Obese Canadians share experiences in social media campaign

After being fired for a comment about 'fat ladies,' an Edmonton woman is leading a social media campaign to encourage obese Canadians to dismantle stereotypes about their bodies.

Constance Levitsky, who self describes as fat and is proud of her body, is the spokeswoman behind the Weight of Living campaign. It's connected with the Canadian Obesity Network and isdesigned for obese Canadians to share their stories.

"In order for you to be truly healthy, you have tohave a level of self-acceptance,"Levitskysaid. "Health is much more than a number on the scale."

"We've had a lot of people say, 'I thought I was the only one,'"Levitskysaid.

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The social media posts follow a pattern set by the popular Humans of New York blog. Each postfeatures a picture of the individual and a first-person narrative behind how they've lived with their weight.

"A lot of [Weight of Living] is sharing stories, saying: 'This is me. This is who I am. I'm more than just what my body is,'"Levitskysaid. "Some of the stories we received are very moving. For the most part, people want to say this is who I am and there is a person underneath what you see."

Levitskymade headlines earlier this yearwhen she was fired for describingher job title at an Edmonton boutique as "Conquering the world, one well-dressed fat lady at a time."

She said that quote was taken out of context. Her managerand the company AdditionElletook it tomean she was making a derogatory comment. In fact,Levitskysays was just the opposite.

"It was a cheeky joke," Levitsky said. "I identify myself as fat and lot of my friends are starting to take back that word. It was taken out of context."

Levitskybegan working with the Canadian Obesity Network after the incident.

'It's not that easy to just lose weight'

Canadians have some of the highest obesity rates in the world. Canada is fifth in the world with the number of obese adults, according to a recent Senate report on obesity.That report labeled obesity as a "crisis" and offers 21 recommendations to deal with it.

But for obese adults, it is nearly impossible to permanently lose weight. Only about five per cent of people who try to lose weight ultimately succeed,according to the latest obesity research.

"If it was that easy [to lose weight] I'm sure a lot of us would do it," she said. "But the reality is for a lot of people it's not that easy to just lose weight and I'm sure at one point or another everyone has tried to do so."