How To Breathe So You Don't Look Fat

And here we are, the last in the season and out last for a while, I'm sad to say. It's time I focussed on that book I keep talking about, as well as one or two other projects. I'll be back, probably here and there, rather than a full season. And maybe later in 2022, I'll bring season 4. let's see how things unfold. In the meantime, today, we have Emma Pullin a body confidence photographer. 

We talk about the conflict of feeling sexy, the idea we don’t need a reason to like our bodies, and... the objectification of rabbits! We also talked about the challenges of being a naturally thin woman, and how few safe spaces Emma feels she has to be able to discuss her own challenges with body image. You can find Emma at @emmalita.x on Instagram.

As ever, whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you’re able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee, https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat If you have any comments following today's episode, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

This weeks guest is the fabulous Lorna Harris: a writer, a charity sector PR and sea swimmer from Whistable. 47 years young, Lorna and I chatted about the impact of grief on our relationship to food, the time someone put their child in fancy dress, as Lorna, and what she affectionately calls, the trifle months.

For more from Lorna, give her a follow her on @lornamedia

Whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you’re able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee, https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat

If you have any comments following today's episode, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

Today’s guest is Sarah Mills, a disabled writer, performer, stand-up, content creator and passionate campaigner around invisible disability. You can see her web series, The Chemo Chat Show featuring comics like Phil Wang and Dara Obriain, here on twitter. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_DXNUSK07QN9nPa6K0aPug

We talked about what a colon cancer diagnosis does to your relationship to self, the advice from a doctor when she approached them about how to lose weight for health, the difficulty around talking about wanting to be slimmer or lose weight, and the stoma she calls Gillian McKeith.

You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @sazzymills Deffo check out her series of recreated iconic pictures.

Whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you’re able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee, https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat

If you have any comments following today's episode, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

This week we have Kate Passmore a Cornish coastal walker, sea swimmer and marketing expert who shared with us the moment her body image shifted, the online ‘noise' around body image these days, and perhaps most importantly: Roast Potatoes.

To get updates from Kate, please do give her a follow on Instagram @katetocoast

Whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you’re able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee, https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat

If you have any comments following today's episode, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

This weeks guest is the international best seller, Rowan Coleman. I've long admired Rowan's writing, and it was lovely to get the chance to chat about this subject with her. We talk about the years of being told she was greedy, sweet treats as medicine, and how dieting makes you fatter. I also want to add a trigger warning to this episode. Rowan and I talk about sexual abuse and the impact that can have on our relationships to our body. Thank you to Rowan for opening up about that part of her life, and for granting me the space to discuss my own experience. 

If you'd like to buy any of Rowan's gorgeous books, please do head to https://rowancoleman.co.uk You can follow her on Twitter @rowancoleman, Instagram @rowanmcoleman or Facebook, RowanColemanAuthor

Whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you like what we do and feel you're able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee...  https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat

If you have any thoughts following this conversation, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

This week's guest is Clare, a 54 year old bundle of fizzing energy, who shares with us her experience of body image and the menopause, the things she learned from her mum and how she rejected those ideals, and how much she loves people and the power of community, shared through her project, The Community Scarf, which you can see on Instagram.

You can follow Clare on Twitter or  instagram

And the book Clare mentioned, The Body is Not an Apology, is available at your local independent bookshop, or here.

Whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you like what we do and feel you're able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee...  https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat

If you have any thoughts following this conversation, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

Woohoo! We’re back! Welcome to Season 3 of How To Breathe So You Don’t Look Fat!

We have 6 lovely guests lined up for the new season and kick off with the excellent Sofia Nazar Chadwick, a 54 year old British/Asian Muslim, Mother, Wife and Daughter. In this funny and insightful chat we hear about 'diet day', cultural expectations of body shape and size, and clothes that - 20 yrs on - still have their labels on because they’ve simply never fitted!

You can follow Sofia at @timmydidit on Twitter or  @discosofia on instagram

Whilst this is all free content that we love to create, if you like what we do and feel you're able to support us, please do consider buying us a coffee...  https://ko-fi.com/howtobreathesoyoudontlookfat 

If you have any thoughts following this conversation, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected]

And here we are again, at the end of another season, and what an absolute corker of a conversation I have for you. Eden Elgeti shared with me the moment she started to notice other peoples relationships to their bodies, we explored the fact that she had no recollection of things said to her as a child, and yet how her body has now become something people feel entitled to an opinion on, and she gifted the simplest of statements that, as you'll hear in the record, completely flawed me. Like, how have I been forgetting this main fact, for an entire life? Please do have a listen. And finally, I shared with her the things I do in restaurants when deciding what to eat. Something I've never told anyone, and something I feel shame about, every time I hear our conversation back. 

You can follow Eden at @transgenderswimmer on instagram, or visit her website at www.thetransgenderswimmer.co.uk

If you have any thoughts following this conversation, or any of those in Season 1 and 2, please do give me a shout on Instagram or Twitter, or drop me an email at [email protected] 

Season 2 has been such a joy to bring to you, and I really hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I'm going to take a bit of a break now and work out what future the podcast has, in light of some of my hopes not quite playing out the way I imagined. Isn't that always the way! We'll be back. :) 

Today, I’m so grateful to be able to bring you two guests: mother and daughter Mel and Gabbi Osborne.

We’ve talked a lot on the podcast about the things we hear from our mothers, and how that has sometimes shaped our feelings about our own body’s. In today’s chat, we explore Mel’s relationship to her body and how hard she worked to not spread that to her daughter Gabbi, and the subsequent soul searching she did when Gabbi was diagnosed with Anorexia. We talk about Gabbi’s ongoing recovery. And we discuss the challenge around how much autonomy and privacy we should be giving our children when it comes to what they’re seeing on social media. We didn’t solve that one, so if you have any hot tips, do share!

I’m super grateful to both Mel and Gabbi for sharing their story so honestly, and we wish Gabbi continued wellness.

(Podcast references we made were with iWeigh, and How to Fail by Elizabeth Day. Elizabeth Day's book is called Failosophy, not Failology!!)

Fiona Houston, also known on Instagram as Fat_Black_Pregnant, describes herself as Fat, Black, late 30s mum to a lockdown baby. Her instagram page is all about building a space for women like her. We talked about the responsibility she feels towards other people, because of her race and size, the fear she inherited from health workers during her pregnancy, and apologising for ruining people's photos, just by being in them! 

If you have any thoughts following the episode, you can email us at [email protected]