Nonsense.

Well, first of all, I am seeming to have some issues with my comment moderator for this blog.  My dashboard is telling me I have three comments to moderate, but when I click on the link, it says that I have no comments to moderate.  Prior to that, for a few hours it actually brought up fourteen comments from 2009 that had already been moderated.

So.  I'm sorry if some of you guys have commented and it hasn't come through to me. :(  Hopefully this post isn't the same!

So, on to the nonsense.  I went shopping today with Jewlia Goulia and we had a blast as usual.  It was great to spend time with her!  I told her about an article I read because of one of my favorite bloggers over at Casual Blasphemies.  You can read her contempt for the crap article here.  I'm warning you, it's not pretty.  This article is a supposed "ettiquite guide" in dealing with obese people.  It gives such jewels of advice as:

- When extending invitations, avoid situations where there are only folding chairs. Chairs without arms are easier to get on and off. Couches can be scary.
- Check that restaurants have chairs without arms, and tables rather than booths.
- Be wary of activities that require a lot of walking or standing. You would do the same for anyone with a walker or wheelchair.
- Suggest that you are the one who needs to stop for a rest, if you're walking with an obese person. It doesn't have to be obvious.

So.  Let me get this straight.  Anyone who isn't obese should keep these things in mind for obese people, right?  Okay.  So, apparently all obese people are terrified of couches, so maybe we should all get really really tall ones that are built like a brick.  Or maybe just piles of bricks.  With really strong, supportive mortar, and thick pillows on the top.  That would hold.  We should definitely never expect an obese friend to be able to sit in a chair with arms, that's just cruel.  Folding chairs are totally unacceptable, 'cause obviously anyone who is obese would crush one to smithereens.  But now I'm confused, 'cause chairs without arms are easier to get on and off?  Wait.  Does that mean easier to pull off of an obese ass after it's come up with the person, or easier to get up off of the chair itself?

Okay.  So, we should also call ahead to restaurants to verify their seating situation, so as to avoid a booth-crushing episode.  In the same light, we should also be sure to assume that any and all of our obese friends are incapable of walking moderate to long distances.  No more shopping at the mall, going to the zoo or walking around to see nice holiday lights in other neighborhoods.  We should treat them like they're handicapped!  Let's be sure to find the closest parking spaces when we visit places.  We should also make sure to have walkers and canes on hand, just in case they look like they're going to fall over from pure exhaustion at any point.

And so as to not make a spectacle of their obese condition, we should definitely be fake and patronizing, and suggest that we are the ones who need to stop and take a walking break, just in case we somehow end up in a situation that requires us to move.  After all, all people who are obese are incapable of exercise, and definitely can't walk around without taking a break.

This article is a ridiculous shame.  It starts out with the intent being pretty decent... as in, let's try to make the world more aware that treating people like shit based on their appearance is a crap thing to do.  Yes.  I'm on board with that.  But then it turns into a sorry excuse for an article and perpetuates the idea that you can assume someone's physical abilities based on their appearance.

Anyone else want to send this woman a  letter?  'Cause I'm pretty sure that fat people are more than capable of exercise, and yes, that includes (gasp!) walking.  I don't think I've ever heard ANY obese person say that couches scare them, or ever make references to various types of seating as "need-to-avoid."  And I'm also pretty damn sure that obese individuals do NOT need fake assed favors.

~Jenn

Halloween for Fatties.

I've begun the process of trying to find a suitable Halloween costume. As MANY of you ladies out there know, this usually sucks major balls when you're a fat chick. In years past, all I can remember being available to me was this:




Dan and I were looking at these and just laughing our asses off. Is this really the only option to plus size chicks? Wearing what's basically a modified version of a Snuggie? I've been there before, and honestly, that's why I've not dressed up or done anything for Halloween the last two years in a row.

But recently I've noticed a much higher availability of plus size costumes. And this year I've seen lots of really cool costumes for plus size girls. These ones aren't just MooMoo-Shmocks disguised as "costumes"... they're actually SEXY costumes. I went to Buycostumes.com today and found these:



Woo to the freakin' HOO! Now, I'm not sure if I have the balls to pull off a short skirt like these, but I'm really happy to know it's an option. If I'm not brave enough, there are middle of the road ones available too.

I'm just glad to know I won't be stuck wearing this:



If I really feel like wearing this:




SO! In addition to this, I wanted to give a little nod to my friend Hanlie over at Fertile Healthy for posting an entry about Steve's "Hot 100 (Going out with a Bang!)" Challenge.

Here’s the information you need to know:

1. You have to come up with some goals.
2. You have to publish those goals.
3. You have to give a status follow-up on those goals at least every ten days.

Oh! And if you participate, be sure to leave him a comment HERE so he knows to include you in the drawing.


So... I don't have mine fingered out yet, and I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, but I wanted to pass the info along to any of you fabulous folks who are being motivated by The Biggest Loser, or just feeling like you're in a little bit of a slump and would like some extra OOMPH! to push you toward your goals. The prize does sound wonderful, especially if you like some extra spice in your life. :)

I'll keep you all posted on my participation decision in a few days. I just need to come up with some realistic goals, and I think I just might do it. :)

~Jenn

Fuck You, Peta.

Well, I just had to say it.

Have you guys seen their latest brilliant idea?




First of all, this ad is total crap. I gain weight when I eat vegetarian because it means: Bread, sugar, pasta, potatoes. I lost 55 pounds on a low carb diet with lotsa lotsa meat involved. Now of course you can be a slim veg-head. My brother is a good example. I'm just saying, this ad is a lie and it's a huge insult, and it's CRAP.

Why can't they go back to making us all feel like crap about ourselves through conventional means like this:



...instead of blatantly putting out a huge sign to condemn the beached whale fatties of this country? Of course it's because we can't stop shoving hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken wings and pork chops into our faces that we're fat. Yup.

I always wonder what they expect from something like this. Someone to say, "Thank you PETA!!! Thank you for making me realize the error of my ways. I'll stop eating meat now just because your billboard with a fat woman in a polka dot bathing suit had opened my eyes." Seriously? I can't imagine anything coming from an ad like this except: 1. Pissing off a lot of fat people. 2. Pissing off a lot of women. 3. Giving moronic fraternity brothers and bitchy Rodeo Drive soccer moms a good self centered, brainless laugh.

That's about all I can say about this right now.

You should check out a few improvements on the banner here and here.

Oh, and Fashionista did a great post about it here as did Kate Harding over at Shapely Prose here.


On another note, 192 as a weigh in today. Woo-hoo! 2 more pounds and I'll be down 35 pounds and out of the obese range. I'm very, very close. ((Then I won't be a huge beached whale drowning in my own blubber anymore. I'll only be a seal with a moderate amount of blubber. Right, PETA?))

~J

Fat people are experts on healthy eating.

Before I get into my huge blog post, I'm gonna share a better photo of my hair!





Dan came home last night and said, "Hey Rogue!" I had no idea what he meant so I just kinda smiled. Then his friend Mark came over and Dan said to him, "Doesn't she look like Rogue?" Mark said, "Yeah!" Then I realized he meant this chick from X-Men:



Or the cooler, comic book version:





So! Anyway.

What I really wanted to blog about today is healthy eating, and how we all freakin' know how to do it. I'll start with a little bit of a back story:

Considering the fact that I used to be fairly thin, was in a variety of weight and gym classes in high school, and have been through the gain and loss of the same damn 50 pounds a few times, I definitely know a LOT about weight loss and health. I know how to eat to lose weight and how to work out to keep your body its best. How to avoid injury in the gym, and what kinds of exercises to do if you have a bad back, pain in your knees, etc. I know the benefits of different types of diets, how to eat if your skin is dry and the differences between various kinds of carbohydrates, fats and sugars. It's pretty ridiculous.


SO. It is hilarious because, though I'm a fat girl, I get phone calls from my brother, friends and my parents with questions on all these kinds of things all the time. I give good advice, I know that. I hear back from people "that really worked!" or, "I can't believe it was so simple" (ha!) -- and it has always kind of perplexed me. You know the old saying, "Don't trust a fat doctor or a skinny chef"? Well, I'm sure as shit no doctor, but I also would be remiss to take health or fitness advice from someone fatter than me.

And I know a LOT of you guys know what I'm talking about and can relate.

We know how to count calories, we know how to work out in our optimum heart rate range. We know how to stretch and run and flex and bend. We know how to grill, sautee, bake, chop, and master those healthy recipes. We've munched on rice cakes covered in fat free cottage cheese (my personal favorite) or low fat string cheese, or salad after salad, and what the fuck, we're still fat!

So my question is... WHY is that???

Granted, I'm losing weight now, but ... if I know so freakin much about weight loss, eating, exercise and all that... I should be a personal trainer and be super hot and in shape. But I'm not. The only thing I can really figure is that it has to be one of the following:

1. Laziness
2. Doing things half assed (see number 1)
3. ??????

A lot of anti fat hate folks would go on to add in number 3 and 4 spots "genes" or "something else not my fault here" but I can't bring myself to do it. I've been thinner before and I can do it again.


So I'm curious to know y'all's comments on this subject. 'Cause I know you have big ripply brains and will share your thoughts with me.

~J

Fat Acceptance?

Okay. I'm warning you that this is a long post. I checked. It's 1,389 words. But I bet you're gonna identify with one side or the other here, so just bear with me.

So, I've wandered into a few Fat Acceptance blogs over the past several months of doing my own very weight loss/weight issues/body thing blogging. It actually started with my hearing about the Anti-Gym, reading their blog, and subsequently reading the enraged comments from many Fat Acceptance individuals. It sparked my interest, of course, as I am a fat girl myself. And seriously, you can say it. I am fat. And I do appreciate the comments that I'm a "current hot girl"... but I say I'm fat... because I am. BMI of 33.9 means that I'm actually BEYOND fat. I'm OBESE. I have to lose 60 pounds in order to be considered "NORMAL." If I lose 53 pounds, I'm still considered overweight, y'all.

Okay, just to get that out of the way and cleared up for everyone.

So, I visited a few of these blogs and websites and it just didn't vibe with me. Now, I seriously don't care what people fight for or blog about. People can blog about how fat needs to be another thing that just "is," like skinny, blonde, brunette, whatever. They can say that fat people are not lazy or unhealthy. There is no obesity epidemic in this country. Americans, as a group, are not slobbish, disgusting, over-eating, pie grubbing, meat sucking, gravy swimming sloths... they're just normal folks and are beautiful, valuable, and should be thought of as normal human beings. That's fine and dandy.

But then they decide to talk about how ridiculous us fat girls who want to be skinny are.

I am ridiculous for wanting to fit into a size 8 jeans. Because I think about it, because I have pictures of my skinny self on my fridge to motivate me, because I keep the thoughts of people calling me a fat fuck in my brain when I want to order cheesy bread. I'm obviously weak and I don't have enough self love, and I've been brainwashed by the media and the entertainment industry.

What the hell? I mean, seriously. Shouldn't "Fat Acceptance" not be only about society accepting fat people as "normal," but also about Fat Love Folks accepting fellow fatties however they happen to be?

My friend Kate put this as her status on Facebook the other day and I asked if I could borrow it for my blog: "Self-loathing is not a fucking character-builder. It doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you better. It’s just an ever-deepening, creepy-ass trap; a trap that is a huge moneymaker for corporations that do not have and never will have good intentions. You’re not disgusting. You’re not freakish. You’re not ugly. And you’re never going to be perfect. And holy shit, that is so okay."


She told me that the true credit goes to the gal over at Casual Blasphemies. I immediately went over and checked her stuff out. You should go. She's a BRILLIANT writer, and she makes me laugh my ass off.

But I digress. Here's the thing. I like the quote, and I feel it and sorta get it and all that. But what qualifies as self loathing? And ... how can I really dig that quote and not agree with it at the same time? I mean, I don't know if I would say I'm "self loathing." I also wouldn't say that it's a "virtue." But I also think those people who act like they've got their shit together when they don't... are just FULL of shit. Isn't it a virtue to know you've got some work to do? And at what point does KNOWING you need to kick your ass into gear and being pissed, angry, sad or whatever you feel about it turn into self loathing? And wait. Why is that bad again?

I, for one, do not feel comfortable in my fatness. I hate my body most days. I cringe and yell at Dan when he touches my stomach, and I punch him when he tries to pick me up. (*note: After a recent comment, I suppose this could look bad. Take the words "yell" and "punch" and put them in a play wrestling scenario. Carry on.) I hate how full my face is. I refuse to wear a skirt above my knees. I can be feeling good about myself and my working out, and kinda sorta feeling thinner than usual... and then immediately be brought back to ground zero of desperation for losing weight if I hear ANY kind of comment about my being "heavy." I can eat veggie thin crust pizza with no cheese and immediately feel like a failure, and want to go work out for an hour. I can actually work out for two hours like I did today, and be mad at myself because I went home when I didn't fully feel exhausted. (I could have done more, pushed myself harder, CHEESE AND CRACKERS, I'm so lazy.) I wish to Zeus that I would wake up tomorrow weighing 150 pounds. If I could cut off a toe to be the right weight forever, I would probably do it. Actually, if I woke up underweight, that would even be okay with me. As long as it meant I didn't have to work my white dimply ass into another pair of size 16 jeans.

I LOVE how I feel when I'm at a healthier weight. Oops, sorry. I mean "lower" weight. I am not supposed to say "healthier" because fat does not equal unhealthy. Are they being serious when they say that? Umm, yes it usually does. I don't just have fat around my stomach and hips, thighs and chicken wing flab arms, but it's also around my heart and my liver. My body stresses carrying this much weight. Just because I've gotten used to it and I can run a little and do Zumba for an hour without falling over does NOT mean that I'm healthy.

SO, I'm sorry. I'm holding on to every bit of disgust I have for my body because it's my prerogative to. And if I don't, I won't find the motivation to get up every day and try to make the right choices for the body I want to have. If I fall into my own version of "Fat Acceptance," first of all, it'll be fake. (Didn't I have that three years ago when I got into this mess of chub?) Then, I'll sink slowly into the abyss of pizza, pasta, greasy takeout, donuts and an even greasier face, just because I "accept my fatness" or because I'm suddenly "big and beautiful."

I can't get mad at Subway for telling me to Eat Fresh instead of McFattify myself, or call Jenny Craig a bitch, or tell Weight Watchers to go watch something else because yes, it's STILL A DIET... because there are people who need these things to live healthier lives. People have achieved success with it. Yeah, maybe they paid money for it. But guess what? Some of us need help to achieve our goals. And some of us do have "weight loss" or "healthier body" or "no more diabetes" or "knees that don't fucking hurt every day" as a goal. Why are we not allowed to be pissed that we're fat? Why are we not allowed to do something about it?!


As far as I'm concerned... wait for it... it's OKAY to NOT LIKE BEING FAT.


I know that these bloggers talk a lot about how they drink Diet Soda, and they like salad too, and that they are active, and still fat. Okay, well... I'm sorry, but for 95% of fat folks out there, their fatness is not beyond their control, and that's just the way it is. It just does NOT make sense in my brain. And I'm willing to bet that if these fat folks woke up tomorrow and magically were size sixes, they would do the Sherman Klump / Buddy Love scream of "I'M THIN!!!!! I'M THIN!!!!!" and then would run to the store and ask for an array of ALL SPANDEX outfits to try on. Seriously.


/end rant

~Jenn