“Is fat really the worst thing a human being can be? Is fat worse than vindictive, jealous, shallow, vain, boring, evil, or cruel? Not to me.”
~ J.K. Rowling
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I Don’t Think So
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Thank you. I really needed to hear this right now. I’ve put on some weight as I’ve struggled with infertility. The hormones I take for the treatments send me on an emotional roller coaster. Not to mention the cycles of hopes raised and then dashed. My coping mechanism seems to be eating. Also – so many delicious Christmas foods!!! Nom.
And now I’m bigger than I’ve ever been before. And NOT pregnant. And a colleague recently touched my stomach and said “You have a baby in there, don’t you?” No. No I don’t. It’s grief in the form of cookies. Geez, lady. Don’t ever ask that!
Anyway – I have so much else going for me. My hair is cute. My eyes are bright. My skin is clear. I’m intelligent, caring and patient (most of the time.) I just managed to clean a part of my house that I have ignored for a year or so and reorganized my filing system. I inspire my students. I love my husband. I make people laugh.
So who cares if I am fat? Well, I do, but I gotta get through this last infertility treatment before I can deal with that.
I got the same question Genevieve, in this form:
“You’re expecting another one, how nice!” – and she stroke my belly.
My reply was straight from my mind: “No, that’s just fat”
She didn’t say much after that.
One month later I got pregnant!
I’m quite large,and I know it can be hard to get pregnant..
and with all the stupid comments.. but don’t let anyone take away your hope!
I hope you will have a baby soon.
*hugs and babydust*
Fat doesn’t even make it into the top 1000 of worst things for a human to be. Those extra pounds of fat can do bad things to your health if there’s too many of them, and determine what size clothes you have to buy, but they don’t determine your worth as a human being.
Hell, just like it’s always happy hour somewhere, there is always some culture where your shape is considered divine. I’m great friends with my inner goddess, and I hope you are too.
Yes. Thank you.
Was just thinking of something similar to this….Love this and JK Rowling’s quote! -Jessica
Cheers to what Rhianimator said! Let’s all toast our inner goddesses, whatever their weight, height, age or shoe size!
Oh, thank you. I can’t believe how perfect your timing is. I needed that.
Thank you for the wonderful way to start my morning.
The best thing I’ve read about fat in the last few weeks is this:
http://www.jabfm.org/content/25/1/9.abstract?etoc
Look at the last graph. Nutshell: in a large study (NHANES), people who followed the following four “healthy behaviors” — exercise regularly, eat fruits and veggies, drink moderately, don’t smoke — had the same health “hazard ratio” whether their BMIs were 18-25, 25-30, or over 30. Even adding just one of the “healthy behaviors” levels the health risk playing field between fat and thin individuals considerably.
Moral of the story, stop weighing in, and go play outside. And don’t let anyone tell you that you’re gonna die because you’re OMGFAT. If you’re taking care of yourself you have a lower health risk than a skinny slacker.
I have been running and working out as much as I can lately and I swear someone in my family has glued the needle on the scale. It just will not budge! I just might print this up and glue it to the scale.
Thank you.
This is why I have not weighed myself in about 20 years. When I go to the doctor’s office, I tell them to write it down, but not to tell me unless it looks like there is a significant gain or loss (which I’ve actually never had). I go by how my clothes fit, and how I feel overall, and I just try to have healthy habits.
When I was younger, no matter what the number was on the scale, it was upsetting to me, and I started down a really negative path — until I realized that no matter what the number was, it was going to upset me — so why bother? I just turned 40, and I know some of my clothes are bit too snug for my personal comfort, so I’m watching what I eat and trying to exercise a bit more (I admit I can be lazy at times). As long as I feel comfortable with myself, then I don’t worry about a number. After all, what does the number on the scale really tell you about yourself? Not much.
LOVE this photo!!!
Too awesome for words!
Thank you for this. I have been a bit down lately and this really brightened my day. Hooray for JK Rowling. Unfortunately, there are many people who do judge on weight and feel like they can make disparaging remarks about fat people. If you are interested, go to the blog Dances With Fat and read some of her posts and also some of the horrible comments people have made about fat people. It may inspire you to speak out and also to do some more reading on the Healthy at Any Size movement.
yet another reason to freaking LOVE Rowling. I remember once reading an interview with her in which she thanked her lucky stars that she is a writer, noting that people judge her by the quality of her mind, not her dress size. As a hopeful future professor (I’m abd, this dissertation is HAPPENING!), I thought to myself, “egads, she’s right! And that’s me, too! Oh thank god!” And though I’d never really thought about it before, somehow all of a sudden I felt like I had just been handed a get-out-of-jail free card, sending me skipping joyfully along the path of good books AND good pastry
I love J.K. Rowling for a million reasons, and this quote is one of them
The first time I read it a few years ago, I wanted to applaud.
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