....you're walking back from taking Holy Communion and someone pinches you as you walk past and says 'You putting on too much weight'
....you're in the middle of a conversation and someone interrupts to pat you on the stomach and asks 'How you get so fat?'
....you're referred to as 'broad bottom' by your gym instructor.
These are some of the recent comments I've received about my weight since I've been back home. Though I must admit it wasn't as bad as when I came home for the first time in a long time in December 2004. This was when I counted on both hands (at least twice) the people who mentioned how much weight I had put on. But then there also was the stares of shock people gave you as you were talking to them. I'm not sure which one was worse. But since then, every time I've returned home, I brace myself for the comments someone is going to make about my weight.
My weight is something that I've battled with for as long as I remember. I tried so many diets. There was the orange juice diet (that's all I had for breakfast, lunch and dinner) very sickly. Then there was the 'reverse diet' where I had dinner for breakfast and vice-versa. I also tried the carrot and water diet, but after a while the palm of my hand looked as if I had jaundice. I even tried being bulimic, but I didn't quite get the knack of forcing myself to vomit.
I think my most successful 'diet' was when I ate nothing but fish and vegetables and drank only water. It was when I was 18 and I went down to 115 lbs (8 st 2). People at university thought that I was anorexic because I had lost so much weight. *sigh* a distant dream...
But it all changed in the summer of 1999. I went to Mexico for 9 weeks. I was hoping that I could maintain my diet. But that was not to be. There was a mix-up in my dietary requirements and my host mom was never told that I wanted to eat only fish. So, I was fed every fattening thing you could think of: frijoles, fried beef, quesadillas, tortillas, fried chicken. And let's not even talk about the desserts! So I said bye-bye to once 8 st figure, forever. Now I'm 147 lbs (10 st 5) and my weight (given the tone of my gym instructor's voice) seems life-threatening. She's ordered me to eat salads, and if I need to eat rice - brown rice only. And for my tipple of choice? Good ol' WATA.
My mom's encouraging to go back on her fat metabolisers as I did last year. But actually I don't want to. I can't even remember to take my vitamins once a day, much less tablets 4 times a day! Anyhow, my liver will thank me for it. I want to lose the weight the old fashioned way! Woo-hoo!
So next time you feel an earth tremor or an earthquake, it's either me doing aerobics or I've fallen off my bed :o)
Until next time...
