Chewing the Fat

My actual name is Bree, but in the Fatosphere, I’m Life on Fats, the same name as my blog.

To be quite honest, I really didn’t set out to deliberately find Fat Acceptance. For most of my teenage and adult life, my attitude was “this is who I am and if you don’t like it, then lump it.” There were always times when I wished I could be smaller, but, unfortunately, it’s a way of life for us females.

Another shocking thing you may not know about me is that I’ve never dieted. I’ve had my share of disordered food thinking and practices, but I’ve never restricted my calories on purpose. A few times, here and there, I thought about it. I contemplated joining Weight Watchers, but remembered how my mom went on it in the 80s, lost 25 pounds, and gained it all back once she quit. I contemplated trying the Fruit Flush Diet, but when I read some comments from people who tried it and mentioned the terrible headaches, I said no thanks. The possible side effects from dieting were too risky. I was healthy and I was able to move despite being a “deathfat.” Why mess my body up?

I decided to live my life as best I could at the size I am and in 2008 (after stumbling onto the Fatosphere after seeing links for blogs that said it’s okay to be fat, such as the now-defunct Shapely Prose, Big Fat Deal and Big Fat Blog), I realized that not every fat person out there was unhappy, depressed, and self-loathing like the media and medical community insisted, and that their voices were heard. I wanted to be one of those voices.

So, in March 2009, I started my own blog, Life on Fats, which gets its name after the British cop show/fantasy drama Life on Mars. From time to time I will wax poetically about my love for TV shows from across the pond and my obsession with men from the UK.

When I started LoF, there weren’t a lot of FA bloggers at the time who were deathfat (i.e., having a BMI over 40) and writing about their experiences trying to make their way in a world that considers our bodies the worst of the worst, if you will. I felt that I had something to add as a super-sized woman dealing with the constant remarks about how I am a financial burden on society and that being over 300 pounds, I can’t even get out of my own house. I wanted to prove the naysayers wrong.

The fact that I am biracial (black and white with a touch of German and Irish for good measure) meant that I could add some “color” to an online community that is white by majority. However, I really don’t blog about racial topics, since I believe that fat is an experience that touches everyone dealing with it, regardless of race and ethnicity. You can be a black fat person, a white fat person, a Hispanic/Latino fat person, an Asian fat person, etc., and you will still be judged by your weight.

Writing is both a creative and cathartic process for me. Not only do I have LoF, but I also write an online supernatural fiction series as well. And now I have another outlet, FFFs, where I have yet another opportunity to make my voice heard. I hope you will enjoy what I have to say — I have a big (no pun intended) mouth!