Were you ever bullied in school for being overweight? How di

I was bullied by classmates and family from about third grade through well...now. I was in fourth grade when my mom put me on my first "diet". I was probably only 20 pounds bigger than my classmates at that time. I know she was overweight and unhappy and didn't want to see me travel down the same path. From that point on there was a constant stream of diets every year that we would do for a few days until her will power lost out. My mom and I have a very close relationship and I purposely didn't share with her about this journey I am on right now for fear of criticism. She will notice when she sees the change in me.

School was always horrible. I hated to go and my freshman year of high school we were required to take 6 weeks of swimming. I dreaded every day putting on a swim suit and having coed PE in a swimming pool. The kids were mean and would make comments about the water level in the pool. I wasn't more than 40 pounds heavier then most of them at that point.

Also my freshman year a friend of mine who was also overweight at the time and myself were standing at a locker and Senior boys came by and threw dog food at us and told us that we were nothing but dogs. That one stuck with me for a long time and honestly still does.

I didn't go to any high school dances with dates after my sophomore year. So when prom rolled around my junior year I didn't go at all. My senior year I had planned on not going as well because who wants to show up without a date and not have anyone to dance with for the night? Well a week before prom a guy asked who I was going with. I said no one and he told me that he would have asked me had he known but now it was too late. So my hopes were up for a few short moments before they were dashed. He said he wasn't going to prom and then went anyway. I know that all sounds very trivial when I type it out here but it wasn't at the time.

Today I am a successful person who just started the battle of weight again. I am treated differently at work. I am treated differently when I go to events and conferences. Mostly I am treated differently by the parents at my oldest son's school. When he plays sports all the other parents sit and talk and it is obvious that I am not to be a part of that group. If I sit near them I am not included in any conversation. When their children have sleep overs my son is omitted. I won't let my own problem become an issue for my children which is why I am on this journey. I feel stronger for what I have been through but I feel more down on myself because of it all.

I was called "Beast" or "The Beast" in 7-9th grade... At the end of 7th grade I hit a growth spurt and gained about 25lbs and probably 4 inches... none of my clothes fit right because I was suddenly a "woman" and had gained bo.obs and height. My pants were high waters and I got teased for that a tiny bit, but for the most part during 8th grade I was called "The Beast" because I towered over all the girls and some of the boys and I was probably the "fattest" kid in school... I also didn't do well in P.E. and the bullies saw that.
One day, in middle school inbetween classes, one of my regular bullies said in a deep voice "Watch out, it's the beast!" and I was having a cra.ppy day so I was having none of his B.S. I started to chase him through the busy hall... I don't think he expected me to be so fast... but hey what can I say? I was mad. I chased him into a classroom where there was no teacher and yelled at him to "Knock this sh.it off!" and he said "what if we don't?" (we being him and avout 3 other boys) I told him I'd shoot him with my .22 and he laughed and I told him I was dead serious and started after him again and that's when a teacher walked in, told us to go to where we were supposed to be.
I went to the councler after that and basically tattled on them, but nothing happened. they may have been called down to talk to the councler, but they still bullied and bothered me.
On the bus one of the bullies started to poke fun at me but luckily one of the older girls (a high schooler who had my back) asked him if he thinks I liked that name... He was like "sure she does, if she didn't she'd change how she looks!" When he said this I was sitting two seats in front of him so I turned around and screamed at him, tears streaming down my face, "I can't, I can't change how I am!" And the older girl grabbed him and told him to knock off the bullying or next time there'd be a big fight.
Eventually I went to the high school councler and told him what had happened... all of it, from 7th grade till then, the middle of 9th grade. I told him I had tried to ignore them, I had tried confronting them, I had tried changing, but nothing was getting through to them. The best councler in the world told me I'd never have to worry about this again. He assured me that since we were in high school now and should be acting like adults that the whole situation would be taken care of and it was.

To this day I still feel like people are laughing at me or judging me... I see my bullies sometimes around my hometown but I don't think they recognize me, I'm not taller or fatter but I have glasses now... I'd love to walk up to them and show them how I have changed, but I'm not a boasty type of person. Also I never really want to talk to them again... let them live their sad little lives and I'll live my happy healthy life without them in it.

Wasn't bullied too badly- only by a couple specific people, but i was an outcast until the summer before senior year.
Freshman year: got a skateboard swung at my face because i was "already ugly anyways and it might fix me"
sophmore: got my braces- god that was fun
junior: ditched by my date as a joke on homecoming
summer between junior and senior year: got cut (lost 35 pounds), grew my hair out long(i'd had it cut like a "rockers" short in back, long up front and dyed red purple- went blonde), braces off, lost the acne, changed how i dressed and held myself
senior year and beyond: hottie-with-a-body who has a complete hatered of bullies (completely the one to call people out on being an *kitten*)
Now? 3 years later? I haven't been to my hometown for more than a week since I graduated. Usually people don't recognize me
***all of these are the reasons for my obsession with the poem invictus***

I've been bullied for as long as I can remember. I've always been a chunky kid, it runs in my family, and also being abnormally smart and into books makes you a target. It was even subversive from certain family members and teachers who only made it worse. I however, also have a temper, and due to being bullied - if you push me too far, I tend to push back.

Examples, you ask?
- I put a kid in a headlock in 2nd grade and made him pass out because he called me fat.
- I threw a pencil at a kid in 4th grade because he called me a whale.

- Junior high was bad - that awkward time when you're not grown into your body yet and your greasy, with bad hair and bad clothes. I was seriously depressed and never smiled. I barely spoke.

Examples from high school:
- I was sexually harassed and bullied by an upperclassmen in 9th grade. I took it up the chain of command, because I wasn't the only one, and they refused to do anything about it because he was an athlete. I told them that if he did it again and I felt threatened I would take action to protect myself and if they tried to punish me, I would sue. This kid got up in my face, spit in my face, and called me a fat B and asked me if I wanted to get F'd in the A. I shoved him through two rows of desks in to a wall so hard I knocked the wind out of him and gave him a knot in the back of his head. I told him if he spoke to me again, I'd cut off his member and shove it done his throat. I also got him fired from his place of employment.
- When I was a Junior, a Senior in my class walked up behind me with a wad of masking tape and stuck it in my hair. After I sat there and pulled it out, I got duct tape, walked up behind him and slapped him in the back of the head so hard, I slammed his face into his desk. I then smeared the duct tape in his hair. He had glue in his hair the rest of the day.
- Finally when I was a Senior, a guy who was a wrestler in the heaviest weight division (at least 380) called me Fatty McMitchell (my maiden name) when I was leaving a class and he was coming into it. Never mind the fact that we both couldn't fit through the door. I looked at the kid and said, in front of a teacher "Shut the F up Lou." That's the Fat a** pot calling the F'n kettle black" Now sit down in a desk, if you can fit." The teacher laughed.

I'll be honest, I look back on these situations and while I know my actions are really no better than theirs, I'm proud that I was able to stand up for myself. But those scars never heal, and no matter how skinny I get, how fit I get - I'll always be the fat little girl on the playground no one wanted to play with. I just wish people knew the damage they do to others....

One of my first moments of being bullied happened in kindergarten. An older child (2nd or 3rd grade) who was BIG sat on me because "I was fat". I rememeber going home bawling to my Mom because first of all this really heavy child SAT on me and he tore my picture I'd made for her, and I was being called mean names by all the boys in the back of the bus.

I used to get "thunder thighs" "Free Willy" "fatty" "Fatso" all that ****. It got a little better in HS, a lot of the boys were too busy chasing after cute girls to bother too much. But it still happened enough that I never did let my guard down.

I used to skip lunch every day until my senior year because I didn't want anyone making fun of me for eating. Even though we all have to eat, I felt like I wasn't allowed because I KNEW someone would say/think something mean.