With my front yard and the entire state of Maryland looking like this—

I figured it would be a good day to do some online clothes shopping. Luckily Fashion Bug is having a one-day sale today and if you spend $75 or more through tomorrow you get free shipping. I took advantage of a gift card I received for Christmas and purchased three tops:

$8.99 and available in sizes S-4X (30/32) in this color (ruby) and three other shades.

On sale for $9.71,  in the same sizes as the above top and available in black (shown), dark cinder (the color I purchased), red and cream.

This was not part of the sale, but it was still a decent price at $19.99 and it’s a brand new item. I love layered look tops, especially cardigans. It comes in sizes 0X to 4X and you can choose from four colors, including night sky, the one I bought.

Their Right Fit jeans are also on sale in limited sizes for $14.99, so this is a perfect time to add to your wardrobe without spending a whole lot of money. I also appreciate that unlike other most mainstream plus size retailers, Fashion Bug offers all their clothing in size 30/32 and doesn’t charge more for extended sizing. I normally wear a 26/28, but sometimes will move up to a 30/32 for a roomier fit.

With Michelle Obama becoming the latest concern troll to jump on the “all fat kids will die soon” bandwagon, it seems in the last several years, we have seen an increase in people, who to my knowledge have not truly studied physiology and anatomy, become overnight experts on the lifestyles and eating habits of fat people. Here are a few of the most well-known obesity epidemic town criers:

-MeMe Roth, alleged nutrition counselor who goes into hysterics anytime she sees a person over a size 10 eat a hamburger or ice cream cone.

-Jamie Oliver, British chef who suddenly made it his life’s mission to slim down every fat person on Earth. Was publicly reduced to tears when he attempted to go into “America’s fattest city,” Huntington, West Virginia, and was bluntly told to stop being obsessed with the citizens’ BMI’s.

-Jared the Subway Guy, who ate nothing but Subway, lost a bunch of weight, decided to tackle the childhood obesity epipanic but eventually began to regain the weight he dropped.

-Kimberley Locke, American Idol contestant turned fat counselor.

-The entire British government, specifically Tam Fry, who apparently feels taking away children from their parents, enforcing WLS on anyone who has visual body fat and poking into the doctor’s files of UK citizens will help slim their nation down.

Gillian McKeith (what is it with these crazy Brits?) the MeMe Roth from across the pond, who parlayed her sketchy nutrition education into a hit show, “You Are What You Eat,” doling out insane diet advice to those seeking weight loss help.

-Random trolls on any Internet comment site.

So, why does it seem that everyone wants to advise shame fatties into not being big? Well, here’s a few theories:

1. Constantly saying fat is unhealthy, gross and dirty gets you brownie points from society. Witness the number of people who go out of their way to fight with FA bloggers and introduce fat hate on sites that have nothing to do with fat or weight loss. When you don’t support what’s apparently bad, you are one of society’s “good little angels” with high morals. If you support a fat person’s right to live their life while fat and not dieting, you’re an outcast.

2. They’re accused of actually liking fat people. You know what’s bad? Worshipping Charles Manson.  Donating to the KKK. Beating up animals. Believing that fat people are people too is not bad, and it’s okay to be friends with or even date or marry one of us.  You’re not promoting obesity if you want to be near us or think we should be able to wear stylish clothes.

3. Hating on fat people gets you $$$. Look at the money spent on and being awarded to various groups who choose to research and/or develop ideas and programs on how to end obesity. The war on fat people is a pardon the pun, a huge cash cow. While firehouses are closing and social programs are being cut to help the poor and mentally disabled, it seems there’s plenty of money to ridicule us into dieting and hating ourselves for the rest of our lives. And more money is thrown your way if target fat kids.

To sum it all up, fat gets you noticed. You could be the world’s biggest idiot and nobody would want to hear what you’re saying, but suddenly say, “Hey, those fat people need to lose weight!” and you’re a genius. You don’t even have to have a high school diploma or a college degree or the intelligence of Einstein. All you need is a healthy dose of scorn.

I think it’s time we ditched these so-called experts and start actually listening to those who really know what’s it like to be fat in this world, and that’s actual fat people.  And in closing, I’m including some of what Rebelle over at Big Fat Blog, said about Michelle Obama’s focus on fat, but it can also be for all who share her sentiments:

It bothers me, most of all, that neither she nor any other public figure can for once get it right: Focus on nutrition and health….NOT WEIGHT!

Today is my birthday… 34 years young, and feeling great. Life is pretty good right now so I really can’t complain.  And despite all the fat-phobic crap running rampant, there is just two more full days until Fat Hate month officially ends and then February begins, where we can whine about how Valentine’s Day is a conspiracy against us poor, single partner-less  fools. Maybe I can complain.

I learned over at Jezebel this week that Sarah Haskins is officially ending her hilarious and insightful Target Women videos. Sadly, we will no longer see her snarking on the media’s attempts to showcase us ladies as ultra-sensitive, frilly cleaning machines who love to eat yogurt while wearing gray hoodies and refusing to admit we poop, but she’s engaged to be married and working on film projects. I wish Sarah the best of luck in her post-Target career, and hope that she doesn’t end up on an episode of Snapped anytime soon. So here’s my all-time favorite Target Women videos.  Be prepared to laugh and shake your head at the crazy ways advertisers get us womynfolk to buy their products:

Taboo, the National Geographic Channel’s show on cultures considered “weird” by modern Western standards, recently tackled the subject of obesity.  I’ve only seen minutes of this series here and there while channel-surfing, so when I discovered they were going to talk about fatness, I knew I had to watch to see how they would cover this hot-button issue. It turned out to be a very interesting show and discussed many of the topics we in the Fatosphere blog about daily.

Of course, they did use headless fatty shots, closeups of fast food and grocery store stores to illustrate the “obesity epidemic,” as well as trying to correlate diabetes, heart attacks and other health ailments to weight, and featured a very morbidly obese house-bound man naked in his bed to drive the point home that if we don’t stop eating, this is what we’ll all look like.

The show also interviewed a 450-lb woman named Deidra, who works as a dogsitter and also models. She is a member of NAAFA and dates several fat admirers, including a very cute young man named Dexter. Clips of a Dimensions dance were also shown and another FA made no apologies for preferring fat women. (I’m quite aware of the creepiness factor some FA’s have towards us fat ladies, so I’m not trying to say that their focus on our size and not our minds or personalities is a good thing).

Also shown was a Miss Plus beauty pageant in Monroe, LA, featuring extremely beautiful women size 14 and up representing each state wearing evening gowns and sashaying down the runway just like their thinner counterparts.  Two of the contestants talked about the discrimination and hurtful comments they receive when trying to do everyday things, like shop and buy airplane tickets.

Also discussed was feederism and how in some countries, the fatter a woman is, the more desireable she is, leading mothers to force-feed their daughters sometimes to the point of physical illness so she will attract a husband.  While I believe fat should not be treated as grotesque, I don’t agree with feederism and to me, it’s worse than being fat overall.

The end of the show had a nutritionist say that he doesn’t think society should leave us alone (for our health natch) but two good points were made: that we should not always bear the blame for our fatness, and the hostile and negative attitude towards our bodies may be even worse for us health-wise than being fat itself.

All in all, while this episode of Taboo did trot out some tired old myths, it also showed some positive fat people and the things they are doing to let our fat-hating culture know that we’re not lazy blobs who can’t close the fridge door, and more importantly, we are human beings and deserve respect and dignity like everyone else.

With this new round of fatty drama that’s creeped up in the Fatosphere again, instead of getting involved in it like I did last time, I think we need to clarify again what fat acceptance is to many of us, especially my take on it, since I’ve only had this blog up and running for 10 months.

Fat Acceptance to me means:

-Coming to terms that no matter what you do diet and exercise wise you will never make you a single digit size and that’s okay.

-Being allowed to wear clothing that isn’t a sweatsuit or a mu mu and not being judged for it.
-Trying to educate society that fat does not always equal unhealthy or the chance to become unhealthy. Correlation does not equal causation. There have been those that weren’t fat who’ve died from heart attacks, and those who were/are fat who’ve lived/are living with no major health problems.

-Not trying to tell society you should find us sexually attractive, but that we should be treated and respected as human beings. And even if I were a size 2, as a biracial woman with short frizzy hair and a spattering of freckles and moles on my face, I still wouldn’t fit the Western ideal of  a hard-on. Nor would I want to be.  If we all looked the same or tried to force our bodies and faces into that so-called ideal, the world would be a boring place. So yeah, let the fatsos be.

-That we spend money and pay taxes like everyone else, so stop talking about us as if we’re not here. I find it laughable that so many think we don’t hold down some type of steady job and instead collect every type of public assistance out there while staying home and shoving baked goods down our throats all day. Last time I checked, there were fat secretaries, fat nurses, fat managers, fat bus drivers, fat teachers, fat TV camera operators and fat people working many different types of occupations.  Don’t tell me that there aren’t any visibly fat people in your workplace. So just stop with that craziness.

-For someone like me, who is over 300 lbs (the horror!!!) that yes, I work a full-time job, do housework, participate in physical activity at least 3 times a week and do not need a hoverlift to get out of my house and into a car or public transit. And for those folks who do need assistance, it’s still not anyone’s place to judge them. It irritates me that there’s a mindset out there that once you hit 300, your life basically ends. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t, and you haven’t really lived until you’ve seen a 300 lb. deathfattie do that 10 minute Cha-Cha slide dance. It’s extra pressure for me and others like me, because we are the public face of the obesity hysteria, despite the media not showing our faces. We are the most hated and feared because of our size, and I want to tell you to stop hiding under the bedsheets and see me as a person, not some alien from the planet Dorito.

I realize I’m not going to change a lot of people’s opinions about what they think the lifestyle of a fat person is. But before anyone comes into this community to start trolling and acting like a jackass all over our blogs, I seriously encourage you to stop and think that your hateful words really aren’t going to make the majority of us sign up for WLS or begin exercising for six hours a day. You may want us to do that, but the reality is, it probably won’t happen.  I’m going to live my life to the fullest and take each day as it comes with the body I have, not with struggling to get the body you think I should have.

And that’s what fat acceptance means to me.

So I got my copy of the Spring Preview catalog from Silhouettes last week and while thumbing through it, saw this:

You've GOT to be kidding me.

This is what they expect us fat gals to wear this spring? Now, I’m not a fashionista by any means, but anything that makes me look like I should be in Ringling Brothers doesn’t go in my closet.  I wouldn’t pay $49 for it (the actual price), or even 49 cents.

Is it too much to ask  some of these plus-size retailers to stop getting their inspiration from episodes of The Golden Girls?

On a positive note, I did get a $10 off birthday coupon to use at Torrid, so I’ll be browsing their site to see if there’s anything that strikes my fancy. I don’t think I have to worry about garish tunics with bat wings over there.

These days, it seems anyone having a debate will usually throw in some fat hate into the argument when fat has nothing to do with the topic at hand.  The weather sucks? Too many fat people are walking around. That latest episode of CSI blew? Wouldn’t happen if those fatties weren’t here. It makes no sense, yet it happens. Which leads me to the actual case in point.

This opinion piece from Yahoo Shine, where the writer makes fun of the latest invention from the people that brought you The Snuggie, the Snuggie Suit. Now, I don’t own a Snuggie and don’t plan to buy one. If I get cold, I just throw on a robe that doesn’t hinder my movements.

The mocking of the Snuggie Suit leads to criticism of how lazy we’ve gotten these days, choosing instead to wear pajamas and unflattering sweats in public. But this trend of wearing your bedclothes out of bed has been around since Madonna started sporting bras on the outside of her tops, and when my mother worked at a banking call center back in the mid-90’s, she told me that the girls would wear their pajamas and slippers to work because since they didn’t actually have to see the person they were talking to on the phone, it shouldn’t have mattered what they wore.

Now I know many members of FA believe we should wear whatever we want to wear, but I think even most of us have to admit that wearing pajamas to the grocery store (especially at 2pm in the afternoon) does lack ambition.  Now, if it’s 2am and you have a child or a spouse who needs Tylenol and the only place to get is that all-night grocery store, or you need to take an unexpected trip to the ER, looking like you stepped out of Vogue shouldn’t even be required.

However, during this debate on Yahoo about people who think just putting on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt to head down to the local mini mart is too hard, several people started talking about those fat lazy slobs who just don’t give a darn, and no wonder everyone’s so fat in America, blah blah blah.

People, we ain’t talking about the obesity epipanic. The OP didn’t even mention fat. They were just venting about trying to rationalize wearing a Snuggie outside of the house. Nowhere in that editorial was anyone playing Fat Hate Bingo. So why even bring it up in the first place? Now, if the topic was a rant about what fat people shouldn’t be wearing (and thank God it wasn’t because how many of those tiresome posts have popped up on comment sites), I would expect lots of “OMG I saw a huge 300-lb. woman wearing LEGGINGS!!!” in the comments. But if nobody was hating on fatties for their clothing choices, why go off on a fat-hate roll in the first place?

Here’s some advice: If nobody gives a rip about fatties in the topic, then there ain’t no need to bring them up and start bashing them. Because some of those pajama-loving, sweat-wearing fatties may be your friends or even in your own family.

P.S. I commented in the thread, replying to an idiot who believes something is wrong when the majority of women are a size 14. Back in the good old days before a size 14 was considered the end of the world, it used to be a plain size large, and is still is for many retailers.

The first actual week of January, also known as “Fat Hate Month”, is gone and not surprisingly, there were a lot of fat-related stories in the news, along with the nonstop loop of Nutrisystem commercials on every TV channel.

Is Fat Acceptance Bad For Our Health? (Only to those threatened by seeing fat people who actually wanted to be treated like human beings).

CBS News trots out another tiresome childhood obesity write-up, with inflated statistics, fear-mongering and exploiting an unhappy fat girl who feels like a failure simply because she doesn’t have the ideal waist size.

The New York Times, whose obsession with fat people seems to increase year by year, wonders if you can be overweight and still healthy. (Considering the number of people who haven’t dropped dead just for being porkers yet, I’d say yeah).

As the new season of The Biggest Loser draws high ratings, this piece questions the safety of the contestants’ rapid weight loss and strenuous exercise and how they’re portrayed on the show (but remember, still being fat is horrible).

Finally, here’s something I read tonight in The Baltimore Sun: Jason Alexander (George of Seinfeld fame) is becoming Jenny Craig’s new spokesman, with a goal to lose 30 lbs. because his son called him fat. Or that just may be a code phrase for “my career’s on the skids and maybe weight loss will get me noticed in Hollywood again. ” You be the judge.

Happy New Year!

Since we’re now in the thick of the winter season, I changed my header to polar bears. They’re big and cuddly but can be ferocious when threatened, so I think they make good mascots for the Fatosphere.

I had a great New Year’s Eve. I went to a dinner/dance featuring a cover band who were wonderful. When four men and a woman can do a better job singing Madonna’s “Dress You Up” than the Material Girl herself, you know you’re hearing real talent. The best part? I danced my ass off without having to step on a giant scale. Take that Oxygen!

January can be a depressing time for non self-loathing fatties, because the media is obsessed with telling us how gross and unhealthy we are, and our lives are miserable because of it.

No doubt you’ve been seeing the new crop of Nutrisystem ads telling us gals to “jumpstart” our weight loss program. Sorry, but I’ll spend my $28 or whatever the amount is on the program to buy food that actually tastes good and I can inspect it first. Home shopping networks hawk weight loss and exercise products in the name of fat shame. We’re supposed to make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and keep it off at all costs.

Instead of using this month to obsess over fat, take this month to think about things you can really do without losing your sanity and risking your physical health. Is there a book you’ve been wanting to read but haven’t gotten around to yet? Or take a noncredit class to learn a new skill or for personal enrichment? Plan a vacation to a location you haven’t visited yet, whether it’s out of the country or 10 miles down the road. Try out a new restaurant (’cause you know all fatties love to do nothing but eat). Find clothes that flatter your body and personal style. Refuse to participate in workplace “Biggest Loser” competitions and exercise, if you can, on your own for fun. Take pictures of yourself and don’t be afraid to show them off—let everyone know you have a head.

So on this first day of January 2010 and for the rest of the year, let’s take the focus off of how fat we are and focus on how fabulous we are while fat. That’s my wish for the first year of this brand new decade.

I’ll be taking a long holiday hiatus until after January. With celebrating Christmas, eagerly anticipating (and watching) Doctor Who’s Christmas special (and David Tennant’s last episodes) The End of Time and actually going out for New Year’s Eve this year, I’ll be a pretty busy gal. I’ll also be more than likely working overtime after the new year at my new job, so posts will be few and far between.

Have a great holiday everyone, no matter what you’re celebrating, and I want to leave you with this heartwarming message, courtesy of SpongeBob Squarepants:

See ya in 2010!