The first time I remember someone making a cutting comment about my weight was back in primary school, around 5th grade, I think. There was a girl, a rather hefty one, especially for an 11 year old – she would run around and call me names because I was, well, am, very skinny. I remember my mum telling me in a comforting voice that at the end of the day, it is always easier to gain weight than to lose it. Back then it was all the explanation I needed and I shook it off like a doggie after a muddy walk in the forest. Now that I am a grown-up woman I know that that was neither the fair answer, nor true – as gaining weight is actually very difficult.
I remember this particular response from my mum not because this girl has stayed in my memory more than others – but because I have heard it over and over again down the years. Any time I’d try to tell her that people have a problem with how I look, I’d get this very response; and that is not because my mum is a bully to overweight people, I mean, she is married to my dad (sorry, dad), No. She is just but a little part of a general trend. People, we, me and you, tend to assume that gaining weight is easy and losing weight is hard.
But they are two sides of the same coin, no? [Read more…]
