gap-var-ginnunga:

i’m mostly posting this as a reminder to myself, but i think other men struggling with body image or people who are dysphoric about their hips can benefit from seeing this too.

this is part of a body positivity campaign launched by clothing company dressman called #justthewayyouare and if you click that link there’s more body types being represented in their ads.

i have never seen any body positivity for men like this before, marketing ploy or not it DOES help me seeing my body type (wide hips and chub and all) being represented in a public space like this, especially with the word “perfect” attached to it.

i’ve came back to this picture for a while now as a reminder that my body is a valid body, and i hope it will help someone else too.

(credits to @oneflewovergeorgieboysnest for taking this picture and putting it on facebook)

thortv:

So there is a lot of messages and comments asking questions about my diet and workout. I’m going to explain as much as I can in this post to avoid repeat everything 20 times. The biggest thing I would like to point out is that this COULD have taken 6-7 months to get from my before pic to my after pic. It COULD have! But it didn’t. My lack of self discipline and other life issues these before and after pictures are 5 years apart.
How long did I take? 5 years. with up to almost 2 straight years of not doing anything.
Did I take anything? No. I have a phobia of medications and taking weird things. I don’t trust pills, powders, or anything that says “burn weight fast” “muscle gain”. Anything that try to lead you into what you want to hear. I have trust issues ok. I wont even take an aspirin. Ill try to get rid of a headache with coffee or lots of water.
It took a long time before I would start taking a daily vitamin which I currently do now. Even some days I can freak myself out that there is something foreign in my body and I have no idea what its REALLY doing in there. I do us this horrible after workout protein powder you get at walmart for like $20. Its just so cheap and paying $60 – $100 for a jar of protein powder is just so unjustifiable in my mind. I also wont drink energy drinks. Just the thought of drinking one gives me anxiety. Like I said I am super weird about the things going into my body.
So I have no hidden secret or fancy gym equipment for my success. I’ll explain EXACTLY how this happened for me.
One day I started a new job. I became a Satellite install technician for a TV service provider company. I love electronics and I figured this would be a good job for me on the technical end. What I didn’t expect or realize was the amount of labor and physical work that went into this job. I was 300 lbs when I started. So as soon as I became a technician I changed my eating habits to try and lose a little weight to perform my job better on the physical aspect. Within 3 months I looked in the mirror one day and realized I looked A LOT thinner. I checked the scale and found I was 230 pounds. I lost 70 pounds in 3 months and wasn’t even trying. I thought that was so damn cool. I felt like a million bucks. So over the course of almost 2 years I didn’t work out. I fluctuated between 230 and 245 in weight.
After a while I got a notice on my door (along with everyone else in the complex) that said the bank has taken over condos and they would give us X amount of dollars to move out by a certain date. I got them to double the amount and so I could afford to move. I had 3 children at the time and I was taking care of them alone while working LONG grueling hours everyday. So I spent a week everyday after work packing and moving into a new place around the corner. Once moved into my new place I realized I was down to 215 lbs. This was very exciting to me.
After about another 6 months I had lost my job and was sitting around at home. I went back up to 230 pounds and decided that NOW was the time to start learning about proper dieting and exercise. So I started doing a lot of online searching and reading about proper eating and exercise. anything that wasn’t some company trying to sell you a magic pill or fancy workout equipment. At night I did a lot of research on learning new photoshop techniques too.
So after a while I had actually gotten down to 180 pounds. This was done only with a $40 pair of running shoes and a $30 iron gym. The Iron Gym is a metal bar that hooks up onto your door frame for pull-ups. This is it. I ran a lot and did push-ups, crunches, and pull-ups in the comfort of my own home. Sense I lacked the courage to go to a gym.
At 180 lbs I thought yes my body is in shape but I really had no muscle. So NOW I got a gym membership and started weight lifting. Gym equipment is way to damn expensive and would take up my whole place. I have 4 children. I can’t just have a house full of gym equipment. The the only feasible thing to do was get over people looking at you and hit the gym. You know what I’ve realized? Its really not so bad. People are there doing their own thing and they aren’t really worried about you or what your doing. I just throw on my headphones, blast some good metal and/or dub-step and hit the weights. I put on a good 15 pounds of muscle and went to 195 pounds.
Thats it ladies and gents. No special pill. No fancy equipment. Just proper eating and good old fashion exercise.
The so called ‘The Caveman Diet’ worked well for me. Look it up but its just about eating what caveman would eat. so plenty of fruits, veggies, meats, and nuts. I did add a few things to this like cottage cheese, greek yogurt, honey (for sugar cravings) But your safe bet is single ingredient items.
THE REAL SECRET IS: This takes TIME, PATIENTS, and SELF-DISAPLINE. There is no 30,60, or 90 get fit quick secret if you need to lose 100 lbs or more.

Source: thortv

repotting:

As a disabled fat person with multiple chronic illnesses and health issues, some of which are probably caused or influenced by my weight, I am so. fucking. tired of fat positive spaces essentially throwing me under the bus by saying “you can’t harass fat people because they might actually be healthy!“

The implication is that someone being unhealthy is an acceptable excuse for harassment and body policing. The implication is that the only reason you shouldn’t do those things is because you can’t be sure you’re harassing someone who really deserves it. Because fat yoga instructors don’t deserve it. But I do! Because I am actually unhealthy and therefore a Bad Fatty!

Look, it’s important that we spread the science about weight and the reality that it isn’t automatically a health issue. But while you’re doing that, please for the love of every chronically ill person stop giving that as the only reason fat shaming is bad. I deserve to be free from harassment because I’m a fucking person, not because you can’t tell by looking whether I might be actually be a Good Fatty who is super healthy and athletic and doesn’t deserve it.