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I am one very Happy’n’Fat Kiwi! LOL!
I met one of my new GPs today; she seems very nice and very thorough. She’s a former Neurology Consultant and wanted to see me for a routine check-up and examination as she’s new… She’s over ridden my Spinal Orthopaedic Consultant’s decision to send me to a Neurologist he recommended that I be referred to for my other back issues. She feels, in her medical opinion, that I’d be better suited with another Neurologist who specialises in SB and other inherited Spinal problems and who also deal with other issues of the Spine in people with SB, etc. She wasn’t bothered about my weight and knew it isn’t a problem for me and my Blood Pressure is normal. So, with this and my annual blood test results being excellent, I’m Fat and Healthy! LOL! :cheesy: |
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I came across this article on one of the UK’s online newspapers and had to share it after reading it…
The article starts with the headline; 'I love the word FAT': The larger-than-life fashion bloggers, celebrating plus-size style in a big way.” The article also has links to a handful of Fat Positive Blogs… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...e-big-way.html |
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Special thanks to LeftWriteFemme for posting this on my wall :)
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly...6wguo1_500.jpg |
My recent trip away over Easter with just me and my Backpack brought back memories of when I did a lot of Backpacking in my early 20s for work and pleasure. My fondest memories are of my time in Indonesia, Backpacking with a belly! LOL!
I am fat! I have belly that wobbles when I walk and a bum that echoes my movements. Don’t get me wrong, this is not some life-altering confession a la alcoholics anonymous: Rather, it’s an easy way for you to picture me, climbing up a rope, bum over end into the back of a rocking Indonesian fishing boat, desperately trying not to bounce into the propeller and retain,….. well, at least a crumb of dignity. I have a plus-size body….. Backpacking is always adventurous but it takes on many new twists when a plus-size body, SBO and crutches meets rickety transport, bamboo bridges, and tiny locals who find all westernised people… let alone those with wobbly bellies….. startling! Let’s take the tiny upright women of central Lombok who are less than half my size. Whether in the multi-coloured chaos of the local markets, the golden rice fields, or the white washed lanes of small villages, my appearance invariably produces animated discussions in Sasak and wild gestures toward me. The boldest of the group comes up to me and slaps my thick arm, uttering more exclamations. Gestures of eating, offers of rice follow.... One old woman pats her hips, expands them large with her hands and then follows her breasts, producing proportions that would make Dolly Parton proud! LOL! The message is always the same; a good breeder. The scene is replayed throughout the islands Polynesia, the Caribbean and southern Europe… Size is frankly acknowledged and appreciated….. a refreshing change from the weight police. When I learned how to thresh rice, the women circled my waist with their hands and said, “Stay! You are a good worker!” “ But I would eat too much rice, and then there would be more work.” I replied. “Ah yes!” The women nod sagely, ever the wise housekeepers. The Indonesians always appreciated my pride when I come back from a day clambering around the fields with and without my crutches, knowing that I did the best work I could. They can imagine how hard it is at my size to avoid falling, breaking a delicate bamboo bridge or slipping down a muddy slope. The only murmur of discontent . . . and more often riotous laughter . . . was on local transport, where a combination of my size and innate clumsiness could have proved disastrous. I took up three seats, and with my legs up to my chin, a huge backpack, crutches and my late beloved cat, it took a while to untangle me! LOL! My most fervent wish when squashing past startled locals in their tiny minivans, aiming for an unlikely looking space at the back, is: “Please don’t let me get stuck!” LOL! |
I am battling a slow case worker at BVR who is holding up the progress of my store so much that I have had to report him to his supervisor twice now this past month. The third time happened yesterday. He dared send me an email saying he needed my address, which has not changed in the 3 years I have been working with them. He has not sent me the items I need, nor issued the monies I need, nor approved the purchases I need! I am beginning to panic!
However, the supervisor and I talked yesterday and she assured me she can still get these things to me in time and will be addressing his insufficient work with me, today. I await a phone call. he has literally put me two weeks behind. I tried to be hopeful about it, but I cant even take consignments without the items he is holding up! But, the store will open..its just a matter of when. And two weeks off isnt bad. I need to breathe....just breathe...lol |
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I love hearing about your adventures! I have not travelled much in my life and am so intrigued by any culture that values a fat woman. I wonder where in the world would be the best place to visit in terms of a full-figured woman not being automatically judged as being unhealthy and unattractive. Conversely, I wonder what the worst places are. Any thoughts?
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Italy enjoys the womanly figure and is accepting; at least they are where my Nonna is from on the Tuscan/Ligurian border. In Norway, I’ve experienced fat positivity, but, not so much in Sweden… Russia was my biggest shock! I was treated as though I was a Goddess and worth my weight in gold! (That’s a lot of gold, there! LOL!). Africa was a dream come true! There, a woman’s belly, bum and thighs are deemed the most seductive and attractive….. The bigger the better! A woman can have enormous breasts, yet, they will not be gawked at in the same way. My thighs and belly were often the source of much admiration… The truth is, I’ve experienced a fair mix of positive and negative acceptance around the world. What has made the difference is how I’ve handled it and handled myself in response to the negativity and myself as a Fat woman with pride and confidence (without being arrogant). For me, the worst place is here in the UK. I’ve been met with some of the most hurtful and insulting comments and gestures from just walking down the road, minding my own business. |
I'm on break from work this week (I work at a school) so I'm rereading this thread and jumping back where I've had a thought but felt like I didn't have time to post :)
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Here are my thoughts on exercise for bigger women, not as a professional, but as a fat woman who loves to get physical in a big way! 1) Swimming is great when available. Exacerbation of knee issues (e.g. arthritis) can be minimized by doing the front stroke and the back stroke and avoiding the breast stroke. I've been told and found that kicking in water doesn't tend to cause problems while doing strokes in which the leg is pushing at an angle (e.g. breast stroke) does. I like to swim laps and then stretch in the pool. For instance, for the past week I've been having lower back pain due to having lifted too much weight and pulled something (a rarity for me but oh so annoying when it happens) at the gym. So yesterday I did laps for half an hour and spent another half hour just stretching in the water. A plus for big swimmers is that we don't get cold as easy. I see smaller people shivering but I've got that extra layer of fat that keeps the water comfortable. I have read about fat, long distance cold, open water swimmers who say the same thing. And, of course, we are more buoyant. :) I have had times in my life where I would regularly swim a mile or two a day in one to two hours. So much for all fat people being sedentary and incapable of serious, regular exercise. Yes, people can be fit and fat :) 2) I love to use a stationary bike. I find it helps to choose a medium level (not too high and not too low- as either extreme, I find, negatively impacts the knees). When we are on a bike, we are not bearing down on our full weight, so aside from swimming, I find it to be the best exercise for larger women in terms of not being injured. We have natural butt padding which helps me go longer distance. I can bike hard (where I'm sweating and breathing hard) for up to three hours (Usually I do one hour.). I also lift weights or do arm exercises sometimes while I bike which gets the heart rate higher. 3) Regular walking (ideally not on a treadmill) is relatively low injury. Jogging and running, on the other hand, put a lot of weight on the knees for larger women, and I find it riskier and don't do it. 4) I stretch and do floor exercises for a minimum of 30 minutes every time I go to the gym. Stretching after long work-outs feels fantastic and, again, minimizes injury for me. Anyone else have thoughts on exercise? I also like the kind of exercise that 1QuirkyKiwi described: getting physical in the context of an adventure. While off this week from work, for three days in a row I went hiking / rock climbing / walking at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, going off the designated paths at times (I'm incorrigible.). It was so much fun to be negotiating the forest and sliding down rocks. Extra padding can be a real plus :) |
i've found that in light of my disabilities and being fat, i have a hard time with stuff like hiking and rock climbing. i do like walking (as long as it's mostly flat i can walk for a long time with my cane). swimming is awesome...sadly, i don't have a complex swimming pool anymore. i might see about going to the community pool this summer. it's a bit expensive though. i also liked biking when i was going to the gym...it's nice because you can kind of do something else (like read) while you're doing it. i like yoga but have had a hard time getting into doing it regularly.
i love dancing and hula hooping. sometimes they are painful if i'm not moving around a lot (if i'm just staying in one place) but for the most part they are one of the least painful, most low impact exercises i know. and they're really fun and burn a lot of calories (~600 an hour for hooping). :) so that's most of what i do nowadays. |
This is so interesting! You've stayed in such a variety of different places and cultures. What part of Africa is most fat accepting, do you think? My brother's husband is from South Africa, and I've never been there.
That sucks about how hard it is in the UK. And yet, I admire the self-confidence you clearly possess and unwillingness to accept the fat-shaming and negative stereotypes. How did you manage not to drink the Koolaide? Quote:
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Tai Chi is also excellent and yep! Enjoying adventures where you’re off the beaten path is so much fun and you feel so energised and great on the inside. Stairs! Now they are good for gentle exercise….. walking up and down them half a dozen times gets the heart pumping nicely and the lungs working. Dancing, even if it’s just around the living room to your favourite music, it’s all good! I've still got thighs the size of mature Oak tree trunks, albeit, toned ones! LOL! |
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One of my best friends is South African from Durban; when I went there with her on holiday, I was met with some negativity, but, not a lot. Crikey! Umm… I know my self confidence and comfort about my body comes from fat positive role models from my Maori and Italian Grandmothers and other fat women within my family. My Maori Grandmother was 5’ 10, weighed 35 stone and was very active and healthy until the day she died. My Italian Grandmother was 5’ 6, weighed about 25 stone and was equally fit and healthy, again until she died. I’m 5’7 and weigh a pleasant amount, yet, I’ve always been active. My role models refused to be stereotyped by western standards of what a fat person is seen as in their perspectives. My body is my temple; it may not be the ‘ideal’ of what many may feel is attractive, yet, it’s still mine. It’s taken me on adventures I never dreamed of having. It’s helped keep me fed and with a roof over my head when I worked as an Artist’s model at the GSA in Glasgow. It carried my daughter, nourishing her and keeping her safe. What has been said to me so often and by Butch’s who usually prefer slender Femmes is; my acceptance of and my comfort with my body and my willingness to enjoy life, despite my size, and not make apologies or excuses for being my size. When people ask why I’m fat, I tell them the truth and that I can’t help my genetics, yet, I can try to keep healthy. Also, I have a few retorts to fire back should the need arise, lol! :angel: |
My brain misplaced this thought... there is (or was. I don't know is it's still the case) a plus size model called Megan Garcia who taught Hatha style Yoga in NYC. She explained how to adapt the Asanas to suit a fat woman's body type and used props as well.
She had a book published called; Mega Yoga. |
I’m sitting here eating a stuffed Avocado and letting my mind musings take a stroll (this can often lead to weird and interesting thoughts and can get me into trouble! LOL!), when I remembered two previous GPs saying that my body shape is that of an Avocado Pear! … It’s between an Apple and a Pear shape. I also remember the huge smile that gave me.
Neither Doctor knew each other, as they were in different countries and when I asked the woman GP who said it, she said that a small percentage of women fall into this category. If I may ask; are there any other Avocado Pear shapes here? Are you Pear or Apple shaped? |
i'm more hourglass shaped...i'm top and bottom heavy. i carry some weight in my waist but not nearly as much as the rest of me. i love the idea of being avocado shaped! hehe :)
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Thank you for sharing. :) |
just stopping by...to admire all the beautiful ladies in here....you are all truly gorgeous...thru and thru..I heart each one of you!!! :rrose:
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I won an award and
I almost didn't have my picture taken for the press release because I was afraid of looking fat in the picture. I do not know how to convey how stressed I was. I did end up posing in front of a whiteboard full of algebra. |
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Finally I saw a doctor and he gave me a shot of cortisone that provided instant and dramatic pain relief. I know multiple cortisone shots can cause deterioration but that one shot gave me the relief I needed to go into physical therapy and really allow my shoulder to be stretched. I did the exercises at home—still do—and returned to the doctor triumphant. He admitted I had made great progress but still thought I should have surgery; what he often sees, he said, was progress at first, then the shoulder re-freezes. I said No thanks, that I'd be back if it froze up again but till then I was going to continue my exercises, ice, and stretching. They are so full of shit sometimes. |
I'm a pear shape; definitely bottom heavy.
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I listened to this again (Thanks LWF) and appreciate the scientific pov so much. We do much needless damage to our minds, bodies, and souls by focusing on dieting and weight loss instead of focusing on being healthy if we want to be healthy. Furthermore, fat is a feminist issue, and women spend so much time together critiquing ourselves and sharing exactly what we are eating to further our weight loss all day. I was reading this great article
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-One-...ve-Being-Fat/1 and thinking about how much time is lost to dieting, especially for women. This is supposed to be a feminist site and yet women are congratulated for losing weight, whether that method is healthy or not. Women, for instance, go long periods eating 800 calories a day or even eat 500 calories a day while injecting themselves with a pregnancy hormone. We "thank" them, as long as they are losing weight. One reason that I started this thread is because of how I see "weight loss" being substituted for "health," which may or may not have weight loss as a side effect. I find it easy myself to fall into the "thinspiration" perspective and all the petting that one receives confessing to being "bad" with eating and all the accolades one receives losing any amount of weight. I'm really trying not to these days. As a feminist, this is something I feel strongly about. I know this is not the prevailing view on this site and that this thread is not a popular one, but I deeply appreciate those who have read and contributed. It doesn't matter to me whether people who come here are thin or fat or whether they are on a diet or not on a diet. I just like that there is any interest at all in a perspective that even considers that in our patriarchal culture we perpetuate an anti-woman, anti-fat bias by focusing so much time and energy and celebration of weight loss which we all too easily equate with "health." Quote:
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This is kind of a mixed bag, but it has some good parts
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i'm extremely grateful for nycfembbw & leftwritefemme's posts :)
nycfembbw, your post reminded me of this article... http://healthateverysizeblog.wordpre...o-lose-weight/ it made me take a really hard look at myself and what i mean when i say i love my body. |
I saw this article about BMI and the increasing belief within the Medical profession, who are calling it the Baloney Mass Index, and think it’s out dated…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...t-results.html I posted this in the Body-Positive: We Are ALL Worthy (no diet or weight-loss talk) thread in October last year… http://www.butchfemmeplanet.com/foru...&postcount=105 One of my best friends is only slightly over weight and is Diabetic and has high Blood Pressure and has had for many years. She’s younger than me by 4 years and yet is very active. When I told her my blood results and BP she jokingly told me I was terrible….. She also told me not to let those results go to my head in the belief I could eat junk foods and get away with it, lol! I wonder, how much of this is me being vegan for nearly 30 years and how much is my Genetics…?! |
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Great article! It makes me think of my mom who lost 130 pounds a number of years ago and spends her life fighting the pounds that creep back. She reduces her food intake and increases her exercise and still those pounds will not go away and they consume her thoughts, her days and eliminate any possible happiness she might have over being thin because of just what the article says, that thin privilege is slipping away from her......it's so sad. |
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...12621088_n.jpg
just saw this on facebook and though I'd post it here...I know, preaching to the choir |
A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty. It is an obsession about female obedience.
~ Naomi Wolf |
This is so very true.
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Hi, I'm Breezy. I am BBW and have no intention of ever being thin. I'm new here so I hope jumping in like this is ok.Thank you.
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jen sent me a lovely card, with a photo of a naked BBW on it. Its so tastefully done and I adore the photo, so I hung it on the wall next to my desk as art.
It is also the area I spend time with consigners. Some are notably uncomfortable and do all they can to avert their eyes. Some smile as they notice it. Others dont make any facial gestures and thankfully, none have gone screaming from the room. (do any of you remember the article on "what not to do when you meet a lesbian? That last phrase was taken from there..lol) I plan on getting more art. Clothes and naked. I am discovering that there is a puzzle of responses I get from this photo and I want to offer my customers and visitors ample opportunity to respond to all kinds of shapes. I think we are so bombarded with thinness, we cant see fat as just another shape. We see it in judgemental terms. Bad. Ugly. Distorted. Lazy. And we of size, know these arent true. Do you have postcards, posters, greeting cards, etc of Positive Women? (the plus sign + means positive, right?) Can you send me some more? PM me for my address if you can... |
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Feel free to jump right in, we all did! :cheesy: Our Sofa's are comfy and the company is great..... Oh! And there's Chocolate, too! ;) |
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A work in progress for myself is hand embroidered naked BBW Art in various poses with bullion Roses on the Bellies, Thighs, Bum and Breasts. In storage I have pencil drawings of Naked and semi-naked BBW Art. I'll keep a look out for the various cards. |
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I want to preface this post by saying I have not read this article. If it says something horrible and obnoxious I apologize , but I don't have the time to read it and didn't want to risk forgetting about it and not giving all of you the opportunity to read it if you have the time and desire.....it's a 3 pager
The Politics of Fat: We Have to Keep Struggling to Liberate Ourselves from Self-Hatred http://www.alternet.org/story/154850...om_self-hatred |
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Marilyn Wann's FAT!SO? is a good book to read for inspiration and as a general starting point to Fat Acceptance. Why is western culture so fat phobic? And why are other cultures starting to follow these thought processes? Just my wonderings. Thank you for posting this LWF! :) |
here's the bigger problem..but again, you're the choir, right
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