No Megan Kelly, nobody needs to be fat-shamed ever.

Where to begin with this one? Megyn Kelly was interviewing Maria Kang. Remember Maria? A few years back, she was in the bikini, surrounded by her babies,with the “what’s your excuse” caption that made every mom/woman inAmerica hate her? It's funny, the things I said in my post, about Maria, 4 years ago, still hold. Megyn, in a discussion with her about fat shaming. said “sometimes you need to be fat shamed” and described that if she went to the fridge, during law school, she asked her stepdad to say, “where are you going fat ass?”

I am someone who doesn’t ever mince words and I ever had trouble typing that.

There are many ways this could’ve been semi-acceptable. “Everyone needs accountability” or “sometimes you need a reminder” but in the weight, body image space, there’s never a time for shame. Aside from being cruel, it’s ineffective. 

Kelly retracted her statement, or tried to explain it away the following day, after the backlash (no pun intended). Some things can’t really be taken back. Kelly talked about her own struggles with weight and how she’s now in in a healthier place with her food. I beg to differ. She may have dieted, I hear her book is generous in terms of food advice, but if you’re talking about yourself in those terms, you’re not healed. The honest follow-up would’ve been- while I would never call anyone else a fat-ass, I shouldn’t be using that language toward myself. Clearly, we are all still works in progress. There has been excellent dialog, of late. about male-female interactions, what's acceptable and what's not. But women also have to focus on their relationships with women. When you have a big platform, it's just as damaging, to other women, to denigrate yourself, as it is to use those words toward others.
Did you hear about this? Do you think fat-shaming is ever ok? What do you think Megyn's follow up should've been?

Quick Fix

March is an important month for me. Both of my boys have March birthdays (though one was due in April and the other February) and my dad’s birthday was the 19th. March 2003 was a year after I had Myles. In my head was always that when the baby turns 1, I would feel myself again. It was that year, at Myles’ check-up, that my excellent pediatrician said to me “please tell me you’re not going to have one of those huge 1 year old bday parties” and though we realized he was right with son #2, the first time the party was big. I had run the NYC marathon that November, spent my days at Foodtrainers dolling out sound, realistic nutrition advice and then, in March, something happened. Logic went out the window and I decided I wanted to up the ante with my food and exercise, feeling “myself” was not enough. For a couple of weeks, I pulled out all the stops, implemented my “tricks”. Now I’m a person whose weight is generally stable. The result  of all of this was probably a 3 to 4 pound loss some body fat, some water weight. I will not lie, at Myles' silly first birthday party I felt skinny; I felt good.

Myles will be turning 8 this month (gulp) and I can sense myself transitioning from February blah to my usual motivated-in-March self. We went to our school benefit last night and I’ll admit my eating was in a higher gear this week. I was drinking my trusted dandelion tea and making smoothies with hemp detox powder. Whether it was running, hot yoga or core fusion  I did something physical every day this week. I cut out the bit of dark chocolate or dried fruit I often have after dinner and kept my Foodtrainers’ journal.

I know there is a difference between how we eat (and how I advise others to eat) week in and week out and short-term eating before a wedding or party or beach vacation. I call it Event Eating. However, I can’t help thinking perhaps losing these few pounds that, let’s be honest, only I notice may be as silly as the big first birthday party... but I still want to do it.

Is it superficial to diet before an event? Should we just follow our routines, if they are healthy, and let that be good enough? Any tricks that you use pre-party?