FatLand National Anthem

FatLand National Anthem (From FatLand:  The Early Days)


When a country told us that we’re too fat for their pride,
Tried to hold us down and made us feel so bad inside,
We all got together, figured out what we would do—
Spread a little love and hope to more than just the few.

Chorus
Fat and free, fat and free—
We are proud to live strong, fat and free
As we go through our full days living our lives
As sons and daughters, partners, husbands, wives.

Now we have a territory that we call our own.
Seven letters form a land that we have made our home.
F-A-T-L-A-N-D—we say this name and smile,
As long as we live here, we need never fear exile.

Chorus
Fat and free, fat and free—
We are proud to live strong, fat and free
As we go through our full days living our lives
As sons and daughters, partners, husbands, wives.

Grandmas

Because many people emigrated from the OtherSide/USA to FatLand without relatives, many of them were lonely at first, and even for a while after. One of the most innovative approaches to this problem involved creating a group called Grandmas. Women who were older than 45 were welcomed into the group. They received work credits -if they wanted them- for "adopting" younger FatLanders. Or younger FatLanders could adopt them.

FatLanders who wanted grandmas submitted their preferences via online/smartpad form.

Some FatLanders kept these "grandmas" until the grandmas died or they died. They made FatLand life secure and happy, the FatLanders said.

Another story of dieting that caused weight gain

My own story. There are many like it, however, in the FatLand Archives.


So it was like this...

Lost about 15 pounds in camp when I was 12. Got bronchitis and lost seven more. I actually looked slim. Shows just how sick I was. My grandma (mom's mom), with whom I was staying, was beside herself with worry. As I got better, I gained 10 pounds back. Gained thirty more that first semester of 7th grade at least partly because we moved and things were extremely confusing for a while.

Lost about twenty, gained it back. This happened twice, in two years. Gained two inches. So there I was, at 5'9 and 164, fairly athletic, healthy, loving to walk. But then the doctor said noooo...you must lose 24 pounds. Why? Good question. So I lost 11 pounds by walking even more and eating a lot less. Lost 11 more in camp. Gained them back plus seven more. Up to 170 now. Went on a 500 calorie a day diet and lost 20 pounds. Stopped dieting because I was hungry. Gained the 20 pounds back plus 10. Lost 15 the second semester of college.

Gained them back plus 10 more. Lost them, gained, lost, gained all back...plus eight.

The pattern continued until the year 2000, when I swore I would not diet ever again.

I have not.

In thought I wrap in icecubes the primary care doctor who said I had to lose 20 pounds.

A Voting Party

In FatLand 3:  To Live Proud and Free, FatLand will switch over to voting for a territorial Senate. It will be the first time FatLanders vote in an actual FatLand election. But instead of making it boring and mundane, FatLand will be making it a party and FatLanders will be meeting each other at the election places and dancing :)

The Thinness Society

The Thinness Society met for the first time on October 7, 2046. Many FatLanders were appalled at the very idea. Unfortunately, a minority were vocal supporters.

One of the original members of the "Fat and Happy" TV reality show in 2010, the show that ended up being the stimulus behind the creation of FatLand, decided that there were now too many people who were starting to become thin in FatLand. She didn't realize that genetic probability was simply taking its turn, and that the thin kids and young adults she was seeing were the result of recessive genes pairing up. So she founded the Thinness Society, which was focused on trying to "treat" thinness. Needless to say, there were no thin members of the Thinness Society.

Ring a bell? The Obesity Society is an actual organization here in the USA and is still focused on "treating" obesity (read "fat people").  There are no "obese" members. There are: doctors, educators, nurses, all talking about how obesity should be helped/cured/eradicated.

And just as you might imagine, there were demonstrators outside this meeting of the Thinness Society carrying signs that read "Thinness is not a disease" and "Thinness does not need to be treated."

Yep. And neither does "Obesity."

Anti-Bariatric Interventions

Something weird happened in 2045-2046, after the Pro-Health and Diet measures were repealed on the Other Side/USA and after they resumed relations with FatLand.

Bariatric surgery, which had fallen into disuse on the Other Side because it did not result in long term major weight loss, started up again, but not as a weight loss aid. It was being touted as a cure for diabetes, an idea which had already been disproved in the early 2000's.  But certain people saw in it a chance to profit. So they started running ads for it, ads bolstered by studies which were either disproved themselves or nonexistent.

A number of FatandProud chapters on The Other Side contacted FatLand doctors and Friends of FatandProud (a FatLand group dedicated to helping and working with FatandProud chapters on The Other Side). They came up with the Anti-Bariatric Interventions - ABI's, for short.

What this entailed:   Several FatandProud members, often assisted and accompanied by Friends of FatandProud members who were able to travel to the USA (which was much easier, now that relations had been resumed between FatLand and the USA), would rush over to the hospital or clinic at which a bariatric surgical operation was being performed. They would spray shaving cream over the doctor or doctors performing the operation, then snatch the operee out before she was anaesthetized. They would transport her to a safe house. When she awoke, they would explain to  her that BLS surgery does not reduce or do away with diabetes in the long term. They would also tell her that she was free to stay in the safe house (house managed and populated with FatandProud people) as long as she wished, and that they would assist her in managing her diabetes. They would then have a FatandProud dietitian talk to her.

In this way, FatandProud, along with Friends of FatandProud, saved more than 1000 women from having BLS. Not one of the women chose to have the surgery after staying in a FatandProud safe house.

FatLand Bookstores

There are many bookstores in FatLand, which is a bit surprising because most people on the Other Side/USA buy most of their books online.

For some reason, FatLanders like holding books and looking at them and reading them.

Most FatLand bookstores are open at least until midnight, and often later on the weekends.

Many feature readings. concerts, reading groups and other discussion groups. More than half have cafes.

In other words:  They offer what Borders bookstores once did until they went out of business on the OtherSide.

In other words:  They make buying books fun.


Oh - there are no weight loss sections. "Health" and "Fitness" categories do not include weight loss.

But they do include sex.