She has some very good points...

Like Comparing Fat People and Oranges

Let’s look at a final example: Research found that men with certain baldness patterns have a much higher risk of heart disease. Additional research found that the baldness and heart disease likely have the same root cause. Thank goodness the weight loss people weren’t in charge of this or instead of the additional research we’d have a government-sponsored War on Baldness and a sixty billion dollar industry telling men that they have to grow their hair back to be healthy and that if they don’t it’s their fault, accompanied by reporters whipping everyone into a frenzy with articles about how much bald men who get heart disease are costing society.

I really like this writer, who makes a lot of sense in a world where fat people are considered funny (and not in a good way), greedy, lazy, a drain on society, and immoral, simply because they are either overweight or sometimes, just because they are perceived as such even when they're an average size. People who have never been fat do not understand that while there are those of us who are fat and not particularly healthy (and I count myself in that category, as I need to work to increase my health--physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually), there are people who are fat who are, like this lady, training physically and eating well (she's working on finishing an Ironman challenge, for crying out loud), and yeah, they're still fat. I know that I will never be thin. That's okay. I would like to have some better stamina, balance, and be able to walk up stairs without going into an asthma attack. That's something I can do and improve myself. I think that's more realistic and more important than 'looking' thin. Fat phobia is real. I even have a lot of internalised fat phobia myself--I think most fat people do. People like Ragen Chastain are trying to get people to recognise the biases against fat people. And even more to the point, she's doing things that make her happy, and leads a full life, from what I can tell, and that's important no matter what size you are. Fat people have a tendency to hide away because they don't want to be seen doing things like dancing, biking, travelling, etc., when they should be embracing life. I highly recommend her blog.