Big Girl Love

[betenoire]

For me, I find that comments about health as it relates to fat....obnoxious. And comments about food as it relates to fat...equally obnoxious.

Your ex, if he was as unhealthy as you said he was, would have been equally unhealthy if he had a 26 inch waist. I'm willing to bet on that. Shitty lifestyle is shitty lifestyle no matter what size that lifestyle is packaged in. But this thread is -not- about shitty lifestyles, is it?

Pretending like there is no such thing as a healthy person in a size 18 dress is like pretending that there is no such thing as an unhealthy person in a size 8 dress. You're equating health and lifestyle with size - which is what got peoples hackles up. And it's also pretty inaccurate.

[Medusa]

FWIW: I weigh 290 pounds. Jack weighs 125. (and this is purely for illustrative measure since I dont generally get hung up on numbers)

ALL of my levels are lower than Jacks. My cholesterol, sugars, blood pressure. ALL of it.

I can also walk circles around her. (think: 8-hour shopping trips and endless circling of malls and antique stores).

As a fat person, I am not a gelatinous Jabba-the-hut-inous mass of blubbering, chicken-consuming, gorging, rolling, shaking food-gobbling machine. Im also not one of those cartoonish beings from the movie "Up", where I have gotten so fat that I must ride around in a chair all day slurping milkshakes and having robots help me upright myself.

I also dont wipe my ass with a stick.

I also can have sex in every position that thin people can.

I also do not have hidden peanut butter sandwiches in my fat rolls.

I also do not stink.

I also am not lazy.

I also am not stupid.

I also dress really nice.

I also am not "jolly" all the time.

I also can tie my own shoes.

And lastly, Im not really all that unhealthy. (the caveat being that I sometimes dont have good boundaries with toxic folks ....but that really has nothing to do with physical health)

I think that where I personally check-out on the fat=unhealthy thing is that we are spoon-fed this shit as women from day one. That fat=undesireable, unhealthy, unsexy. The diet industry makes millions off of this shit, and hence the world is full of women who are a size 2 who puke their lunches up every day, women who hate their bodies because someone ELSE told them to, women who think that because they are a size 20, they must give up their sex-life, become a matronly, warbling blob of goo and women who spend their lives in a vicious self-hating "chasing that thinner body" cycle.

The moral of the story is that I refuse to spend one damn minute hating this body. Its where I LIVE and LOVE, for fucks sake. My earth suit is what gets me through this world. Its sexy. My partner thinks its sexy.
I love myself. I love my body.
I have to put on a giant set of "la la la" earphones when the world starts listing reasons why I dont have the right to feel good in my own skin.
To that, I say a big "fuck you and pass the fucking (grilled) chicken."

[Leigh]

All I can say to you Medusa is .............. you go girl

[betenoire]

Medusa is one of the foxiest women I know. Just so we're all clear on that.

[SassyLeo]

I spent many years not be happy in my own skin. Diets, over eating, under eating, diet pills...years and years. 5 or 6 years ago I decided that hating my body was not making anyone happy. Myself, my friends, my family, my partners.

I don't know how much I weigh currently, but it varies between 250 and 270, depending time of year, health, etc. I'm mostly a size 18-20-22.

There is a history of heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, alcoholism, etc. in my family, so these are reasons that about a year and half ago, I started working out regularly with a trainer. It was NOT about losing weight or focusing on trying to be thin. FOR ME it was another step in learning how to love myself, my body, my health. I also sometimes do Yoga and try to take long walks regularly.

There was no exact moment when the flip switched (a few things happened all at once), but I feel pretty grateful that I got a few signals because I am SO much happier in my world and I think others around me are too I started to focus on the positives, surround myself with like-minded people and learning to celebrate me, fully, in whatever size I am.

I'm still the same size. I'm still hot. Sexy. Beautiful. I'm still fat.