Your Fat Friend. Let's Talk About It.

03/19/24 • 41 min

This week I grabbed my good friend Ela Law from @elalawnutrition to chat about the Your Fat Friend documentary, by Jeanie Finlay which followed Aubrey Gordon across 6 years, since she released an anonymous blog from an account called @yrfatfriend .
Aubrey has since written 2 New York Times Bestselling books (You Just Need to Lose Weight and What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat) and along with Michael Hobbes (adamantly NOT on instagram!) has created something truly special with the informative, endearing and forever engaging Maintenance Phase podcast .
Ela and I chat about weight bias and how it permeates our society. Neither Ela nor I have lived experience of being in a fat body and both of us were truly touched by being able to see the world even for a brief time through Aubrey's eyes.
At one point in the film, Aubrey alluded to the fact that she has been struggling with an eating disorder but really struggled to get the help and support she needed. Eating disorders do not discriminate. They impact people of all body sizes, of all ages, ethnicities and genders.
We chat about repairing our relationship with food AND finally finding peace with our bodies when we live in a dieting culture and thinness is a value praised above all else. It is the air that we breathe and the sea that we swim in.
Ela and I then segway into the world of Intuitive Eating.
I hope you enjoy this episode and let us know what you think. If you can PLEASE find an opportunity to watch Your Fat Friend It is a triumph and Aubrey and Jeanie IRL are simply a joy to be around and were both SO generous with their time.

Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.
AND if you enjoyed this episode, please share and follow the 'Find Your Strong podcast' and if you have time, write us a short review. It would honestly mean the world. Love to you all, Ela & Christine x

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Previous Episode

Let's Talk about Fitness, the BMI and White Supremacy with Simone Samuels.

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Simone Samuels, B.A. (Hons.), J.D., B.C.L. is a consultant in equity, diversity and inclusion and a weight-neutral personal trainer/group fitness instructor. A lawyer by training and a fitness professional, she has consulted for fitness organizations in Canada, US and the UK and has delivered courses on weight stigma, fatphobia, anti-racism, allyship and anti-oppression.
Simone is a tireless advocate for making the fitness and wider world a more inclusive place.
I was SO excited to chat with Simone and knew it would be a confronting and very important conversation. She was incredibly generous with her time and I know you will very much enjoy this meaty conversation.
We chatted about:

How white female Fitpros can actually be inclusive in the fitness space?
The racist roots of the BMI and diet culture. Simone recommends some must-read books for those serious about doing the work.
According to the BMI the ROCK (Dwayne Johnson) is morbidly ob*se. It was never meant to be used at a population level.
Overcoming fatphobia in fitness spaces. How we can get informed.
Finding real joy in movement in this hustle culture and untangling weight loss and exercise.
We chat about Aqua Zumba and ask why aqua is always associated with an older demographic.

What a chat! I was truly buzzing afterwards and cannot wait to get Simone back for part 2.
Recommended Reading for Fitpros or anyone engaged in the fitness industry:
Sabrina Strings - Fearing the Black Body. The Racist Origins of Fatphobia
Da'Shaun L. Harrison - The Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness
Ibram X Kendi: Stamped From The Beginning: A Graphic History of Racist Ideas in America
If you'd like to know more about Simone, find her on Instagram or have a look at her website, where she has lots of different options to work with her.
* Simone was the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion reviewer of the canfitpro Personal Training Specialist textbook, helping to create an inclusive curriculum for future personal trainers in Canada. She has won multiple awards and commendations in the fitness industry, the most nota

Next Episode

How to Feel Comfortable in Your Body if You Have Gained Weight.

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This episode is our first one as a duo and I'm SO excited to have Ela on board.
Ela (@elalawnutrition) has been on the podcast several times and she and I have worked together on numerous projects in the past.
As a non-diet nutritionist, and fellow IE counsellor, she brings a unique perspective to the podcast and one that is very much needed.
Together we want to help our listeners feel heard. To know they're not alone and to help them figure out how the f*ck they can eat and move in a way that serves them, as we navigate these menopause years together.
So in this episode, we get straight into the topic of weight gain and coping strategies when we feel uncomfortable in our own skin.
How do you feel when the sun shines and the summer wardrobe beckons?
Do you always feel that it's time to 'drop a few pounds' before you'll let your body be seen?
Do you feel panicked or uneasy when last summer's clothes feel a little snug?
What does that say about you? What is the story you tell yourself?
Would you feel the same if your clothes were a little loose?
We are so excited to bring you this episode and would love your feedback.
In this episode we refer to Body Image Coach & Educator Bri Campos, whose work with body grief has been transformative for us as non diet professionals.
Click here if you'd like to connect with Bri, or find out more.

Find Your Strong Podcast - Your Fat Friend. Let's Talk About It.

Transcript

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Christine Chessman: So hello and welcome to another episode of the find. Your strong podcast. Say something a bit different. I got my good mate Ella law along just to have a bit of a chin wag about a film a documentary that we both recently saw called your fat friend
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Christine Chessman: from the wonderful Aubrey Gordon made by Jeannie Jeanie Finley. And we kind of thought, be really nice to talk abou