Thin may be in on the runways, but the blogosphere is providing heavy men and women with a place to inspire each other–not to try the latest fad diet or lose that last 5 pounds, but to accept themselves as they are.

The fat acceptance movement has been growing steadily in response to the dwindling sizes of models, celebrities, and the average man or women who feels pressured to live up to those unrealistic standards. The primary message behind fat acceptance is one of health, not excess or loss of control. Because tools like BMI calculators do not take into account frame size or muscle percentage, many athletes and other healthy people are categorized as fat or even obese. This has contributed to shock figures like “6 out of 10 Americans are overweight“. Read More »

Every girl knows that unless you’re some kind of anomaly and super okay with every inch of your body, the idea of being scrutinized in a bathing suit is a thought horrifying enough to keep most of us in sweats forever.

Why then, are so many people interested in breaking down celebrities who aren’t frighteningly thin?

Jennifer Love Hewitt is the most recent victim of badly angled paparazzi photos, and I have to say, I feel every inch of her pain. Sure, the girl isn’t skinny, but she’s not fat.

So there are a few instances of cellulite. So she has a waist thicker than a pencil. So she’s not wearing a ton of make-up at the beach. How many average women does this describe?

I’m happy that JLW isn’t thin. Even though I don’t watch her show (I mean, if we’re being honest here…it’s totally boring), I think she’s a good role model for girls all over the country who have boobs and an ass.

She’s on TV and she’s not a size 0. There’s hope for us all. Read More »

Every day, girls all over America are doing their best to be “cute and skinny”.

Dieting, working out, spending hours in the bathroom, squeezing ourselves into tight pants, strapping on a pair of Spanx, we’ll do whatever it takes to reach the pinnacle of girly beauty.

Over in Japan, guys are doing the exact same thing (minus the Spanx…I think).

Traditionally, it was the women of Japan who strived to be tiny, but after the country went through a “health and exercise boom” about 7 years ago, the “new Japanese woman” wasn’t afraid to show off her curves and muscles, and was “proud” of her sexuality.

Guys, on the other hand, started to shrink.

“Young males between the ages of 18 and 30 make up the slimmest segment of the [Japanese] population” explains the International Herald Tribune, “and the ideal fashion weight as decreed by the apparel industry is 57 kilograms, or about 125 pounds, for a height of 175 centimeters, or 5 feet 8 inches”.

No six-packs or bursting biceps here. At 125 pounds, most of these guys probably don’t have the arm strength to lift much of anything, let alone weights. Read More »

Remember when you used to come home from high school, exhausted and starving? Lunch had been at like 10:30 that morning, and so by the time the afternoon bell rang, your stomach was growling so loudly you had to sit hunched over to dull the gurgles.

Home meant snacks. It might refueling yourself for sports or theater club or smoking stolen cigarettes under a tree while sneering at all organized things. Afternoon snack was an event I looked forward to from kindergarten to twelfth grade.

Hell, I still look forward to it!

Sadly, today’s teenage girls aren’t allowing themselves the joy of snack time – or any meal – at all. A report from the UK’s Independent Online showed that over “a third of 13 to 18-year-old girls” polled for a study indicated they had been on a diet or were currently dieting, and “45 per cent [ate] less than 1,200 calories per day”, which is below the healthy amount for growing women.

About a quarter of the boys in the survey admitted to eating less calories than the daily recommended amount, but girls were the ones worrying researchers most of all. Read More »

As temperatures rise and shorts, bathing suits, and skirts become less about fashion and more about necessity, it becomes more and more vital that I love myself. I must love myself because I’m not always the biggest fan of my thighs and stomach. I must love myself because I always think my arms could be firmer and my knees could stop looking so weird.

As I type this, I’m sitting at my desk in a bathing suit (living in New York has kept me far away from any type of swimming pool, but bathing suits are much more acceptable than a bra and underwear if someone were to knock or accidentally look into my apartment. Or if a stranger crawls through my window while drunk. This has happened. I am now always prepared), sweating and drinking water like a mad woman. Read More »

She said no to rehab. And apparently also to food.

I’m not Amy Winehouse’s biggest fan. Not because I don’t think she’s talented—I do—I just don’t get her. I don’t get anyone who’s famous and then misses gigs and seems genuinely uninterested in the fans who gave them that fame. She’s a little too weird for me. But I figured the baby-who-hasn’t-eaten-for-weeks look and her huge hair was a thing she had cultivated for a while, a trademark. Part of her essence.

I figured wrong.

It seems like Ms. Winehouse was completely normal looking a few years ago. Buxom, smiling, basically tattoo free, and clean. She looked cute and friendly. Well fed. In no need of rehab.

Then something happened. Not being a Winehouse scholar, I have no idea what that something was. Massive amounts of drugs? Read More »

Our country has an obvious obsession with skinny people, as evidenced by phenoms such as the new hot body part: the clavicle. I know that it is easy to equate thin with healthy. The less body fat you have, the healthier you are. Makes sense, right?

Well, this actually might not be true. According to a recent Associated Press article, thin people might actually have a lot of internal fat surrounding organs. This kind of fat could be just as dangerous as external fat. Yes, finally, sweet justice for all normal sized girls. You skinny minis could be have just as much fat on the inside. HA.

“According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. ‘The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined,’ said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council.”

Holler. I agree with this Bell guy. If this research is true, then using the term “fat” could refer to a lot of things. This is definitely an interesting concept to ponder…Maybe someone should inform Nicole Ritchie or Mary Kate about the news!

In a surprise move, it’s trendy to look like skeletor. I can’t say that I’m terribly thrilled or shocked about this recent turn of events. With voluminous spring fashions, the hot part of your body to show off is your clavicle. The clavic-what? It’s that bone between your collarbones, prominent on super-skinny celebs like Kate Bosworth and Kiera Knightly.

Even though everyone and their mom is obsessed with thinness, it’s definitely a strange part of the body to be stressing about. I mean, it’s just a little bone. The real appeal of showing this bit off is that it proves that under your billowy new dress, you’re skinny little thing. “The clothing threatens to make you look overweight and so you need a certain body to undo that threat,” said an expert on women and beauty, “In that clothing, one has to find a way of revealing an authentically thin body.” How delightfully twisted. Read More »