Anonymous asked: Hiya, Jessica. I have a question for you/want to know your opinion. I've recently 'fallen in love' with my fat body, and I've been super fat-positive as well as body positive for a while, now. However, I'm starting to have issues with my knees that make me cry from pain, and I've had hip issues for a while. I'm debating on getting BPD (stomach surgery) to get me on my way to losing weight, because I'm too heavy now for exercising and dieting to do much. Other than the two painful places...
Hello!
It seems like maybe the message ended before it should have? I’m guessing you’d like to know how to negotiate loving your fat body finally and wanting to remedy hip and knee problems.
I get this one a lot and I’m not really sure what the answer is to be honest!
I have a bad knee. In high school, in front of the entire senior class, I was bodychecked on an ice skating rink and tore my ACL and both of my menisci (is that the plural of meniscus?) so basically only the skin around my knee is what’s holding my bones together?
Anyways, it’s an awful pain and it fills up with fluid and I can’t walk on it and I hate everything. It totally immobilizes me!
When it happened, the doctor told me that because I was SO FAT surgery didn’t make sense and I would just have to resign myself to the fact that I have a bum knee from now until forever.
Because I favor one knee, I now have two bad knees!!
But, bad knees run in my family. My father has had knee surgery 8 TIMES and his knee is still shit! He’s thin!!
So, while I’m not a doctor, I will say this with a whole lot of confidence.
Movement that your current body is capable of and makes your heart and mind feel good, is great for everyone.
Movement also helps to alleviate some of these issues you’re currently facing with your body. My physical therapist suggested water aerobics, which I love because only old people and fat people do it and I love both of those kinds of people.
Water also makes you virtually weightless so Majestic likes to lift me and we make a big scene at the public pool about how liberated we feel to finally be able to do thin people stuff. It makes everyone uncomfortable and then we go eat snacks.
At the end of the day, you have to decide to do what makes the most sense for you personally while still maintaining your mental health.
Its okay to do things that will actually make your body feel better, even if that means you don’t maintain your fatness. Fat acceptance and body acceptance is about the liberty to exist freely in your body, whatever that looks like.
Losing weight after finally getting to a place where you love your fatness is going to be a bit of a mindfuck, but just remember to be kind to yourself and to check in with body positive friends and remember your body and your personhood has value no matter what
