Many thanks to Shameless for inviting me to guest-blog this month. I hope that I’ve helped you to learn a bit more about a new topic, and perhaps inspired you to do a little more thinking about why so many of us believe that fat is bad.

Questioning commonly-held perceptions, and even changing your attitude, is only one step. I’ve found that it’s a lot easier to accept others’ bodies than it is to accept my own. I can look at a fat woman and think she’s beautiful, but look at myself and criticize my flabby stomach. I can understand that my body size is not a direct reflection of my health status, but feel like I “need” to work out more than others to “make up” for my size. I can know that diets don’t work, but be tempted to try again anyway. I can know that I’m actually barely over the size of the average North American woman, but still feel unacceptably fat.

Accepting yourself doesn’t just happen overnight, and it requires constant effort. If you’re able to find a support system, you’re much more likely to have more good days than bad. Whether it be friends who respect that your body is not a topic for discussion, a hobby or activity you love, or a bunch of resources to fall back on when you can’t remember why you’re allowed to trust your body and eat what you like, find something to support you. Some of the resources I turn to regularly include:

The Fat Nutritionist (a Toronto-based nutrition student who studies, practices and teaches intuitive eating and Health at Every Size)
Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose, the blog that introduced me to fat acceptance
Fatshionista, a plus-size fashion and size acceptance community

If you taking nothing else from learning a bit about size acceptance, I hope you’ll be willing to consider that everyone, regardless of their body size, is deserving of respect and autonomy regarding what they do with their bodies. That includes yourself. Cheers!