This poem is based off of the tumblr post by riotsnotdiets. The whole thing inspired me so much. I read this at a poetry reading last weekend and people kept coming up to me and telling me their amazing stories and how glad they were to have heard these words.

We are at war and it’s a consumer battle.
routines, products, diets, equipment,
supplements, memberships.
Our bodies are sites of struggle.
They are to be controlled.

But 97% of people who diet gain all the weight back.
And we tell them it’s for a lack of will or control.

Well, I refuse to believe I’m fat because I’m lazy.
‘Cause I’ve climbed every ladder and
travelled on a dime everywhere I’ve wanted to go-
but somehow cannot find this thin-me within.

Now I wear this “inability” with pride.

Because I am just a fat person.
I eat well and exercise yet-
I am still a fat person.
This used to mean I wasn’t pretty or attractive.
It meant I was imperfect.

But studies show that people who eat well for pleasure
are healthier than those who do it to shed pounds.
It’s not fat that makes you unhealthy – it’s lifestyle.
Many people live this way,
but it’s us fat people that are made to feel bad about it.

So, I’m coming out as Fat to erase this toxic negativity.
I will refuse to comment on my body or yours because
we are taught to think such awful shit about it.
No-
I love my body for what it allows me to do.
I can walk for miles, navigate the subway,
swim in pools and dance the night away.
To love your body out loud while the diet industry
screams at you to CHANGE yourself is a war cry.
To commit yourself to body-love is a transformation.

For me, this means no weight-loss talk.
It means not watching TV shows that humiliate fat people.
Not talking or thinking negatively about our bodies.
It means loving fashion, clothes and the way my body looks in them.
It means fighting against fat discrimination and hate.

The point to all this   is to be clear that I am fat, and there’s no shame in it.
It doesn’t detract from my loveliness – it’s just fat.
An adjective. A physical attribute. And that is a revolution.