Fat Panic

March 24, 2015

Hm, maybe I should post more often

The 2nd-most-recent post on the blog is from February and mentions that I’d gotten my silver Translator badge that week. I got my gold Translator badge* last week. Maybe I should post more? Harriet Brown has been writing more about weight and health of late. The most recent, in Slate, is worth reading (though the comments are… Continue reading

Dieting/WLS, fat acceptance, Fat Panic, fluff, Ingress

June 7, 2014

Why Isn’t Obesity Research Better Known?

CBC has an article on the part of obesity research that doesn’t always get talked about. Tim Caulfield says his fellow obesity academics tend to tiptoe around the truth. “You go to these meetings and you talk to researchers, you get a sense there is almost a political correctness around it, that we don’t want… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Fat Panic, News

February 12, 2014

Tell Me Again How It’s “For My Own Good”

Lara Frater wrote about this and I wanted to boost the signal. The Rudd Center recently came out with a study (PDF link) showing that weight stigma affects the stress hormone cortisol. Exposure to weight-stigmatizing stimuli was associated with greater cortisol reactivity among lean and overweight women. These ﬁndings highlight the potentially harmful physiological consequences of exposure to weight stigma.… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Anti-Obesity Programs, Fat Panic, health, Stress

August 17, 2013

Opting Out Of The Illusion Of Immortality

Deb Burgard has a terrific post on the latest “being fat makes you die, damnit” study. Masters’ central argument seems to be that even though the repeated findings for decades of rigorous research (reviewed by Flegal, 2013) has found that BMI and mortality are only weakly correlated, and that higher BMI may actually correlate with longevity… Continue reading

Anti-Obesity Programs, fat acceptance, Fat Panic, OtherBlogs

death, fat

May 11, 2012

OBESITY NIGHTMARE….

…or rather, a site is starting to show fat people’s reaction to America’s (drumroll…fanfare…lights…) Obesity Nightmare It started with a Tumblr post, and has continued with photos from Brian (at Red No 3) and Turn It Over. Why? Because we do not exist to be the government’s or the healthcare industry’s nightmare. We are people. We… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Fat Panic, Media

April 3, 2012

Americans Are Fatter Than They Think!

I tweeted this, but I’m just not sure how to fully express the snark this deserves, so I thought y’all might want to give it a try. See, a study has discovered that…drumroll…BMI can be inaccurate!!!! Really!!! You might be fat and not know it!!! (eeek!) And since most people who are “overweight or obese” aren’t… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Dieting/WLS, fat acceptance, Fat Panic

March 24, 2012

A few common fallacies

From a poster going around Tumblr. Some of the examples have been edited a bit to suit myself. A fallacy is any defect in reasoning which destroys an argument’s validity. 1) Ad Hominem. Latin term meaning “against the man.” It is discrediting the opponent instead of his or her argument. For example: “You’re fat, therefore… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, fat acceptance, Fat Panic

January 23, 2012

Junk Food In Schools Doesn’t Correlate To Fat

Remember how banning junk food in schools was supposed to make fat kids thin? Guess what? No, it doesn’t. At least not according to “Competitive Food Sales in Schools and Childhood Obesity: A Longitudinal Study” in Sociology of Education (January 2012). But of course we should’ve thought it would, right? It’s not like “Snack food intake does not… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Anti-Obesity Programs, Childhood Obesity, Fat Panic

December 14, 2011

Weight Cycling Industry

From Deb Burgard comes this amazing post on weight cycling: Why do we call it the “weight loss industry” when what we really get for our time, sacrifice, and money is weight cycling? 19 times out of 20, what we are really purchasing is the experience of weight loss and regain. Imagine if we called it… Continue reading

Dieting/WLS, Fat Panic, HAES

October 23, 2011

For All The Parents Out There…

Think about how you will react if your child is fat. Over time, if you’re making it clear that you don’t want a fat son or daughter, well, your son or daughter may not be able to stop being fat. But your son or daughter can eventually choose to stop being your son or daughter.… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Childhood Obesity, Family, Fat Panic

April 15, 2011

US Obesity Rates Level Off Again?

Oh, not again. Still. They’ve been level for years, but this time the Journal of the American Medical Association noticed. There’s discussion as to why, such as “people are getting healthier”. Given how dieters often gain weight in the long term, I thought this perspective a bit more realistic: Dr. Ludwig said the plateau might… Continue reading

Anti-Obesity Programs, Dieting/WLS, Family, Fat Panic, FatnessInGeneral, Statistics

April 9, 2011

Twitter Party

There’s a bunch of fat folks tweeting about “things fat people are told” – in twitterspeak, #thingsfatpeoplearetold. (The # before makes it searchable.) Some examples: You have muscle? But have you really, really TRIED to lose weight? You’re too fat to do yoga properly, so don’t think you’re REALLY doing yoga. Your allergies (that… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Fat Panic, FatnessInGeneral, Twitter

November 3, 2010

Many Obese People DO Look Great The Way They Are

It’s hard to read this and not just shake my head. [M]any clinically obese men and women think they’re already at a healthy weight. In a study of 2,056 obese people in Dallas County (all participants had a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher), researchers asked each participant to look at nine… Continue reading

Fat Panic, Media, News

October 4, 2010

Fat Bingo: Fat and Fit Article

Using the article “Fat but fit? Big gray area confounds scientists“. “Is it possible to be fat and fit? Perhaps, researchers say, but losing weight may make you even better off.” Message: Don’t get your hopes up, fatty, exercise and a healthy diet are only worthwhile if you lose weight—if your weight is stable you… Continue reading

Anti-fat bigotry, Fat Panic, Media, News

September 3, 2010

Sleep-Deprived Teens May Pay A Hefty Price

That’s the title of this piece on Yahoo! news about teens who sleep less eating more fats. (Eating more fat = the “hefty price”. Geddit? Amazing how reporters think nobody’s ever made a fat joke before them.) In the study, adolescents who slept fewer than eight hours on a weeknight consumed more of their daily… Continue reading

Fat Panic, News, Sleep, Stress

August 29, 2010

Deciphering studies: Absolute vs Relative Risks

I thought this example Lisa Martinez made in the comments at the Well blog was one of the clearer examples I’ve seen for absolute vs relative risks. 100 women took ABC pill and 100 women took a placebo, which is not an actual medication. Of the 100 women who took ABC pill, 2 developed cancer… Continue reading

Fat Panic, Media, News, Statistics

August 25, 2010

I’m squishy, but I’m NOT obese

You may have seen today’s Pickles. Transcript: Panel 1: Nelson asks Earl: Grampa, are you obese? Panel 2: Earl: Obese? No, I’m NOT obese. Panel 3: Nelson: [pokes tummy, with a “squish” noise] Panel 4: Earl: I’m squishy, but I’m NOT obese. This illustrates much of the “obesity” discussion. Earl knows he’s fat. Earl assumes… Continue reading

fat acceptance, Fat Panic, FatnessInGeneral, fluff, Media

Living ~400lbs