Fat Chick Sings

A long awaited PADS Saturday

It’s been more than a little while since I’ve posted.  But I saw this fellow and got INSPIRED.  Now this is fabulous PADS.  Wondering what PADS means?  It stands for Public Acts of Dancing Spontaneously. I love the fact that this dude is just totally jamming out for the fun of it.  He’s no movie star.  He’s just an average guy…

I can’t do it alone, thankfully I don’t have to.

You need a strong support network in this world!   I’ll admit it.  I’ve been working in the body  positive, Fat Acceptance and Health At Every Size movements for nearly 20 years now.  And while certain things have gotten better and certain things have gotten worse, one thing is consistent. It’s tough.  I mean really tough.  And I admit that I have certain privileges that many others in the space…

Imagine a Body Positive World

In my last blog post, I talked about the importance of asking for help.  In this post, I’m going to talk about imagining a body positive world, AND I’m going to ask  YOU for help. Imagining a body positive world is something I talk about a lot when I am hired to speak.  Imagine a world where you felt good about your body.  Imagine a…

If I’ve learned anything this week it’s this.  Ask for help.  Ask for it sooner rather than later.  Do NOT spend time exhausting every other option on the planet first.  Just ask for help. I think a lot of my identity is tied up with the notion that I am self sufficient.  I can handle anything.  Like I’m some sort of hybrid of Bear Grylls and Macgyver.  Just set me down with a laptop, a sharp…

New Video and a New Plan

There’s no question, I’ve been away for a while.  As this video demonstrates, I’m still spending plenty of time talking about Health At Every Size and loving the skin you’re in.  And now I am BACK baby, and I am super excited to tell you what my dear friend and business partner Ragen Chastain and I have been cooking up while I’ve been gone.  It’s called the Body Love Obstacle Course or BLOC. …

More Evidence that Fat Stigma is Killing Us

Today, I got an email pointing me towards some new research on fat stigma.  There has been an ever increasing pile of evidence indicating that weight stigma is making us miserable and sick.  We know that weight stigma makes us fatter,  increases inflammation, increases disease burden and decreases quality of life, increases the chances that we will engage in risky behaviors and may contribute…

New Study Suggests Obesity Doesn’t Make Joint Surgery Less Safe

Another media appearance for the bad knees. I recently came across a recently published study that was published in The Journal of Arthroplasty regarding overweight and obese patients and joint surgery.  In particular, the study evaluates data from 900 hip surgeries and over 1,500 knee surgeries.  The data was evaluated in terms of weight, BMI, how often blood transfusions were necessary,…

On the Power of Sisterhood

I went to an event called TEDx Pasadena Women last night and it was amazing.  I don’t know why I am still sometimes surprised after all these years about the power of women and the power of sisterhood.  I’ve had decades of experience that tell me that when I a group of women get together, something powerful happens.  There are rare exceptions.  Events that don’t have the amazing zap and snap of…

P.A.D.S. Saturday–Dance to your own beat

Hey kids!  My birthday falls on a Saturday this year so here we go.  A special birthday edition P.A.D.S. Saturday submission. What is P.A.D.S. Saturday you ask? It’s Public Acts of Dancing Spontaneously.  I know this isn’t entirely spontaneous.  This kid has done a bunch of these Apple store dance recordings.  He’s famous for them. …

Bullying is Ugly–Softening the Story helps NO ONE. Why we Need to Look at it with “A Brave Heart”

This ugly, UGLY picture was taken today of a poster that was taped to a wall at Northern High School in Calvert County, MD.  There’s a lot of argument about the poster–which we will get to in a minute.  But in the meantime, let me tell you just what interesting timing this poster has for me personally. As I sat in the audience last night at a Producers Guild Pre-release screening of “A Brave…

Not Jolly and Not Sorry (Letting go my need to make everybody laugh…)

I recently spoke at the Environmental Awards in Irwindale.  My speech was called No BODY Left Behind–Workplace Wellness for All. I talked about workplace wellness in terms of four “i-opening” words–information, incentive, invitation and inspiration.  I must give credit where it is due.  Jon Robison and Rosie Ward and their fabulous new book “How to Build a Thriving Culture at Work” helped to…

In a World of “Click Bait Hate” Let’s Share a Little Love

On Saturday’s post, I hinted about certain people that serve as a proxy for hate.  They say the things that people no longer may wish to say for fear of reprisal.  They serve as a lightning rod for gleeful malevolence.  They act ugly to win clicks.  And by Jiminy, it certainly works.  I referred to a certain person who posted an extremely hateful video online.  (You can look up her name in my…

Agents .000007–License to Hate (Electing hate proxy holders to be mean for us)

Okay (deep breath).  There’s a video that surfaced on YouTube yesterday by a woman named Nicole called “Dear Fat People”  (There is no force on earth that will compel me to link to that ish).  It is seven minutes of unadulterated, unbelievably crappy hate wrapped up in concern trolling.  I mean this video is truly ugly. It’s infuriating and insulting and stupid.  And it’s going to hurt a whole…

Half in the Data Dark, We’ve More Work to Do!

Today, I read a horrifying statistic about the state of statistics.  A group called All Trials has flatly stated that of all the clinical trials, encompassing hundreds of thousands of patients, 50% have never reported the results.  They state this, and offer this research to back it up. One can speculate many reasons why various research results have not been reported.  But I keep coming back to…

5-year-olds on a Diet

Sometimes people ask me why I do this.  I work in Hollywood.  Writing a blog doesn’t really pay all that well.  And it can be a solitary process at times without a lot of feedback. But sometimes I come across something that reminds me why.  Like this study which talks about “dietary restraint” (the cognitive restriction of food intake for the purpose of controlling weight) among 5-year-old girls.…

Apparently Body Positivity Goes to Size Large (or maybe XL)

Victoria’s Secret is that every body is perfect as long as they look exactly like this… I recently came across a link for a “Body Positive” fitness company (not gonna name it or give it linky power) that had the word “Thick” in their company name and states as their goal: …body positive movement that encourages women to accept and become the best version of themselves through health and fitness.…

Are the three white powders ruining our civilization? Or is the screaming a bit overblown?

Nope, I’m not talking about heroin or cocaine or meth.  I’m talking about flour (gluten) salt and sugar.  And it seems like you can’t open a magazine or newspaper or newsfeed without another article warning us of the dangers of these killer substances and reminding us that they are “almost as bad as smoking” or “as bad as smoking” (which is the current gold standard for health-based fear…