Kate Harding has spent most of her life on one diet or another, losing weight but always gaining it back. Determined to improve her quality of life, she joined a fast-growing group of anti-dieting activists promoting overweight people's civil rights.
Launching an anti-dieting blog called Shapely Prose, Harding and other fat-acceptance advocates online - calling themselves the fat-o-sphere - are also educating one another about how to improve overweight people's health.
She and other bloggers with names like FatChicksRule and Big Liberty say society's "war on obesity" makes overweight people hate their bodies and suffer from low self-esteem.
"Being fat doesn't make me lazy or stupid or morally suspect," said Ms. Harding, 34, of Chicago, who also has written
a book, Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere.
"The message we're promoting is health at every size."
Her blog entries criticize dieting obsessions and ponder coverage of weight issues in the mainstream media.
Since launching her blog, Ms. Harding, who says she is 5 foot 2 inches (1.6 metres) tall and about 195 pounds (88 kg), says her body image has improved. But she admits wearing a bathing suit in public "can still throw me for a bit of a loop."
Fat-acceptance advocates are starting to organize to promote anti-bias laws, encourage tolerance in health care and the workplace and help retailers recognize the profit potential of catering to plus-size customers.
"People are just beginning
to think about being empowered," said Lynn McAfee, director of medical advocacy at the non-profit Council on Size and Weight Discrimination.
"The emphasis has just been 'lose weight and everything will be fine,' and it's becoming really clear that people aren't losing weight," she said. "So we want to shift the emphasis to making us as healthy as we can be at whatever weight we are."
Activists say the movement is beginning to amass some victories, from larger seat belts in cars to a decision by the Supreme Court in Canada that obese and disabled people travelling on airplanes can't be forced to buy a second seat.
The Fox television network is developing a reality show featuring "average looking" people called More to Love, billed as a "dating show for the rest of us."
The National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance, a civil rights group formed in 1969, has found new life as fat-acceptance advocates gain force online.
There are now more than 50 fat-acceptance blogs and more than a dozen books promoting the idea, from Linda Bacon's Health at Every Size to Wendy Shanker's The Fat Girl's Guide to Life. There are even romance novels featuring plus-sized characters with names like "Dangerous Curves Ahead."
But the dominant view remains that overweight people should be focused on losing weight.
Some two-thirds of Americans are considered overweight or obese. Cities across the country have declared wars on obesity, calling it a costly public health crisis that increases the risk of heart disease, type two diabetes and certain cancers.
Obesity-related health care cost upward of $100 billion (U.S.) a year, research shows.
Weight discrimination is pervasive, said Rebecca Puhl, director of research at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
An "obesity wage penalty" - larger employees getting paid less regardless of job performance - is widespread, and research shows overweight people are less likely to land a job or be promoted than a non-obese worker, she said.
"We do need to fight obesity, but not obese people," said Dr. Puhl. "Individuals ... who are discriminated against because of their weight are more likely to engage in unhealthy eating behaviours and avoidance of physical activity."
According to NAAFA, about 70 per cent of overweight and obese women have experienced bias from doctors. Others complain of being turned down by health-insurance companies.
Bloggers in the fat-o-sphere track cases of discrimination they say go uncovered in the mainstream media.
Just recently, United Airlines said it will require obese passengers bumped from full flights to purchase two seats on a subsequent flight. That would match the policies of other carriers, including Continental, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines.
Deb Malkin, 39, considers herself a fat-acceptance advocate but leaves the political battles to others.
Instead, in what she describes as a labour of love, Ms. Malkin has opened ReDress, a plus-sized vintage clothing boutique in New York's Brooklyn borough.
Her shop sells frilly dresses, formal gowns and jeans, all in size 14 and up.
Bevin Branlandingham, who considers herself a fat activist, has worked in Ms. Malkin's store since it opened in November.
Sorting through lingerie, a frock from the 1960s and a colourful size 22 dress by Calvin Klein, Ms. Branlandingham said she likes to help women overcome hatred of their bodies.
"I feel like my life's mission is to make the world safer for people to love themselves no matter what their differences," she said.
