In college, I started off at 111 lbs and 19% body fat. I was a size 4 (thin waist, but muscular legs and butt). Even so, I was self-conscious of my size. Things happened, and I went through a very rough patch. Controlling what I ate was pretty much the only thing I could control. E en though I was already slim, and well-muscled, and healthy, when I started losing more weight, I started getting compliments on my looks. When I hit 100lbs with 10% body fat, I was deemed "hot". (my lowest weight was 88 lbs, and you could count almost every bone in my body....I will freely admit that I looked gross)
Yet gain enough weight back to get back to a healthy weight of 105, and to many I "let myself go".
13 years, 3 kids, and 50 extra pounds later, I will tell you first hand that society is not kind to those who are not thin. It doesn't matter your age or if you are a mother or not, discrimination runs rampant. You hear it from strangers, you see it in their looks (heaven for I'd anyone over a size 2 eat a burger or something), you hear it from your doctor (thanks to those insurance-based charts), you see it when it comes time to buy clothes....I won't even get into media marketing.
Yes, I'm losing weight to be healthy. But I'm not going to lie and say it's only for health. I'm losing weight because I'm tired of being looked at and talked about and not being able to find clothes that don't scream "I'm fat and trying to hide it!".
This is just the truth of it all right now. Yes, it needs to change. But it won't until being a size 0 is rewarded and being a size 12 is the equivalent of leprosy.
