"You Just Need to Lose Weight"

And 19 Other Myths About Fat People

By: Aubrey Gordon

Narrated by: Aubrey Gordon

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN INDIE BESTSELLER

“One of the great thinkers of our generation . . . I feel fresher and smarter and happier for sitting down with her.”—Jameela Jamil, iWeigh Podcast

The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice

The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy—calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive.

In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.

As conversations about fat acceptance and fat justice continue to grow, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” will be essential to ensure that those conversations are informed, effective, and grounded in both research and history.

Required Reading

I’d like to buy a copy for everyone who will provide me healthcare. Excellent points and powerful.

challenging but so worth it

Flew through this and it.was.so.good.

Aubrey takes on a bunch of myths and harmful things people say about fat people and breaks them down with facts and statistics. So many times I swore out loud and got mad. I've heard many of them before from people or from her podcast, @maintenancephase but that doesn't make it easier to hear again.

I recognized some of the hurtful and possible harmful things I've done in the past myself, and it made me want to call up friends who are fatter than me and apologize (but that would probably be weird). But now I know better and can do better, something Aubrey always makes me want to do.

I love the layout with the questions at the end of the chapters. Really helps with self reflection and actions going forward.

I may be returning to this one again and again.

Stunning

Beautifully written and articulated. I’ve learned so much and will continue to combat anti-fatness in my personal life.

Actionable, intersectional, relatable

This book was incredibly insightful, presenting a firm and educated overview of anti fat bias and discrimination. It opened my eyes to a lot of systems I current exist within and gave great framework for me to now take and continue educating myself. The language is very accessible and every detail is incredibly well sourced. I highly enjoyed it and recommend it for anyone looking to understand cultural biases and how different forms of discrimination shape our views.

Edit: returning to add that in the days following finishing this book I’ve used the action steps brought up SO MANY TIMES. I really appreciate how this topic is now seamlessly fitting into my daily life, both helping me feel empowered as a fat lady and helping me intervene and disrupt biased loved ones calmly and knowledgeably.

A must read!

A must read or listen for everyone! Very clear, concise, & well researched! (Like actually we’ll researched w citations to peer reviewed studies not blogs or sketchy sources!). Easy to listen to but also challenging. A great book club read for when you want to really dig in & learn something about the world & yourself. Would also be a great intro to anti-fat bias for folks who haven’t been introduced to the topic