I’m Fat: It Doesn’t Mean I Don’t Work Out

I love going to Kundalini, it’s this type of yoga where you end up in a big dance party and it’s hella fun! One time after the end of a wild, arm swinging, joy inducing dance a woman from the back of the class came up to me and hugged me like an old friend, this is what she said:

 

Woman “Oh I just love watching you dance!”

Me “Thank you”

Woman “Yeah, you remind me of me”

Me “Oh yeah, how so?”

Woman “When I first started Kundalini I was really bad at it too”

 

BITCH, WHAT?

 

First off, I had been going to Kundalini a while, this certainly wasn’t my first session.

Second, who knew you could be bad at dancing with wild abandon?

Third, would you be saying this to someone who isn’t fat?

Fourth, fuck off.

 

I have repeatedly been told that “It will get easier” with looks of sympathy at spin class or to “Keep going, you’ll get there” after a barre session.

 

I’m fat and that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen the inside of a gym before. It doesn’t mean the only sweating I do is staring through window of a donut store.

 

Your ignorance is really showing when you assume that I move my body to lose weight so that I can look like you. Your fat phobia is really apparent when you presume a fat person like me must be a novice and needs encouragement to “get there”, wherever there is.

 

How about you keep your judgments about me to yourself. How about you expand your idea of what healthy is. How about you view exercise as a joyful way to move your body instead of a weight loss technique and let me flail my arms wildly without thinking I don't know what I’m doing…I know what I doing, I’m being fabulous.

 

And P.S. Even if I never moved my body that would be none of your business either, exercise is not a moral choice.

Victoria is a Confidence and Body Love Coach at BAM POW LIFE. Learn how you can be exceptional at whatever you turn your hand to with free advice by signing up here. Read more articles, and get access to her FREE eCourse "Extreme Confidence Makeover" here.