Hi – I’m Sarah and I’m going to be blogging about all things curvy for FatPhrocks. I’m already active in the blog-world, with plus size blogs of my own, a positive thinking blog and regular contributions to Bea. I’m even writing a novel based on three very sassy and fun-loving curvy girls, which is due to be published next year. I’m a size 22 (on a good day) and I’ve always been curvy, although I’ve only really been plus-sized for about twelve years.
I’m always on the lookout for great places to find plus sized fashion, and I really love the dresses on the FatPhrocks website. It can be so hard to find decent clothes when you’re curvy, especially if, like me, you love your fashion and want to look good. Fashion shouldn’t be all about covering up and hiding your body, it should be about showing off your best bits, accentuating your natural curves and going out looking great whatever your size. Bright colours? Bold patterns? Bring ‘em on!
This week I was sent a press release that really annoyed me.
“Diet for Britain’s sake, says Boossh Boss
Obesity and related illnesses put a major strain on the economy, says Boossh weight loss founder Mike White.
“Costs relating to obesity and poor health among British workers now amount to £21.5bn a year, according to a 25-year study conducted by Gallup. The situation would be easier to rectify if more people were encouraged to slim down and get in shape, said Mr White.
“Obesity and illness are very often linked – if the hundreds of workers who are reportedly taking extraordinary amounts of sick leave were to drop their excess weight, their health, and quality of life would improve, leading to more active and productive employees,” says Mr White.
“The Gallup study, which followed the lifestyle habits of some 9,000 people, found that eight in 10 British workers are overweight or living with long-term illnesses that limit productivity. Among all Brits, the number of sick days per year has reached a dizzying 103-million days.
“Many of the conditions referenced in the study are aggravated by, if not directly related to, obesity: back and knee pain, depression, high blood pressure and asthma. Not to mention type 2 diabetes. In many cases losing weight means losing a number of related ailments,” said Mr White.
“He believes the study shows that when people decide to commit to losing weight, they are not only helping themselves but also helping relieve the already-enormous pressure on the economy.
“I would go so far as to say that it is our patriotic duty to maintain an ideal weight and eat as healthily as possible,” he mused.”
That’s the sort of ill-informed rubbish that’s guaranteed to get my blood boiling. Since when has it been our patriotic duty to subject ourselves to a punishing, miserable diet just to keep people like Mr White in business? I’m all for getting fit and staying healthy, and I believe that it’s way, way more important to be fit and active than it is to be slim. That’s why I go to the gym! There’s no mention of fitness in this press release, just ‘slimming down and getting into shape’.
That’s hardly surprising as the Booshh plan is a meal replacement ‘diet pak’ style system.
As for the list of conditions attributed to obesity – all of those conditions affect slim people too. Demonising fatties and making us feel guilty is a low blow. I say ignore badly thought out messages like this, look after yourself and give Boossh a miss!
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Hi Sarah,
Love your first article!
Thanks
Steve
Wow..Mike the knob!
Fab first post, looking forward to hearing more x
Hi Positive Sarah
I wish you well with your fatfrocks. Having read the above article, I can see why you felt annoyed. You are right, the man doesn’t know what he is talking about. Meal replacement diet!!! How soon will people get fed up with that and how soon will the pounds pile back on, plus some? I am sure we know the answer.
I have never met a fat person who chooses to be fat. In my opinion, fat people know far more about overweight than do the people pushing diets, especially the meal replacement ones.
Well done Sarah, and thank you for bringing this article to my attention. I for one have been on a diet for most of my life and all it’s gotten me is miserable and actually an eating disorder when I was younger. So, where do you draw the line here! People who diet So much it gets dangerous, let’s all be happy eat cake and enjoy life! Sod off Mike you pratt! X
I’ve had about three of his company’s press releases since then and they are all the same. In my opinion, although I dislike diets in general, I’d never presume to tell anyone to not go on a diet any more than I’d tell them that they should. But any diet that tells women (and men) that it’s their patriotic duty to eat fake meal paks every day until they look socially acceptable is one to avoid like the plague, as far as I’m concerned…
PS: Thanks for the welcome! I’ll be back on Friday
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your insightful post. People like Mike give the nutrition and health industry a bad name. As a registered nutritionist myself I am an advocate of “health at every weight” Size doesn’t always equate to fitness. I have met some thin, incredibly unhealthy and unfit people in my lifetime and I know plenty of curvy, fit and healthy people too. Everyone has their particular flavour of REAL. I feel really sad when I read things about diets and fake food.
Loving regards,
Ani x
I’m so with you on that Ani. It’s perfectly possible to be healthy and fit at a larger size and there are plenty of unfit slim people who smoke, drink too much and eat junk food, but they are percieved as being healthy simply because they are slimmer than I am. The media and the fitness industry are missing a trick by making these lazy assumptions about obesity – if they started to be more inclusive and accept that we’re all built differently and we can all be as healthy as possible at WHATEVER weight, the world would be an easier, more accepting place for everyone…