Fitness: Thick? Fat?

So this hotly contended topic is something that throughout my life I have often thought about. I mean really how do you define Fat vs. Thick?

From my own personal experience throughout my life I have always thought of myself as a “Thick Chick” meaning to me that I was never a size 0 and I was very muscular. I have always been athletic growing up (minus the brief period in adult hood) people would always tell me I had great muscular legs. When it came to dating men seemed to appreciate my Thickness and I had no reason to feel insecure I always thought I was fine in all my glory and thickness that is until….I became fat.

Now this was definitely a turning point for me. I was certifiably fat for roughly 2 years. And during this time I do believe that I took calling myself thick to another level. Whereas before when my Thickness was something I passively thought about now it was at the for front of my mind. When a few friends and family members would approach me about my ballooning size I would say: “what are you talking about I am sexy and THICK“. I stayed in my thick comfort zone. Wearing the tightest dresses I could find that would accentuate my “Thickness” and curves. Thinking about how I felt then, I thought nothing was wrong at all. The fact that even my big jeans were giving me muffin top was fine, the fact that I had to go buy new clothes two sizes bigger was fine, and the fact that I never really recognized myself in pictures anymore was fine. I mean there were no shortage of plus size “Freak-um” dresses and close up pictures and head shots worked just fine for me…..damn-it I was THICK and SEXY.

It was not until reality gave me a hardcore knockout punch in other areas of my life that I noticed that my health was failing and I was not as happy with me as I thought I was. This did not happen overnight by any means it was a gradual process but slowly and surely I started to make my way back to the truly Thick, sexy and athletic woman I once was. I then began to realize that I used the word Thick as a coping mechanism. Because in our society today and especially in urban culture being Thick is a great thing and it encompasses and celebrates women’s curves instead of making us feel bad about ourselves as mainstream culture would have us believe. This is awesome! However we sometimes take this too far. At that point in my life where I was unhealthy and Fat I had taken it too far.

I believe that truly being Thick is having a degree of athleticism and muscular attributes. I believe that the definition of a Thick woman is someone who takes pride in her body and is healthy meaning eating right and partaking in some level of physical activity. Now on the contrary there is “Fat” (and though I really hate that word, it is what it is) and I think someone who has gotten to a level of fatness takes no interest in their health whatsoever. They maintain no level of physical activity and don’t even try to make habitual changes in the right direction. The difference-- Thick women are marked by some level of muscular definition or solidness and Fat women are marked by none. In my life I am a Thick woman who can go run 10 miles and then go home dress up and go dancing all night long, my former Fat self could barely make it a mile without passing out.

And that my friends is my definition of the difference between Thick and Fat. What are your Thoughts?