Customer Reviews

Taking Up Space: How Eating Well and Exercising Regularly Changed My Life

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Dr. Thomas has written one the finest & certainly one of the most honest books on the subject of living fat in this fatphobic American culture that I have ever read, & I have been involved in fat acceptance for over 25 years, & have read every book I could find on the related subjects of fat & health, fat & legal rights, fat & social acceptance, etc. Dr. Thomas tells us what this "war on obesity" is like from the inside & she shows us the cost, in terms of time, money, health, & self-esteem, of trying to fight one's biology. I identify deeply with her struggle to accept her naturally fat body & learn to live in peace with & even to love it, as it has also been my struggle. I particularly identify with the multiple issues faced by those of us who are fat & disabled, & those who are aging (as indeed we all are) in a culture which so worships youth & its extremely dysfunctional view of health & beauty.

Taking Up Space will be one of the most valued & appreciated volumes in my personal library & it will be re-read many times. I applaud Dr. Thomas's honesty & I admire her courage. It is my sincere hope that many people will read this important book & that many minds & eyes will be opened & that the understanding between fat people & the thin world will be deepened. We all need to do whatever we can to explode these harmful myths, to end fat hatred & to call a ceasefire in this pointless & very destructive war on the bodies, souls, & psyches of the majority of our citizens.

This book is so full of information that it is an education in itself. I wish anyone with an opinion on "obesity" would read it. It might actually change one's perspective.

We all deserve regard and respect. Dr. Thomas states her case clearly and well. I'm grateful to her for writing this book.

Janet

Taking Up Space is a poignant saga of how one woman has come to grips with being large in a society where "thin" is worshiped as the ideal. Dr. Pattie Thomas uses her brilliant writing style to share the pain of her battles. Not just the emotional and psychological pain of being large in a small world, but the actual physical pain of two chronic diseases that she has to contend with. In Taking Up Space, Dr. Thomas often refers to herself as the reluctant warrior. But as she shares her battle with personal weight issues; as she bravely takes on the societal and medical stigmas that daily drain people of size, she truly becomes a brave sumo warrior who leads the way into battle against the poison darts that are constantly hurled at us.

This book veers off into issues that have nothing to do with the purported subject. The author even takes a shot at blaming Calvinism for society's attitudes towards fat people.

I had high hopes for this book as a guide to being comfortable with one's body and being healthy regardless of size, but was greatly disappointed. I do not recommend this.

Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight is a better choice.