Fitness is not a measure of worth.

People who choose exercise activities, meaning various types of movement or fitness, as a hobby are no more praiseworthy than people who choose anything else as a hobby.

Fitness by any definition is not an obligation.

There is also no personal obligation to have a thin, or a “normal-weight", body.

Seeking weight-loss is not the same thing as living with healthy habits, and thin or "not fat" isn’t the same thing as "Healthy".

There are healthy and unhealthy people at every size, so reaching a certain body size is neither a guarantee of health, nor a sure preventative or cure for disease. Body Size and Health are two different things and people can, and often do, pursue one without the other.

In fact, seeking "Health" is not a moral, social, or personal obligation. People can choose to prioritize and pursue health at whatever level they want. Their choice to seek health by “engaging in a healthy lifestyle” doesn’t guarantee them personal health. It also doesn’t make them better than people who don’t choose to prioritize or pursue health.

There are also different kinds of health. and all of them aren't available to everyone.  For example: Mental health and Physical health are two different things, and these two types of health don’t necessarily go together.

What does "healthy" even mean?

Healthy is simply the opposite of  diseased or dead.  Human beings are born, they live, and they die.  The human body is designed to wear out.  Even the most "healthy" bodies become "unhealthy" as they get old, and eventually every body ceases its function. Sudden or lingering, death comes to everyone, and except for death-by-accident, people of all ages become sick and then die.

While the term "healthy", refers to the general condition of a person's mind and body, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain, that term is now loosely used to refer to various substances, activities, and ideas that allegedly promote that general condition.

However, despite all claims to the contrary, most things ...  including personal values ...  that are sold to us by the diet (and fitness) industry are the exact opposite of “healthy”.

This Article contains some great advice for us all. 

The Courteous Healthy Eater
     
          by Kate

People who make an effort to eat in a way that supports their health have a bad reputation. 

It seems that many times, the "Healthy" eater is also the "Judgmental" eater. 

Let us band together, fellow healthy eaters, and change this stigma by killing it with kindness.

If you aren’t sure if you have the right to talk to someone about his/her food choices, ask yourself the following questions:

1.  Is this person my child?
2.  Am I this person’s doctor?
3.  Did she ask me?

Unless you answered yes to one of these questions, you do not have the right to make food choices for this person.

The following suggestions are for everyone who eats food, regardless of your personal choices: 
 

• Don’t Comment on Other People’s Plates.  When you see someone eating something you think looks unappetizing or that you would not eat yourself for whatever reason, you do not have to tell the person who is eating what is wrong with her food.  In fact, you may consider that this person could very well have eating choices of her own that impact her health, mental or physical.  You may even imagine that this person is very sensitive about eating or suffers from an eating disorder if it helps you mind your own business.
   
•  Let Other People Make Their Own Decisions.  Let other people decide what they are going to eat.  If you think the diet they are following is stupid or unnecessary, that’s okay.  Don’t follow it.  But let each person have the autonomy over her own life to decide for herself if and when she wants to make a change.
   
• Don’t Assume Everyone Has the Same Goal.  Do not tell a heavy person that if she stopped eating X she would lose weight.  Conversely, do not tell a thin person that she needs to eat a cheeseburger.  That is not your stomach or your body, you do not get to decide and your opinion is insulting unless it is requested.
   
•  Be Polite Online.  When you see a picture of a food you don’t eat, you do not need to comment about what’s wrong with it.  You can continue to not eat that food, but really, the world does not need to know about it.
   
• You Don’t Need to Broadcast Your Food Choices.  Many people are surprised to find out I am vegetarian because I don’t make a big deal out of it.  When I go out to eat with other people, I order the vegetarian option without ever mentioning it to the other people at the table.  If I am offered an appetizer that contains meat I simply say “no thank you.”  If I am offered a soda, again “no thank you.”  If I have a question about the menu or a modification, I make it to the server and I am polite and gracious.
   
•  “No Thank You” is the End of the Conversation.  Conversely, when you offer someone food and they refuse with a “no thank you”, your job is done.  For whatever reason, that person does not want to eat the food at that time.  You really do not need to know why.
   
•  Stop Talking About Your Diet Constantly.  If you follow a particular type of diet, let’s say you follow the Low Radish Diet, unless someone asks you about it, you probably don’t need to tell them.  The world is awash in dietary advice and most people are just sick of it.  Conversely, if you think Low Radish Diets are really stupid, you should probably stay away from Low Radish Diet communities.  Let people make their own choices.  If they choose not to eat Radishes, that’s their business.  Even if you believe there’s something inherently harmful in eliminating radishes from your diet, it’s really not worthwhile to go to the Low Radish community and start attacking people.  This is completely ineffective.  You cannot deny people the opportunity to make their own mistakes and discoveries. 
   
• Your Diet is Your Job, Nobody Else's.  If you are allergic to a food, then it is very important for you to avoid that food. Asking to know what is in a dish is perfectly acceptable.  If you are concerned about  being able to choose a restaurant that will cater to you, always be willing to research and make suggestions.  When I go to visit someone, I check out Yelp for good vegetarian restaurant options I can suggest.  You can even call the restaurant and ask them if they can make substitutions for your restricted diet.  However, this is your job, not anyone else’s.  In any case, it is quite simple to be civil and non-accusatory when asking questions.

Eating is a very personal activity.  Only you know what you need and how you feel when you eat certain things.  Never assume that what you feel yourself is what everyone feels.  Think about it, do you really want anyone telling you that the food you’re eating is gross or deadly while you’re eating it?  Of course not.  You want to enjoy your meal in peace.

There’s nothing wrong with sharing things that improve our health and make us feel good.  But let’s start doing it from an angle of leadership instead of reactionary fear.  This is my thought process when I share my food photos:

I want to show people how beautiful, appetizing, and appealing food can be when it didn’t come out of a box, can, or drive thru window.  I don’t want them to hear “what you are eating is bad and wrong”.  I want to say “what I am eating is delicious, I really enjoy it, and look, isn’t it beautiful? It’s also pretty easy, really!  You can cook it will just take a little practice.”

Because I do believe in these things and think they could really help a lot of people, I want to promote what I love.  I do this from the perspective of my own choice, rather than tearing down others choices.  People are far more likely to be open minded when you are kind than when you are judgmental.

Eating should not be a source of constant stress.   If you find yourself worried or angry about what strangers around you are eating, it may be time to examine your own relationship with food.

If you want people to accept your choices, then you have to be accepting of the choices of others as well.

         This article written by Kate at  www. thisisnotadiet-itsmylife.com

A Bigot is someone who, as a result of their own prejudices, thinks of other people with contempt, or intolerance on the basis of that other person's characteristics. Bigotry is the state of mind of a Bigot, and thoughts often tend to become actions.

Those who wish to be, or appear to be, "politically correct" in today's society, know they must work to filter out their prejudices against various characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, disability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc.

However, even the most "liberal" people commonly practice Bigotry when it comes to the physical characteristics of people who have Fat bodies. Our current society still accepts, allows, and encourages such thinking and behaviors.

Here, the term "Fat Bigot" is used to define someone who is prejudiced against the physical characteristics of people who have fat bodies, not someone who HAS a fat body. 

When Fat Bodies Just Look Wrong 
   
             by Ragen Chastain.

There is a post over on This is Thin Privilege written by a girl who was told that she couldn’t wear the same shorts as a thinner student because she didn’t “present” the same way as the other student.  This highlights a particular kind of fat bigotry wherein fat bodies are judged to look “wrong” doing the same thing that thin bodies do, just because they are fat.

Wrong can take a lot of meanings in this context, one of the first is the idea that they look obscene (remember the Lane Bryant ad that showed about 25% of the skin of a Victoria’s secret ad but was controversial because it was judged look obscene - obscene here meaning “omg big boobs!”?)  Or, as in the example from above, fat bodies are seen as un-presentable, or needing to be more covered/hidden than other bodies.

And how many times have we heard the “fat girl” rules of fashion – black clothes absorb light and hide our shape (aka “slimming”), choose clothes based on their ability to make you look as much like the thin ideal as possible (aka “Flattering“) and that anything else is an affront to everyone who sees us and a moral failing on our part.

This type of situation is often about a bigot asking to be accommodated by a fat person.  The assumption being that if someone doesn’t like fat bodies, doesn’t like looking at fat bodies, doesn’t think that fat bodies should do certain things or dress in certain ways, then the people with those fat bodies have a responsibility – nay, an obligation – to “fix” the situation by doing what the fat hater wants us to do.  As if the solution might not be for them to get the hell over their bigotry, or at least practice the ancient art of looking at something else.

When the teacher told the student that the shorts were inappropriate on her fatter body but not on the thinner body, what he was actually saying was “I’m a size bigot, accommodate me.”  Our society is set up to accommodate fat bigotry in many ways, perhaps the most insidious is convincing fat people to take an active part in it by policing ourselves and other fat people for failing to follow the fat girl rules of dressing.

Fat people are allowed to make clothing choices for any reason they want – including dressing for maximum societal approval, as long as they are only choosing for themselves and not trying to tell other fat people what they should wear (hello Underpants Rule, my old friend.)  My suggestion is not that all fat people dress a certain way, but that we should consider being very conscious as to why we make the choices we make, and what that means. So if we choose to dress for societal approval we are keenly aware of why we are doing it so that we don’t get confused and think that there is anything wrong with our actual bodies – rather than realizing that there is a lot wrong with society and that our bodies are fine.

When it comes to the idea of fat bodies looking “wrong,”  the choices I make about what to wear have been less important than my ability to realize when a bigot is asking me to accommodate them, and the fact that I am under absolutely no obligation to do so. If you struggle with feeling like fat bodies (maybe even including yours) look “wrong” then a big part of the problem may be that the media doesn’t seem to be able to show us with heads and faces, let alone as positive role models.  So I suggest taking some time each day to find pictures of fat bodies and work to increase your skill at perceiving beauty.  

by Regen Chastain. 
Dancer, Choreographer, Writer, Speaker, Fat Person
www.  Dances With Fat      

  Life has taught me things things about myself and others. I now realize that I grew up surrounded by Fat Bigots… meaning people who were prejudiced against people who exhibited the physical characteristic of being Fat. That nonacceptance range of of Fat began with the state of being "not thin"; included "a bit plump" or "overweight"; then progressed to "fat", "really fat", and then on to "morbidly obese" and up.

I adopted this mental state as my own, which was a problem since I was never "thin". I was curvy even as a very young adolescent in the late 1950s, I recall my mother's reaction when she weighed me and learned that at 5'1" I weighed 105 lbs. She exclaimed in fear and horror, "That's what I weighed when I got married!!." She was taller, 5'4" so I was already fatter than my mother was as a young adult.. and she was a "normal" person not a "thin" person.

This article brought my attention to the fact that as a child I was taught to dress to please Fat Bigots. When the "squaw shirt" was popular, it was to be avoided because it was a gathered skirt. My peers wore the straight sheath dresses favored by Jackie Kennedy, but these disguised my small waist and emphasized my hips and thighs, so I wore "princess" style, dresses, which skimmed past my waist to smoothly flare out over my hips.

Showing Skin was to be avoided, no bare upper arms or showing of knees or thighs. Modesty wasn't the true reason for this, it was to avoid showing fat. As a freshman in High School, while weighing 115 lbs, I was outfitted with long-line bras, and panty girdles in order to smooth out any bouncy fat that might show through my clothing.

I adopted this mindset as my own. Although there were many girls fatter than me, who dressed without regard to fat concealment, I regarded them with hidden contempt, and I judged my own appearance by comparing myself to girls who were naturally thin.

This attitude followed me throughout my life, and I considered it normal. However, I was a middle-aged woman with years of Therapy behind me, before I realized that what was wrong was Society, not my body.

I always knew that I was dressing for societal approval, and I still do this. However, I do it now as a conscious choice, using personal preferences I've established over years of habit.

There are lots of different types of bodies, and different ways to acceptably dress them.  
See below:  Aerosmith's - Pink