Meet Ragen Chastain | Speaker, Writer, Trained Researcher, Activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ragen Chastain and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ragen, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I think that work life balance is different for someone like me, because my work is also activism. So it’s not just about making a living but also about a personal mission to do what I can do to address injustice in the world. In my first career I was a business operations consultant and I worked hard to create boundaries to protect my work life balance. Part of choosing to be a professional speaker and writer in the social justice field was relaxing those boundaries and dedicating my life to this work. I’m lucky to have been able to work like this for nearly ten years without burning out, but it’s something that I stay on the lookout for. Burnout is a real and valid part of activism and so if it does happen I want to try to catch it before it becomes insurmountable. At that point I’d work to create boundaries and free time.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
For the last decade I have been a full-time speaker and writer, focusing on weight science, weight stigma, health and fitness, and the ways that these intersect. I speak to general audiences about practicing weight-neutral health and fitness, dealing with weight stigma in their lives (from relationships. to employment, to healthcare and more,) and about activism for fat liberation. I speak to fitness and workplace wellness professionals about creating weight-inclusive programming, and I speak to healthcare professionals and students about best practices for caring for fat patients and creating inclusive public health campaigns. I also write a newsletter about weight and healthcare for substack, I co-author the HAES Health Sheets which are diagnosis-specific, weight-neutral practice guides, and I write for outlets from espnW to US News & World Report. I’m proud and grateful that have had the chance to bring this message to a variety of outlets, including some that are pretty unexpected – this year I was quoted in a piece for the official magazine of the American Chemical Society!

I came to this work through the research. I have a background in research methods and statistics and after years of yo-yo dieting I decided to do a literature review to find the best method of intentional weight loss. Instead I found that there wasn’t a single study where more than a tiny fraction of participants succeeded at long-term, significant weight loss. That started me on a research journey that led me to the research that shows that healthy behaviors are a much better option to support our bodies than weight loss attempts (understanding that health is not an obligation, barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control.) The next step of my journey was the realization that fat people face systemic oppression that is neither our fault, nor solvable through self-love. All of that led me to be a fat activist. I began as a blogger and then started to get requests to speak and write for other outlets. I started in 2009 and went full time in 2012.

I often say that I have a dream job that I wish didn’t exist, which is to say that given the state of the world I’m doing what I would most want to do i(and I’m both lucky and privileged to do so,) but I wish that I lived in a world where that work wasn’t necessary at all.

I’m just one of a large community of people who have been doing this work since before I was born, many with less privilege than I have and I always want acknowledge that. What I bring to the work is a combination of many paths in my life including my background in social justice work, my background in research methods and statistics, my knowledge of the weight science research, the experiences in my first career as a business operations consultant, and an innate ability to explain complicated concepts with a sense of humor that helps me deliver dense or difficult information in a way that makes it more palatable and easy to understand. As a final layer, are my experiences as a fat athlete – I’m a three-time National Dance Champion, triathlete, and marathoner – I currently hold the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. I got my first fitness certification when I was 18 and I currently hold ACE certifications as a Health Coach, Group Fitness Instructor, and Functional Training Specialist. The intersections of my experiences, identities, and skills give me a unique perspective from which to share information.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Los Angeles but have truly enjoyed visiting Denver many times. Some of my favorite places are the Botanic Gardens, concerts at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, Echo Lake, and Hapa Sushi which my friend Hunt introduced me to the very first time I visited Denver and which I try to visit every time I’m there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my mom. I’ve been fighting for what I believed in my whole life and my mom has been an unwavering supporter of that, even when it was incredibly inconvenient to be the mom of “that kid.” My mom has always been my biggest supporter.

Website: https://weightandhealthcare.substack.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ragenchastain/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ragenchastain/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/danceswithfat

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ragenchastain/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/danceswithfat

Other: Blog: www.danceswithfat.org HAES Health Sheets: https://haeshealthsheets.com/

Image Credits
headshot – Lindley Ashline Splits Picture – Substantia Jones Standing Heel Pull – Richard Sabel All others no credit necessary.