Today’s Tank Top Tuesday picture is from the lovely & amazing Kath of TheFatHeffalump. This pic is from the day she got her gorgeous fat lady tattoo! While it’s winter in Australia now, this pic was taken in the summer so she could bare her arms and show off that magnificent tattoo with pride! I love it!

Thanks so much, Kath! I love your outfit, so stylish! Did y’all catch her shoes? Too cute! They match her top!

I am taking submissions from anyone who wants to exercise their right to Bare Arms! Email your pics here: notblueatall@notblueatall.com, please include the name you’d like included in the post, a blog or etsy shop you wanna plug, your thoughts on bare arms or other fatty philosophies. It does not have to be in a tank top, so long as your arms are bare. Have fun with it!

Also, feel free to still treat comments as TMI topic/discussion area! Feel free to ask TMI questions or just vent/rant about your own stuff. I love it! We all do! =0)

I know I am always preaching self-care, but it’s so important! It really is! And so I wanted to share some more of what I do and have learned…

I think it was shortly after starting my first in-front-of-a-computer-all-day job that I’d heard about the 20-20 rule. Oh, you haven’t heard about the 20-20 rule? The 20-20 rule, when sitting in front of any illuminated screen, is to look away and at anything non-illuminated (preferably natural light but I know that’s not always possible) for 20 seconds every 20 minutes. This is for your eye health, people. I used to get dry-eyes and headaches until I heard about this rule. So please do.

A recent study was released this week, it’s all over the news, that claims that sitting for 6 hours or more per day greatly decreases your life span. And it’s worse for women than men. To be clear, I haven’t read the study (can’t seem to find it) and when I google it I get a bajillion results all from various local news outlets. It seems most of these stories stipulate sitting during leisure time only, but I think many of us have to sit for this amount of time at work. I don’t want to assume, but it would only make sense that this would have the same impact on your health if it’s simply the sitting that is the cause. They did point out that diet and exercise in the study had no impact, though general activity was encouraged and of course helps overall health.

I found this interesting because of the diet bit. They said in some (though others claim the opposite) that even those who work out and eat healthfully still were at great risk due to sitting for more than 6 hours per day. They didn’t go into why the risk is worse for women. I remember my old job where I was absolutely sitting at my desk for 7-8 hours per day, then drove home, thus sitting another 30-45 minutes on top of that. So what can you do?

I recommend stretching and getting up and walking as much as possible. For me this means if I am sitting for an hour I need to get up and walk around for about five minutes to prevent leg cramps (bananas help with this, too) and other issues. I have very tight hamstrings that get super tense if I’m not stretching them often. At my desk job I would rotate my ankles in circles and bend and straighten my knees. One gal even had one of those little foot pedal things so she would just sit there and pedal away. I secretly wanted one, but never did anything about it. You should also pay attention to the ergonomics of your desk/chair situation. Specifically, you should have some sort of ramp-like foot rest. This way your feet aren’t flat on the ground and your thighs/knees are hopefully not getting cut-off by your chair. Lumbar pillows (for your lower back) are also highly beneficial.

I had one job with the worst chair ever! That on top of it always being colder than a meat locker in that place lead to my going to an acupuncturist for back pain. He recommended all of the above and after two visits to him my back pain was gone! I highly recommend acupuncture, even for those who are needle-shy. You honestly can barely feel them. I had one needle in the top of my head and didn’t even know it until he pulled it out and showed me. They can help with almost any pain issues you’re having (I say almost because I don’t know if they can help those with Fibromayalgia or other chronic pain).

Stretching is a great low-impact self-care method. My husband is a great believer in the power of stretching. I resisted, but am now trying to get into it myself. I don’t have a routine, but whenever my “hammies” feel tight I try to do some lunges and such. I would also recommend these things for your wrists and fingers and hands if you type a lot or do paperwork/filing things. Shake out those wrists, wiggle those digits and stretch your arms over your head. Good stuff! And you know how when you have been sitting awhile or in a uncomfortable chair and your butt had that flat/dead feeling? Yeah, time to get up and move and shake it! If you’re embarrassed you could always head to the restroom for this, but I love seeing people smile so I just do it whenever and wherever.

What other self-care do you do? Do you do anything like the above at work? How do you remind yourself to do self-care every day?

(“Nice” King: Finn, get rid of her
Finn: What” No, man!
“Nice” King: She’s too loud and lumpy. I like smooth princesses. Smooooooth.
Lumpy Space Princess: I can be smooth. Finn, punch out my lumps!
Finn: What?
Lumpy Space Princess: I can be whatever he wants! I can change!
Finn: I can’t punch a princess!
“Nice” King: Ah! Finn! Just punch her! Let me see whats he looks like smooooooth.
Lumpy Space Princess: Yes! Hit me! Hit me! Hit me!
Finn: I’m sorry Lumpy Space Princess, I just can’t punch you.
Lumpy Space Princess: Are you serious? Fine. I’ll do it myself! *punches self*
Finn: Princess, No!
“Nice” King: Wait a minute “nice knight”, let’s see what she can do.
Lumpy Space Princess: There! How’s that? Better?)

Is there a more perfect demonstration of what we will do in order to fit in or to be desired or to please others? I can’t think of one. Lumpy Space Princess (or LSP to close friends), is a royal teenager in Lumpy Space. She is full of hot-tempered insecurity and emotions. She will at one moment tell you how lumping awesome she is and in a beat put herself down and try to conform to the smooth-er society. *sigh*

I have been just like LSP. She represents so much of my teenage years, for sure. (And not just how she talks! ha-ha!) And who hasn’t tried to be something they are not? I know I towed the line between good girl and bad in high school, at one point having two entirely separate groups of friends who never or rarely met. And there have been a few times in my life, like right now, where I feel like I am living two or three separate lives at once! It definitely seems to me that this is also what LSP is living with. If she weren’t, you know, like, a cartoon! Ha-ha!

I wonder how an LSP or other such teenage person would react to someone in their lives telling them how lumping awesome they are everyday or how they are perfect just as they are and that there is no need to try to beat up on their bodies to fit into some mythological ideal. To encourage someone to embrace their lumps, bumps, hair, stretch marks, fat, and everything else is to encourage positivity and individualism! And just think of all that could be accomplished if so many weren’t so distracted by self-hate?

(“21st century genetic engineering will not only eradicate the Siamese twins and alligatored skin people but you’re gonna be hard pressed to find a slight overbite or a not so high cheekbone. You see, I’ve seen the future and the future looks just like him. *points* Imagine, going through your whole life lookin’ like that. That’s why it’s left up to the self-made freaks like me and “the conundrum” to remind people.”
Scully, “Remind people of what?”
“Nature abhors normality, you can’t go very long without creating a mutant. You know why?”
Scully, “No, why?”
“I don’t either, it’s a mystery. Maybe some mysteries were never meant to be solved.”)

Why the random X-Files clip? Well, it’s from an episode titled “Humbug” and is one of my favorites. I think it presents an important point about nature and current society’s need/desire to change or intervene in the course of it. Certainly I have felt like a freak in many ways, but none so much as my fat body. While it’s been admired and desired, it’s also been demonized and shamed. I have embraced the power that being the boogie man can hold. I never felt this more than when I participated in Marilyn Wann’s flesh mob in SF a couple of months ago. The looks on people faces were priceless. The woman who said, “Shame on you” to me/us and my gut reaction to that. It was a powerful day!

The point of the video above is simply that we should be embracing our differences, not hating or demonizing or worse: cutting or removing or erasing or altering them! My purpose as an activist is to shed light on this and to point to ways in which we can spread this message and help people to stop judging and hating themselves and each other. It’s not such a bad thing. Yet “they” say we’re trying to recruit a big fat army or something. Ha-ha! We’re not! And we’re not promoting fatness as a lifestyle choice, it’s not (generally speaking). Most of us did not choose to be fat and have done everything we could to try to fit into a societal demand that nature just doesn’t agree with.

When you go against nature there are repercussions. Instead of harming our bodies with hate and medical procedures (is it still “medical” if it’s basis is harm itself?) why not embrace and celebrate the vast diversity that nature has given us all? Why not give ourselves the chance to blossom or bloom in the light of the sun and moon? Wiggle your toes (webbed or otherwise), jiggle those arms (or wings) and shake whatever you wanna shake, but enjoy and celebrate the wonderful body that nature has given us. <3

Today’s Tank Top Tuesday picture is from Amanda of FatWaitress and LoveYourBodyDetroit fame! She’s been doing a lot of fat activism this year and I am always so impressed with her creative ideas and adventures! She’s planning a fat clothing swap in July as well as attending the Ann Arbor Art Fair (in Michigan, July 20-23). So look for her and her LYBD crew there, too!Here’s Amanda & Rae with a colorful “Yay! Scale” doing their best to positively influence passersby:

Love those signs, too! Woo! Thanks, ladies! <3

I am taking submissions from anyone who wants to exercise their right to Bare Arms! Email your pics here: notblueatall@notblueatall.com, please include the name you’d like included in the post, a blog or etsy shop you wanna plug, your thoughts on bare arms or other fatty philosophies. It does not have to be in a tank top, so long as your arms are bare. Have fun with it!

Also, feel free to still treat comments as TMI topic/discussion area! Feel free to ask TMI questions or just vent/rant about your own stuff. I love it! We all do! =0)