My Story: "Dying to be Thin?"

Being skinny shouldn't be the definite goal for every.single.body. When I was first diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, I was smoking cigarettes everyday to alleviate the pain I was going through. My auditory hallucinations were so loud and mean. I wasn't used to all the clutter in my mind. Now, let's go back to the main topic. Why is being skinny the goal for many Americans? When I was younger and skinny, I wasn't eating and would use cigarettes to supress my hunger. I wanted to stay small because I wanted to be accepted and valued. I'm already black and to be a Fat AND Black woman was scary to me. The fear came from society and how we view Fat bodies. Many Americans today are fat phobic and use derogatory words to describe overweight people. We have normalized the stigmatization of fat & black bodies. Rapper Cardi B would use the term "fat b*tch" to describe an overweight woman she had a problem with. My question is .. why is being "fat" considered bad or wrong? The truth is that there's no right or wrong body. All of us are here to live our best lives, so what's the problem if someone is shaped differently than you? Fat bodies deserve to be respected and valued the same as a skinny body. As you can see from my photo, being skinny doesn't equate to good health. 

A common stereotype placed upon overweight people is that they "don't workout". In the photo above, I attended zumba class. This wasn't my first zumba class. This type of exercise is fun and gets your heart pumping. Fat women workout just as hard as skinny people. Our metabolism just functions differently. Moral of the story is that we can't judge someone based on what we see on the outside. We must judge them for their level of discipline and dedication to health and wellness. I feel way more healthier in the 2nd photo than the first photo mainly because I stopped smoking, seemed a relationship with God, and befriended people who don't encourage me to do drugs. I hope this blog post gave you a different perspective of what a "healthy" body looks like. Thank you.