There was a pretty big holiday yesterday. I did not celebrate.

Far be it from me to judge peoples' logic or reasoning marking certain days. After all, the start of May is just chock full of important, universally enjoyed celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo, May Day or Star Wars Day, but in some cases, I question the rationale, and yesterday a holiday I had never heard of caught my eye. It seems that every year on May 6, the few of us that can't be bothered to celebrate Willie Mays' birthday are actually celebrating the curious International No Diet Day. This particular holiday is actually far less jovial and full of reckless abandon than one might hope for, particularly since I first heard about it while reading an article about excessive ways to consume bacon, but it is actually a celebration of the natural human form in such a way that it intends to lash back at the societal pressure to maintain an unhealthily skinny body.

According to Wikipedia, the key terms involved are body acceptance, fat acceptance and "body shape diversity." Much of this has been spearheaded by the International Size Acceptance Association, which, amazingly, is actually a real thing. Who knew?

Now, on its surface, I can certainly understand or even appreciate the need to boost morale among people that are either genetically predisposed to weight gain are simply have a larger structure and frame than someone who is, uh, "pretty" like Kate Moss. Like everyone else who has been obese at some point of their lives I've been victim to my fair share of teasing or societal pressure as a result of my own weight. In some sense, I can understand or even appreciate the need to reassure people of their own self esteem when they tip the scales a little more than they'd like to. Lord knows I've met more than my fair share of women who think they still need to lose three pounds when there isn't anything left to lose.

But all that said, I can also see this as a slippery slope too easy to be perverted. The opportunity for criticism is rife for such a movement, and there's already plenty of it. The argument over health consciousness or a healthy body image can rage all it wants, but it's important to cut the search for individual happiness short of encouraging gluttony, and as the initial source of where I found this holiday out from makes clear, there's certainly more than a little of that on the interwebs. Look no further than the logo for this holiday that I dug up on Google Images and posted at the top of this blog post. The silhouetted man may indicate some obvious joviality with that spring in his step, but you can hardly tell me a waistline that exaggerated is simply a product of natural genetics. We should not punish ourselves for being broader or curvier in shape or carrying a few extra pounds on our frames; it becomes generally inevitable as we age. I've happily accepted that I will never have a 31-inch waist or a six pack to show off at the beach. That's fine I'm not going to be six feet tall either. But we also have to do this within reason. Speaking from my own shoes, a day where I cast off the shackles of dieting can make it too easy for me to justify an irrational binge. Besides, as I've made clear in my search for gustatory challenges, there's always something out there that sparks some edible intrigue.



I know it looks disgusting, but hot damn I want to try me a piece of that burger. Or at least the bacon bread bun, which sounds like a genuinely great idea.

So yeah, I was pretty mystified and curious when I came across this holiday and wasn't particularly sure how, exactly, to interpret it. The only thing I knew for certain was that I would not be participating in it. It's not that I disagree with or don't understand the purpose, but as someone who once lost more than 100 pounds only to gain half of it back, I understand how slippery the slope can be. It's not always about fat-shaming or accepting that big is beautiful, particularly since to some people it is. Sometimes it's about protection and knowing your own limits. Losing weight and keeping it off is less about starvation than it is about discipline and lifestyle changes. Having one day a year where we make a point to ignore all that may give us some enjoyable temporary sensory overload, but it won't help us find a healthy lifestyle either -- or at least it won't help me.

That doesn't mean I'm never allowing myself to indulge anymore. After all, I'm having a large steak dinner tonight and I've made it abundantly clear in the past that I will not be ignoring a massive caloric onslaught from time to time. But I'm also not going to ignore the need for some healthier eating either, not when I'm running on 10K on Saturday and this morning I found I was actually down to the fifth notch on my belt, the tightest I've ever been able to comfortably close it. When you reach milestones and see real results like that, it's hard to think you can't change things for the better within reason -- or make your body healthier.

Besides, isn't telling the world about how you're going to eat whatever the hell you want for a day so that you can show how happy you are with your body a little obnoxious? It's almost as obnoxious as constantly posting your weight-loss progress on the internet and narcissistically waxing poetic about it on a blog.

No thanks on that one. So yeah, I will be passing on No Diet Day. I'd rather watch the Star Wars trilogy again anyway.

CROWD-SOURCED WEIGHT LOSS PLAN DAY 164!

Days until sister's wedding: 46
Target weight: 175
Starting weight: 219
Weight today: 179.4