Were you "THE FAT KID"?

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I was always the odd man out... I still am with my sisters. ... oh the upside I’m the one with the boobs with or without the extra weight. Still working on losing 25# but looking and feeling better every day.

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Yes and no - I was a little chubby when I was really young, just because I was born on the borderline of premature, so when I was a baby my parents were extra cautious about making sure I ate enough to develop properly; I was a pretty "soft" kid but didn't get actually fat until my age got into the double digits. At first I stayed in good shape by doing a lot of sports after school and helping my dad run a small business (which involved a lot of physical acrivity on my part - despite the fact that I was eating more or less, well, like my dad, who subsists on a steady diet of pretty much nothing but red meat, ice cream, candy, and chips.

But then I had a few nasty bullying incidents that almost got me killed, so I ended up being homeschooled...and stopped most of my sports...and most of my other physical activity...without changing my diet (and I was about 9; I had no control over this). You can kinda figure out what happened from there.

Fast forward a little under 20 years, now I'm trying to undo all that damage.

My mom wrote, "Too pudgy" in my baby book when I was 3 - so yeah, my weight has been a life-long battle (I'll be 49 on Saturday).

I was the huge adult-sized kid. There were kids who were "fatter" as in, short & normal sized for their age with bigger belly, double chin, or whatever. But I was 5'4" and 130-140 lb by the age of ten...so I was the size of my third grade teacher and bigger than my 4th-5th grade teachers. With bigger chest by 5th grade. I honestly wore it like a badge of pride or something...what would be the alternative, I guess, was my thinking. My clothes were from the misses department and I wore full makeup daily starting at 8 and 9 years old. My mom & I shared clothes. So strange to think of that now!

In high school of over a thousand students, I was one of maybe two dozen plus-sized girls, and there were a few more bigger guys. The vast majority of my peers were thin & average weight. I feel like mine was the last generation where that was "normal", to be honest, after volunteering in high schools and seeing that a bit chubby or plus sized has become the new normal. Anyway, I was for sure one of the biggest girls, I was over 200 lb by age 17.

I stayed over 200 and hit 300 twice, over the years. I have been on MFP for about 4 years now and have kept off my total loss of 130 lb from heaviest to current weight. It took me six years to lose 130 lb, which includes the 90 I lost using MFP. I am at around 170 now, with 166 being my all-time low. At 5'8" with wide bust and hips, I'm happy with that. BUT I haven't really lost weight in over a year, and while I am okay with maintaining, it is a little frustrating because I log meticulously and don't eat back all of my exercise calories. It takes a lot for me to see the 160s again and I just bounce around 170-176 endlessly.

Overall though, doing this (calorie-tracking & such) has worked well with very careful logging of everything I consume, planning meals, and balancing in lots of treats so I stay on track without getting too frustrated.

bweath2 wrote: »

@seltzermint555 That's great you've lost so much and kept it off!
I think we were the same size in 3rd grade. I remember going to a "weight doctor" when I was 9 and weighed 130 lbs (not sure of my height, but I was the tallest in my class). The doctor literally told me to "just stay at the same weight til you're 13". Yeah, thanks for the help, doc.

Thank you bweath2!

I had to go to a specialist also. They basically said my pediatrician was overreacting (he was a real jerk and always acted like I was going to die of being too chubby within the month). At the time, my dad was a little over 6'4" and a fit-looking 250 lb so they basically said, well, just expect your daughter to be a giantess. My mom's 5'7" so not short, either. I stopped growing at 5'8" which surprised my former teachers...even now at 40 I'll run into a few of them and they're like "oh you're not as tall as I expected/remembered!"

edited to add: My poor husband, he was the same way. He reached his full height of 6'2" in sixth grade with a full beard and moustache...he had to shave every day by 13!

For as long as I can remember I was always the fat kid at school and all my young adult life (being close to or over the 100kgs mark). You never forget being called things like "beach whale" or people quoting "i feel the earth move ♩

bweath2 wrote: »

@GlassAngyl
Have you ever had BF testing done. I did the dunk tank test about 25 yrs ago in college and I'm really curious how much my lean mass has changed.

@bweath2, no.. I had never even heard of that until joining mfp. I don't have that energy anymore, but I'm still really strong for a girl. My sister in law is 5'10 and I'm 5'1.. My brother has to get me to help him with heavy lifting because she has zero strength what so ever. My 18 year old son can't lift as much as I can and it irritates him. I haven't lived on a farm since I was 17 but I never lost the strength. The lightest I have been is 128 when I was pregnant at 18. I had no strength then.. but I could walk forever and was limber. Back bends, front flips, splits.. Trying to reach that again without loosing that strength.

Oh yes I was the "fat kid." I became the obese kid, then the super morbidly obese adult. When I say "kid," I can acknowledge from the age of about 3 on I was always overweight. Heck, when I was in first grade a doctor tried to put me on a diet. That went well....(except it didn't). The crap that was dished out to me as a kid and teenager left some pretty permanent scars. I learned to cope with food.

The good news is that you can snap out of it at any point in your life. It takes a lot of work to replace a lifetime of bad habits but it truly is possible. Sometimes you'll slip up (I know I did) but if you keep at it, you can undo a lot of the damage you've put your body through. I'm in the best shape of my life at 43 and am LOVING my life. Sure I still have osteoarthritis and a limited range of motion in my legs thanks to that OA, but I accomplish plenty. We walk a family 5K each month. I do (sprint) triathlons. Sunday I'll be doing a half Ironman relay and leading my kids by example. I do this in hopes they don't have the same issues I did...but they know better than to harass other children. Those same kids that tortured me are likely miserable adults...and to be honest I don't feel the least bit sorry for them.

HW 387. CW 147. You CAN do it.