The fat acceptance movement goes far beyond promoting self acceptance for the overweight and obese.  Almost all of them believe any diet is unhealthy for you, and that lifestyle changes, and exercise programs are just other names for a diet as well.

They will not acknowledge that obesity is unhealthy for a person at any weight.  In fact they believe that being overweight is a better physical condition than being at a normal BMI.  They regularly trot out cherry picked studies to prove it.

The fat blogs will not condemn any food as being bad for you, or a food that should be consumed in moderation.  Many advocate what they call "intuitive eating" which means they eat what ever they want when they want to.

The name "fat acceptance" is a carefully crafted misnomer for a pseudo feminist group, that upon real examination has a lot in common with the flat earth society.

It isn't positive self image, or accepting a few extra pounds.  It is about promoting obesity as an ideal and ignoring science.

Please read their blogs carefully before you promote them.

Oh, boy.  Lots of misconceptions here to clear up, beginning with the title of this post, "Big blogs ignore the healthy hype."

We ignore the hype, not health.

Fat acceptance blogs do not promote obesity as a "choice" - we promote recognition of and acceptance that one's natural set point weight range may or may not be thin.  For some people,  being fat isn't a choice; it's genetic.  Oh, sure.  You can "choose" to diet and starve and digestively eliminate your way into a thinner weight, but the 95 percent dieting failure rate indicates one cannot maintain this "choice" for long.  Rather, fat acceptance bloggers encourage people to make the "choice" of good physical - and mental - health.

Fat acceptance bloggers do not encourage people to lounge around eating fast and junk foods.  Most fat acceptance bloggers promote a holistic wellness-based approach called Health at Every Size, which encourages healthy relationships with food, weight and body image.  And shockingly enough, many of us even take the stairs instead of the elevator.

I encourage people who are dieting to read fat acceptance blogs.  I hope they find material there that resonates with them and leads them to develop healthier relationships with their bodies and food.  But dieters should not expect to receive dieting support, tips and advice nor a forum in which to discuss their weight-loss goals.

And nor do we appreciate being co-opted and "used" by an industry that has financial interests in promoting weight loss.

Why would you be attempting to "use" our blogs in the first place, in order to promote something we are almost universally against?   We don't want to be "used" by the diet industry.

And let's get one thing perfectly clear - fat acceptance IS about health.  Thin people do not corner the market on health.   Fat acceptance encourages people to eat healthy, exercise, become fit, and to accept themselves (as you'll note, recent studies demonstrate that people who *think* they are too fat and want to lose weight are sicker than those who accept themselves the way they are.)  Don't forget, underweight people were 74% more likely to die of heart attack than overweight people, either.  In fact they were more likely to die, period.

So stop saying losing weight means getting healthy.   Stop trying to co-opt the fat acceptance movement.  Stop trying to use us.   If you must market your dangerous product, leave us out of it entirely.

Exactly how do you think FA blogs ignore the healthy hype? If you're talking weight loss = the only road to health, yeah, we don't agree with that. Thin people don't have a lock on health. Fat people don't have a lock on ill-health. Size alone doesn't have much to do with how healthy or unhealthy a person is, and we seem to know that better than you do.

As for FA helping you, get real. Promoting weight loss is just another way of keeping people too obsessed with their looks to figure out that they're fine just the way they are (you know, accepting themselves?). Eating a wide variety of foods, exercising moderately, loving yourself, we'll gladly promote those. Promote a diet aid? Not gonna happen.

"How can we use them to promote both self-acceptance and being the healthier you? "

Actually, they're already doing that: it's called Health At Every Size (HEAS), and the idea of "Every Size" flat-out precludes the idea that you must lose weight in order to be healthier.

Just thought I'd point out that flaw in the logic, there.

The blog asks:

[[[How can we use them to promote both self-acceptance and being the healthier you?]]]

Fat Acceptance blogs already promote both "being the healthier you" and self acceptance.  Neither of these are related to weight loss, or your marketing campaign.

The beauty of Fat Acceptance is that I don't have to wear dark pants and shower three times a day to feel healthy and beautiful.  I can feel healthy and beautiful right now, eating well, being active, and not spending money to make myself miserable.

I'm not sure how torturing myself would be healthier, or show how much I accept myself.

We appreciate your opinions.

The alli team definitely supports confidence, high self-esteem and the pride in who you are.  That's an important element of being the healthier you.

Due to a site upgrade, all comments submitted between Feb 18-20 will be posted on Feb 21.