Let’s Talk About Fatphobia and Eating Disorders

I had the honor being a guest on the Recovery Bites podcast with Karin Lewis.

We talked about:

• Navigating in a society designed to exclude, shame, and oppress people on the basis of shared characteristics or identities.
• Medical weight stigma in regards to diagnosis, care, and treatment options.
• Nurturing the parts of self that question authority and challenge the narrative.
• The ways in which diet culture, dieting, and fatphobia perpetuate eating disorders and can make full recovery feel impossible.
• The value and need for trust between client and provider.
• How fat activism aims to dismantle diet culture and fatphobia in the community so that people of every size have equal opportunity to fully recover.
• Strategies one can use to stand up for themself and advocate for equal healthcare and education of health practitioners.
• The dangers of weight-loss interventions and weight loss surgery.
• Challenging the beliefs that add to the oppression of fat people and moving into thoughts and actions that support body liberation for those of all sizes.

You can check it out here (and while you’re there, check out all the episodes!)

https://karinlewisedc.com/podcast/episode33

UPCOMING ONLINE WORKSHOP:
When Good Friends Do Bad Diets

As the New Year comes around, the diet industry is doing everything it can to convince all of us to make another (ultimately doomed) weight loss attempt. Even when we aren’t fooled, often our nearest and dearest are still riding the diet roller coaster. And typically that means that they want to talk about it – anywhere and everywhere – in ways that can be anything from annoying to harmful. In this workshop we’ll talk about options for dealing with this in all the scenarios that we may find ourselves in.

Details and Registration: https://danceswithfat.org/monthly-online-workshops/
*This workshop is free for DancesWithFat members

Did You Like It? If you appreciate the work that I do, you can support my ability to do more of it with a one-time tip or by becoming a member. (Members get special deals on fat-positive stuff, a monthly e-mail keeping them up to date on the work their membership supports, and the ability to ask me questions that I answer in a members-only monthly Q&A Video!)

Like this blog?  Here’s more stuff you might like:

Wellness for All Bodies Program:A simple, step-by-step, super efficient guide to setting and reaching your health goals from a weight-neutral perspective.  This program can be used by individuals, or by groups, including as a workplace wellness program!

Price: $25.00 ($10 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)

Non-members Click here for all the details and to register!
Body Love Obstacle Course

This e-course that includes coaching videos, a study guide, and an ebook with the tools you need to create a rock-solid relationship with your body. Our relationships with our bodies don’t happen in a vacuum, so just learning to see our beauty isn’t going to cut it. The world throws obstacles in our way – obstacles that aren’t our fault, but become our problem. Over the course of this program, Ragen Chastain, Jeanette DePatie, and six incredible guest coaches will teach you practical, realistic, proven strategies to go above, around, and through the obstacles that the world puts in front of you when it comes to living an amazing life in the body you have now.
Price: $99.00 Click here to register
($79.00 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)

Love It! 234 Inspirations And Activities to Help You Love Your Body
This is filled with thoughtful advice from the authors Jeanette DePatie, Ragen Chastain, and Pia Sciavo-Campo as well as dozens of other notable names from the body love movement, the book is lovingly illustrated with diverse drawings from size-positive artist Toni Tails.
Price: $9.99 softcover, $7.99 Kindle, ($6.95 + free shipping for DancesWithFat Members)

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization (and I can do it remotely!) You can get more information here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

via Dances With Fat https://ift.tt/2Jtkzp9

The Importance Of Fat-Friendly Seating In Song – A Collaboration With Fatch

This year Fatch – The Fat Sketch Comedy Show, and I collaborated on a video message about the importance of having seating that works for people of all sizes whenever/wherever it’s safe to gather.

Hint: Link is to a whole fat positive holiday playlist, so keep watching to see all the videos!

UPCOMING ONLINE WORKSHOP:
When Good Friends Do Bad Diets

As the New Year comes around, the diet industry is doing everything it can to convince all of us to make another (ultimately doomed) weight loss attempt. Even when we aren’t fooled, often our nearest and dearest are still riding the diet roller coaster. And typically that means that they want to talk about it – anywhere and everywhere – in ways that can be anything from annoying to harmful. In this workshop we’ll talk about options for dealing with this in all the scenarios that we may find ourselves in.

Details and Registration: https://danceswithfat.org/monthly-online-workshops/
*This workshop is free for DancesWithFat members

Did You Like It? If you appreciate the work that I do, you can support my ability to do more of it with a one-time tip or by becoming a member. (Members get special deals on fat-positive stuff, a monthly e-mail keeping them up to date on the work their membership supports, and the ability to ask me questions that I answer in a members-only monthly Q&A Video!)

Like this blog?  Here’s more stuff you might like:

Wellness for All Bodies Program:A simple, step-by-step, super efficient guide to setting and reaching your health goals from a weight-neutral perspective.  This program can be used by individuals, or by groups, including as a workplace wellness program!

Price: $25.00 ($10 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)

Non-members Click here for all the details and to register!
Body Love Obstacle Course

This e-course that includes coaching videos, a study guide, and an ebook with the tools you need to create a rock-solid relationship with your body. Our relationships with our bodies don’t happen in a vacuum, so just learning to see our beauty isn’t going to cut it. The world throws obstacles in our way – obstacles that aren’t our fault, but become our problem. Over the course of this program, Ragen Chastain, Jeanette DePatie, and six incredible guest coaches will teach you practical, realistic, proven strategies to go above, around, and through the obstacles that the world puts in front of you when it comes to living an amazing life in the body you have now.
Price: $99.00 Click here to register
($79.00 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)

Love It! 234 Inspirations And Activities to Help You Love Your Body
This is filled with thoughtful advice from the authors Jeanette DePatie, Ragen Chastain, and Pia Sciavo-Campo as well as dozens of other notable names from the body love movement, the book is lovingly illustrated with diverse drawings from size-positive artist Toni Tails.
Price: $9.99 softcover, $7.99 Kindle, ($6.95 + free shipping for DancesWithFat Members)

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization (and I can do it remotely!) You can get more information here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

via Dances With Fat https://ift.tt/37fC5p6

THIS FAT OLD LADY’S FAT FRIDAY – ROTTEN TO THE CORE AND THEN SOME

THIS FAT OLD LADY’S FAT FRIDAY – ROTTEN TO THE CORE AND THEN SOME

This Fat Old Lady talks about RT-Market’s offensive sizing of plus sized clothing.

via Fatties United! https://ift.tt/3kY5h8C

When the days flow together

You can add definition.

I “retired” (maybe permanently, maybe until my health is better) in late June 2019. Husband ended his contract test job around Thanksgiving 2019. Housemate began working from home to avoid COVID-19 in the first week of March 2020.

Each of these transitions came with its own changes and flow. Initially I was the only one home weekdays. Then it was two of us. Now three. And while I didn’t go out all that often before, now we’re at home except for grocery, pharmacy, and medical trips.

The first definition is that housemate has senior programming job, and is often on meetings or focusing on computer code. We try to be considerate of the demands on his time and to give him space and quiet to focus. It also makes us more aware of things like “Labor Day” and weekends.

My exercise pattern also adds definition. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are treadmill days. Since the treadmill is in the not-AC sunroom, this means that summer mornings involved meds, coffee, breakfast, and treadmill – before anything else. These days I’m more relaxed, but those are still treadmill days.

I’ve also moved from “when my back hurts I’ll remember to do crunches” and “when my knees ache I’ll do squats” to having Monday, Wednesday, and Friday be days when I do squats, clamshells, leg lifts, and arm/core exercises.

There are other rhythms to the week:

• Release days for favorite podcasts.
• Recurring chores scheduled for different days – doing my pill minder on Mondays, cleaning a floor on Tuesdays, recycling etc. (I do this using Habitica).
• Saturday & Sunday I watch AM Joy (on the TiVo, not at 7am Pacific).
• Sunday night I enjoy the “All Blues” music on one of the local NPR stations, KNKX.

Finally, Sundays I have no exercise and no chores scheduled. It’s a nice contrast with the rest of the week.

via Living ~400lbs https://ift.tt/3lDRoh9

Yes, Fatphobia Against donald Is Still Wrong

As the count goes on, a new group of fat jokes about donald are making the rounds.

One was said by Anderson Cooper when he compared donald to an “ob*se turtle on its back”

Before anybody starts in with “it’s not fat-shaming!” It absolutely is fat-shaming.  First, because it uses a term that was created to pathologize and stigmatize fat bodies, and second because it was utterly unnecessary for the metaphor. Saying someone is like a turtle on their back is a clear metaphor (well, simile but whatever…) Making the turtle fat doesn’t make the comparison any more clear, it just adds fat-shaming to it.

The other are “jokes” I’ve been seeing are around the number 270 (which is the number of electoral college votes needed to win the election,) Some make fun of weight gain from stress eating (which is both fatphobic and potentially harmful for those dealing with disordered eating and eating disorders,) or including the idea that the only way donald “could get to 270 is by losing 50 pounds.”

The way you know that is fat-shaming is that his weight (244 pounds) is a matter of public record. So this entire joke rests on the premise that it’s funny to suggest that he is heavier than he is (which is fatphobia) and/or that it’s funny to think that he weighs 320 pounds (which is fatphobia since there are people who weigh 320 pounds and it’s no funnier, better, or worse, than weighing any other amount.)

If you’re thinking:
It’s not fat-shaming because he is a horror of a human being!
It’s not fat-shaming because he (and his doctor) lied about his weight!
It’s not fat-shaming because it’s about his health!
It’s not fat-shaming because he is a fat-shamer himself!

I covered all of those attempted justifications in this post.

Bottom line though, if you’re scrambling to find a justification for why these jokes either aren’t fat shaming (they are) or why fat-shaming is justified in this situation (it’s not) then I urge you to just go ahead and consider the scrambling itself is proof that they are indeed unjustified fat-shaming.

UPCOMING ONLINE WORKSHOP:
Making Activism A Self-Care Practice

There’s a lot of work to be done in the world. Activism can create needed change, but it can also create overwhelm, especially when we’re fighting against our own oppression. In this workshop we’ll discuss philosophies and real world strategies to turn some of that work from draining and potentially harmful, into a self-care practice that supports us and helps protect us from the effects of oppression.

Details and Registration: https://danceswithfat.org/monthly-online-workshops/
*This workshop is free for DancesWithFat members

Did you find this helpful? If you appreciate the work that I do, you can support my ability to do more of it with a one-time tip or by becoming a member. (Members get special deals on fat-positive stuff, a monthly e-mail keeping them up to date on the work their membership supports, and the ability to ask me questions that I answer in a members-only monthly Q&A Video!)

Like this blog?  Here’s more stuff you might like:

Wellness for All Bodies Program:A simple, step-by-step, super efficient guide to setting and reaching your health goals from a weight-neutral perspective.  This program can be used by individuals, or by groups, including as a workplace wellness program!

Price: $25.00 ($10 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)

Non-members Click here for all the details and to register!
Body Love Obstacle Course

This e-course that includes coaching videos, a study guide, and an ebook with the tools you need to create a rock-solid relationship with your body. Our relationships with our bodies don’t happen in a vacuum, so just learning to see our beauty isn’t going to cut it. The world throws obstacles in our way – obstacles that aren’t our fault, but become our problem. Over the course of this program, Ragen Chastain, Jeanette DePatie, and six incredible guest coaches will teach you practical, realistic, proven strategies to go above, around, and through the obstacles that the world puts in front of you when it comes to living an amazing life in the body you have now.
Price: $99.00 Click here to register
($79.00 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)

Love It! 234 Inspirations And Activities to Help You Love Your Body
This is filled with thoughtful advice from the authors Jeanette DePatie, Ragen Chastain, and Pia Sciavo-Campo as well as dozens of other notable names from the body love movement, the book is lovingly illustrated with diverse drawings from size-positive artist Toni Tails.
Price: $9.99 softcover, $7.99 Kindle, ($6.95 + free shipping for DancesWithFat Members)

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization (and I can do it remotely!) You can get more information here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

via Dances With Fat https://ift.tt/2I9VCOH

Who thought knees were a good idea?

You may remember that I can’t take NSAIDs anymore.

I’ve also written about knee issues, and that recently I wasn’t having them.

Apparently I tempted the fates or something, because last weekend I managed to do something to my left knee.

The good thing is that I have been able to treat it with using my cane more to reduce strain; elevation; an ice pack; and doing more of the exercises I learned in physical therapy.

• Clamshells
• Leg lifts
• Chair squats

I’m also very aware of how moving is affecting my my knee. Placing my foot in one direction or another can be painful or not. I’m more self-aware.

Would I like to take some ibuprofen occasionally? Yes! But I’m managing without, and with little pain.

via Living ~400lbs https://ift.tt/3kOi8LF