Tag Archives: Jeanette DePatie

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

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?

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F@#$k Purple, I wanna be a Footballin’ Granny!

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Hello Peeps. I saw this picture and it inspired me to write something special for you this morning. Enjoy!

Football Kickin’ Granny

When I am old, I will certainly wear purple.

For I wear purple now.

I won’t wait for permission or the scent of senility

To do whatever, WHATEVER I want.

I won’t wait until I’m old (well older) to wear hats

and buy sequined dresses

and invent wildly inappropriate places to wear them.

I pay the mortgage and the light bill, yes.

But I also buy tiaras, and declare myself princess of the known universe

Because it is Tuesday.

I do that now.

When I am offered a sample, I taste it. When I see a ball, I kick it.

I will not wait to devour my life.

For tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

But should I be blessed with old (well older) age, I hope I will also

Be blessed with the desire and the ability to continue

My purple wearing, sample tasting, football kicking ways.

May I continue to kick butt and take names.

May I be the one that feisty is named for.

But Lord in heaven, don’t ask me to wait until I’m old.

Let me tear it up, let me embarrass my children,

Let me paint the town red.

Right now.

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

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Paging Doctor Good…

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Sometimes fat chicks have to shop a little harder to find a good doctor…

Well, yet another study has come out indicating that fat stigma is alive and well among medical students. Even NPR (with it’s RWJ-fueled, anti-fat slant) released a story about this study conducted among medical students in South Carolina. Over one third of the students tested, demonstrated moderate to strong bias against obese people. What’s more two thirds of those students who demonstrated fat bias were even aware that they had any bias against overweight and obese subjects. And while the study only checked bias among students in one school, it is clearly in line with other studies that demonstrate fat bias among doctors and med students.

None of this comes as much of a surprise to overweight and obese people seeking health care in this country. Many of us have experienced not only a flat refusal to treat the illness or injury for which we are seeking care, but also outright and overt disdain from our doctors. I have spoken extensively about my own story in the past. And as I have reviewed the videos that have been submitted for the Resolved Project created by the Size Diversity Task Force and ASDAH, I’ve cataloged so many distressing stories. We are compiling a veritable library of cases of little kids put on speed, doctors refusing care and medically supervised fat shaming.

It’s so hard to find a good doctor that will treat us with respect. It can be a long and arduous search. So it’s probably not a shock that another report was released last week that shows that overweight and obese patients are more likely to engage in “doctor shopping”. If one in three doctors coming out of medical school are displaying recognized or unrecognized bias against people of size, it makes sense that we have to look a little harder. What I find interesting about the study however is the way it connects doctor shopping with quality of care. One of the lead doctors from the Johns Hopkins study, Dr. Kimberly A. Gudzune, stated:

“There’s something going wrong in these doctor-patient relationships that make these switches so frequent for this group of people… The real problem here is that the health of overweight and obese patients who doctor shop is being compromised. Because they do not remain with their doctors for very long, they are ending up in the emergency room, likely for things that could have been taken care of in a primary care office.”

I wonder, does this point to yet another reason why fat stigma may be causing health problems that are currently blamed on fat? I’ve stated before, and I’ll state again, there is no proof that weight loss improves health. (For one thing, we can’t get enough people to keep enough weight off for long enough to do a real test.) We also know that people who engage in healthy behavior live longer, regardless of body size. What would be very interesting to me would be to see what impact medical training to reduce weight stigma would have on the health of fat patients. That’s the study I would like to see.

In the meantime, I guess we’ll just have to keep searching for Doctor Good…

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!)

Book me to speak at your special event!

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

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

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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!

Fashionably Impoverished

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So I ran across THIS story this past week about Charlotte a fashion student in London who dared, DARED to make a plus-sized collection for her graduate project. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) she received a lot of resistance from her school about her decision to create a plus-sized fashion line and use plus-sized models. At least initially she was told that she couldn’t show her collection in the University’s London showcase. She was told that she would have to source all her own models for her own showcase and create all of her own pattern blocks. All this because she dared to suggest that perhaps some designs should be created for the 50 percent of the female population that can’t wear “straight sizes”. (Hmm, isn’t “straight sizes” an interesting term in itself?)

All of this in the same week that we’ve seen the brouhaha over Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO, Mike Jeffries and his hateful comment that his clothes are for the “cool kids”, and that he really doesn’t offer plus sizes because he really doesn’t want fat people wearing his clothes. Why does Mike do that? Simple. He says that because he believes it will further endear him to his target market of young, thin, privileged, white kids. And he says that because he really didn’t believe there would be any problem with it. Oh after all the yelling Mr. Jeffries apparently made a half-hearted apology just to keep his name in the papers. To which I say, F-you Mike Jeffries. Oh and please enjoy this special video response to Mr. Jeffries recorded on the streets of my beloved Hollywood…

However you slice it, Mike Jeffries got a publicity bonanza for his brand as a result of this whole thing. And while the surprising backlash probably prompted this apology, the reality is, all publicity is good publicity if they spell your URL correctly and drive traffic to your facebook feed.

But there is an aspect to this whole thing that puzzles me. The scorn of the fashion industry to anyone who wears over a size zero is hardly new. But we’re still climbing out of a worldwide recession. You’d think fashion companies might be a tad more interested in making money. You’d think that they’d want to give a little more attention to the basic principles of supply and demand. And no matter how you slice it, the place where the market is under-served, the place where there is more market share to be got and less competition to fight is in plus-sized fashions. Seriously.

Don’t believe me? Do this experiment. Go to any mall in America. Count the number of clothing stores for women. Now count the number of clothing stores for women that carry plus-sized fashions. Let’s take the Fashion Square Mall in Los Angeles as an example. There are 40 stores that carry women’s clothing. The only two that offer any plus-sized clothing in the store are the two major department stores, Macy’s and Bloomingdales. In both cases, the plus-sized clothing departments are a small fraction of the overall floor space. Two stores at the mall offer plus-sizes via their web sites (J Jill and Forever 21) but not in the stores at this mall. So of the 40 women’s clothing stores in this mall you can try on clothes over a size 14 at two of them. This despite the fact that about half the female population of our country wears a size 14 or over. Now I don’t have an ivy league MBA degree, but even I can figure out that the business opportunity lies with the plus-sized crowd. So why oh why is the university discouraging the amazing Charlotte from creating clothes for the half of the population that is actively crying out for new clothes? In this world of ballooning student loans and massive unemployment, why would they discourage a student from focusing on a market which A) the student has a great passion to serve, and B)The student might actually make some money?

The only answer I can come up with is stigma, pure and simple. Charlotte has expressed pride at graduating and some consternation that she won’t know her final grade for some time. But I for one, would be pretty indifferent to the judgement of any institution that taught me to be fashionably poor.

Love,

The Fat Chick

The Right Now Show 013: Finding the Right Fitness Trainer

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: A Mil V-12 Helicopter

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

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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 Body’s Battle with Weight Loss

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I recently ran across this little gem on Cracked.com entitled “Fat is Officially Incurable (According to Science)” which offers a surprisingly accurate portrayal about just how likely those “before” and “after” shots in advertisements are to reflect the long-term experience of real, live people. While proceeding with tongue firmly inserted in cheek, the author offers a nice summary of some of the scientific evidence offered regarding long-term weight loss:

Probability of long-term maintenance of very modest weight loss (10-15 pounds)–Very low
Probability of a fat person becoming (and staying) a thin person–Practically Non-existant.

One of my favorite things about this article (besides David Wong’s deliciously snarky attitude) is the plethora of links to some other wonderful content that I’ve read, but probably forgotten about.

For example, a lot of the math about Weight Watchers “success stories” (including why you may be 20 times more likely to survive being shot in the head than you are to reach and maintain your WW “goal weight”) is derived from this wonderful blog post by fat fu.

And David also references this comprehensive NY Times Article in which Tara Parker-Pope breaks down a lot of the recent research about why permanent weight loss can be so difficult. She talks about a lot of the physiological changes that can happen with weight loss including:

Increased hunger hormones like ghrelin that make us feel more hungry.
Decreased leptin and peptide yy in the body which help to signal when our bodies are full.
Lowered metabolism.
Increased percentages of slow-twitch muscle fibers that make our bodies use calories more efficiently and burn fewer calories during physical activities.
Increased “reward response” to food in the brain leading to more intense cravings for and obsession about food.

Tara also reminds us that these changes in the body are often long-term–lasting months or even years after the dieting has stopped. And while both she and David Wong admit that there are some “rare creatures” found in the National Weight Control Registry who have maintained significant weight loss, the vast majority of us are unlikely to experience the same results.

I don’t say this to depress you. But I do feel very strongly that those of us who work in the health and fitness industries have a responsibility to help our clients to build realistic expectations. Very, very few of us will lose a lot of weight and keep it off. A very slightly larger number of us will lose a little bit of weight and keep it off. But most of us will neither lose a significant amount of weight nor will we keep it off. Does that mean we need to give up on either wellness or well-being? Nope! As it turns out, bodies respond very well to healthy behaviors regardless of whether or not they are accompanied by any weight loss. We can choose to de-couple wellness from weight loss and focus on simply doing the things that make us feel well. So in my mind, it really makes more sense to take this Health At Every Size(R) or HAES approach and let the body’s weight settle where it will.

And even though telling the truth has seriously blunted my book sales and ruined my chances of ever starring in my own late-night, cheesy infomercial, I still must tell it. Oh well, I’m more of a morning person anyway.

Love,

The Fat Chick

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