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Is dieting dead? No, but fat acceptance is alive and well.

From MSNBC.com:

The pulse of tribal drumming fills the air. Jeannie Troy, 48 and 220 pounds, dances wildly, pogo-ing like a punk rocker at a Green Day concert and shaking her sweaty hair. All around her, women—whose body sizes range from average to well over 300 pounds—grin as they get their groove on.

This is what fitness looks like at Green Mountain at Fox Run, a center in Vermont for women determined to end their weight struggles. As the class breaks up, applause erupts and Troy grabs a towel. Her face is bright red and her extra-large purple T-shirt is blotched with sweat, but she's beaming. "I've finally learned to take to heart that saying 'Dance like nobody's watching,' " she says.

Before coming to Green Mountain, Troy had spent countless days—and dollars—dieting. She isn't alone: At any given time, 53 percent of Americans are trying to slim down. So why, then, are so many women overweight? Many experts believe it's because diets simply don't work for keeping weight off long term. "If we had a 95 percent failure rate with a medication, it would never get approved by the FDA. Yet that's dieting's record," says Michelle May, MD, founder of Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating Workshops.

Read the rest of this article, by Marjorie Ingall, here.

So, lemme tell you a little personal story about the fat acceptance crowd …

I used to have a blog called “Angry Fat Woman,” and still have a Twitter account by that name. I closed the blog because it became verbal target practice for both fat haters and fat acceptors, and, frankly, I don't want to waste my time with that sort of abuse.

The fat haters thought I was making excuses and the fat acceptors thought I was trying to make them feel bad about themselves because I was trying to lose weight. There was no way to win.

All I was yacking about was how I believe our society both encourages (fast food, Internet, et al) and disparages (humiliation, higher prices, et al) obesity, a reality that thoroughly pisses me off, and a few other less interesting things. For that, I was sent too many blips of hate mail from anonymous people on the Internet.

While I’m quick to tell the fat haters to shove off (who the fuck do you skinny motherfuckers think you are picking on people whose struggle you can’t possibly understand?!) ...

The fat acceptance people's reaction threw me off guard. I mean, they use the word "acceptance" to describe themselves, yet made a point to reach out to me and point out what they perceive to be my wrongs since I wasn't 100 percent on board with their message. Nice.

I get where they’re going with their idea of acceptance, though; they want us all to accept each other as is, yayaya. That’s sweet and all, truly a nice sentiment — and one I share when I'm being my most ideological; yes, we should be more accepting in general.

However, acceptance includes embracing everyone, regardless. All the time. No matter what.

That's hard.