These Health At Every Size^SM success stories were collected at recent ASDAH conferences, or submitted by members online. 

• I shared Linda Bacon’s ‘Health At Every Size^SM Manifesto’ with my general practitioner who then made copies for every staff member and held a special meeting about it. (anonymous)
  
  
• I dragged myself to an (eating disorder) conference that is usually really oppressive, and then dragged myself up to the microphone when I could add a HAES^SM perspective. Joslyn Smith heard me asking a question and introduced herself! She kept in touch and, over the year, was able to get HAES^SM resources to accomplish a tremendous amount.  (Deb Burgard)
  
  
• I finally had the name changed for a health collaborative from ‘Prevention of Childhood Obesity Task Force” to ‘Get Healthy San Mateo County Task Force.'
  (Dana Schuster)
  
  
• Toronto now has its own ‘HAES^SM Journal Club’ which meets once a month to discuss and debate a variety of HAES^SM issues. It was started by a (now) 3rd year medical student on the Show-Me-The-Data Listserv who is also a size accepting, self-defined fat woman.  (Amy Herskowitz)
  
  
• My film,‘Strong!’(working title) won a prestigious national arts award from Creative Capital and also a grant from the UC Institute for Research in the arts! (Julie Wyman)
  
  
• I presented a workshop called ‘Aging in Our Fat Bodies’ three times since its launch at the last ASDAH conference (2007). I also launched the website Aging in Our Fat Bodies.  (Lynn Ellen Marcus)
  
  
• I had surgery this past year and I used the opportunity to give the HAES^SM resource list to my doctor and favorite nurse. (anonymous)  
  
  
• HAES^SM was well received at a meeting of 60 school nutrition directors in Reno, NV in June, 2008. (Joanne Ikeda)
  
  
• The college where I am a lowly adjunct gave me financial compensation for teaching at NAAFA and ASDAH last year! (Barbara Altman Bruno)
  
  
• I conceived a future workshop for ASDAH: ‘Using the “F” Word: Changing Minds Through Changing Language. (Sandy Andresen)
  
  
• A patient came in for a first session and as she was telling me her history (college student living on the East Coast), she said: ‘…and I try [to] health At every size^SM…’ and I said: ‘You’ve heard of HAES^SM?’ and she said: ‘of course’ and had no idea there was any connection to me.  (anonymous)  
  
  
• After an Editorial appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry recommending that obesity be classified as a mental disorder, my letter of rebuttal was accepted. The original authors then ‘clarified’ that they only meant for a subset of fat people to be considered as food addicts.  (Barbara Altman Bruno)
  

• I went to my local clothing optional beach and chose to opt out of wearing mine.  Now I’m a regular every summer!  Very liberating!

• I wrote a letter to my daughter’s school about the development of eating disorders in young girls because of the emphasis on weight and body size.  They stopped their practice of collecting BMI stats in her class.
  
  
• My doctor changed chairs in his waiting and treatment rooms to be more appropriate for people of all sizes.
  
  
• I wanted to start a plus-sized water aerobics class at my local park district.  Concerns were raised about how to market the class without offending patrons.  The decision went all the way to the Park District Board.  They finally agreed to my suggested “plus-sized water aerobics.”  It is now the biggest water aerobics class.
  
  
• Feedback from a middle school student after a presentation I gave on weight/size bias and size acceptance/HAES^SM on their annual Diversity Day:  “you touched my heart…made me realize even though I am big and fat, I shouldn’t care what other people say and just be the best I can be.  Also I understand now that I should just be who I am and if I see a person who is fat or thin, I should get to know them and their personalities before I make assumptions."
  
  
• I was told I couldn’t conceive a baby at my size.  Once I became pregnant, I was told  I couldn’t birth normally at my size.  Then they CUT my babies from my body. Then I found my power and said, NO MORE.  I birthed my next babies out of my own body, gently and reverently and powerfully. Now I help other fat women birth powerfully too.
  
  
• A client decided not to have bariatric surgery.
  
  
• Convinced our state Public Health Forum, consisting of 16 major public health organizations, to launch their physical activity plan independently from the International Obesity Conference, where it was originally to be launched.
  
  
• Because I complained (up the food chain) that the school should NOT measure 3rd graders’ BMI’s, they stopped the practice.
  
  
• I convinced a psychiatrist co-worker to de-emphasize weight loss as an approach to a client’s diabetes.
  
  
• Health At Every Size^SM: Finding Your Happy Weight by Linda Bacon has found a very enthusiastic publisher and is due out 11/08.
  
  
• Succeeded in getting a senior professor in sport and exercise science to remove the topic of “obesity” from one of his courses.
  
  
• Succeeded in getting “body size” incorporated in my university’s Equal Opportunity policy.
  
  
• I am chair of a group formed to address health disparities for African Americans.  The PR packet being put together originally included the misstatement that obesity is surpassing tobacco consumption, etc.  Because of the tremendous network of resources and support, I was able to contact Katherine Flegal at the CDC and she sent the correct information.  The statement was removed before going out to 50 media outlets.
  
  
• Obtained grant funds for a Health At Every Size^SM project from a grant program for “obesity prevention” without mentioning weight.
  
  
• Stopped my daughter’s 5th grade  teacher from weighing all the children in her class as an activity for a math unit.
  
  
• After my right wing fat hating military family saw Joy Nash and I debate Meme Roth, they sat there SPEWING HAES^SM for 30 minutes!
  
  
• I put on a form-fitting bathing suit and go swimming in a franchise gym every week.  I weigh 360lbs.
  

• Last week I received a call from Web.com to critique the “5-Factor Diet” by H. Pastemak.  My critique stated I hadn’t seen any research showing that people lose substantial weight and keep it off using this diet or any other.  She said I went against the opinions of 3 nutritionist and the American Dietetic Association but I was “brilliant” because her research found the same!
  

• Got Ministerial Advisory Committee to change “obesity prevention” funding program to “healthy weight for children” program.

• I successfully introduced my doctor to HAES^SM.  She has put large chairs in her waiting room, taken down the BMI charts, and gone to bat for me against others who try to make me lose weight.
  
  
• I was a presenter at a meeting in Salt Lake City speaking to state and local health department staff from 8 different states. They had been funded to design, implement and evaluate efforts to help women of reproductive age achieve healthy weights.  I gave two talks; the first on effective messaging around healthy weight and the second on HAES^SM.  By the end of the meeting participants were re-evaluating their project to make sure they were operating in accordance to HAES^SM principles.  Many people said that they were glad I was there to introduce them to HAES^SM.
  
  
• Included HAES^SM messages in teaching first year medical students.