What a lovely suprise!

Marie has generously made an exception to sucking - I mean cheating - no wait not participating fully in the blog meme things that go around, and has tagged me! What a surprise! ;)

Actually her post about 5 things that sucked about being bigger (I know she doesn't like the f word) inspired me and I basically made her tag me. So here I go, reasons it sucks to be overweight:

1. wearing too much clothes for the weather. On hot days, still feeling like you need to wear sleeves to cover your arms. I remember that I didn't wear a tank top from the time I was like 8 until I was 16. I remember buying my first one and feeling so self conscious when I wore it. (and I wasn't that big either, but my fat does stick to the arms). I also was one of the people who wore a shirt in the pool. You would never catch me wearing even a t-shirt without a bunnyhug or sweater of some kind. Even just last year. (heck even now on "fat days"). I think along with this one goes, wearing inappropriate clothes. As in, you're young, hip, but you dress like a grandma.

2. unflattering pictures. Last summer we had family pictures taken with my parents and siblings. Really nice pictures. Except for my big fat belly and my double chins. I hate those pictures, yet things like that don't happen often. I'm gonna look at that picture for years and years. And I see my chub, not the happy family. Also bad when other people take pictures of you and that's how they get to see you all the time. Or they post it on facebook. Thanks.

3. Closet issues. I had mornings where I'd be close to tears just getting dressed for work. Nothing looked nice. I was late for weddings because I couldn't find something flattering to wear. The feelings from closet issues were probably the worst feelings I can remember.

4. Not being able to talk about food. if somebody was talking about going out, I couldn't help pick a place unless it was a salad bar. If I was eating with other people I picked food that wouldn't look like "typical fat girl shoving a burger down her throat". This is still with me. I think it made me a closet eater. I remember being in high school and sneaking in the kitchen and shoving like 5 cookies in my mouth and eating them as fast as I could, then walking out with just one.

5. Inner thigh chafing (ITC) This and other rash sorta things were a huge motivator. (following miss mouse here) skirts are out, skin to skin sweat and rash. jeans are out, wearing through the inner thigh. Shorts NO WAY, some how this made just the actual rubbing so much more painful. EXERCISE was out of the question because of the extra sweat and rubbing. I remember walking around like I rode a horse all day because my thighs hurt so bad. I wasn't able to pinpoint when that stopped, but I don't miss it at all!



Just something else I want to talk about, kinda related:

When I see little kids who are overweight I get sad. My 8 year old neice is overweight. I think when you're 8 it's not your fault. Her dad I think is not a great help and is probably setting her up for eating disorders, but he used to call her fat when she was like 3. When you're 3 it's cute to have pudge and you can get teased about your belly button sticking out. But teased, like when getting tickled, not called fat by your dad. Anyway, I was baby sitting her and her little 5 year old brother (who's a stick, it's always the girls with the raw deal). And I was telling them about water for some reason. How important it is to drink water. And how pop and juice are like treats and are only a sometimes food for me since they're not healthy and can make you fat if you have too much, trying to emphasize the health not the fat. And how water is good for you to drink because your body needs it and it won't make you fat. Anyways, 8yo instantly says "from now on I'm only drinking water then!" and it made me sad. She's too young to feel like that.

BUT I remember feeling like that even younger than her. And I wasn't even as chubby as she is. First, I matured faster than most kids in my class. And a lot of them were really skinny, scrawny, boney kids. Even as a kid I had muscles. So I was taller and bigger than them all the time. I don't remember when the first time was, but I remember hating dance because we'd have to wear leotards and I wasn't cute and skinny like the other kids (looking back, I was much cuter with dimples and so on but whatevs.) I quit and took piano.

The thing with my neice is that she somehow doesn't know things about sometimes food and healthy food. I mean her mom is overweight and is now dropping some of it with curves. And I guess it's hard to say no to your kids. Plus you don't want to give them a complex by putting them on a diet. But really at that age, you ask before you get a glass of juice, your parents fill your plate. I know these kids are spoiled already with toys, but they're also spoiled with the eating snacks before supper and then not eating supper and being able to leave food on their plate. I know this is a touchy one too because you don't have to clean your plate all the time if you're not hungry. But if you don't ever eat your veggies but eat chips all afternoon, that's an issue. I just felt so shocked when they didn't really understand that juice and pop were bad for you. The fact that something you eat could be bad for you didn't seem like it had registered before. It's another situation where it's like "when I raise my kids we're gonna do it right!". Same with how they're not gonna watch 48 hours of tv or computer screen/week. (just heard that study). I'm such a good parent for having no kids.