Don’t Laugh OK 😉
Long long ago, I was a scarily skinny girl, with hip length hair, whose mom was at wits end trying to make her daughter plump and chubby. The first time my weight increased from 37 to 40 kg, every one in the family rejoiced with copious amount of cream and cheese. That was in 2007, just after finishing my Engineering degree. The first time I felt that the wind didn’t threaten to blow me away, or that probably there was still some hope for my alien skeletonial face to show some resemblance of Earthly features.
Believe me, with my skeleton body and long frizzy hair, I had managed to scare many a girl while walking along the hostel corridor at midnight. At one point, one of the seniors even begged me to tie my hair before stepping out of my room.
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| Can you recognise me? The last working day in college, and this is how we thought of saying goodbye, by covering each other with ink and writing wishes on each other’s clothes |
I was so thin that if someone challenged me to slip between the cracks of my hostel room, I could easily do that, and probably even emerge from the other end. The umbrellas acted like parachutes and people often wondered if my long thick hair was actually a paperweight holding me to the ground.
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| Back in 2008-09, When I hardly weighed 40 kgs. |
Well, I actually was like a paper, plain and plain, no curves, no weight, just a wild dandelion floating along with the breeze. And if you think only overweight people are body shamed, let me tell you, people can be just as innovative when it comes to teasing bamboo-stick thin girls who are late bloomers.
Well, sometimes when I look at my old photographs, I do have a really good laugh with my sister and husband. Like seriously, how could I look so starved? I would tease my mom that probably she fed our dog more than me. I could have easily applied for a Dementors job at Askaban, and with my meter long thick hair, I could bring some great novel ideas in scaring the living daylights out of people.
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| That’s me, on the shores of Mahaballipuram All the action heroes must have stolen my pose 😛 |
The current times though paints a whole different picture. Earlier I could eat a whole double layer cheese pizza for dinner and still fit in my skinny jeans the next morn. Now if I even bite into non-cheese non-fat non-fun slice, my tummy sticks out of my Tee and to my horror doesn’t go away the next day… and the next day… and the next … until I do some crunches and leg drops and candle dips and Burpees and mountain climbers… you get the drift.
Slow metabolism – nature’s way of telling you that you are getting old.
So why am I writing this post … Because (and I am going to sound preachy here) Weight is just a number. Curves are just outlines. Complexion is just a shade. Beauty is a fad. Strange as it may sound to many but Love doesn’t really check your weighing scale nor can hardwork be replaced by complexion.
Stay healthy! stay humble 🙂
This is my past and present – no matter how much I eat, no weight gain, though I am getting a bit fat around my tummy – was excited when that happened much to the shock of my colleagues who were trying to reduce their fat 😀 Loved your last few lines – that's how I am.
Hey, we share the same past, Raj! I, too, was skinny, with thick long hair! In fact, on the suggestion of some well-wishers, my mom chopped off my hair hoping that now the food I ate would nourish my body and not my hair! I just wouldn't gain an ounce! After marriage I lost more weight and became extra skinny. It's just some time back that I began revelling in the knowledge that I was not skinny, but slim'n'trim! Let people talk all they want. Who cares?! They will talk even if I gain weight! So what if I now weigh as much as I weighed when I was 16? I am BLESSED! WIth the help of yoga i have worked on myself and begun feeling all the more better. And, so should you, my dear! <3
Having been on the "chubby" end of the scale all of my life, it's enlightening to see the other side. I'm over 60 now and that whole slow metabolism thing is annoying, that's for sure! To make things worse, most of our social life revolves around food. I threw my scale out years ago and just go by how the clothes fit. Less stressful! Great message, Raj.