The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

by Hanne Blank

This empowering exercise guide is big on attitude, giving plus-size women the motivation and information they need to move their bodies and improve their health.

Hanne Blank, proud fat girl and personal trainer, understands the physical and emotional roadblocks that overweight women face in the word of exercise. in this one-of-a-kind guide that combines exercise advice with a refusal to fat-bash, Hanne shows readers how to choose workout options from WiiFit to extreme sports, avoid common sports injuries, get proper nutrition, source plus-size work out gear, and more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Fat, Feminism, Fitness, Fat Studies

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Hanne Blank is a writer and historian.
Periodicals which have featured her work include Penthouse, In These Times, Southwest Art, Lilith, Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, the Baltimore CityPaper, the Boston Phoenix, Santa Fean Magazine, and others. Her short fiction and essays are frequently anthologized.

Ms. Blank's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, NYLON, Entertainment Weekly , and many other periodicals, and she has been widely interviewed on radio and television in Australia, the US, UK, and Canada, including being featured on National Public Radio, BBC 4, and on the acclaimed Canadian program SexTV. As a public speaker and educator, Ms. Blank has appeared on the campuses of many universities and colleges, as well as at national and regional conferences of various types and centers for adult learning. She has been the Scholar of the Institute at the Institute for Teaching and Research on Women, Towson University, Maryland, and has taught at the university level at institutions including Brandeis University, Tufts University, and Whitworth College. Formally trained as a classical musician,as well as an historian, she has been a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, and was the 1991 recipient of the George Whitfield Chadwick medal.

Although Ms. Blank is a dyed-in-the-wool Midwesterner, she currently lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland, where she shares a 170-year-old stone house on a dirt road in the middle of the city with her spouse, two cats, and the world’s cutest Japanese Akita.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been struggling for the last few years with how my body has changed and how I look and feel. Sometimes I feel like a badass with swagger to prove it. Sometimes I feel like my body is just a meatbag I have to drag around as a place to keep my brain. Oftentimes I feel ashamed, and I am goddamn done with that noise. Nabbed this from the library and so far it is an empowering voice for acceptance. I am myself. My body is part of me, and I (inside my body) am capable of mighty things.

[Jenn G · Rating 2 out of 5]

So with the title I was expecting something more on the funny side than on the self-help side... I don't think this book was for me. It was mostly common sense and I didn't learned anything. What I liked the most about the book was the Resource at the end I might look at it in the future to see the websites and the dvds she mentioned but otherwise it just wasn't for me.

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I can feel people I know in real life that follow me on goodreads judge me for reading this. Anyway, this review is going to be kind of personal and stuff so I apologize.

I wasn't quite the audience for this book. It's taken me 2 years of running to admit this but I am a runner. I started running approximately five years ago, after we ran 12 minutes in gym class. I distinctively remember thinking "pfft, 12 minutes, that should be easy,". And nope. It wasn't. I couldn't run 12 minutes. That made me upset so I swore to start running. Now, a few races behind me, a 22km run, and a pr of 6 mins for a km, running 12 minutes is no longer difficult. It also made me start doing yoga, Pilates, strength training stuff and weight lifting when a gym is possible.

To me, workouts were never really about losing weight. Sure, the weight I lost was nice but it wasn't the goal. Running was a challenge. Somewhere in my mind, I thought that if I could master running, my worst enemy, I could do anything. Running made me happy (yay for the endorphin cheat code). I like becoming stronger and better. I liked knowing I'm more flexible. I like completing with myself.

People look at me and immediately assume I'm trying to lose weight. It's disgusting. I think my highlight was when a neighbor came up to me when I was stretching and said "whoa you lost weight". I gave her my best concerned look and said oh no, I hope not. She then got really confused and asked me why I run if not to lose weight. She literally couldn't imagine a possibility of a person running not to lose weight.

I got off track. I read this book because its high time I defeated my issue with the f word. I like my body. But I'm scared to use words about it. Words like overweight, fat, large or whatever make me uncomfortable. I'd rather talk about how I managed to do blogilates 14 minutes intense ab workout without stopping than start measuring my thighs. And while I could lose weight by changing my pretty unhealthy diet, I'm not sure i want to or am ready to.

I need to change my definition of fat. This book helped me do that. I'm forever grateful for that. I need to remember that the number on the scale doesn't mean I can't run. It doesn't mean I'm less than my friends that weigh 46 kilos and can't run a kilometer to save their lives. Its just a fact i need to accept, like that I'm short or that I have bad eyesight.

The unapologetic attitude this book promotes is amazing. In a world where everyone urges you to look different, it's a breath of fresh air to best someone powerfully accept themselves.

If you're an overweight person who's thinking about working out, I can not overly recommend this book. It explains everything you need. I wish I'd have had it when I started out. It's written in a non judgmental manner. The author just gets it. The humor helps. It actually inspired me to workout despite today being my off day.

You know what, no matter who you are or what you weigh, I recommend this book. Maybe for you, changing clothes in a gym was never an issues but it's important to be aware of other people's struggles. That's the way to understand and help. Fat people are everywhere and your comments can build or break us.

I'm grateful I stumbled upon a tumblr post talking about this book. I'm happy I read it. I greatly admire the author for writing this.

[Julian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclosure: I won a free, signed copy of this book by participating in a comment thread at Hanne Blank's blog.

That said: this book is great. It's written in Hanne Blank's usual friendly, no-nonsense, and very, very funny style, which some readers may be familiar with from books like Virgin: The Untouched History and Big Big Love, Revised: A Sex and Relationships Guide for People of Size. It's full of encouragement about exercise that has absolutely nothing to do with losing weight or inches, and positive messages about bodies of all sizes and a person's right to exist and move in the world no matter what their appearance.

I'm not a fat girl, but I HATE exercise. I would rather clean a kitty litter box than go out and exercise for exercise's sake, that's how much I hate it. And yet this book has me willing to give it a try again, because I can think about benefits that I can't just wave off with "eh, I don't need to lose weight, why bother?" Not boring medical benefits, either. Benefits about my attitude towards the world in general.

Redefining exercise as "body practice", and treating it as affirming self-care rather than a chore, and acknowledging that it encompasses everything from intense training in a sport to simply moving around and lifting and carrying and bending to get things that have fallen under the entertainment center, and that it's the sort of care every body deserves, is both a radical and a comforting thing.

It also has wonderful sections on how to address anxiety about gym locker rooms, finding a motivation that works for you, choosing sports bras and athletic shoes and workout clothes (from the basic to the fancy), working out what sort of movement will appeal to you, and others.

If you have a body, fat or not, and you're interested in developing or improving your body practice, this is the book for you.

[Teri-K · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's pretty hard for me to rate this book. As a manifesto for any woman who ever felt too fat to go to the gym, take a jog or otherwise become more active it's good. As encouragement to just move because it makes you feel good, it's good. And it really is geared well for those who are very fat, with questions like, "What if I can't get myself off the floor?" Unlike many resources for fat people which talk about wanting to loose 20 pounds, which must make the really heavy feel like they don't even exist. Well, this book will recognize your existence and your right to get out in the world and move.

Also I appreciated it's focus on exercise for reasons besides weight loss. As a kind-of-fat woman I get tired of everyone in the fitness industry focusing on weight, like it's all that matters. I suspect it's worse the bigger you are. (I went shopping for workout pants yesterday. It's a good thing I can wear XL because there were no bigger sizes anywhere, and only a few of those. Another signal to big people to stay home on the couch and not bother.) And there are so many other reasons to exercise besides the size of your clothing.

But when I finished it I found myself wishing for more practical advice on how to decide which exercises to try. Certainly some kinds of exercise will be easier than others for anyone who hasn't exercised in while - or ever. More guidance would be appreciated there, perhaps a survey of different types of exercise and their pros and cons for the beginner. Also I expected more on how to prevent injuries or deal with them when they happen.

All in all, though, the author did an excellent job surveying the concerns overweight women (or men) might have when they decide to exercise more. I thought she considered different personality types well and understood that sometimes you want to fight back against discrimination and sometimes you just want to go for a swim.

So, as I write this I realize I need to add a star to my rating. :) It was very readable, and even if it didn't give me everything I might have wanted, it's well done and will be a good place for beginning exercisers or seriously overweight people to start.

[Myrthe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good! It was nice to read a super fat-positive book about exercise that did not try to get fat people to lose weight, but it also didn't contain any revelations at all. It's just a book full of advice on where to start if you wanna start exercising. Since I already regularly exercise, I think I wasn't really the target audience.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just AWESOME.

Disclaimer: I am not the target demographic for this book, in that I fall within the range of what's generally considered "not fat" and I have not had the social experience of being considered overweight. I say this just to make it clear that my perspective is from outside that lived experience, and thus there are some things that this book might be lacking that I'm just not aware of.

Ok, disclaimer over. I loved this book. I recently started voluntarily exercising for the first time in my life, and a LOT of what is here spoke to me. Gym fear, body consciousness, changing perceptions of oneself... Blank addresses them in ways that I found incredibly useful.

Blank approaches exercise as body practice, with a real focus on functional fitness. Her feeling is that rather than approaching exercise with weight loss in mind, or with visual goals ("I want a flat stomach"), it is most beneficial to approach it with the idea that we all deserve to be in touch with our bodies and have bodies that do what we want them to do. The physical and mental benefits of regular motion are undeniable. And yet, as Blank points out, products, classes, and gyms are often designed with the assumption that you're already relatively thin and able-bodied. It can be difficult for a person of size, or a person with mobility issues, or someone who has been recently injured to feel comfortable and at home while exercising. I think this book does a great job of beginning to address this, offering resources and strategies to handle mental and physical hurdles, as well as the hurdles imposed by the outside world.

I feel it's important to note that this is not an exercise manual: Blank includes a few sample work-out routines to get you started, but mainly it concerns itself with the mental work and the physical practicalities of exercise in general. There is a thorough resource guide in the back that does offer suggestions for other books and for DVDs that offer actual routines, though, along with resources for plus-size exercise apparel and other gear.

I highly recommend this not just to the target audience, but also to men and women who are exercising for the first time (or who have come back to exercise after a long time away), to fitness centers, gyms, and community centers who want to improve their service to all portions of the population, and to all public libraries.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

My life has so much more potential for confidence and happiness now that this book's words are inside my head. Need to re-read and re-read until the unapologetic attitude is reflexive.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I wanted to look into a different thought process on being healthy without the diet and fitness messages we are bombarded with everywhere. This book is one to read to help you go back to basic and appreciate just moving your body. We need to move our bodies to keep them healthy and the contents of this book conveys that by having you look at your personal thoughts and feelings when you move and build off of your experience to keep you moving.
Blank also has many resources in this book for many things that larger people experience so you can enjoy moving your body. There are guides to help you navigate finding a gym or home gym equipment that works best for you. This is a good read for anyone and everyone regardless of size because it takes the weight-loss focus out of activity and puts in the focus of enjoyment of moving and caring for your body through being active.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a great book for someone who is just getting into size acceptance, and just getting into exercise, but as I am heavily into both, it didn't really help me much. I was hoping to learn more about other exercises from a fat girl's point of view, but it's a bit vague. However, I do appreciate reading a book on exercise that doesn't talk about weight loss the entire time!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - an easy, accessible tone that made me chuckle at times! When the author described herself as "intrinsically athletic as an oyster," I knew we'd get along!

This is one long "yes, you can!" to fat friends. I think the summation of "planning and practicing" covers a lot of ground for the book's advice.

I was surprised at its original publication date of 2012, mostly because its ideas about body positivity are so "on trend" now. From that regard, though, I must point out that many of the resources are a tad outdated but - fortunately! - there are now even more books, influencers, and brands which would appropriate to include in the Resource Guide section.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a person who has been considered “plus-sized” for the majority of her adult life and is re-claiming that identity and how I want to walk through the world, this book was recommended in the backs of several others I’ve read recently.

I do think that parts of the book were for folks who inhabit larger bodies than I do, or for people who wanted workout plans/ advice, and the author certainly spoke to those groups.

I found usefulness in the first four chapters and the last portion wherein she speaks to starting anywhere, the right for fat women to combat not only the world’s fat-phobia but also, sometimes, their own.

She also spoke about planning and embracing body movement and practice in many formats, and learning what makes you feel good, and how that was the most important thing.

I definitely plan to real more of her books on self, and the body!

[Judi Fruen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Inclusive suggested workouts. Fun to read. I'm feeling inspired to find joyful movement (just as soon as my back eases!)

[Tawanda]

I didn't finish it but I still think it might be helpful to those looking to reframe exercise.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hanne Blank is someone whose writing I have enjoyed for almost a decade now. She appeared with some regularity on the LiveJournal blogs of other authors I read regularly, and her confidence and intellect were readily apparent. I started following her there at the mostly-defunct LJ, and I have made it a point to read her books at they come out.

This book was one in which I was particularly interested, since Blank's blog entry from back-in-the-day about being a fat girl on a bicycle was particularly helpful. Her tone is both informative and protective throughout this novel, encouraging the new fat-lady exerciser to take that same approach to her body-practice. Have the facts, and never apologize for the way you have a body in this moment. You might lose weight. You might not. Your body might change shape in ways you don't like, but the practice itself is still a net-good because it will improve your health.

There's information in here that's helpful for the never-active and for the newly active, as well as for people who have already made meaningful movement a part of their lives. You don't even have to be overweight to find this warm, cheery book a good resource, but overweight people will find it especially informative. The Resource section in the back of the book alone is worth the cover price!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...even I, with my natural disinclination toward anything that makes me sweaty without offering at least the balancing prospect of orgasms..."

I'm not saying it's a perfect book, but I really love what Hanne is doing. She has some useful basic tips, like how to get up if you (or someone else) has fallen down, but doesn't spoon feed or assume where you are starting from. I read Big Fit Girl, which was for the more serious "I want to up my game a lot" people and I feel like this book is for the everyday woman's fitness. A couple times I laughed out loud and I do wish more of her humor was interspersed throughout.

Notable quotes:
- Kiss. If this is not a whole body experience, keep trying.
- Uniboob aka "breastloaf phenomenon"

Favorite incendiary acts:
- Refuse to apologize for having a body
- Flail proudly
- Focus on what makes you fierce
- Know that you are the authority on you

[Danni Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a lot of useful info from a strong motivational framework. I would have liked to have seen it address a wider audience; it seems to presume that its readers are relatively able-bodied and can afford things like gym memberships or exercise classes. It also seems to take a "just get over it" approach to handling the internalized fatphobia that gets in the way for many fat people who may wish to exercise, which is an approach that may work really well for some people but didn't speak to me personally. Although this book didn't quite hit the mark for me, I can see it being very valuable for other readers who fit the target audience, and who are already pretty well intrinsically motivated to exercise and just need some practical guidance.

[Emma Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book as I felt a lot of it was relevant to me and how I'm feeling about exercise/being active lately. The whole book has a great attitude which I feel I've picked up on to give me an even stronger feeling that I shouldn't feel embarrassed about getting out there and doing whatever activity I want to. There's a list of resources to make things easier (including a mention of the Couch25k site which I'd already decided to do and a 200situp site which I'm now also going to try). The sections on Incendiary Acts felt like pep talks aimed just at me, I loved it. Overall it's a book I'll keep and refer to often. ^_^

[Suzette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving me great ideas about how to workout now that no longer commute by bike! And making me feel good about being a big girl that just likes to move her body.

[Spook Sulek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and positive. Breezy chat and really useful discussions on body movement, body image, our bodies in the world...overall, a good read! Glad my library had it!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this once I actually sat down and read it. I started it nearly a year ago, made it about 30 pages in and then put it back down because it wasn’t the right time to read it. Blank is funny and encouraging, realistic and to the point, and, as the title suggests, unapologetic.

There are a few points that I didn’t fully agree with, and some others that made me bristle a bit due to my own baggage. That’s good. If I had made it this far in our fat-hating society and didn’t have any reaction to the book, it wouldn’t be very incendiary, now would it?

The book has practical advice for dealing with things like chub rub, uniboob (or “boobloaf” as Blank hilariously calls it), talking to your doctor, and getting up off the floor. She even touches on nutrition and “the stuff you really have to pay attention to if you want to be able to be healthy, active, and full of mischief.”

My only complaint is not Blank’s fault, but her typesetter (or whoever worked on the layout of this book). At times the “incendiary acts” or other tables were plopped in awkwardly in the middle sections, paragraphs, or even sentences, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

If you have taken a break from exercise, or never really got started, this book has some great reminders to be mindful of your body as you start moving it more regularly.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this was a strange read. I checked it out of the library a few years ago, read the first three chapters, had to return it... and kinda forgot about it except when I logged into Goodreads to update my reviews.

I finally was shamed into finishing it. And when I did that, I realized that maybe this wasn't the book for my particular kinds of exercise insecurities. Don't get me wrong, I never love going to a regular gym. I'm definitely nervous when going to my "first" of any kind of class. But I'm also of a size where I'm chubby, but not always the kind of fat that gets ridiculed. And this book was aimed at assuaging the fears of those who deal with ridicule.

If you're in that place, then YES, pick this up. The message that runs through the book is that one can be of any body size and love to exercise. Blank gives great strategies to avoid being bogged down in diet culture.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, I'm not the target audience for this book (not because I'm not fat, but because I already have a pretty solid commitment to exercise), but it's always good to get the reminder and it's always affirming to hear that my body is amazing and special and I should have autonomy over it. This is one of the best messages of feminism (and certainly isn't limited to fat women, which is clear in this book). Everyone deserves to have the relationship with their body that is theirs alone. And the take away-that a mind-body practice helps you to be more aware and proud of all the things your body can do-just can't be repeated often or loudly enough. ✊️✊️✊️

[KP · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started working with a personal trainer in September, but due to Life Happening, I can't work with her again this winter, so I was looking for something that would just gently remind me that I enjoy moving my body. This did exactly what I needed it to, and even gave me some additional tips and insights that I found useful. Also, the resource are pretty nice to have on hand. Glad to have read it.

[Stephie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some very insight perspectives that I hope will help me in overcoming my fear of exercising in public because I am tired of letting fear hold me back from living my best life. There were some chapters that didn't apply to me but this just means that the book provides information for all kinds of body movements.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love that this book exists!

[Jill Laker · Rating 4 out of 5]

No a lot of new info in this for me, although I did find her approach refreshing. Laced with humor and good advice, this is a decent guide for self love and size acceptance.

[Franciekat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Better than other books on the subject

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book aimed at fat girls encouraging them to get out and exercise. And not to get slim, but to improve their health.

[Logan Alley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the conversational tone of this book.