I stressed for so long about what my body looked like that I completely missed what it was capable of.

I stressed for so long about what my body looked like that I completely missed what it was capable of.

Stop Hating Your Body

I was bouncing around links on LiveJournal tonight, which took me to Tumblr (which is the new LiveJournal, amiriteguys?) and it took me to this blog, and this one.

It got me thinking about the fat positive movement, fat acceptance, and all the issues swirling around that subject that I’m not going to devote substantial time to discussing at length tonight in this post.

But.

As someone who writes a fitness blog, and has done a lot of work to lose weight, I don’t think enough good things can be said about the fat-positive movement. American pop culture puts so much emphasis on beauty, especially feminine beauty, and so little on feminine strength. And I mean that in both a strength of body and a strength of character kind of way. Which is why this quote from the Stop Hating your Body blog really spoke to me.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being overweight. And weight is like, the last bastion of prejudiced thinking — you don’t make shitty comments about someone’s race, and you don’t make shitty comments about someone’s religion, you don’t make shitty comments about someone’s sexuality. but you can make shitty comments about someone’s weight.

It’s not my place to judge anyone. For anything. Especially for something they can’t control. And many people justify that prejudice because weight seems to fall past standard. Because “anyone can work a little harder to just lose some weight.” 

And that is not a fair or true statement.

There is a reason why so many Americans are overweight, and its more than the decision to eat a doughnut for breakfast instead of a bowl of oatmeal. It has to do with becoming an increasingly more sedentary society and high fructose corn syrup in everything we eat and out-of-control portion sizes. It has to do with the reality that obesity (and insulin dependence) is a difficult cycle to break out of, and even once you do, it is an unrealistic struggle you will fight the rest of your life.

I have been overweight almost my entire adult life. But I was only able to find a weight management plan that I enjoyed and could stick to when I started focusing on what my body could do instead of what my body looked like.

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.