Random Rants and Dubious Doubts

I am obsessed with food. I just am. That is the truth of my daily existence. I am constantly thinking about food. How much time has passed since I last ate and how soon can I reasonably eat again? What will I eat next? Where am I going to eat? Will I cook or will I order in? I am happy – what can I eat? I am sad – what can I eat?

The question of whether or not I should be obsessed with food is really no one else’s business. It is just a fact of my life that I deal with the same way I deal with everything else in my life like flossing and determining the best location in my kitchen for the compost bucket. I just deal with it privately and with as much grace as I can muster.

My point is — it’s my life. I don’t get in your face about how much makeup you wear, but since you asked — I think you are wearing too much foundation. You look like a clown with that heavy pancake on your face, that shade of lipstick makes your skin look green, and heavy blue eyeshadow went out in the 1970′s and honestly, it didn’t look good back then.

Haters Not Welcome Here. People who post comments on this blog about what other people eat, how much other people eat, whether or not they should eat what they eat, and what type of person is a person who eats whatever it is that you think is the wrong amount of food will just not be tolerated and will be promptly deleted. I am horrified by the virulent comments that I delete on a regular basis. This is a free country and your viewpoints are protected by the constitution. I’d like to remind you that mine are too.

I don’t talk much about my eating here and maybe I should but I fear that once I start to be truthful about obsessive eating then I will want to talk about painful memories like the misery of childhood taunting from kids at school, teachers and even my own parents. Once I start to openly write about weight loss and weight gain I will want to talk about all those emotions that we share but that I would rather intellectualize about in terms of society and philosophy. Once I start then there is no going back and I would so much rather tell you about the new Danskin plus size line of Activewear and Dancewear in sizes up to 4x. Finally something to wear to Big Moves classes! Click here to purchase Danskin Women’s Dancewear. Enjoy Free Shipping on orders of $75 or more!

Fashion is fun. Fat hatred sucks.

I don’t come to your house and make fun of your curtains but now that I’ve brought it up…you should probably reconsider those sheers in your bathroom.

Am I A Fat Traitor? If I (a) have gained weight and (b) I want to lose weight then am I a traitor to the fat positive cause? I think that many of my body positive blogging friends would say yes. I used to be thinner. I don’t hate myself and I actually spend an embarrassing amount of time admiring myself in mirrors. I will tell anyone who stands still long enough to listen that beauty comes in many shapes and sizes, and yet I still think about losing weight. Marilyn Wann told me to stop thinking about losing weight and to surrender all hope of being thinner. Kate Harding told me that my desire to be thin is based on pure fantasy. And yet I still think about losing weight.

I do agree that my desire to be thinner is completely connected with societal pressure and, as Kate shared so eloquently when she wrote The Fantasy of Being Thin I agree with her that I want to be thin because I imagine that I will magically become a more fascinating, more beautiful, more creative woman when my body fits some ideal size and I know that this is complete bullshit. I-agree-completely-with-every-word-Kate-said. But I still want to be thin.

I told my husband last night that “I want my body back.” Yes I said that out loud. To a man who sees me – yes he really sees me – and loves me. I have gained 35 pounds since we met. I have no children but I did spend a year caring for my sick father and I just couldn’t leave the house, I couldn’t work and I stayed home with him and I ate. But my father died two years ago and I have gained more weight since then.

I know my fatosphere blogging friends might be thinking, “You’ve gained weight? So what?” But you don’t understand I’ve gained 35 pounds! I know that some of my fatosphere friends might be thinking “You’ve gained 35 pounds? Who are you to complain? I’ve gained…insert number of pounds here! No matter. Each of us has our own thing about our bodies and this is mine.

I shared with a friend recently that at one time I was so consumed with self-loathing that I had to force myself to say nice things about myself in the mirror before I left the house just to be able to function through the day. And not just nice things about my personality but nice things about my body. I’ve been asked to write a longer article about that experience for another web site and honestly I’ve been avoiding it because it’s so hard to go there.

Writing about those days will mean reliving them in some way and it is just so damn hard to do that.

Lurkers welcome. I know you are here because Google Analytics tell me you are. You don’t post comments but I know you are reading and I thank you. Please don’t do anything you don’t want to do and if you don’t want to comment then please continue to read and not post comments. I just wanted to take a moment to say hello and I appreciate you. I really really do.

I Celebrate My Every Curve

I Celebrate My Every Curve

This happened to me the other night
A guy in a bar wanted to fight
He gave me a look as if to say
That seeing me had ruined his day
That he would rather kiss a toad
Or lick the asphalt off the road
Than sit at the bar knee to knee
With a girl as fat as me.

He said that I would look so pretty
If only I were itty bitty
And did I not realize the fact
That even though I am truly stacked
No man would ever really want me
Because fat girls just aren’t as sexy
As those other women with no hips
Whose flat bellies make him lick his lips.

I suppose I could have made a scene
Maybe kick his leg and say things mean
But then I thought that instead of spite
I’d consider his personal plight
A man might feel betrayed or hurt
Shocked by his own desire to flirt
With a buxom curvy beauty
Instead of a slender narrow cutie.

Bombarded on a daily basis
With images of smooth young faces
Certain the only shape he’d feel
Has rock hard abs and buns of steel
Although he might long for a bride
With cleavage deep and backside wide
Coping with ridicule and abuse
A single man might get the blues.

Every magazine he’s read
Tells him to get me into bed
By finding some sort of common ground
And surely no woman wants to be round
So he thought he’d strike up a chat
About how terrible it is to be fat
And while his pickup line was lame
I refuse to walk the path of shame.

I’ve got no interest in diet fads
I change the channel on workout ads
I’d rather have delicious lunches
Than execute one hundred crunches
Country walks and chats by the fire
Glasses of wine with friends who inspire
I’ll never agree to do without
Being hungry makes me pout.

I told him that he would be surprised
By the softness of my thighs
And yes I jiggle when I wiggle
My body shakes with every giggle
And when I sit around the house
I know you’re looking down my blouse
So even though you’ve got some nerve
I celebrate my every curve.

Corinna Makris
February 5, 2007