TAX ON WAX-

Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda....I love you guys but the TAX FOR WAX? Yes, some salon wants to up their fees for the anyone over a size 8 or http://www.thegloss.com/2013/11/24/beauty/fat-tax-leg-wax-salon/12 for a wax job.  SHAME on that salon! While Kathy Lee found some common sense reasons why a tax might be called for.  Call it the square footage hypothesis (like Kathy suggests), the more effort or product needed the more we need to pay. Think of a painter painting your house, Kathy suggests. My skinny ass disagrees. And Kathy Lee, I rarely disagree with you.
.
If they are right (the salon), then they ought to charge by the square foot (or centimeter) for the Brazilian wax. I know women (size 2 women) who have more pubic hair than Abdul has beard. I've see it down to their knees. Charge them! Have a pubic inspector measure their lady spot. Denser than a forest and larger than a saucer should be double. Frisbee sized, triple.

How about haircuts? My husband has a head the size of a pumpkin. Should we up the prices for those with bigger heads when they get a haircut? How about thick hair? Double them. Balding, you get a discount.

What about big boobs? Any bra over a C cup should be priced for the extra fabric. That under wire must add the cost right? And when you get a breast exam or mammogram, double that fee for anything over a D.

Big mouths? The more teeth you have, the bigger they are, the more a dental cleaning should cost. My poor mother had five teeth in her head and still has to pay the full amount.

Don't get me going about shoes. Steve Madden, start charging for the extra material you need to make a size ten.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to sound back Kathy. I love you guys but I think you got this wrong.

http://www.thegloss.com/2013/11/24/beauty/fat-tax-leg-wax-salon/

Is Fat Acceptance and Weight Loss Surgery at Odds? Can the Slimosphere and Fatosphere Share Space?

Big Fat Blog is an interesting place to visit. . . .

Shame on anyone for thinking that WLS patients or advocates are sizists. I will always be that fat woman.  Always. Unfortunately she was not working for me and I am a hell of a lot more content with a light body to carry around with my degenerative arthritis, Lupus, intermittent brain swelling and joints that are too flexible . . .but most of all I am happy to have lost the burden of shame and ridicule -most of which is disguised in everyday interaction. 

Unless you have a hidden camera or recording device you'll have no idea what they say about you behind your back! 

A few years back I sat on a committee where we interviewed applicant for a therapist position.  
Joyce was big, really big but by far she was the best choice- as fora as I was concerned.  The group met on a Sunday over breakfast while we went though the applications.  No one in the group knew me as the 300-pounder I once was or they wouldn't have said what they did that morning.

"Joyce obviously can't handle anyone with an eating disorder," giggled Sandy.  I knew Sandy did have an eating disorder, bulimia, one she kept hidden form our group but I smelled when she left the bathroom with puke on her breath.

"Oh my God, can you imagine going out to lunch with her," laughed Terry. I ate lunch with terry for years; she was a cheap bitch who never paid her share, ate of my plate and then had the nerve to sneak money from the tip.

As they went around the table I had time to search my purse for my business card, the one i use when i run weight groups.  I keep them on me, one side shows me at in underwear, topping the scales at 300+ and the other side half of me.  Under the pictures is the sentence: Which Woman Would You Hire as Your Therapist? 

I flipped the picture-card out, threw down a $20 and left.
Joyce was hired. The truth and the saddest fact is that FAT ME was just as good in every way as THIN ME.  I wasn't as big a woman as Joyce to shoulder what society dished out.

I admire all of you for holding up that banner some of us couldn't.

By-the-way, I left the practice and so did Joyce.  We remain wonderful friends.    

Thank God for Weight Loss Surgery Otherwise it might have been Tonga, Kuait, Fiji, Jamaica, Samoa, . . .

One time I decided to go to a third world to lose weight. So fat I had been unable to catch anorexia or bulimia, every diet failed me and my exercise bike broke under my weight. I was wearing depends from the blisters. Then I found the article for the missionary activity in the subway. It read: Christian Envoy’s needed for faith work in South Africa. Bring the word of Jesus and the Love of God to all! 

Okay, I was going. It made complete sense: third world, terrible food, limited portions and diarrhea. Nuts, bananas, fruit, some rice and God-knows, in a few months of treking through the jungle I’d be thin.  My only issue was that I was married and Jewish.  There I am joking with my girlfriend, Layne, about the idea. 

“In case you don’t know, South Africans are fat, they life to be fat, and the prize it.” 

Read this from top tenz

10. Tonga

In the small South Pacific island of Tonga, beauty is marked by large physical size.  This coupled with a reliance on fatty, nutrient-deficient imported foods and a decrease in activity has caused the nation to embrace obesity.  About 100,000 of the island’s 114,000 adult inhabitants are overweight.  According to several studies released in 2004 by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, Tongans are genetically predisposed to be fat.  The predilection toward feminine obesity also appears to be rooted in heredity and custom.

Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-countries-celebrating-female-obesity.php#ixzz2RaZkKewa

9. Kuwait

Middle Eastern Kuwait is not only home to rich oil deposits in the land but some in its people.  Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and 52% of Kuwaiti women over 15 are obese.  Historically, these nomadic desert people came to prize fatness as a sign of health and wealth–a trend which clearly continues to this day.  In a country where women exercising is a taboo, wives are frequently prized as decorative items to fill up the house: the bigger, the more opulent.

8. Fiji

As its leaders strove to connect the once-isolated island with the rest of the world, Fiji unwittingly introduced new calorie-dense food into its diet.  This South Pacific nation’s customs revolve around the giving of food as a sign of prosperity.  This, coupled with insufficient education about health risks, has left the vast majority of Fiji overweight.  Not only are they fat, they are happy.  Girth has long been revered in a woman as a sign of health, wealth and fertility.

7. Jamaica

With nearly 65% of Jamaican females classified as obese, the ideal beach body is nearly twice its medically-appropriate size.  In this island nation particular emphasis is placed on generous hips and hindquarters, a condition known as steatopygia.  A 1993 study conducted in rural Jamaica associated thinness with sadness but heaviness with happiness, kindness and social harmony.  There is also a burgeoning pill market which caters to young women desiring to gain weight.

6. Samoa

Since the country abandoned its South Pacific taro and fish diet for processed foods following WWII, body mass has been on the rise in Samoa.  Nonetheless, obesity is not a recent phenomenon there:  Food shortages have plagued the natives for centuries and biological anthropologists believe Samoans are genetically programmed to store extra calories in fat tissue.  Because this natural proclivity produces a generally larger population, heavy women are simply the norm and therefore embraced.

5. South Africa

Due to the prevalence of AIDS, the association between weight loss and illness has contributed to South Africa’s negative view of thinness.  The centuries-old correlation between higher weight and higher wealth was not overcome by the post-Apartheid introduction of European size ideals.  Large women continue to be favored as their heft lends insight into both their health and financial status.

4. Afghanistan

For centuries, plump Afghani women have been prized for their stark contrast to the barren environment.  Female fertility is highly associated with excess pounds among these nomads eking out survival in the desert sand.  For the most part, burquas conceal the exact terrain of a woman’s body but a chubby face with soft features is highly desired.

3. Tahiti

The French Polynesian island of Tahiti was home to the native practice of ha’apori.  Literally meaning “to fatten,” young women were plumped and presented to the chief for beauty and fertility inspection.  The celebration of obesity continues to this day, due in part to a diet rich in carbohydrates and coconut milk.  Tahitian women continue to be revered for their rounded faces and bodies.

2. Nauru

Not only is Nauru known for the highest rate of diabetes in the world at 31%, it is renowned for its universal embrace of obesity.  This tiny South Pacific island’s 14,000 population associates corpulence with beauty and fertility– women are fattened in preparation for childbearing and men for strength competitions.  The phosphate deposits which cover the vast majority of the island prohibit large scale farming.  Importation of fresh produce continues to be cost-prohibitive so mostly cheap, fattening foods are brought in from New Zealand and Australia.

1. Mauritania

In this drought-ridden west African nation, female obesity is synonymous with beauty and wealth.  Though less common, “gavage” (borrowed from the French to describe fattening a goose’s liver destined for foie gras) is still practiced, with young girls imbibing vast qualities of fatty camel milk daily.  Women unable to pack on the pounds at fat farms routinely take antihistamines and animal steroids to induce appetite.  Exercise isfrowned upon and women are frequently divorced for their inability to sustain excessive girth after childbirth.

Suzanne Duvall

Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-countries-celebrating-female-obesity.php#ixzz2RaZBzQen

Psychology, Your Dieting and Your Fat

Yesterday I had a call from a mental health worker. I was sure she was no more than 25, just out of diapers, near-emaciated and no issue worse than an ingrown hair from her bikini wax.  

“Do you recall Roberta SOandSo? I’m reviewing her obesity history and I know she saw you a year ago and I still don’t have a clear idea about how she became obese.”

Roberta was in the process of securing her permissions for weight loss surgery. There always has to be a reason when you’re fat. It’s like being a drunk or addict—those psychologist’s need to turn you inside out to find the splinter in your fiber, shake you up and down to get the pebble in your sole; because you have to be fat for a reason. Rest assured if you are being interviewed by one of them, he or she will think they can pin-point the exact hour, time place and circumstance by spending weeks sorting through your personal history (at over a hundred dollars an hour). 

Other than overeating, psychology still doesn’t know why you are fat. I preferred to think that I had a normal appetite but was under-exercising. Had I run a marathon each week there would have been nothing wrong with my diet. Today psychology can only tell us that you have low self-esteem, low self-worth, more depression, emotional issues, less satisfying sex and relationships. But it’s the chicken and the egg problem and we don’t know what drives what.

The truth is no one can figure out why we overeat. If we could, we’d have a cure. We might be able to find some triggers, but no solid reasons. And there lies the biggest problem with treating obesity; we all took different paths. Over the years I’ve seen it all; clients whose parents forced them to clear their plates of friend chicken, potatoes smothered in margarine and then tackle of apple pie. I’ve had the closet-eaters who regarded food as precious as crack. My rule is and will always be: if you were obese as a child you have many more issues. But science and doctors don’t care how you got it, like the early Aids epidemic, whether blood transfusion or through sex—you still got it. 

Most of us got fat slowly. Roberta’s poundage crept up. Five children later, an extra seven or eight pounds each year for fifteen years. I calculated it to be equivalent to an extra scoop of ice-cream every day. For that atrocity her doctor sent her to the nutritionist and told her that he wouldn’t see her as a patient unless she lost 20% of her body weight. He told her to get psychotherapy for her food addiction. After that therapist delved into her life, linking pot-lucks with pot-bellies, I like to think I saved her—I don’t know about now.

Roberta had come up with a more believable reason she was fat. At least she did not admit to being sexually abused, in the midst of a divorce, or break-up—that might take you off the surgical table. No one cares if you have a face-list, body-makeover or nose job—but God forbid you have WLS to begin a new life.  

The child-social-worker wasn’t buying the extra scoop of ice-cream hypothesis. She was looking for more: the sexual abuse, rape, beating with a belt, divorce . . . yes, I recalled Roberta might have come from “divorce.”  

It’s so sad that I had to assist Roberta in coming up to a more believable legend for her size.

Dieting, Rex Reed, Fat Acceptance, Obesity, Women and Melissa McCarthy: The skinny on the Fat

I love Melissa McCarthy. So does my husband. NEVER  did her size summon anything negative. In fact I think he has the hots for her!      

Melissa McCarthy's "Identity Thief" opened to record numbers making it one of the best attended debuts of a comedy in all time.  But Rex Reed, a curmudgeon of a man, did not just bash her movie—instead he called her a female hippo, obese, tractor sized and "comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success."

Have you ever sen this man?  Google his name.  He ain't no lightweight.  RUTHLESS REX came out of his closet, one he knows well, to steal her moment. But "Rex, the shoplifter Reed," knows all about stealing. (Rex Reed blames his arrest on fever of forgetfulness", USA Today, February 17, 2000.)  He called it a lapse Did he also forget where his ass had been?  I'm sure it's been in a lot more compromising places than this woman a larger-than-life Melissa has been. 

Then again I ask what other corpulent male actors have he done this deed to- I mean the bashing. Did he ever think about vilifying Hitchcock, Dom, DeLuise, Jack Black, Orson Wells or NATHAN LANE for their girth? 

He wrote, 

"The snafus in the worst road movie since The Guilt Trip plunge Mr. Bateman and his female hippo into a motel with only a double bed, a grotesque sex scene with a pickled reprobate she picks up in a bar who demands a threesome, a violent bar fight that bloodies his nose, a kidnapping, a multi-car collision going the wrong way on the freeway … but why go on? They seem to be making it up as they go along, in a movie that threatens never to end. . . Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success. . .  Poor Jason Bateman. How did an actor so charming, talented, attractive and versatile get stuck in so much dreck? From

 http://observer.com/2013/02/declined-in-identity-thief-batemans-bankable-billing-cant-lift-this-flick-out-of-the-red/

Rex, are you jealous?  

Cacophonous, you also called her.

ca·coph·o·nous  [kuh-kof-uh-nuhs]  adjective

Having a harsh or discordant sound.  

 That's what YOUR words summon.  They assaulted my ears just as much as fag, drunkard, junkie, or shit-packer might.  I raised five children and the're all better behaved than you.  Is this your regular paradigm for treating a bad movie review?  Insult the qualities, attributes or the personal-self of the actors?  What if the actor was an alcoholic or drug addict? How about gay? 

Well, Mr. Reed, this is some kind of strange (I could have used another word and given you a taste of your own medicine) bias you've shown.  Slam the movie, but debasing the actress for her appearance?  It seems like you've been stuck in a lot of dreck (Shit in Yiddish) yourself.  You should know better.

Then you used the constitution to fortify your dreck-filled mouth.  YOU of all people!  And I'm not talking about the oppressed group of idiots and shoplifters.  Just take you old ass to the boonies and see how much of those farm boys and cow hands would take kindly to you.  Truth is—my skinny ass would be right at your side. 

"Saying that his jerky comments are "constitutionally protected, so there's nothing anybody can do," Reed dragged out a conspiracy theory claiming that Universal Pictures was using his review to leverage moviegoers to buy tickets."

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/rex-reed-says-melissa-mccarthy-bases-career-on-being-obnoxious-and-fat-invokes-constitution-for-his-right-to-be-a-jerk-20130211

On Twitter, Paul Feig, who directed McCarthy in Bridesmaids and The Heat, wrote, "I cordially invite Mr. Rex Reed to go fuck himself." (From Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Reed )

I think your miserable self has been doing that- for a long time.

Rex Reed is a figment in his own imagination. 

I just asked my husband to read this.  "Yeah, I love funny women.  Maybe Melissa might get a chance with me. . ."  

Fat-hate is destructive and what was said not only targeted this actress, it hit all of us who battle those attitudes and stereotypes. e 

Lap Band and Gastric Bypass: Is it so terrible?

I had a reality check last night. It came from a literary agent.  I'm trying to get representation for my book FAT CHANCE :

I read your query letter and I see lots that's thought-provoking in your presentation. Unfortunately, there are two detractors against your desire to obtain a book deal.

One problem is that weight loss surgery is still viewed with suspicion by the obese, as well as many physicians, who prefer not to restrict the food entering the stomach by such radical means. The recidivism rate is also daunting, as well as the fact that there have been victims of the surgery who have lost their lives.

I thank her because she reminded me that the world sees WLS as a problem.  Despite endorsement  by every major medical group, and most insurance companies, despite the successes, the public is still fed the shitty media hype out there.

The public wants to see us Carnie or Roker up.  

"Has she gained any of her weight back," my nasty cousin asked my daughter. 

I called her and asked her if she had gained any weight since I saw her last!  

You won't get on the JOY FIT CLUB if you have cheated willpower.  I recall watching that emaciated so-called expert actually say something like this to a woman who lost over 100 pounds . . .  "AND YOU DID IT WITHOUT TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT - SURGERY."

I'm sure the producer screamed in her ear.  She lost all my respect.  I don't degrade the people who work to lose a hundred pounds!  I was one of them and I gained back every bit.  Three times, just like 96% of them will.  That is the statistic.  

I thank that agent, she gave me great advice.  Now we have to share the word about this surgery--we are vilified- like we made a pact with the devil.  

Fat acceptance move over.  We are damned if we do and damned if we don't!  

Al Rocker, Chris Christie and FAT Politics: STOP the Blame!

Today Show host,  Al Roker, debuted his memoir Never Goin' Back: Winning the Weight-Loss Battle For Good,  he revealed two of the worst comments he has faced.  First, he cheated willpower by having weight loss surgery.  Second, people liked him better when he was fat.

In February 2013,  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fired back at a former White House doctor who called attention to his weight. "It's almost a like a time bomb waiting to happen unless he addresses those issues before running for office," Connie Mariano said. 

Christie called her comment "out of line."

The Obese can't win!  They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Millions of opinions later the public is still divided—is it bullying to ask someone to shape up and get healthy?  The public says, "no!" Can it disqualify one from the Presidency?  They say, "yes!"  Does weight loss surgery cheat willpower and make one less of a person?  The public screams, "absolutely!"  Dieting is a solitary effort but few realize what the social world feeds the obese us.  Society vilifies the obese and reminiscent of the early AIDS epidemic, holds them directly accountable.  After all, you can choose what you put in your mouth.

How much do we vilify the obese?

In a study of attitudes on obesity Glen Gaesser revealed  that college students would chose to marry a criminal, embezzler, drug user, shoplifter, or blind person rather than a fat person.  Over half of young women would rather be run over by a truck than be obese and two-thirds would rather be stupid or mean than fat.

·         46% would give a year of life

·         30% would rather go through a divorce

·         35% would rather be severely depressed

·         24% would give up three years of life

64% of all Americans are overweight.  Shockingly even some of the overweight and obese derogate  each other.  There is always someone worse off.  

TIP: Is it any wonder why we self-loath when we gain weight?  YOU many not be the failure. Punch society for some of that contribution. 

Myths of Dieting, Weigh-loss that Undermine Efforts

A profound study was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Profound in that it exposes some myths that are entrenched in our food-thinking.  

“In my view,” said Dr. Jeffrey M. Friedman, a Rockefeller University obesity researcher, “there is more misinformation pretending to be fact in this field than in any other I can think of. (NY TIMES, Many Weight-Loss Ideas Are Myth, Not Science, Study Finds. 01/31/2013). ”

We operate using a “reasonableness bias” – If something sounds reasonable we buy into it.  It does seem reasonable that if you weigh yourself every day it might help control your weight.  Right?  Wrong!  Personally the scale confounds me.  I don't touch it.  If my non-stretch jeans feel a little tight, I watch myself.  It might also seem reasonable that if people urge you on it can help you lose weight.  Not so.  The worst that you can do for someone battling weight is to nag.  I have a friend who watches me weight like she'd panning for gold.  When six months of prednisone (notorious for putting on weight) bloated me up some fifteen pounds, up to a size 10, (I'm 5' 7"), I stopped seeing her.  Frustration with weight is another issue that is cloudy. 

It might seem that if you get frustrated you will drop off the weight loss wagon.  Again, that is not necessarily true.  Some people thrive, are motivated when they are frustrated.  It heightens the importance of the goal. 

It might seem reasonable that setting small goals might help more than setting large goals.  Not necessarily true.  Some individuals like the challenge of life-changing weight loss.  That's one of the appeals of WLS.  

The article points out that Weight Loss Surgery may be the best option for some of us.

In my opinion the greatest problem we face is self-loathing.  It gets in the way of rationality, deflates self-worth and sets us up for failure because we think we doomed.  Enjoy the article link below! Dr. Dawn Hopper.

  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/myths-of-weight-loss-are-plentiful-researcher-says/