The newest experiment in modern fat science is a one-a-day pill that actually fools your body into thinking you’re exercising. Dr Evans…found the drug activated the same fat-burning process that occurs during exercise, increasing the amount of calories burnt with no apparent effort. This made the mice resistant to weight gain even on a high-fat [...]

Filed under: Science | 10 Comments »

In a post called Spanx but no Spanx (hee) the fabulous fatshionistas ponder the concept of the foundation garment. I just received an email from Torrid inviting me to “Improve my rear view” by purchasing Spanx foundation garments. I was wondering if I should be intrigued or insulted by this advertisement. It got me to [...]

Filed under: Advertising, Fashion | 29 Comments »

From Post Secret. Thanks to Jessica Fantastica for sending it along.

Filed under: Postcard, Tidbit | 18 Comments »

Anti-obesity ads from the Department of Health and Human Services are featuring Shrek and friends in their ads. Shrek is wildly popular with kids, of course, but is this really the wisest choice in the world, when Shrek endorses such a wide array of unhealthy foods? The deal is full of food products like: Snickers, [...]

Filed under: Advertising, Health, Kids, Movies | 6 Comments »

Rumor has it that Old Navy is planning to discontinue its plus-size clothing line, at least in stores. One thing to note is that Old Navy’s regular sizes can often be cut pretty generously. And in certain fashion seasons, their plus size section is a wasteland where ugly clothing goes to die. Still, they have [...]

Filed under: Fashion, Old Navy | 26 Comments »

Study confirms that children overeat significantly when exposed to food advertising. Like, by 134%. Our research confirms food TV advertising has a profound effect on all children’s eating habits doubling their consumption rate … suggesting a strong connection between weight and susceptibility to overeating when exposed to food adverts on television. In addition to that [...]

Filed under: Advertising, International, Kids, Science | 8 Comments »

A lovely little essay to start off your day. About how the way we see ourselves can be distorted, and how it can be reclaimed. I was running unaware—running after Patrick Bush because it was the summer after 5th grade and running was fun and fast. I was running through the grass, near the fence, [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Morbidly obese employees cost companies more in worker’s comp claims, says a new study: [T]he fattest workers had 13 times more lost workdays due to work-related injuries, and their medical claims for those injuries were seven times higher than their fit co-workers [sic]. Overweight workers were more likely to have claims involving injuries to the [...]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Health, Science, Work | 13 Comments »

A really interesting article about African models who have to conform to a Western standard of beauty if they want to get international modeling work: In Africa, rolls of flesh are usually seen as a sign of wealth and status, not of ill health. Few aspire to a skinny look, as those who look starved [...]

Filed under: Fashion, International | 4 Comments »

I don’t even know if this is fat power or a parody, but you know what? I kind of love her. Also, Ding Dongs rock.

Filed under: Fat Positive, Video | 8 Comments »

My manager at work just came by and we were chatting about weight loss (we’ve both been doing Weight Watchers). She mentioned that The Secret (that book you may have heard of that is both crazy popular and… crazy) tells you a (crazy) way to lose weight. The book is based on visualizing things you [...]

Filed under: Books, Humor, Weight Loss | 25 Comments »

Multiple readers have expressed concern (or at least they have expressed feelings) about the content of the ads on Big Fat Deal, which Google generates automatically. They are sometimes ads for plus-size clothing and dating sites; sometimes ads for diet products and fad diet drugs. Rachel summed it up when she said: I just think [...]

Filed under: Advertising, Meta | 6 Comments »

I really don’t have an opinion about Rosie O’Donnell most days. I think she says some unfortunate things (who doesn’t?) but I also love that she says them. I hate that some of her message is missed because people focus on some of her more outlandish behavior, but at the same time, the President has [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Media, Rosie O'Donnell, TV | 19 Comments »

A Australian show called The Truth About Size Zero shows a woman named Louise Redknapp dieting herself down from a size 4 to a size 0 (in U.S. sizes) in 30 days. But don’t worry—she didn’t do it because it’s a good idea. She did it because it’s a terrible idea. Aside from that, The [...]

Filed under: International, Media, TV | 7 Comments »

Well this is very handy: a compliation of all the diet stories in this week’s National Enquirer. I’d heard some of these tidbits before (for instance, that Star Jones needs a body lift to remove extra skin, which is totally normal if you’ve had weight-loss surgery). And yet here they are, all in one place. [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Courtney Love, Fatism, Kelly Clarkson, Kirstie Alley, Magazines, Star Jones, WLS | 9 Comments »

An interesting article from MSN’s Gossip page, about some celeb’s attitudes towards their bodies, dieting, and the industry they’re in, which asks them to lose ten pounds every time they turn around. [This is mo pie, with a slight addendum: Every Woman Has an Eating Disorder discussed the Gwen Stefani quote in this article, and [...]

Filed under: America Ferrera, Celebrities, Jennifer Lopez, Media, Movies, TV | 6 Comments »

Crazy Aunt Purl writes: But since I am no longer on a diet, no longer “about to start a new program… tomorrow” and no longer waiting for an unspecified time in the future before I start to treat myself with dignity, every day I just have to make the best decision I can. I suspect [...]

Filed under: Health | 12 Comments »

Unfortunately, Jen Wade is on vacation, so we are going to have to think about this science for ourselves. But I enjoy that this research involves feeding rats Oreo cookies. “Boggiano assigned rats as ‘binge prone’ or ‘binge resistant’ based on the amount of palatable food, (Oreo® cookies), they consistently ate when given a choice [...]

Filed under: Eating Disorders, Science | 3 Comments »

The Impact Lab photoshopped “a few extra pounds” onto some popular celebrities and asked, what would celebrities look like if they were fat? Celebrities include Elizabeth Hurley, Jennifer Lopez, and Shakira: “Food can be an evil thing in the wrong hands. Here are a series of obesity-enhanced photos to show you what your favorite celebrity [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Elizabeth Hurley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez, Renee Zelwegger | 13 Comments »

The fine folks at the Oxygen network have asked me to let you know that there’s a vote going on to choose the next contestant on Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance. Heather Steiner writes: “We’d love for your readers to be apart of the voting process coming up on Saturday 4/14 through Wednesday 4/18. We gave fans [...]

Filed under: F.A.T. Chance, TV | No Comments »

This is just to formally declare my shunning of A Socialite’s Life’s Christina Wasil for her recent shitty comments regarding America Ferrera, whom I will apparently now defend to the death. Hopefully this defending will involve a steel cage match, just because that would be awesome. Plus, I suspect that should it come to that, [...]

Filed under: America Ferrera, Celebrities, Fatism | 20 Comments »

Mopie’s post about Torrid and Fashion Overdose reminds me how much more resourceful we must be, we girls whose sizes end with X. Mall-sized girls would never get excited about a new store, never catalog their resources under a bookmark like they were the Holy Grail. Mo and Anne consistently dazzle me with their fashion [...]

Filed under: Fashion | 8 Comments »

Everyone is looking for Joy Nash after her awesome Fat Rant, and some of them are finding the other Joy Nash, who has published what she calls a “Not Fat Rant”: “And really, she doesn’t look that fat to me. If I passed her in the street, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about her [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Both The Rotund and Elastic Waist are out to remind us of one very important fact: thin people are not the enemy. First up, The Rotund: “And so you get people who describe models in truly awful terms. You get people who throw around the slogan ‘Real women have curves!’ as if thin women aren’t [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Courtney Love, Tyra Banks | 3 Comments »

Remember the financially disastrous frenzy that ensued the last time you went to Torrid’s website and looked through their dirt-cheap clearance stuff? (I know I did; I have learned to avert my eyes when I get their emails.) Well here’s Fashion Overdose, a Torridesque site for fun, cool, cute plus-sized clothes. And even if you [...]

Filed under: Fashion | 5 Comments »