assumed well, and as long as some insurance programs think it’s okay to strap a piece of hardware to my a@@ to track whether I’m moving enough just because of my dress size, I’m gonna keep on talking.

You hear that universe? I’ll keep shaking my chubby fist and you and shouting that your BS. Measuring. Instrument. is not a valid way to understand anything about who I am.

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Proof Please

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So very often these days we hear that the world has deemed to help the portly because they so desperately need help and the world is being nice–and stuff. Millions upon millions are invested in trying to prove that fat people are unhealthy, and if they would just eat a little less and move a little more, all their problems would be solved, everybody in the world would be healthy, and good, quality health insurance would cost everybody $1. The fact that despite the millions of dollars spent, nobody has been able to prove these or demonstrate any way to make this magical weight loss happen on all but a fleeting and temporary basis doesn’t seem to deter anybody from testing this hypothesis again and again.

And even when the proof is not available, or indeed the available evidence says that your “weight intervention” causes negative effects and makes people fatter current policy seems to involve simply ignoring those pesky little facts.

Take the current practice of weighing and measuring kids at school and then sending home “BMI report cards”. Despite showing again, and again and again that shame doesn’t make kids thinner or healthier, showing that shame causes kids to engage in more unhealthy behavior, that shame makes kids fatter, we still do this. Why? The National Eating Disorder Information Center issued the following statement regarding BMI testing in schools:

What the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) seems to be ignoring in its advocacy of weighing and measuring the height of schoolchildren is the risk it carries not just to increase body-based bullying from student’s teachers and peers, but the risk to children’s developing self-stigma and poor body image.

Body-based bullying continues to be the most common cause of bullying in youth. 29% of girls and 15% of boys are already teased about their weight at home. By grade seven, up to 30% of girls and 25% of boys are teased by other students. Poor body image has been found to stop youth from engaging in social, academic and physical opportunities. It limits willingness to express an opinion. In perpetuating focus on body shapes and sizes rather than on encouraging health providing attitudes and behaviours in children regardless of size, what are our schools (and public health) teaching?

However, it seems that plans to do BMI testing and BMI report cards in schools is continuing throughout North America.

This also reminds me of another recent situation I had recently reported. Blue Care of Michigan is still touting the positive results of their “enforced march” walking program for fatties despite the fact that there is no evidence at all that those who participated either lost weight, or had any positive health outcomes associated with the program. They apparently did nothing to track the original fitness level of the plus-sized participants and had no idea whether or not these folks were already active. They just told these people that unless they wanted to pay an additional $2,000/year they had to participate. They also forced those who participated to either be a member of Weight Watchers or wear a monitor which counted their steps during the day. Just like a prisoner, they were forced to wear a physical implement on their bodies that told their insurance overlords what they were doing throughout the day. Just because their BMI is over 30. They declared this project a success even though nearly 1/3 of the 12 percent of participants who bothered to respond to the survey said they hated the program and found it coercive. For more information, you may wish to read this article from my friend and colleague Jon Robison.

Throughout all this rhetoric about making fat people into “healthy thin people”. Throughout all this spending on proving that fat people can become thin people on more than a very temporary basis and that making fat people into thin people will make them healthy there is one thing continually missing and that thing is proof.

When the available evidence points to the opposite of the fat people can become thin people, or fat people can’t be healthy people or fat kids just have ignorant parents rhetoric, the powers that be either request more money to re-test the hypothesis or simply ignore the inconvenient facts.

You may have heard of iatrogenic effects in medicine. Dictionary.com defines them as: (of an illness or symptoms) induced in a patient as the result of a physician’s words or actions, esp as a consequence of taking a drug prescribed by the physician.

And good old Dictionary.com also defines iatrogenic as relates to social welfare: “(of a problem) induced by the means of treating a problem but ascribed to the continuing natural development of the problem being treated”.

Some experts have suggested that the “obesity crisis” is a textbook example of iatrogenic effects in both medicine and social welfare. But I wonder if the “obesity crisis” isn’t responsible for iatrogenic effects in the economy as well. If the response to the mounting pile of evidence that “diets don’t work” and “shame doesn’t work” and “fat people can be healthy” is always, “let’s pay for more tests” or “let’s do the weight loss junk but try harder this time” the obesity crisis will continue to be very, very expensive.

But I think the treatment for the economic effects of the hysteria surrounding the “obesity crisis” may be as simple as this. Demand proof. If your insurance company wants to put you on a walking program without doing an intake of any kind or presenting any data regarding the efficacy of the program, demand proof. If your kid’s school wants to measure their BMI along with everybody else’s and send home a BMI report card, demand proof that this makes kids happier or healthier. It’s not easy. It’s not fun. But the rights of fat people to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness demands that we, the fierce fat folks, demand proof.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Like my posts? You’ll love my stuff!

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Boy Scouts, BMI and Managing Risk

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Would the BSOA deem Russell “too fat” to go to camp?

Yesterday, I read Ragen Chastain’s amazing post on the new policies implemented by the Boy Scouts of America regarding participation in events and BMI. In order for any Boy Scout to participate in a “high adventure” activity which includes a duration of over 72 hours and being over 30 minutes drive from emergency medical services, his parents and doctors must fill out a group of forms including Part C which has a whole lot of questions about BMI. In fact questions about height and weight are the first things listed on the form before listing any pre-existing conditions or other information about disease or wellness. Any scout with a BMI over 40 will be forbidden from participating in these high adventure activities (including the Jamboree). And according to the site:

The Jamboree Medical Staff will review all applicants with a BMI of 32.0–39.9 and consider jamboree participation based on 1) health history, 2) submitted health data, and 3) recommendation of the applicant’s personal health care provider. For applicants with a BMI >31.9, a recommendation of “no contraindications for participation” by the applicant’s personal health care provider does not necessarily guarantee full jamboree participation. The jamboree medical staff will have final determination of full jamboree participation.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSOA) site, lists these reasons for the new restrictions:

“Anyone who is obese and has multiple risk factors for cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary disease would be at much greater risk of an acute cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary event imposed on them by the environmental stresses of the Summit. Our goal is to prevent any serious health-related event from occurring, and ensuring that all of our participants and staff are “physically strong.”

And frankly, all of this sent me scrambling for my manuals and training information about exercise in children. One question I had right away was, “Are they using data for all-cause mortality in adults and extrapolating that information for children?” Because, the data I’ve reviewed indicate that mortality among exercising children and teens comes from different sources that that of adults.

According to the Youth Sports Safety Alliance, the number one cause of death among exercising young athletes is Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). During my fitness certification training, I learned that the number one cause for SCA is a heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and other heart conditions likely to lead to SCA are often virtually undetectable from a standard physical exam. This is why many schools are starting to recommend and a few are beginning to require a EKG for participation in strenuous school sports. When SCA occurs, death often follows. Being close to a hospital only helps so much as mortality risk increases by 10 percent for every minute it takes to get to medical care. This is why there is a greater focus on CPR and Automatic External Defibrillators for helping to protect student athletes these days.

I am not aware of any research indicating that SCA is more frequent among overweight or obese young athletes. I am also unaware of any efforts on the part of the BSOA to ask that participants in high adventure activities be screened for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or be given an EKG as part of the Part C form. Now, I understand that an EKG can be expensive to administer and read, but if the concern is really about the safety of the participants, it would seem that this is a more important test than BMI.

Another important risk for kids and strenuous exercise is heat stroke. And there is some research that indicates that heat illness is more frequent among overweight and obese football players than “normal weight” players. But many experts stress that exertional heat illness is 100 percent preventable. Most experts strongly recommend an acclimation process to help get student athletes ready for physical exertion. The super punishing, first day of practice workouts in full pads and gear is now frowned upon. I wonder if the Jamboree and other “high adventure” scouting activities really do enough to help scouts of all sizes acclimate to higher temperatures and altitudes or if they simply assume that as long as the kids are skinny, they will be safe.

Which makes me wonder. Where is the data? Show me the data that BMI has a serious impact on safety for children and youth who wish to participate in strenuous physical activity. Do not simply show me studies from adults and extrapolate down to kids. And if the health and safety of your scouts is of primary importance, why are you not requiring adequate screening for the leading cause of death among young exercisers? Are you building adequate acclimation days to make the camp safe for participants? Or again, are you assuming skinny = safe and healthy? And why are you making your most important event so strenuous that you have to worry so much about health and safety in the first place?

To borrow from a famous phrase from the film Jerry Maguire, “Show me the data!”

Love,

TFC

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

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Body Independence Day! The Right Now Show–Episode 015.

Your Big Fat ASSumptions: The Right Now Show Episode 014

What is Health?

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One of my regular readers recently sent me a question about how I define health. She was particularly interested in my definition, as she felt that most if not all of the definitions of health out there in the world either would not or could not include her.

First and foremost let me tell you that I think there is no such thing as perfect health. There is no specific state of being that you can achieve, there’s no moment that comes with achievement badges and a certificate that marks “health”. But let’s take a moment to discuss some of the definitions of health already floating around out there.

Now let’s take a moment and consider some other definitions of health. Here’s the World Health Organization definition of health:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Now the WHO definition does take the ideas of mental and social well being into account. So, it scores points for that. But it also implies that these things are in addition to the complete absence of disease or infirmity. It also implies that health is a state of complete well being. Now under this definition of health, i may have achieved that on one particular day, when I was 19. I think it was a Tuesday. But I think this is an “idealistic” view of health that leaves a lot of people who are dealing with chronic disease or infirmity with the idea that health is not possible for them. Which sucks. So why bother?

Needless to say I think this definition leaves something to be desired.

The Association for Size Diversity And Health has this definition of the principles of Health At Every Size(R):

1. Accepting and respecting the diversity of body shapes and sizes.

2. Recognizing that health and well-being are multi-dimensional and that they include physical, social, spiritual, occupational, emotional, and intellectual aspects.

3. Promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes.

4. Promoting eating in a manner which balances individual nutritional needs, hunger, satiety, appetite, and pleasure.

5. Promoting individually appropriate, enjoyable, life-enhancing physical activity, rather than exercise that is focused on a goal of weight loss.

And this definition is far better. It promotes a series of behaviors and principles as opposed to an arbitrary standard of physical indicators or an unattainable ideal of perfect well-being across a spectrum of categories. I actually really like the HAES(R) principles as spelled out by the Association for Size Diversity And Health a whole lot. But I also understand that as opposed to the WHO definition, it’s a little long and ponderous.

So how do I define health? I’m not sure that my definition is better than either of those listed above–it’s just the way I personally see it. I think health is one end of a personal continuum that is completely unique to each of us. We do not achieve health. We move towards health or away from health in our own lives. When we move towards health, we engage in behaviors that give us a better quality of life and give us more energy and capacity to do and enjoy the things that are most important to us. When we move away from health, we engage in behaviors that rob of us of energy and give us less capacity to do and enjoy the things most meaningful to us. All the while, we must take into account that there are aspects of quality of life outside of our control. We are imperfect beings who age and die. This is a fact of life. But the pursuit of health, is the process of discovering for ourselves, what behaviors allow each of us to make the most of the bodies that we already have to experience and attain that which means most to us from day to day.

Which is also very long and ponderous. So here’s my shortcut version:

Moving towards HEALTH is the process of using the body you already have in a way that allows you to best enjoy and or/attain the stuff that matters to you most.

I’m not a doctor or a philosopher. But those are my thoughts. I hope you are able to find what health means to you on your personal continuum and move towards it in a way that feels wonderful.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Why I Write About Health

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There are times when I and other fellow bloggers in the fatosphere are criticized for talking about fat and health. We are accused of healthism and ableism. We are told we are furthering the notion of “good fatties” who eat well and exercise and “bad fatties” who don’t. We are told that we are playing into “poster child” syndrome where fat people feel obligated to behave in a way that is outwardly healthy in order to be accepted in our society. So I thought I’d take a moment today to talk about why I blog so much about health.

First let me state for the record that I think every human being on the planet should be treated with respect. Whatever you choose to eat, whether or not you choose to exercise, whether or not you choose to go to the doctor–however you choose to live your life, that’s your choice. No one has the right to call you names or choose not to hire you or give you health insurance based on the way you look.

Second let me state that I am one person who happens to write a blog. I am not the end all and be all authority of what it means to be a fat person. I do not speak for or represent all fat people everywhere. I am one person, and I report my experience from my perspective. And in my world and from my perspective health is very important to me. So I write about it. That doesn’t mean that there are not other very important things to write about. Some people write about being fat and wearing fashionable clothes. Some people write primarily about being fat and social justice. Some people write about being fat and having a fabulous sex life. These are all perfectly wonderful things to write about. There is not one single one of us fat people who can write about the entire experience of being a fat person and cover every angle, every detail and every nuance of what it is to be a fat person in our society. We all write from different viewpoints, and I say vive la différence.

I also understand that not everybody is coming at health from the same place and with the same access. Not everyone has access to good, affordable medical care. Not everyone has a safe place in their neighborhood to go for a walk. Some people cannot walk. Not everybody has access to the food they would like to eat or the fitness resources they might like to utilize. Not everybody has much free time in their lives to focus on anything other than earning enough money to survive and to shoulder the responsibilities they have for caring for family members. I get it. I offer what resources I can when I can. I offer resources understanding that accessing these resources may prove very difficult if not impossible for some people. Again, I am not everything to everybody. But if I can be something to somebody, I’ll keep doing what I do.

As I said, I write about health because it is a topic that is important to me. And since health has always been important to me, understanding that Health At Every Size (R) was even possible was an important step on my personal journey to self acceptance. Because when I believed that being fat was necessarily and unquestionably a death sentence, I had a hard time with the idea that being fat was okay for me. I understand that there are no guarantees in life. I am not nor will I ever be “in perfect health”. In fact, I don’t believe “perfect health” even exists. Health is a continuum along which we all travel back and forth from hour to hour and day to day. And when I am sick and when I am injured and when I face health limitations, it doesn’t mean I was a good fat person or a bad fat person. It means I am a human person. And I’m okay with that. But knowing about HAES (R) was unquestionably important to me.

Just because I write about health does not mean that I think it should be important to everybody. But I want people to know, that if being healthy is important to them, health is possible at every size. They can choose to have a health focus in their lives without choosing to spend a lot of their life losing weight. If health is important to you, there are plenty of things besides weight upon which you can choose to focus that are statistically likely to help you be healthy and may have a positive impact on your quality of life.

Another reason that I choose to write about health is that fears about our health have been used to bully fat people into some very dubious health practices by people who may be well meaning or may simply want to earn a lot of money from us. Frankly, before I decide to have gastric bypass surgery, or take weight loss medications or ingest a tapeworm or empty my stomach contents into a bucket in the name of health, I want to understand the true story of the health risks of engaging in these behaviors as well as the health risks of not engaging in these behaviors. I want to understand alternative treatments. If engaging in a little bit of moderate exercise is likely to have a better health outcome than a surgery which permanently alters the way I digest food, that is something I want to know. Not everybody in the world may want to know that. It doesn’t mean that everybody in the world is obligated to choose moderate exercise. But if there is an alternate therapy that costs very little and has very few side effects then I am going to talk about it. I am going to share that possibility. You can pick it up or leave it alone as you choose. You can read my blog that day or be completely uninterested and read something else, it’s up to you.

Look, in my little blog corner of the world, I can choose to serve pancakes. Maybe somebody else will choose to serve lobster. I think I can serve pancakes without in any way disparaging the lobster chefs or lobster eaters out there. Thankfully life is a giant buffet with infinite choices. Fill your plate with the things that make you happy.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Body Intelligence or Body War?

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This week, I’ve come across two very different approaches to young bodies in the media. One is the announcement (and subsequent activism response by the amazing Golda Poretsky) that the television show “The Biggest Loser” will now include teenagers and the other is a new study about the effectiveness of “intuitive eating” among young adults.

It’s hard to imagine a stronger dichotomy than these two approaches. On the one hand, we have “The Biggest Loser” which teaches us that our body is the enemy. No punishment is too harsh. No humiliation is too great. We must deprive ourselves of delicious foods. We must exercise until we vomit or pass out. We must make our bodies thin at all costs.

The study outlines a different approach (at least to eating) by documenting the outcomes of young adults who practice intuitive eating. The study defines intuitive eating by the young people “trusting their bodies to tell them what to eat” and “stopping eating once they felt full”. Based on the Biggest Loser story, one would imagine that those who trust their bodies and allow hunger to guide their eating would be larger than those who focus on controlling body weight. However, the study seems to indicate the opposite. Those who trusted their bodies not only had fewer signs of disordered eating, but also had a lower average BMI.

Now, it’s important to remember that this is only one study. But we’ve yet to unearth a single study that indicates that deprivation and self hatred is an effective way to maintain a lower body weight or BMI over the long term (more than 5 years). So what should we be teaching our kids, to love their bodies or make war on them?

While it seems obvious to me that teaching kids to trust the innate intelligence of their bodies is the better choice, I think it’s important to recognize this is not the easier choice. I think peer pressure plays an enormous role both for children and their parents. I think many of us have faced discrimination and outright cruelty from others because of the size of our bodies. We don’t wish that pain on our worst enemies. So it’s not surprising that we don’t want it for our children. And the prevailing wisdom of the women at the beauty shop, Aunt Thelma and even our pediatricians often involves hushed side conversations about what the parent is going to “do” about a child’s weight. It seems clear to me that peer pressure bends us towards putting our kids on diets, obsessing over their BMIs, forcing them to exercise, sending them to fat camps and yes, even allowing them to be on “The Biggest Loser”, even though there is so, SO much evidence out there showing that this approach doesn’t work. But at some point, we have to ask ourselves, “Is peer pressure a smart way to decide what’s best for kids? Is bowing to peer pressure in this case going to make our kids happier or healthier in the long run?” I think we need to ask the proverbial question, “If our friends tell us to run off a cliff, will we do it?” Or will we put peer pressure aside, assure the ladies at the beauty shop and Aunt Thelma and even our pediatrician that we are doing what science indicates is best for our kids, and teach them that their bodies are wondrous and intelligent and trustworthy?

I’d love to hear what you think.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Where there is Hatred, Let’s Sow Love

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Recently my good friend Deb Lemire sent me a link to this amazing Ted talk. Why not go take a look right now? It’s that good. I’ll wait.

It’s clear to me that Lynne is an amazing woman–one I’d love to meet one day. She said many, many true and moving things in her short talk. But one of the things I’d particularly like to talk about today is her discussion of the war on obesity, and her assertion that war is about hate.

I think it’s important to share this business about this war on obesity. There are new people every day who join the ‘righteous’ and march out in this war. The recruits are now younger and younger with indoctrination beginning in kindergarten and even preschool. So what’s wrong with it? Why not fight against this crushing “disease” which is “killing our children”?

In answer, I’d like to begin with two words: collateral damage.

I think many of us have been caught in the “friendly fire” of the war on obesity. Many of us have seen the disapproving looks as we dare to order a roll (maybe even with real butter!) to eat with our salads. We’ve been photographed and filmed with our heads cut off and displayed for the wartime propaganda. We’ve been made scapegoats and blamed for everything from high prices for flying and insurance to global warming. We have been named bad parents and some of us have even had our children torn from our grasp. We are the butt of the joke, the cautionary tale, the perennial ‘before’ photo and the ’cause of the downfall of the human race’.

Except, for one problem. It ain’t necessarily so. There is little evidence that fat people raise health insurance rates to any significant degree. Flying is expensive because of a whole host of reasons including high fuel prices, inept airline management, a complex web of travel taxes and tariffs and poor aircraft upkeep among many other factors. There is little reason to blame fat people for any of the problems the world is facing right now.

And even beyond those issues, there is one other. The war can’t be won this way. You can’t hate fat people thin. For all the marching and the propaganda and the fabulous uniforms and billions of dollars spent, people aren’t getting any thinner. All the money we’re spending and the people being emotionally and physically damaged in the crossfire is for nothing. We are not making people any thinner.

I’d say that perhaps some of this money should be spent on determining what should be done to make the world healthier and happier without causing massive casualties from collateral damage, except we already know what actually works. It’s called Health At Every Size or HAES and it’s for every BODY. There is a lot of evidence that healthy habits are a better determinant of health at all sizes than body size. So HAES simply suggests that we work on making healthy behaviors available and attractive to folks of all sizes, and stop trying to make fat people into thin people.

Why can’t we focus on health irrespective of size? Why can’t we focus on making healthy options like good locally sourced food and safe places to walk and play for people of all sizes, races and economic levels? Why can’t we focus on teaching our children to love and respect their own bodies and those of everyone around them?

We can. As it says in the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, “where there is hatred let us sow [your] love”. So, let’s do it! Let’s commit to being body pacifists. Let’s throw down our weapons and walk out on the battlefields and bring aid and succor to those who are hurting out there. Let’s find the kids who are wandering around shell shocked and bewildered and show them that there is another way. That making a healthier body is about having a healthier community and a healthier world forged from love and not hate. “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

Love,

The Fat Chick

Never Good Enough: How a Big Body Means “You’re Doing it Wrong”

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One of the things I find deeply frustrating as a fat woman is the assumption by many complete strangers, that I am not doing enough for my health. And the more I appear in public and on television, the more I hear this criticism leveled at me. No matter what I’m doing for my health, clearly I’m not doing it enough, because, well look at me. And if I should claim to be doing something far beyond what another person is doing, then I must be lying.

For example, I am a fitness teacher. I exercise pretty regularly and moderately. But many people believe that clearly, I’m neither exercising hard enough, nor the right way, because look at me. I’m still fat. I should lift more weights. I should exercise at a higher intensity. I should do Fred the Celebrity’s Super Insane Fitness Plan. Forget that I might get injured. Forget that I would hate it and quit after a few workouts. The folks that know everything about everything are glad to let me know that since they are thin and I am fat, I’m not working out as well as them. And when I tell them, that when I was training for the marathon and walking/running up to 35 miles per week I still maintained this weight, they tell me I was eating 4,000 calories per day, or lying. People who are conventionally thin, don’t get this treatment. If a conventionally thin person says that they exercise 45 minutes per week, they are usually told, to keep doing what they are doing because they look great.

The same is true with eating. Many people assume that since I am big, I eat nothing but junk food, I eat large amounts of food and I eat all the time. In pre-interviews for certain public appearances, I am grilled over and over about what I eat, when I eat, how much I eat, and so on. No thin woman is asked these questions. It is assumed that if they are thin, they are eating well. But the producers ask these questions of me because A) they think their audience will wonder (and they are probably right about this) and B) they just can’t imagine that I’m not eating the whole house because, well, look at me. We have been conditioned so deeply to believe that fat people do unhealthy things and fat people do healthy things that we assume that we know, by looking at someone what their habits are. In the name of full disclosure, I would say that my eating habits are pretty average. I eat more than some and less than some. I eat more junk food than some and less than some. Some of those who eat less than me weigh more than me. And many people who eat more than me weigh less than me. As comforting as the idea is that we can control every aspect of our appearance and our health outcomes with our behaviors, it just isn’t true.

So all we can do is what seems to be best for us at the time. There is no perfect exercise regimen. There is no perfect diet. There are no perfect people. There’s just people. So the next time you look in the mirror and decide that your size means you aren’t doing the right healthy things or doing enough healthy things, maybe that’s the time to just stop. You don’t have to put yourself into the same box that society does. Make your own plans and build your own life. Build a life that is joyous and right for YOU.

Love,

The Fat Chick

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