Weighty Issue

If you look back at pictures of me as a baby you will see a child resembling the Michelin Man. No word of a lie the rolls of fat were unbelievable. Anyone would think my mum fed me cake all day long. 

This chunkiness continued up until I was about the age of 5 or 6 years old. Then I suddenly got all lanky. I remember thinking my arms were almost as long as my legs! I don't quite know how this transformation happened because my eating habits remained the same. I wasn't one of those massively fussy eaters. We actually always ate well, given the fact my dad was a butcher. Whilst my friends were having pizza and chips for dinner we would have steak and vegetables on the regular. It was a novelty going to friends houses for tea just so I could indulge in processed food. 

By the time I got to 18 I really thought I would have started to develop some sort of curves, but no I was still a stick insect....which I hated! Crazy really when you think most women would love to be a size 6/8, but I really did hate it. I started to develop the opposite of an eating disorder. Whilst in college I would have Mc Donald's for breakfast and lunch!! I still couldn't gain the weight. It frustrated the hell out of me. I remember my mum always telling me to be careful with what I ate because it would catch up with me eventually. I could never imagine my figure changing. 

Whenever we had family parties and the italian side would be there, the comments would always be for me to "eat, eat!". I would force food down my neck and still no bloody change. I'm trying to think of the precise age I was when it really did all catch up with me. It was like I woke up one morning and my legs miraculously met at the top. I reckon it was around the age of 23. I then piled on the pounds. After always weighting about 8 stone, the scales suddenly hit 10 stone. And typically, after all my years of moaning about being skinny and wishing for some junk to appear in my trunk, I then panicked. My size 8 clothes wouldn't even go past my thighs! I had to buy a size 12 which was shocking to someone who had always been tiny. To be honest, I was quite happy but I wanted to be curvy and toned and what I had was pure jelly. So I decided to eat healthy again until I got to a weight which felt and looked right for me.

Now, at 30, you would think I might actually be happy with my weight but lately I've began to question whether I am. Not because I don't feel comfortable, nor because my clothes don't fit, but it's actually because of people's comments. I just wonder why its acceptable for people to ask (in a 'sympathetic head tilted to one side' type of way) "have you lost weight!?" when you would never dream of asking someone the opposite! Do people not realise that actually it can be quite offensive,  especially when someone is naturally slim and there isn't much they can do about it. The same way some people are built to be curvier and find it hard to lose weight. Can you imagine turning to a bigger woman and asking "have you put on weight?" That would not go down well and, quite frankly, I would never dream of asking such a question. Therefore, I do think people should think before they ask a slimmer person if they've lost weight or make comments about them being too thin. It's not always intentional, it's just the way they are built, and it can make them feel pretty crap.