Mamagotcha's journal

(That title was what Dan Savage's columns used use as a salutation.)

I sent this to Dan today. I'll let you know if he responds...

"So, Dan, I'm one of those fatties. I've spent my life trying to come to terms with my body and its weight regulation.

I could give you a litany of my experiences, but instead I'd like to ask you to read Linda Bacon's "Health at Every Size." It's a quick read, I promise, and it will open your eyes (I hope).

It's a concise presentation of weight loss studies, and an examination of political and social pressures that have made it OK to hate on fat people. As a member of a maligned group of society, I'm hoping you'll eventually come to a place of compassion and understanding.

After you read this book, Dan, I'm hoping that you will see that a person's normal and healthy weight (their "setpoint") might be 140, 200, or 300 pounds... and that trying to shift it can actually be detrimental to their long-term health.

I have a lot of friends who say "I can't read Dan Savage. He hates fat people." I've never really felt that you hated fat people, but I did always think that maybe you didn't really understand the physiology behind obesity. If there was a way for me to choose not to be 300 pounds, don't you think I'd make that choice to be closer to society's ideal? (Hah... does that statement sound a little familiar? It should!)

But when I lost 60 pounds in a year ten years ago (and it was almost a full-time job, cooking and shopping and planning and exercising for several HOURS every day), when I slacked down to exercising only three times a week... it bounced back and more, and since my body perceived the loss as a famine, it bulked up the setpoint even higher and more firmly set. Now it would take active starvation and more hours of movement to lose the weight, and I'd have to keep it up constantly or the rebound would be even higher and harder to move.

Please, Dan... do yourself and your readership a huge favor, and get yourself educated on this matter. You've been such a successful voice for the advancement of the queers. I'm not asking you to become a Fat Admirer or to go against your own preferences... I'm just asking you to learn the real reasons behind weight gain, and why it's not only really hard but possibly detrimental to use conventional weight loss methods. I can't ask you to tell people to love their fat friends and family the way they are (*I'M* fat and I still have a hard time with that! Years of conditioning will take years to overturn) ... but since you are advising so many people and the subject of weight comes up so often, I think it behooves you to learn and spread the truth.

Thank you for your kind consideration, Dan."

(Edited to fix salutation...)