I started a new tumblr for those of us who want to share how we foster wellness in our lives. There have been a few tumblrs who claim to be shame free fitness blogs but still allow for weight loss and diet talk to happen. I’m hoping this will give people the space to see how other people move their bodies and allow for everyone to share how they move theirs.

Come and share your own story!

Very soon Love Your Body Detroit will be found at loveyourbodydetroit.com, until then catch up with us at our facebook (Linked above). I will also be blogging via tumblr at FatBodyPolitics.tumblr.com.

-Amanda-

If you are a reader of this blog, it isn’t going anywhere and I am not either. I want a name that I feel fits my mindset as I have taken a drastically different direction in my life over the past few years. If you want to make sure you continue to get updates, subscribe on the right. Everything goes live by Monday, possibly sooner.

-Amanda-

From her tumblr she wrote,

Stand4Kids

Here’s my response to the fat-hating ads in Georgia. Please reblog! I want the world to know that I stand up to weight bullies!
If you want to Stand4Kids too, send me your photo and we’ll create an ad about what you STAND for, so you can tell the world. ALSO:

Join the Facebook group, here, and learn about the project to buy a real billboard in Georgia!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/344255848935079/

Be sure to register and check out the Body Love Revolutionaries Telesummit that starts on January 31st with Marilyn Wann, Peggy Howell and me talking about activism. It is going to be amazing. For more information about the summit, how to register and about all of the speakers go to http://www.bodyloverevolution.com/

Also check out the facebook event page.

Here is the complete schedule!

Activism — Tuesday, January 31st at 8PM EST with Peggy Howell (NAAFA), Amanda Levitt (Love Your Body Detroit), Marilyn Wann (Fat!So?)

Health — Thursday, February 2nd at 7PM EST with Linda Bacon (Health At Every Size book), Ragen Chastain (Dances With Fat)

Fatshion — Tuesday, February 7th at 8PM EST with Marie Denee (Curvy Fashionista) , Rachel Kacenjar (Cupcake & Cuddlebunny), Yuliya Raquel (Igigi)

Sex — Thursday, February 9th at 8PM EST with Hanne Blank (Big, Big Love), Virgie Tovar (Guide To Fat Girl Living)

Blogging —Thursday, February 16th at 8PM EST with Marianne Kirby (Lessons From The Fatosphere), Margitte Leah Kristjansson (Fat Body (In)Visible), and Brian Stuart (Red No. 3 Blog)

Fitness — Tuesday, February 21st at 8PM EST with Jeanette DePatie (The Fat Chick Works Out), Anna Guest-Jelley (Curvy Yoga)

Fatness/Queerness — Thursday, February 23rd at 3PM Eastern with Bevin Branlandingham (Queer Fat Femme), Charlotte Cooper (Obesity Timebomb), Jessica Jarchow (Tangled Up In Lace)

Politics/History — Tuesday February 28th at 8PM Eastern with Paul Campos (Obesity Myth), Amy Erdman Farrell (Fat Shame)

Learning to love ones self or have a healthier relationship with your body can be a really positive way to start the year if you are not doing it from a negative place. One of the best ways that this can be found if you find yourself wanting to diet is to do the exact opposite and ditch dieting. A health movement that has become part of the forefront of the fat rights movement is Health at Every Size. This is in so many ways one of the simplest ways to not only have a better connection with your body, especially if you have or still are suffering through disordered eating patterns or weight loss attempts. This is about finding that connection with your body that is lost during weight loss attempts that create an inner conflict between your body and your mind.

This was the last step that I needed to finding complete happiness within myself. Learning to listen to my body instead of listening to others about how I should take care of myself was the tipping point to finding what I was looking for. This means finding joy in moving my body, eating intuitively or listening to hunger cues and knowing what I need to nourish my body while feeling good living in it. This means having a connection that stops denying the body I live in.

Basic Principles of Health At Every Size^®

1. Accepting and respecting the diversity of body shapes and sizes.
2. Recognizing that health and well-being are multi-dimensional and that they include physical, social, spiritual, occupational, emotional, and intellectual aspects.
3. Promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of all sizes.
4. Promoting eating in a manner which balances individual nutritional needs, hunger, satiety, appetite, and pleasure.
5. Promoting individually appropriate, enjoyable, life-enhancing physical activity, rather than exercise that is focused on a goal of weight loss.

From the Association for Size, Diversity and Health

Links

Health at Every Size by Dr. Linda Bacon

HAES Community – Local resources and more information

Crochet Earrings – $14

Watercolor Papercut Shadowbox – $18

Noro Multicolored Lace Scarf – $55

Also check out,

Fartsy Arts

Wood Earrings – $10

Wood Notepad Necklace – $24

The thing that frustrates me about this whole situation is that when he stopped talking to me, he cut himself off from my whole family on both sides. While a few family members on my dad’s side still see him every once and a while the vast majority only know what I do, and that’s nothing. Every holiday I now expect to be asked about him, to be told to keep trying, to tell me that it is up to me to bring him back.

In reality it isn’t.

My brother is an adult. If he wants to not have contact with his family that is his choice. If he doesn’t want to have contact with me that is his choice. It is also my choice whether or not I should put myself through the emotional mess of dealing with the fact that I have someone out there who shares the same DNA as me and wants nothing to do with me. I throw that box on the top shelf of my closet and hide it behind all of my other baggage.

I am often told that I should just contact him, write a letter every once and a while. This again ignores that I am doing all of the emotional output in this relationship. I care about my brother, I care that he is well, I care that he is happy but at what expense should I care about him when he has little regard for my own wellbeing?

If you know someone who is estranged from their sibling stop giving advice and just listen. You probably know very little about what actually happened. Shit I was involved and I still don’t know exactly why he stopped talking to me but I’m sick of sitting around and caring. If he comes back then he comes back, if he doesn’t well then he is missing out.

The tattoo itself has a ton of different elements that I put in. The quote is from “A Vindication for the Rights of Women” by Mary Wollenstonecraft. My fat dancing lady is not only to show a fat active body but also because I love Niki de Saint Phalle’s nanas and it is a recreation of her sculptures that can be found at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The tattoo style was for my favorite watercolor painter Stina Persson.