Member-only story
Why I’m Not Fat
It Has Nothing To Do With Will Power, Dieting or Portion Control
Our culture is obsessed with the size and shape of women’s bodies. Lean is good. Fat is bad. Even worse, there’s an assumption that lean women are doing something right and fat women are fucking up.
There can be a moral judgment too. The idea that bigger women lack something crucial — self control.
I’m here to call bullshit on that.
I’ve always been thin. There’s a reason for this. And it has nothing to do with self control. It’s really very simple:
I’m not that hungry.
I’ve never been a big eater. I’m just not that interested in food. If you’re not that hungry, turning down a second (or third) cupcake or being happy with plain old yogurt for lunch (or skipping lunch altogether) is no big deal. I’m just doing what I feel like doing.
I’m not eating another cupcake because of my remarkable will power. I don’t want another cupcake.
Writer Jennifer Weiner struggled with her weight for years, which is to say that she tried very hard to get to the weight our culture wants her to be.
Until she decided to stop struggling and make peace with being, in her words, “plus-sized.” Now, in her novels, she advocates for…
