On Being a Smaller Fat, and Exhortations of Weight Loss: Bonsai Kittens and Magical Thinking

The Standard Disclaimer applies here. Hopefully, there is nothing triggering here, but just to make sure…

The following entry deals with health, dieting, and me swearing lots about bullshitty bullshit. Also a bit about religion here and there. If you know that you’ll be negatively affected by anything in this entry, please, don’t read it. If you do read it, please know that I cannot and do not claim responsibility for any action you do or do not take after reading this entry, nor do I assume such responsibility.

This post miiight get a little offensive. Maybe. In which I rant about how the push for weight loss and magical thinking.

Short Cut: Oh, Fuckwagons, Food Network

The Standard Disclaimer applies here. Hopefully, there is nothing triggering here, but just to make sure…

The following entry deals with health, dieting, and stupid shit on TV. If you know that you’ll be negatively affected by anything in this entry, please, don’t read it. If you do read it, please know that I cannot and do not claim responsibility for any action you do or do not take after reading this entry, nor do I assume such responsibility.

So I saw something incredibly awful on Food Network. No, it’s not a bastardization of a recipe to make it “healthy” (which always seems to mean “low fat”), but a straight-up advertisement for a Biggest Loser/Celebrity Fit Club type show called Fat Chef.

I suppose you can understand my displeasure. But I’m not going to stop watching the Food Network as a whole over this.

I’ll just hope that it’s a one-season thing.

 

Edit: I’ll just put my main issues with weight-loss-themed reality shows and contests out in the open. I sincerely believe in the idea of the right of people to do what they want with their bodies. However, I also think that if the people on these shows sincerely believe that they need help, then the last place they should turn for sound medical advice, or even sympathy, is a fucking reality TV show where they’re marched up in front of all of America and possibly the world like some kind of freak show curiosity to gawk at, laugh at, and insist that they’re not “like that”. This doesn’t even begin to get into how unhealthy the kind of weight loss seen on such a show actually is, no matter how much you weigh.

On Being a Smaller Fat, and Exhortations of Weight Loss: The Worst Thing in the World

The Standard Disclaimer applies here. Hopefully, there is nothing triggering here, but just to make sure…

The following entry deals with health, dieting, and me swearing lots about bullshitty bullshit. Also a bit about religion here and there. If you know that you’ll be negatively affected by anything in this entry, please, don’t read it. If you do read it, please know that I cannot and do not claim responsibility for any action you do or do not take after reading this entry, nor do I assume such responsibility.

I have yet another theory. Let’s see if this one makes any sense. I think I wrote this in an essay for school, but many, many people view fatness as the Worst Thing in the World. As in, becoming fat is the Worst Thing That Can Possibly Happen, or being fat is the Worst Thing You Can Possibly Be. A larger body represents all those things that are just horrible–gluttony, ill health, a lower quality of life–even though there is no proof that being fat is necessarily a cause of all the ills of the fucking world.

On Being a Smaller Fat, and Exhortations of Weight Loss: Not a Victim

The Standard Disclaimer applies here. Hopefully, there is nothing triggering here, but just to make sure…

The following entry talks about food, the fear of it, and me ranting about the idea of “good” versus “bad” foods, health, weight loss, and what it means to be an adult. If you know that you’ll be negatively affected by anything in this entry, please, don’t read it. If you do read it, please know that I cannot and do not claim responsibility for any action you do or do not take after reading this entry, nor do I assume such responsibility.

I have a theory in the works. Let’s see if it makes sense. A lot of people who are a fuckton more articulate than I am have observed that dieting is often seen as a rite of passage. And those who fail at it (which is pretty much everybody unless they want to marry their diet, and as I said in the Very First Entry in this series, marriage to one’s diet goes south Pretty Damn Quick) or refuse to take part in this rite, actively or not, are therefore seen as “not really grown-up yet”. As noted here, fat people are either victims or villains and it is the “victim” part that I’ll focus on here. Maybe in another part I’ll focus on the “villain” part of the equation, but again, people who are more articulate than I am have covered that aspect.

On Being a Smaller Fat, and Exhortations of Weight Loss: A Possible Series

The Standard Disclaimer applies here. Hopefully, there is nothing triggering here, but just to make sure…
This entry deals with doctors, fear, and ranting about weight loss. If you know that you’ll be negatively affected by anything in this entry, please, don’t read it. If you do read it, please know that I cannot and do not claim responsibility for any action you do or do not take after reading this entry, nor do I assume such responsibility.

So I have a doctor’s appointment in less than two weeks, and I have been doing some thinking after my mom lectured me on my weight again. She doesn’t even lecture me on  my religious beliefs, whatever they are at the moment, as much as she does my weight. And this bugs me, because I think this is something that I, an inbetweenie, deal with lots. I wonder if any other people who identify as inbetweenies or smaller-fats deal with the same thing.

To Your Health II: The Disorganized Rant

The Standard Disclaimer applies. There probably isn’t anything triggering per se, but this entry comes off quite negative regarding Supplements, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, so, watch out for that.

This entry is awesome and you should go forth and read it. It’s about the idea of accountability and how it’s easy to hold business and the Diet Industry accountable for their actions, but how it’s more difficult to hold medical and scientific professionals’ feet to the fire. I said in the previous entry that the current way of seeing health is based on shame and blame.

 

To Your Health

The Standard Disclaimer applies. There is talk about dieting and health and me ranting about the current culture around health. Also, let it be said that I believe that, in the end, what people do for their health is their decision, and should be such. It shouldn’t be determined by some lone blogger writing for nobody in particular on the internets, nor should it be pushed by celebrity doctors or well-meaning relatives. In the end, I believe that what some particular person does for their particular body is the decision of that person and them alone.

As my doctor’s appointment draws closer, I get more and more nervous. Why? I don’t know if I should decline being weighed, if only so that I can get my medical issues, if any, treated, as opposed to being given pamphlets for Weight Watchers.

The Price of Normal, Part II: This Time, it’s Personal.

The Standard Disclaimer is in effect, due to the fact that I discuss exercise and the overdoing thereof. Also, food. And weight loss, and the temptation to do, and eating disorders.

I already said in Part 1 that I’d be the archetypal Bad Fattie if not for the fact that I liked fruits and most vegetables, and actually enjoyed exercise. As for the enjoyment of exercise, this was not always the case.

The Price of Normal, Part I: Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?*

The Standard Disclaimer is in effect, for talk about weight loss and exercise and bullying…. and me busting out the semi-obscure literary quotes.

I love how any class on the Endocrine system becomes a forum for diet tips and flogging the weight loss horse back to death. And by “love” I mean “I would walk out of the room if I was the type”. But still, today, I took a stand against the idea that Type 2 Diabetes is an affliction meant to punish people for a life not spent pursuing a terribly narrow vision of health. For slightly more articulate, less profanity-laced thoughts on the subject, read this post on how diabetics, specifically those with Type 2 Diabetes, are demonized and treated like they “brought it on themselves”.

Skirting the Issue

While the Content Advisory applies here, this post is about clothes, so…yeah.

 

For the last…decade, or so, I have not been a skirt/dress type of person. Ever since I was about fourteen or so, I had figured that the cute little miniskirts were for people much cuter and smaller than I was, so I said “fuck it” and went about in extra-wide-leg jeans (ah, my favorite pair, I shall miss thee) or sweatpants, and random t-shirts of varying kinds.

Now that several skirts and a few dresses have come into my possession, the million-dollar question is how do I wear this shit? Aside from the obvious “on my body” answer, what I’m really asking is how do I not suck at wearing this shit?. Because the last time I have worn a skirt of my own volition was in the eighth grade, I have no idea how to wear a skirt anymore. As in, how to wear it for different occasions–a school function or a job interview is massively different from, say, a picnic in the park or something much less formal than that–and stuff like that.

Any advice?