Thanks for your reply. I guess I’ve never thought about it like that – laziness and fatness might not always go hand-in-hand. I’ll give it some more thought. But I really do like your idea of trying exercise without correlating it to a certain set of expectations. Then again, why would I want to move around that much and get all sweaty just for the sake of it?… unless it involved a man… ;)

Thanks again,

Rubberband

If you’re into moving around for health, a really wonderful way to make exercise less impossible and guilt inducing is to take the idea of slenderness out of it. Because then you’re listening to YOUR BODY, not the scale – and really enjoying moving your body moving through space means not hating on it the whole time. I love exercise, and do it all the time, but it’s never done a single thing to my weight. I do find it makes a difference to my shape.

Well I hope to be one of the “15 new regular readers” but admit that my true nature of elastic consistency might result in me being a semi-regular reader, but I assure you, I will not be a douchehound! ;)

Ironically enough, I landed upon the NYT Fatosphere article through a short labyrinth of websites which began with the “Heath Ledger found dead in NYC” article! So Kate, maybe the “stars” are aligned for you after all! As you can imagine, it wasn’t a far stretch from Heath’s death… to “The Worst Day of the Year” article… to Lexapro.com (and a few other depression websites)… to body-image issues… to the FATOSPHERE!! And here I am.

Anyway, I was thrilled to read the article (and ignore the “Check your BMI index here” ad box) “. I truly had no idea Fat Advocates even existed! I had heard of body image coaches, etc. but never really took any of them seriously. After reading through your site for quite a while now, I am very excited to discover you! It’s just wonderful to know that there are REAL people out there speaking out on behalf of size-challenged people everywhere.

Yes, I’m calling it size-challenged because I truly must admit that I have never accepted being overweight. I have nearly always been overweight, but in my teens and 20′s I was more active and muscular, so my curves were flattering and not too inhibiting. I was even thin once… for like 8 minutes… or months… it seemed like minutes anyway… but I still have the pictures and beat myself up everyday for not STILL looking like that. I’m now 31 going on 32 and I’m as fat as ever – a size 18/20 and nearly 240 lbs. I know I’m not healthy – even though I’m a vegetarian and don’t eat horrible foods (I even eat very well on some days) – yet I am the epitome of lazy. I can do absolutely nothing for days on end if given the opportunity… which I often have. And then I feel worse about my fat and lazy self, eat some more and feel guilty about that too… a never-ending cycle that I’m sure you’ve heard of before. Oh and I’ve been in and out of therapy since I was 13. More fun.

But my body issues are no surprise to me, or anyone else once they know a little about my background. My whole family is either petite and skinny naturally or are exercise fanatics. My dad is an obsessive triathlete, my step-father is a marathon runner (and both of these men have played significant roles in my life – my step-father since I was 6.) My older sister is a yoga instructor in Denver, CO, my brother is a novelist and is so picture-perfect that he is regularly hired to dance in night clubs in Miami, where he lives. My youngest sister is teeny-tiny and is a professional ballet dancer. And my mom, well, she has just always been petite and thin with no exercise whatsoever. I’m not entirely sure where I fit in… but I did – for those 8 minutes of skinny. The main thing I have going for me is that I am pretty – yes, I can say that out loud (or type it out loud, anyway). And being pretty seems to just make things worse for me… it’s like people are just more disappointed than if I were enitrely unattractive. Yes, I’m the girl with the “pretty face” – as if nothing else about me could be described as such. And I know everyone says “she’d be so pretty if she just lost some weight”… because they remember those 8 minutes just like I do – when I was pretty and really, really happy.

So I honestly didn’t intend to make my comment here into my life story – I just wanted to say hello and thank you for giving a voice to those of us who are often overlooked. And I promise I’ll be back. ;)

Yeah, but Kim’s absolutely right about the google factor, which is why I edited the “Welcome, NYT readers” post to reflect that.

A real newspaper article, in national newspaper, fairly representing fat acceptance.

I think my reality has just torn a bit.