Fat does not = Obese

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone assumes that a fat person = obese. You have no idea if a person is healthy, unhealthy, has a medical condition, etc.

Here is a perfect example:

Photo # 1

Same photo, different caption

So, let me get this straight. 2 fat women are walking down the street. You snap a photo of them because they are fat and you just so happen to figure they are either obese, or you could pass them off as if they are. This is so annoying. Proof that the media wants you to think that fat people are obese, and that there is something wrong with them.

While we are making assumptions, let me try a few!!

If asked how much I thought the woman in the green weighed, and her height, I would say maybe 5'8 195 pounds. I dont think shes quite at 200. The magical obesity calculator rates that as....OVERWEIGHT, not obese. The second woman? 5'9 175. Again, overweight but not obese.

See, I too, and pull something out of my ass and disprove it. There is no way for any reader to know how tall these women are, their weight, their level of fitness, etc. But, they are assumed to be obese, because that is what the photographer intended. Because they are fat, they are obese, and now its assumed there is "something wrong" with them. See what the media does to distort fat positivity, and how they just plain out get it wrong?

Also, do these women know their asses are linked to obesity because of this photo?

Hello there.

I walked away from this blog for reasons I don't really know. I got busy with life, school, moving, and I didn't feel as if I had a real focus as to where I wanted to go with this. What I really wanted to write about, or the things I really wanted to share pretty much just jumbled up in my head. I put it on the back burner because while I feel passionate about fat fashion and fat acceptance, I couldn't quite find what it is I wanted to say. I couldn't find my voice.

I spent some time thinking about what it is that makes me mad and what makes me happy. Along the way I realize that I really am a work still in progress, and I always will be. Fat acceptance for me has been a blessing and it has been depressing. In the past 3 years I have been able to look in the mirror and say "I am fat, this is who I am" and ok with it. More than ok, in the last year to be more exact. Other peoples words have less of an effect on me today than they did 5 years ago. 5 years ago I would cry and ask myself why I let myself get this way. Why can't I stay focused on a restricted diet. I would beat myself up and tell myself that nobody would or could love the fat girl. There was something wrong with me.

The truth of the matter is, and I see this now, there is nothing wrong with ME. There is something wrong with the person that thinks fat people are void of feelings. There is something wrong with the person that feels like they are better than a fat person. There is something wrong that people spread fat hate like it is a disease. When I really thought about it, what really makes me angry is the anti fat crowd. The people that think there is something wrong with you BECAUSE you are fat, and that you should aspire to be thin. You should diet, you should exercise, and you should be striving to be the smallest you can be. Because if you aren't small, you aren't worthy of all the good things life has in store for you.

You can be fat and healthy, and I will say that until I die. Fat people can and do eat well, and fat people can and do exercise. Fat does not = fast food for dinner 5 nights a week. Fat does not mean you are gorging yourself on fat foods every single damn day. And being fat doesn't mean you deserve to be the butt of a joke, and you should never be made to feel like you would be ok if you changed.

I realize that I feel sad and overwhelmed that there are people out there that do not get what I am saying. It is a bit depressing to me. I think of how I was before I was ok with myself, and I wonder how many people out there still think there is something wrong with them. How many people are subject to ridicule because anti fat people are so mean. I think that is who I write for. My goal for this blog is to one day, just change one persons mind. Whether is a fat person finally accepting their body, or an anti fat person finally seeing that we are not lazy slobs. I don't care if it takes 1 week or 50 years.