After waking up to yet another dire warning about how we're all going to die - apparently having a few treats at the weekend is now out too - I thought I had to post something uplifting today.

I've been watching some of the Sky 'Real Life Stories' about weight issues this week. Some have been pretty standard "I'm fat so I'm having my stomach stapled/going to a slimming club" stuff but two really stuck out - a programme on former Slimmers of the Year, where the detestable Sally Anne Voak went back to see what had happened to people who'd had the title bestowed upon them in the previous decade.

One lady admitted that she'd been anorexic when she won her prize, abusing diuretics, laxatives and starving herself (she wouldn't eat or drink at ALL on weigh in day) and so all the time she was winning accolades she was in the grip of a serious - life threatening - eating disorder. One woman went mad with the credit cards when she lost weight, and her husband saw her change so much that he begged her to put the weight BACK. Another put five of her ten lost stone back on and said that she was a damn sight happier for it because she hated being obsessed with diets and food. She says she's a better mother to her child now she can focus on him...and not her every morsel of food.

Eye opening stuff.

So...if the myth of major weight loss making your life perfect is just that, a myth, where does that leave fatties? Unhealthy and miserable? Well, no. Another programme saw fat women dispel stereotypes - we had the BBW club full of size 26 and over women having a great time, attracting men, and even posing for a BBW calendar (all very tastefully done) then a roly poly kissogram who found that since she's been taking her size 20 body out on the road and having fun with it, her self esteem has rocketed - and people love it!

Then we had a fat dance class instructor running classes for bigger women, dispelling the myth that all fat people are lazy. She runs classes and social events for people who might otherwise feel out of place ice skating, dancing and working out.

I might also add, that if you think all fatties are unfit, ask my gym instructor who has told me recently that I managed more step ups in his fitness test than anyone he'd seen that day...incuding a 16 year old lad! Unfit? Bah. I manage every task he sets me, even boxing for 30 minutes. And I ain't skinny.

So, the good news for fat people - there is plenty of it. You just have to look behind the scare stories and believe that you can be just as good, just as fit, just as healthy and just as gorgeous as anyone else.

So there.