Welcome to Body Type!
This is a newsletter all about the tricky business of the physical self.
Here you’ll find essays about body image, body changes, eating disorder recovery, and getting strong (in more ways than one).
I offer thoughts on how movement, food, media, and culture affect body image, because I want to feel better about my body and help you feel better about yours.
Who writes Body Type?
Me!
I’m Mikala Jamison, a writer, editor, and former newsroom journalist [find my other work on my website] in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as a live storyteller who created The Body Show for the 2022 Capital Fringe Festival. Here’s a five-star review.
Also: I’m working on a book of essays about body image and exercise, and am represented by Kayla Lightner at Ayesha Pande Literary.
Also also: I have a cat named after Lucille Bluth, my top-two favorite things to eat are ravioli and olives, and I rappelled down a skyscraper once. Ask me about all that.
Why do you write about this stuff?
I want to feel better in and about my body as much as I can (knowing that it’s OK and normal if I can’t always accept it or love it), and I want you to, too.
Some things that inform my interest and expertise:
I lived with binge eating disorder for many years, so …
… I used to be about 70 pounds heavier, which changed once I got into therapy for disordered eating and fell in love with strength training, and then …
… I became a certified group fitness instructor, a one-time competitive powerlifter, and a (not officially) certified Woman Who Likes to Lift Weights.
That’s why I write about things like the agony and the ecstasy of weight loss compliments, why research doesn’t make being fat any easier, how pushing yourself through exercise doesn’t mean punishing yourself with it, whether any woman isn’t fucked up about her body, why Ozempic gossip and selective body policing will destroy our brains, why I’ll never run again, why it’s OK that skinny influencers show their little fat rolls, why junk food needs no defense and healthy food needs no praise, etc.
What will I get if I subscribe to Body Type?
You’ll get at least two posts a month (usually more), most free, some paid. Paid subscriber posts are generally more “advice-y or spicy” — they offer more how-to insights, or something related to sex/anything else commenters might want to discuss with more privacy.
Paid subscribers also have access to my special “Body Type Guide to Safe, Sane, Sustainable Change,” series, which dives deeper into meaningful habit and behavior change around exercise, eating, and body image.
Check this page for more about what readers have to say about Body Type, and other FAQs.
Thank you so much for reading!
