Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body [Mass Market Paperback]

Kate Harding (Author), Marianne Kirby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2009

From the leading bloggers in the fat-acceptance movement comes an empowering guide to body image- no matter what the scales say.

When it comes to body image, women can be their own worst enemies, aided and abetted by society and the media. But Harding and Kirby, the leading bloggers in the "fatosphere," the online community of the fat acceptance movement, have written a book to help readers achieve admiration for-or at least a truce with-their bodies. The authors believe in "health at every size"-the idea that weight does not necessarily determine well-being and that exercise and eating healthfully are beneficial, regardless of whether they cause weight loss. They point to errors in the media, misunderstood and ignored research, as well as stories from real women around the world to underscore their message. In the up-front and honest style that has become the trademark of their blogs, they share with readers twenty-seven ways to reframe notions of dieting and weight, including: accepting that diets don't work, practicing intuitive eating, finding body-positive doctors, not judging other women, and finding a hobby that has nothing to do with one's weight.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kate Harding founded Kate Harding's Shapely Prose (kateharding.net), a blog about body acceptance and the treatment of fat people in the media.

Marianne Kirby's is dedicated to body politics and fat acceptance. She is co-moderator of the Livejournal community Fatshionista, which has more than 2,500 members. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1 edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399534970
• ISBN-13: 978-0399534973
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kate Harding is co-author of "Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body" and founder of what was for a time the internet's most popular body acceptance blog, Shapely Prose. She has contributed to numerous online publications, including Salon, Jezebel, The Guardian, and the L.A. Times, and published essays in the anthologies "Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape" (a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009), and "Feed Me: Writers Dish About Food, Eating, Weight and Body Image."

A graduate of the University of Toronto and the MFA in writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, she lives in Chicago with her husband and an old mutt. She is at work on a novel.

[Photo by Becky Hill]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

141 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Got Me a Date, May 6, 2009

By 

elemenoP (astoria, ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body (Mass Market Paperback)

This book got me a date.

Seriously. I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy (but I still bought the finished book as a show of appreciation and support). I was 6 months out of a relationship and feeling anxious about putting my girthful self out into the cruel world of dating. I decided I would take the leap in the spring AFTER I'd lost 50 pounds. Then I read Fat-O-Sphere. It made me feel strong. If I was happy and successful and active and feeling great, why not embrace it? Being fat did not negate all those really good things. So I promptly began online dating. And it worked. I'm having extreme fun and meeting lots of men (some amazing, some ok, some crazy) who delight in my glamorous heft. I am beyond grateful to Marianne and Kate for writing a book that helped me stop feeling ashamed and guilty and confused.

Health at every size, peace of mind at every size, happiness at any size--that's what this book advocates, explains and encourages.

111 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons LEARNED from the Fat-O-Sphere, May 6, 2009

By 

R. C. Gold "R.C.G." (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is funny, witty, engaging, and most of all educational. As the authors say, a lot of what the book is about seems like common sense, but it's so hard to start thinking that way about your body, especially for women. Whether you are are fat or not, whether you are a chronic dieter or not, this book is really fabulous for helping you let you of your self-hate and starting to accept yourself and your body for who and what they are. I hope it's a trend that catches on with more women in media.

108 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and mind-opening, May 6, 2009

By 

Corinna - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body (Mass Market Paperback)

I am so excited to read this book. Kate and Marianne's blogs are leaders in a movement that is key for women's sanity and the general culture's sanity around body image and health. Thanks to them I stopped obsessing over food and started practicing intuitive eating and guess what? I haven't gained weight and I feel much better focusing my energy on other things. (BTW, I have never been what comment trolls would probably consider "fat," but I have never felt like my body is socially acceptable either. I still don't think so, but these wonderful bloggers have taught me it's much more fun not to care.) I'm buying four copies of this book to share with women who are dear to me.