Vinny Welsby
10 Lessons From 10 Years in Fat Liberation

It's been 10+ years since I first discovered fat liberation...here's what I've learned. In 2014, I discovered fat liberation and have been talking about it since. So after all these years, I wanted to share my top takeaways about body image, being fat on the internet, the common fears we share, and more. TW: mention of body image struggles in childhood. Like the podcast? Leave a review where you listen!

10 Lessons From 10 Years in Fat Liberation
Vinny Welsby
Worried People Are Judging Your Body Size and ...

Some things to consider if you are struggling with the judgements of others:

  • People judge others negatively, and that sucks; I’m sorry you have to go through that.

  • Some people will judge you very harshly and unkindly. Some people will think of you neutrally or positively. Some people are hyper-focused on themselves and whether or not you are judging them negatively.

  • If you have a bigger body or are marginalized in additional ways, you are going to be experiencing more bias and judgement, and that is not ok.

  • If someone is judging your body size or fatness negatively, then it might be because they feel shame in their body and want to pass that shame to you to feel temporary relief. It’s not your shame to hold and deal with. Also, some people are just plain cruel or bigoted and you should not have to deal with that.

  • Those people shouldn’t be able to dictate how we live our lives, what we look like, how we dress or how we present to the world as a fat person. However, they often do get to dictate, either from fear of experiencing shame, changing our behaviours, or due to very real safety concerns, changing our behaviours. This world is often unsafe (especially for the most marginalized), and how you react to that is understandable.

Worried People Are Judging Your Body Size and Appearance? Read This.
Vinny Welsby
The History of Fatphobia and Thin Supremacy

For many of us, the story we've been told about fat bodies seems pretty logical: being fat is unhealthy. We know that society stigmatizes fat people because they β€œchoose to be fat” and β€œdrain public resources.” Others who view body diversity more favourably would argue that it’s not the fault of people in bigger bodies that they are the way they are (because fatness is a β€œdisease”), but it’s still important to be healthy, i.e. in a smaller body. We are taught that concerns about weight are rooted in science, medicine, and a desire to improve individual and population health outcomes. 

Anti-fatness didn’t begin with medicine. In reality, the beliefs that fat people are unhealthy as well as lazy, unintelligent, undisciplined, unattractive or less worthy have deep roots in religion, the enslavement of Black bodies, colonialism, β€œscientific” racism, sexism and social control. It was never about health.

The History of Fatphobia and Thin Supremacy
Vinny Welsby
How Anti-Blackness Created Anti-Fatness

Thanks to the work of Black scholars, including Dr. Sabrina Strings, we know that anti-fatness comes from anti-Blackness as well as other oppressive forces. But WHY were certain beliefs about Black bodies created? Who started the myths, and what were they saying? How do those stereotypes about fat Black bodies manifest today? We are going back thousands of years to see where all this nonsense started. Using a variety of sources, including, of course, the go-to book for talking about this Fear of the Black Body by Sabrina Strings, as well as Belly of the Beast by Da’Shaun L. Harrison and concepts from bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, and more. TW: O words, anti-Blackness, slavery, sexism, brief mention of sexual assault, general white fuckery.

How Anti-Blackness Created Anti-Fatness
Vinny Welsby
49 Benefits of Being Fat

We’re constantly told that being fat is bad for us, that fat people are ticking time bombs and are pathetic, sad sacks. Is it true? Are fat people giant losers who are doomed to an β€œunhealthy,” miserable existence? In this episode, we flip the script and explore the surprising advantages of fatness. From better disease outcomes to unique social benefits, mental health perks, and even survival advantages, I share 49 benefits of being fat you probably haven’t considered. How many can you think of? TW: brief mention of O words.

49 Benefits of Being Fat

How to Tell a Fat Person to Lose Weight Because They're Unhealthy

Nancy Pelosi recently fat-shamed Trump. Trump is a horror show of a human being, but one thing about him that isn't bad? His weight. Literally there are hundreds of ways to take down Trump and him being fat is not one of his personal failures. But...is it ever ok to fat shame? What if you do it nicely because you're concerned about loved-ones health? What if someone thin shamed you? What if the fat person really is a massive bellend? We discuss this topic in today's episode. Let's do it!

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

Would you dance in your bikini in public?

I took to the streets of Vancouver - Granville Island Market to be exact and danced like no one was watching - even though there were LITERALLY busloads of tourists driving by, haha.

I used to HATE my body and now I do things like this. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO ME?!?!

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

A Stand for Self-Love

I am so proud to have stood in the street in my bikini in Oxford during the filming of the BBC documentary "Who Are You Calling Fat?" What you can't see is that under the blindfold after the 1st few people started drawing hearts on me, I was crying.

I was crying because until people started coming up to me I doubted whether the British public could support fat bodies like mine. And when they showed me that they did...it was so incredible. They were happy tears. Happy tears because even though there are so many bigots out there, there are also people who believe fat bodies deserve love, respect, and care.

Thank you for all the fat allies who support me and speak up when they hear and see fatphobia. You give me so much hope for the future.

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

Why Lacking Self Esteem Fucks With Your Life

The consequences of not feeling confident in yourself, in your body, confidence around food are massive. It affects so many areas of your life but when we are lacking self-esteem it can be REALLY hard to spot how our life is being negatively impacted by our limiting self-beliefs.

The 1st step is realizing the catastrophic outcomes that low confidence has on us and spot where we could make some changes. Once we really SEE it then we can be really motivated to CHANGE it.

One thing I didn’t mention in the video that I want you to consider is the impact that low self-esteem has on those around you that you care about.

Of course, we are doing this work for ourselves but it can be a great motivator when you want to shit talk yourself or try another diet to know that others are being influenced by you.

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

Don't Love Your Body (Still)? Watch This!

Here’s a fact for you: There are TONS of resources out there to help you feel more confident in your body. Books, podcasts, Instagram accounts, courses like my Fierce Fatty Academy.

But still, people don’t love their fat bodies.

Why?

Well, it’s complex but a couple of reasons are:

+There are hidden benefits to hating your fat body
+It is easy to just NOT take action

There is a way to overcome this.

You have a choice and in this video, I explain β€œThe Third Path”.

The Third Path has helped me overcome the stories I kept using as excuses as to why I couldn’t feel more confident. Perhaps it’s something that could be useful for you too?

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

Avoid the Constant Learner Effect At All Costs!

What is the β€œConstant Learner Effect” is and why you need to avoid this at all costs. Why your current strategy is actually LOWERING your body confidence. The counter-intuitive thing you should be doing instead. 3 questions to ask yourself to determine if you’ve fallen into the β€œConstant Learner Effect.” PLUS what the heck does The Devil Wears Prada have to teach us about body confidence and how we can avoid making the same critical mistake Andy makes in the film.

To listen to the full episode click here: http://fiercefatty.com/034

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

Is The Strategy You're Using To Love Your Body Broken?

Episode 035 of The Fierce Fatty Podcast is out!

In this episode, I reveal a massive issue in the confidence coaching world that you NEED to be aware of because following bad advice will damage your self-esteem. I also cover the biggest barrier that keeps people committed to hating their body and discuss why if you’ve been working on loving your body and you’re not seeing results it’s NOT your fault and what is actually going on. Also, we bust through the biggest limiting self-beliefs people have that is 1) β€œI’m scared to put on weight” and 2) β€œI’m anxious that being fat will make me unhealthy.

To listen to the full episode click here: http://fiercefatty.com/035

Let's continue the conversation in my free group! >> https://tinyurl.com/fiercefattyfriends

Download The Fierce Fatty Body Love Roadmap: https://bampowlife.kartra.com/page/roapmap

Covid-19 and BMI Risk Factor

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I hosted two free masterclasses yesterday about how to love your body and I saw that there was an increased amount of anxiety around health and being fat....which is 100% to be expected because of the increased amount of fatphobia due to our global pandemic.

Listen, even science showed us that a higher BMI is a risk factor for covid-19 there is nothing we can do to make our bodies smaller and "protect ourselves" from this increased risk (which doesn't exist). There hasn't been ANY reliable science to show that BMI is a risk factor.

Also, what do you think dieting right now will do to your mental and physical health? Numerous studies have shown that dieting negatively impacts them both. So, if being "as healthy as possible" could help us around covid-19 then I don't think dieting is going to get you there, in fact, the opposite.

We also know that fatphobia (aka weight stigma) actively harms the health of humans.

So let's break this down really simply:

β­• BMI being a risk factor for covid-19: Not proven with science.

β­• Putting your body on a diet: Science shows it harms our physical and mental health and makes us fatter (not that being fatter is bad). Not one study in history shows ANY weight-loss method works.

β­• Weight stigma (aka all the fatphobic rhetoric around covid-19): Leads to poorer health outcomes.

So, what's the solution?

Well for me, the solution is to:

1️⃣ Protect my physical health: Follow the recommendations to social distance, wash my hands, don't make out with random strangers at the grocery store 😜 etc.

2️⃣ Remind myself that even if BMI was a risk factor there is literally nothing I can do about it.

3️⃣ Remind myself that there is ZERO good science showing BMI is a risk factor.

4️⃣ Protect my mental health: Unfollowing and calling out anyone who is spreading misinformation around this. Taking time off social media/consuming the news/the family WhatsApp group chat where aunt Susan is saying this is the end of the world etc. Reading what thought leaders have to say on this topic (@chr1styharrison and @drjoshuawolrich to name just 2).

5️⃣ Engaging in self-care and watching cool shit on Netflix πŸ’―

About the BBC show "Who Are You Calling Fat?"

About the BBC show "Who Are You Calling Fat?"

Today is the day for the first episode of "Who Are You Calling Fat" on BBC 2 at 9pm.

I am super excited for you to tune in and see some radical fat positivity! If you're not in the UK, I'm sorry, you probably can't see the show for a while, sad face.

Disclaimer: there are fatphobic fat people in the house and so you will be exposed to fatphobia. Don't watch if this triggers you. Although they are not aggressively fatphobic, just run of the mill bigotry.

I and the show have been getting a lot of attention from the press. 

I am the "polarizing" character.

We hear all the time that the British press make up stories and lie, and I believed it, but now I see it in action and it's BANANAS!

Some articles have been coming out that totally misrepresent my views.

Also, the show is edited in a way to cut core issues down to soundbites (because they have to for time purposes), and people will take what they want from that.

Some will take from it that:

  1. I don't care about health and people who do are bad

  2. I think people who diet or have stomach amputation surgery are bad people

  3. I don't think that there is any chance fat people can ever get diabetes

  4. I don't believe in any weight-related science

  5. I am a narcissist/arrogant/egotistical for thinking my body is ok/good/attractive

  6. Intuitive eating = being greedy and eating "unhealthy" food all the time

Health and Weight are not Correlated: Here's What I Mean

Health and Weight are not Correlated: Here's What I Mean

What some people think I mean when I say this (but I definitely don't mean): Fat people never get fat! It's impossible for fat people to get diabetes! There is zero chance fat people are at a higher risk for certain diseases! I'm irrational and don't believe in science!! Bleeuahhglohgksk!!!

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I Don’t Think I Can Do It: Lies You Tell Yourself About Body Confidence

I Don’t Think I Can Do It: Lies You Tell Yourself About Body Confidence

People say to me all the time "Victoria, I wish I could be confident like you, but I can't do it!" I tell them "of course you can!" but they don't believe me. The reason is that they are holding onto a BS belief that they are incapable of being confident and loving their fat body because they are just not that type of person. You CAN change this belief if you want to! Learn how in this video.

I’m Too Busy to Work on Accepting My Fat Body

I’m Too Busy to Work on Accepting My Fat Body

"I'm just sooo busy!" "I have so much on my plate already!" "I'll do it another time!" Are you treating yourself like a low priority and never taking the time to love yourself? Using the time excuse as to why you cannot get to a place of self-acceptance?
This shit is so goddamn important! Let me break down these BS beliefs - and they are BS in this video.