Resilience — Blog — Resilient Fat Goddex

Letter to my Fat, Trans and/or Queer Siblings

I can tell you that it does get different. I can tell you that you don’t have any chance at finding the people you connect deeply with if you are gone. I truly hope that you give yourself a chance to find the right people for you.

Why Eating Disorder Treatment is Failing Us All

I do not know if there is an in-patient eating disorder treatment center that currently exists that is safe for all people with non-dominant systemic identities at all levels of the organization. I do not know of an eating disorder treatment program for higher level of care where I as a fat, queer, non-binary person would feel safe to attend.

Discovering My Sexuality as a Fat, Christian Teen

I’m finalizing a presentation on the ways that sizeism and eating disorders, separately and together, intersect for trans and gender diverse folx. While researching scientific and community based articles, it really got me thinking about my experience as a kid (a lot research is focused on trans youth) coming of age while recognizing my sexuality was different than almost everyone I knew.

Flying While Fat

Last night the seat next to mine on my flight was empty. This morning it isn’t. I’m not rolling in the dough enough to purchase a second seat ahead of time and wait to get reimbursed. So, I am going to have to see if someone will be willing to switch seats with me at the last minute where there is an empty middle. You know how willing people are to give that up. [insert eye roll] This puts me at risk of getting kicked off the flight.

Financial Instability, Food Insecurity, Medication, and Intuitive Eating

Let’s talk about Intuitive Eating. How do you navigate honoring your hunger or respecting your fullness, when you can’t afford to buy enough food? How do you enjoy the pleasure of eating, when you can’t buy food that sounds good to you? How do you enjoy the pleasure of eating, when you are worried about if you will be evicted from your home?

Parents, Caregivers, Bodies, and Food

Our relationship with the people that raised us often forms how we relate to food and body as we grow and become adults. I’ve heard that the way we are spoken to as children is what becomes our inner voice/inner critic as we become more independent from our caregivers. I don’t know if this is exactly true. What I do know is that my parents had a major influence on my relationship with food and body. Do I think they caused my eating disorder? Nope. They were doing the best they knew how with the resources they had. Plus genetics, culture, finances, and all that. There are lots of factors.

Community Is Crucial To My Survival

I don’t think I would survive very long without community. No, really. I don’t think I would. Community has always been incredibly important to me. It has changed and shifted over the years as I have learned and grown. I’ve been a part of many different communities over the years. They have all taught me different lessons and nourished a part of me.

How Shifting From Body Positivity to Body and Fat Liberation Changed My Life

I did not always believe that fat people had a right to eat regularly and enough food, every day.

Nope. I had so much internalized fatphobia, weight stigma and bias that I very much bought into the idea that my fat body was a problem. A BIG problem.

Which meant that I shouldn't (read: didn't deserve to) eat regularly and enough food, every day.

It was impossible for me to feel much joy or pleasure, take up space, or gasp. . .feel sexy.

What About Fat Voices? Our experience with fat invisibility in a 3-part series

Part one kicks off the series with Claudette Largess, MA, writing about her love for Julia Louis Dreyfus, Seinfeld, and her experience writing her dissertation on Fat Acceptance. The series continues with part two where Sarah Thompson writes about her experience in the Health at Every Size® Therapists and Nutritionists Facebook Group. Finally, the series will wrap up with part 3 where Rachel Millner, PsyD., writes a letter to her friends and colleagues in larger bodies.

The Effect of Weight Stigma on Seeking Medical Treatment

It was easier to put up with my chronic foot pain, than to deal with a new specialist who might stigmatize my body and receive substandard care.

Our world is not designed to fit me.

There were many things that influenced my willingness to seek information about treatment for ADHD. But I was finally willing to seek out this kind of help.

Fat is the worst thing you can be.*

This is what I learned growing up. I've continued to hear this throughout my life. As recently as a few months ago, I was in a training where the trainer used the word fat as slur in an example she gave. When I asked her about it later, she said she used it as an example (without thinking about its effect on me), because it's the worst thing you can call someone.