Plus-Sized Pin Up

From the get go, I have been very against weight-loss for body image issues. I will be the first to jump on the bandwagon and admit that I too am harassed by the media and feel as though I should be skinny. However, my question is where does it stop? I am a big proponent of loving who you are where you are. If I cannot love myself at 253lbs., then I cannot love myself at 150lbs. Even looking back at my wedding pictures -- I was closer to 150lbs at the time -- I remember that I was unhappy with my weight, I felt fat at a size 14, and I did a ton of exercise before the wedding in an attempt to drop a size before the wedding-night adventure. Straight to the point, I wasn't happy then. Yet looking back at those now, I was skinny and hot!

Recently there has been a movement for fat acceptance. While this seems like a good thing -- similar to that Dove ad -- many people are rising up against it. I have to wonder, are they doing it because it challenges the popular view or are some people really afraid that it is as devastating as an "anorexia acceptance" movement. I do not mean to imply anything offensive with this statement. I believe very strongly that morbid obesity and anorexia are on the same scale; they are different extremes.

The people who are outspoken about obesity claim that the fat acceptance movement will encourage people to become/stay overweight. I don't know about you, but I don't consciously think, "Gee, I want to get fat today." However, they do have legitimate points. The rise in childhood type two diabetes is a bad thing. It is not okay to sit idly by and watch our children struggle with something that might be able to be prevented. Unfortunately, the con-group cannot stop demonizing and personifying fat. According to an article on CNN, people who believe that they are healthy usually do not spend time going to the doctor or exercising. I can accept that, but it goes both ways. When I worked at the movie theatre, I would watch skinny girls pump butter onto their popcorn (honestly, watching the butter was one of the most disgusting things I had to deal with working there). They would have a large bag of popcorn and half of it would be butter. Why are these girls considered healthy? The answer is simple: they are skinny.

However, Nicholls is still concerned that fat acceptance may send the message that being overweight isn't a health issue.

"As a population, we have moved the yardstick ourselves as what we consider to be a problem and what we don't consider to be a problem," Nicholls says. "We consume processed, high-fat, easily available food and reduce the amount of exercise and activity we perform on a daily basis. There is complacency about developing obesity, and it could suggest that we underestimate what its implications might be."

I can accept that there is a rising trend. I can also accept that fat, at a certain point, greatly increases the chance and occurrence of health problems. However, the approach the con-side is taking to counteract this is beyond disgusting and humiliating!

She's not alone. Lincoln University recently made headlines when the school set up BMI score graduation requirements: Not under 30? No diploma. (Following a public outcry, the university rescinded the rule.) Both Alabama and North Carolina announced they will charge fat state employees an additional monthly fee for health care. And mega-green grocer Whole Foods started up a voluntary employee incentive programone [sic] based, in part, on workers' weights. The lower their BMI, the bigger their discounts.

This attitude is nothing short discriminatory! That doesn’t even go into how sick this response is. I’m not saying that society should promote unhealthy behavior, but they punish people? Do you see the media spearheading a campaign against people with anorexia and/or bulimia? There would be a huge public outcry against raising insurance rates for these victims. And, that’s another thing; people with anorexia and/or bulimia are seen as victims. It is never mentioned that they chose to continue in their behavior patterns. Why, then, are fat people not seen the same way?

When Crystal Renn admitted that she had eating problems, took care of it, and put on some weight, she was chastised by the public. It’s not okay if someone has anorexia, but it’s worse for them to be healthy. To me, the before and after shots speak for themselves; this is what our current view is doing to us.

That’s all well and good, but what does the other side think?

In the Dove ad, the media’s idea of what true beauty and health look like was powerfully questioned. Many women feel as though they cannot measure up to the media’s – and, I hate to say it, even health care’s – skewed view. We constantly compare ourselves to this unreal expectation. To me, this ad was very empowering. The fat acceptance movement is trying to give women – and men – power. Every day it is taken away. Every day they are told that they are not good enough, pretty enough, etc. The fat acceptance movement is trying to counteract the growing trend in bad self-image and discriminatory actions. They are trying to foster happiness, acceptance, and understanding. It has been shown that continual yoyo dieting has contributed to weight gain and has been shown to be bad for a person’s health.

What do I think?

However, research conducted by Steven N. Blair, a professor at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, suggests that some people can be overweight and healthy (my emphasis). In a 2007 study, he and colleagues found that unfit people over age 60 who were of normal weight had higher mortality rates during the 12-year study than people the same age with higher body-mass indexes (BMIs) who were fit (as measured by a treadmill test).

Here’s the thing: sitting around and eating junk food and is not good! No matter how you want to argue or stretch it, it is not good. And I point my finger at myself when I say this. In most of the articles I have read, across the board, everybody has agreed that exercise and eating right are a few of the keys to health. However, I do find it interesting that it has been proven that fat people – albeit healthy – usually have better health. In most instances, they to do suffer from osteoporosis because of the bone mass. And, interestingly enough, they have a lower risk of heart disease. Hmm, why doesn’t the general public know this? Do I really have to answer that question?

Good self-esteem and body-image are the biggest key to success and health. Without it, we are nowhere. Instead of attacking fat people, we need to reach out to them. At a young age, we need to teach our children to make better choices and to be active. Taking the soda out of schools will not help the issue. Kids are going to get it somewhere else. It is just pushing the issue underground and shows an unwillingness to get to the root of the problem. Telling our children how beautiful they are, how good they are; giving them better food choices and equipping them with tools; and cultivating physical activity will stop the problem of unhealthy children, which leads to unhealthy adults.

The issue is not whether somebody is fat or not. The issue is health. If we continue in these character assassinations in the form of a solution, I predict that we will see a rise in eating disorders – whether anorexia/bulimia or overeating – a generation of people who hate themselves, and maybe even suicide.

Parting words: “You cannot hate people for their own good.”

**When the pictures of me were taken, I felt very, very fat.