WHO
Breeze Vincinz is a L.A. based writer who has fighting the battle of the "bulge" since his infancy. Momentarily winning that battle after a bad breakup, bad habits crept back in as well as the pounds. After another decade and another bad breakup, Breeze has decided to realign the troops and go to war with greater adversaries; obesity, lethargy and Type II Diabetes.
WHAT
The F.A.T. Diaries is an online journal that will capture my weight loss journey and all of the extra accouterments that go with it. Separated into three sections, FOOD will be entries dealing with my tumultuous relationship with food, ASS will be entries dealing with body image and sexuality, and TIME will tackle issues about getting older and time management.
​
As with most journals, the entries will err on the side of OVERsharing, but the purpose of putting this online, narcissism notwithstanding, is to actually help people who might be going through the same struggles. With 42% of Americans dealing with obesity, we can use as much community as possible to navigate through a society that is harsh, condescending, and filled with misinformation.
​
So I want this to be as much my journal as it is yours, and let's help each other out as we share support, information, and good old fashion storytelling as we all try to live healthier and happier lives.
WHY
While popular misconception is that every person within the 42 percentile of overweight Americans are somehow sad, tragic figures in need of "fixing," the truth of the matter is that no one holds their obesity the same. Obesity has a "Zelig"-like place in modern society. It can be an inspiring platform for strength and sexuality (see Lizzo and Ashley Graham), comedy and levity (see Gabriel Iglesias and Zach Galifianakis), tragedy and misfortune (see John Belushi and Mama Cass) as well as scorn and ridicule (see Delta Burke and Kirstie Alley). Those extra pounds that cling to our bodies are heavy adhesive snowflakes, each with its own identity and characteristic.
​
For all of my life, mine provided a flawed yet effective defense mechanism thwarting the tactless and the bourgeoisie while providing a soft, comfortable niche to excuse my financial, assertive, and sometimes even physical impotence.
​
But as I hit my seventh 7-Year itch and prepare for my not so distant second Saturn Return, I'm reconsidering my plush armor of cellulite and angst, and I'm thinking... maybe it's about time to melt those snowflakes and redefine who I am. Or, at the very least, reacclimate myself with the person I was before I needed defense mechanisms.
So as I take this journey, I dedicate this to those large and in charge souls that are no longer with us on this plane but whose mark they made on this planet were infinitesimally larger than any pair of pants they ever wore. This includes Mr. Jim Belushi, Ms. Nell Carter, Mr. Harold Washington, Ms. Divine, and Mr. Chris Farley.
The much-abridged backstory of my weight loss journey includes a horrible breakup that procured an addiction to working out at the gym seven days a week and starting an LGBT Spoken Word night. The end result was a 140 lbs. weight loss and self-publishing a book of poetry. While I have continued to write, the workouts stopped, and the weight crept back. This time around, I'm going back to the gym and putting more of a concentration on my diet plan as well.
