Virginia
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about diet culture, anti-fat bias, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole Smith.
Corinne
And I’m Corinne Fay. I work on Burnt Toast and run SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.
Virginia
It’s time for your August Indulgence Gospel!
We are going to answer your questions, like we do every month. We’ve got Butter, of course. And instead of hate mail—not that I’m not still getting hate mail—we got a request to do one of our more old school Burnt Toast features which is “It’s Not Not a Diet,” where we debunk a diet that you ask us to look at.
Corinne
This is also a paywalled episode. That means to hear the whole thing you’ll need to be a paid subscriber. Subscriptions are on sale this week, so you can join us for just $4 per month or $40 for the year!
(Please note: There is a brief discussion of body weight related to power lifting’s use of weight classes. Take care of yourself if numbers talk does not feel good today!)
Virginia
So, Corinne, how are you?
Corinne
I’m doing good. I’m trying to think of something to talk about besides the weather, because it’s just been really, really hot here.
Virginia
I feel like every week the newspaper is like, “It was the hottest day in the history of the world yesterday.” And yeah, we all just hold on for dear life because the planet is burning.
Corinne
Feeling a lot of climate anxiety.
Virginia
Well, I have two updates for us based on last month’s Indulgence Gospel.
One is a very important text I received from
, friend of the show, cookbook author, friend of my heart. She texted to say, “I listened to Indulgence Gospel, great as always. Here’s something I learned a couple of years ago that I wish I learned decades ago: You can just hold the crotch of your one piece swimsuit to the side if you need to pee. No need to take the whole thing off!”I believe this is in response to us saying we don’t like one pieces.
Corinne
Yes. I knew that. I do that.
Virginia
And you still don’t like one pieces?
Corinne
You’ve never done this? Were you not aware?
Virginia
I think I’ve done it, like, in a moment of panic, but I don’t think I realized it was a legit thing that we are all just doing with our one pieces. I have been fully taking one pieces on and off and hating my life.
Corinne
Well, I do this. I still find that two piece are sometimes easier to deal with.
Virginia
Because you can just take it off like underwear, like one normally does. Well, Julia says this changed her life. I said, “I will read this and credit you appropriately for this swimsuit crotch gospel.” And she said, “Yes, please do the more people who know the better.” So, here we are.
Corinne
Yes. Thank you for this swimsuit crotch gospel.
Virginia
Just here to provide a full service experience.
Corinne
I am glad we’re announcing that, because everyone should know and feel empowered to do that.
Virginia
I think I’ve done it thinking, what am I doing? And now I do feel a sense of peace that it’s just like, this how you are supposed to pee in a one piece.
Corinne
Like I said last time, I’ve been wearing a long sleeve one piece. Like, there’s no WAY that’s coming off.
Virginia
Once you’re in, you’re in.
Corinne
You’re stuck. Sometimes if I’m too sweaty, I can’t even get it on.
Virginia
Alright. The second breaking news update is from commenter Kelly who posted:
Hi, I am the one who asked about frozen treats and I was trying to say in an Instagram answer short way that I put frozen cherries in a mug, microwave them for 60 seconds, then scoop rocky road on top and let the melty cherries and their juices mix with the chocolate ice cream.
Corinne
Okay, that sounds freaking amazing. So embarrassed for us that we did not figure that out.
Virginia
We apparently could not read that day.
Corinne
Kelly did such a good job! She really sent us this delicious treat tip. I’m a cherry super fan, so I really want to try this. And yes, we just totally missed it.
Virginia
Other commenters were like, “You guys, it was ‘microwave for 60 seconds,’ like that’s how you thaw the cherries.” But no one else had put it together with the Rocky Road ice cream, which…
Corinne
I know. I just totally missed that it was all one thing. And I love that it’s a multi ingredient frozen treat.
Virginia
She just set a new bar for how I want to operate with frozen desserts.
Corinne
Yes. I really want to try this. Sounds delicious. Thanks for the tip, Kelly, and sorry that we really bungled that.
Virginia
Okay, let’s do some questions. I’ll read the first one because it is for you. This person writes,
I’m curious to hear Corinne’s thoughts on sports with weight classes like powerlifting. I love Olympic lifting, but weight classes keep me from competing because of my scale issues.
Corinne
Yeah, this is such a great question. I have so many thoughts about it. I also just want to say: I’m relatively new to the sport, and I’m not an expert, so I definitely might get some things wrong.
So powerlifting competitions have weight classes. At the meet I did, the top three lifters from each weight class get prizes, and then there’s also a prize for best lifter overall. They use some complicated math formula to calculate who is the best lifter based on how much they lift taking into account body weight.
Virginia
Oh, because as you explained to us, the bigger you are, the more you can lift.
Corinne
Yeah. Although, I’m sure we’ll get people writing in because there are a bunch of powerlifting fans in the Burnt Toast community. And I’ve heard that past a certain point, that’s not really right. Like it might actually disadvantage people in much bigger bodies.
It’s also all in kilograms. So, the heaviest class was 110+ kilograms which is like, around 240 pounds. I’m way beyond that. So first of all, I’m not nervous about making weight or something because, like, it’s just not even close.
Virginia
You knew you were firmly over the threshold.
Corinne
I don’t need to worry about that.
The meet that I went to, when you have to weigh in, you just went into a private room with someone and stepped on a scale. And it was in kilograms, so it means nothing to me. I have no idea what those numbers mean.
But I did think about it, because the roster is publicly available. So yeah, anyone who knows me could look up the roster and find out how much I weigh.
Virginia
Especially if they know the metric system.
Corinne
Yeah, or can Google.
Virginia
That is personal information that is being displayed publicly. That is uncomfortable.
Corinne
I just decided I was more interested in competing than worrying about that.
Virginia
I have what is maybe a very basic question, but if you were on the line between two weight classes, is it like I want to be in the higher weight class or I want to be in the lower weight class relative to performance?
Corinne
Usually people want to make a lower weight class so that they’re competing with people who weigh less than them and presumably lifting more.
Virginia
Oh, so you they would have an advantage being like the higher weight.
Corinne
That’s the thinking, but for the meet that I did, if I had been in the weight class below mine, I wouldn’t have placed.
Virginia
Got it. There’s some variety of how skilled people are, how long they’ve been lifting, that kind of stuff is going to come into play, too.
Corinne
The meet that I did, I think the organizers pushed to have higher weight classes. They got rid of some of the lower weight classes—because they start really low, like around 95 pounds or something. So they got rid of some of the lower weight classes and added some higher ones, because some meets will only go up to, I would have to check, but it’s like 85 kilograms would be like the highest weight class, which is like, I don’t know, 180 pounds or something.
Virginia
I mean, yeah, if this matters, then that’s clearly not serving people.
Corinne
It is definitely an interesting, complicated issue. It also makes me think a lot about the conversation with Martinus Evans about accessibility. Who we are encouraging to participate in sports when there is a weight class for somebody who is well under 100 pounds, but not one for someone who is 300 pounds.
Virginia
Right. Right. That does say quite a lot.
Corinne
So, to the person who wrote this in: I would just say you should go for it. If you want to talk about it more, message me. Maybe also
would have something to say about this.Virginia
I think she will. Julia, we will be awaiting your texts and comments.
And it is upsetting because this is a sport, as you’ve written, that should be very body size inclusive, like pro-larger bodies. So the fact that you’re still going to have to navigate anti-fatness in the way that a lot of these meets are structured is super disheartening.
Mass Moves Mass
Corinne
I do think the reason for weight classes is to try and make it fair, so you’re competing against people who are relatively your size. But it’s still hard to include all the natural body variations within that.1
Virginia
And I mean, it’s just so reductive, right? How many kilograms you weigh is just one aspect of your overall fitness and strength and performance and all of these things.
Corinne
In a lot of meets, there are regular and also masters, which is over 40. So there are just different ways to divide people up to try and keep it fair.
Virginia
Interesting. There’s a lot here.
You want to read the next one?
Fat Life Questions
Corinne
Yes.
My body has changed so much in the last 15 years and I’m learning to be neutral about it and just buy new clothes or shoes or whatever I need in the body I am in now. I’ve gotten pretty good at this except for my wedding rings. I like my wedding rings but my body is changing so frequently that constantly having them resized doesn’t feel viable. I bought a cheap stand in but it doesn’t feel the same. What do we do with the things that no longer fit but we also miss and don’t want to let go of entirely? I’m sure rings aren’t the only thing that fall into this category, but it’s the one I struggle with the most. Does anything fall into this category for you?
Virginia
Okay, free list, this is where we leave you!
If you want to hear our answer to this question and also get our thoughts on Bobby Parrish, you’re going to need to become a paid subscriber. Thank you for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism.
