Also, it’s funny, but I’ve been doing intuitive eating for more than two years now without having a specific name for it. My relationship with my body was so out of whack when I started that this approach has led to my losing some sixty pounds and counting, thus far. I’m not thin now. I doubt I’ll ever be thin again, and I’m perfectly content with that. I just wanted to pop up and note for anyone who’s been thinking about intuitive eating and hasn’t tried it yet, that it’s fantastic. I’m not concerned that much one way or the other with the fact that I lost so much weight (though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a tiny thrill every time I had to buy new clothes in a smaller size), but I feel so much healthier and happier in my own skin that I can’t begin to express it.

To the reader who asked what you do about potentially unhealthy cravings in the beginning, I did have a slightly different approach because I’d been simply eating entire bags of chips or pints of Ben & Jerry’s for a long time when I started trying to listen better to my body. My approach was that when I felt that sort of craving coming on, I’d drink a glass of water and wait ten minutes. If I still wanted the fatty/salty/sugary item after that, I’d serve myself a small portion. If I wanted another after that, I served out another small portion. I quickly found that my body wanted these things, but in much, much smaller quantities than I’d been giving them to it. And sometimes I discovered I was just wanting to eat because I was bored.

Ultimately, my goal was health rather than weight loss, but they happened to come hand in hand for me.

So yay! for intuitive eating! It’s a healthy, happy way to live.

Oh, and I have to say I had a big guffaw at the expense of the troll who said fat women can’t get laid by thin guys. A few years ago when I was at just about my highest weight, I got invited to have a threesome by two very slender young men who I’m not sure were old enough to buy a beer. I did have to turn them down, though, since I had a hot date with my husband that night.

Yeah, it’s sad that we fat girls can’t find anyone to have sex with us. That must be why we’re such backstabbing, gossipy bitches.

This drive me nuts. Censorship is something powerful institutions (churches, governments) do to control the less powerful. Deleting and refusing comments is like kicking someone out of the house for crapping on the floor.

No, I won’t let you shout in my ear. Now fuck off.

Still hasn’t stopped her from being a hero to the childfree (much to my chagrin) and the Slashdot basement troll.

But in order to accept, you also have to allow other people to share their opinion whether or not you agree with it.

Other people can share their opinion on their own blogs and countless other sites with different points of view or different comments policies. I’m not censoring anyone. But as far as I’m concerned, “debates” of the kind that was going on there diminish the quality of online discussion, rather than elevating it. It’s one thing to disagree with me. It’s another thing to come in here and insist that I must fundamentally agree with someone who A) has written two separate posts tearing into me and B) made blanket statements about how awful fat women are in the very post AR claimed to think I would like.

I understand that it is your right to moderate your comments (it’s your site, after all) but I don’t think you should ban someone just because you don’t like what they’re saying.

Well, which is it? I seriously can’t believe how often people say almost exactly this, not only to me, but to anyone who runs a blog or message board that’s not a free-for-all. Part of moderating comments as I see fit IS banning people who irritate or bore me, both of which AR did. Either you respect my right to do that on my own site, or you think online discussion shouldn’t be moderated — and I have never seen unmoderated discussion lead to anything but pointless flame wars and a level of discourse not fit for a 7th grade lunch table.

I’m not hiding opposing viewpoints from my readers here. I am claiming ONE GODDAMNED SPACE on the internet where we don’t have to justify the basic premise of fat acceptance over and over and over to people who clearly have no sincere interest in learning about it.

Thanks for getting one of my FAQ answers written.

I’ve been reading all of the messages on here up until you posted that. I’m for acceptance. But in order to accept, you also have to allow other people to share their opinion whether or not you agree with it. I understand that it is your right to moderate your comments (it’s your site, after all) but I don’t think you should ban someone just because you don’t like what they’re saying. A debate, which is what I assumed was going on in the comments, requires two people or more people of different points of view who wish to discuss their beliefs on a given topic. Just because AR was defending VA doesn’t mean that she should be censored.

I’m partial to a theory that the people who are most phobic about an issue (fat-hate, misogyny, homophobia, etc.) are the least secure in themselves. Fear and hate are so closely entwined that you really have to ask why a person feels so threatened by something as innocuous as fat. As good old George Hanson said: They’re not scared of you. They’re scared of what you represent to ‘em.

Guess I’ll have to call up my ex’s and break it to them that despite the wild and crazy monkey sex, they weren’t actually attracted to me :-)

Trolls are really pathetic…

It’s also apparently shocked me out of lurking.