Exactly! It's a defense mechanism. An understandable one.

"Proud to be fat," isn't really what any of the size acceptance movement is about. Proud and fat, maybe. It may not seem like there's a distinction, but it's a very important one. "Should" a fat person be proud of their body? Should they be ashamed of it?

Our society says yes, you should be ashamed, you should be VERY ashamed. So ashamed, that no matter how stifling hot, you should never expose shoulder or knee - even at the pool. In fact, you shouldn't even own a swimming suit until you're a size 8. You really shouldn't be proud of anything, unless you're a size 8.

I know this is an exageration, but the sad part is that it isn't, at least not by much. Look how much our society bombards us with those messages. How many women do we hear here who refuse to wear a swimsuit until they lose a certain number of pounds. And how often is that number under 10? We laugh seeing europeans on the beach, with their 300 lb men and women in speedos and bikinis. It is absolutely hilarious how they are out in the sun and surf, enyoying themselves, Geez don't they know any better.

I may never be thin. I may never be average sized. If I am able to reach and maintain a weight under 200 lbs, I will be proud. I will even be proud of my still fat body. There will be people who will say that at 180, or 160, or even 150 that I am too fat to be proud of my body.

I just now realized that with almost 200 lbs still to lose, with my last statement, I have given myself permission to be proud of my body only after I have lost more than will remain. Wow, what a long journey this is going to be. And maybe that's the real point. Loving ourselves flaws and all, and not allowing others to tell us we don't have a right to.

I'm going to have to throw my towel in with the "let's accept the fat acceptance movement" ring.

On every social movement, as has been already stated here, there is the moderate 80%, the barely comfortable to be associated with this group 10%, and the Full Throttle Hot Rodder 10%.

Us in the comfortable 80% zone depend on the 10% front edge so much in so many ways. They are the ones whose in-your-face approach forces the "normal society" to re-evaluate their ideas about the social group. Their strength in promoting both societal acceptance and SELF acceptance gives us the room to feel comfortable with ourselves while we deal with our own issues. They are the ones who create the lines of "too fat to [fill in the blank]" in the eyes of everyone, including ourselves, and I say all the power to them.

I don't have a specific goal weight but rather a goal lifestyle. That lifestyle will certainly lead me to a healthier body, but also certainly will not lead me to one that is considered "thin" by the stretch of any imagination. I just don't care to go there, but just because I don't choose to does not mean that I don't expect to get the same opportunities and benefits of someone else who does go there. And, if I do have those opportunities, I'll thank the fat acceptance movement for them.

Wow Jen,

I think you nailed it. It seems like only the extreme viewpoint gets any attention, because it's shocking. And gets people talking. And while mainstream society won't be pulled over to any extreme view, it might be pulled towards it just a little bit.

You said it!

If I only lose down to 200lbs and never lose another ounce the rest of my life, I will be very happy and very proud of myself. That would afterall mean a 130lb weight loss for me. 200lbs is certainly no skinny minnie and on me, translates into about a US size 16. But I like how I look at that weight and I think it's just fine... even though it's still overweight. But it's where I'M comfortable and that's all that matters. Even my therapist says the exact same thing. Striving for some unrealistic ideal is probably going to make me give up out of frustration, gain the weight back, and my eating disorder that I have done so well getting under control will probably come back. Because telling people to not like themselves or be happy with themselves because they're fat (or rather, the OTHER person THINKS they are fat) causes exactly those kind of problems.

I'm sick of the attitute that our sum worth is a number on a scale or a number attached to a piece of clothing. And if we aren't what society thinks we ought to be we are nothing and ought to realize that. Screw that. I'm not here to live my life for anyone else. There are people out there that think double digit sizes are just FAT beyond belief (HAHA) and any woman over 120lbs should just hide away. That'd just about put 90% of American women in caves, don't you think!

This thin obsessed society is sick and I'd rather be proud to be fat (or rather proud AND fat) than be proud to be something I'm not. And if I lost weight to fit some societal expectations, I'm sure not being true to myself. I AM happy and proud of who I am... numbers have nothing do with it. Whether my scale says 300 or 100, I'll still be who I am on the inside. Anyone who cares about anything more isn't worth my time anyway.

If you want to get down to it, you can't lose weight and keep it off out of self-hatred. I've had to learn that the hard way. As someone else mentioned in some other thread around here, you take care of the things you love. Anytime I try to lose weight because I hate my weight, I fail miserably because I'm doing it from a very negative place. But it works for me when I lose the weight because I have enough self-interest, self-love and self-respect to want to be healthy (healthy by MY standards, mind you) so I can do all these things I want to do that being THIS overweight holds me back from (like mountain climbing and biking for instance).