Name: JoAnn Lutmer 2007-10-09 10:30
I am eighteen years old and I weigh two hundred and ten pounds. I love to swim, to dance, and I know that I am beautiful. I have also been put down, harassed, and prejudged because of my weight.
There is no one who can understand what it feels like to be a fat person, especially a teenager, unless they have lived it. For most young women, it is a source of shame and hurt because of their negative experiences. As for me, I love my body and it loves me right back. We have an excellent relationship, just like people with 'normal' bodies. When she is hungry, I feed her; tired, I let her rest. When she is sick, I nurse her and when she is well I enjoy living in her to our fullest. Likewise, my body exercises for me when I insist, keeps me going when I am too busy, and shows up in my mirror every time I look to remind me that I am fat, vibrant, and loving my life!
I'm certainly not denying my insecurities, or claiming that it has always been this easy to live as a fat person. I detest the stretch marks that look like road maps that cover my chest, thighs, and stomach. I have half the northwest United States fully labeled on my torso! I was anorexic for six months at age fifteen and have been seriously depressed bacause I actually believed I was worthless because I was heavy.
Thankfully, I have come to realize what a ludicrous concept that is! Instead, I believe I can serve as an inspriation to others. I am a young woman who exercises, eats healthily but enjoys food, is very involved in school and community, and has a very actice social and dating life. I have taken the judgements made on me and turned them inside out. I have proven that I can succeed despite whatever roadblocks others put in my path because they are ignorant to see what there really is inside me.
When I turned sixteen, I was finally able to date. In fact, all that summer, my mother rarely talked of anything else than me being able to find myself willing males. Now I love my mother and she is very wonderful, but it didn't take me long to realize that she was usuing this as an incentive for me to lose weight. She thought I would not be able to find dates at the weight I was. Lucky for me, I knew better. When I started to believe and project the image that I was confident, available, and altogether wonderful, I was asked out and have barely had a period of rest since! Guys, even teenage ones, really do appreciate girls and women who are not afraid to be themselves.
At 'Youth Fiesta,' a church event, I was elected from our group of fifteen young women to speak on a panel answering the men's questions. While there, one of the questions was what a guy should say when his girlfriend asked him if she looked fat in what she was wearing. I paused for a moment, then answered. In anything I've ever done, I had never received such a round of applause and even a standing ovation from the girls for what I answered. My explanation to the confused young man consisted of this: "If your girlfriend had already purchased an outfit and is now inquiring your opinion, chances are she was simply insecure because you had not yet complimented her, and that is an easy enough situation to avoid. Of course, if it has already happened, or she does just really want to know, you should never hesitate. Your answer should always be 'if you are comfortable with what you're wearing, that is what is important. I think you're beautiful, whatever you wear.' Because you should."
I am a week away from leaving for college. I'm leaving behind an era of my life that was filled with pain and difficult situations. Thankfully, these experiences have taught me a lot about myself. I am intelligent, ambitious, sassy, and beautiful! I told that boy that he should always believe his girl was beautiful as long as she was comfortable with who she was. I mean it, but we also have to believe it about ourselves. We should never leave something as precious as our self-esteem and self-worth up to someone else to decide for us. No matter what your size, zero or twenty-four, you should be proud of your body because it has a very special purpose-to house the real you.
I am proud to be fat, but not simply because it makes me feel like a real woman, not a plastic toy. I am proud to be fat because I have made mystand against society, I love myself for myself, and I will continue to thrive in this world because of who I am on the inside.
There is no one who can understand what it feels like to be a fat person, especially a teenager, unless they have lived it. For most young women, it is a source of shame and hurt because of their negative experiences. As for me, I love my body and it loves me right back. We have an excellent relationship, just like people with 'normal' bodies. When she is hungry, I feed her; tired, I let her rest. When she is sick, I nurse her and when she is well I enjoy living in her to our fullest. Likewise, my body exercises for me when I insist, keeps me going when I am too busy, and shows up in my mirror every time I look to remind me that I am fat, vibrant, and loving my life!
I'm certainly not denying my insecurities, or claiming that it has always been this easy to live as a fat person. I detest the stretch marks that look like road maps that cover my chest, thighs, and stomach. I have half the northwest United States fully labeled on my torso! I was anorexic for six months at age fifteen and have been seriously depressed bacause I actually believed I was worthless because I was heavy.
Thankfully, I have come to realize what a ludicrous concept that is! Instead, I believe I can serve as an inspriation to others. I am a young woman who exercises, eats healthily but enjoys food, is very involved in school and community, and has a very actice social and dating life. I have taken the judgements made on me and turned them inside out. I have proven that I can succeed despite whatever roadblocks others put in my path because they are ignorant to see what there really is inside me.
When I turned sixteen, I was finally able to date. In fact, all that summer, my mother rarely talked of anything else than me being able to find myself willing males. Now I love my mother and she is very wonderful, but it didn't take me long to realize that she was usuing this as an incentive for me to lose weight. She thought I would not be able to find dates at the weight I was. Lucky for me, I knew better. When I started to believe and project the image that I was confident, available, and altogether wonderful, I was asked out and have barely had a period of rest since! Guys, even teenage ones, really do appreciate girls and women who are not afraid to be themselves.
At 'Youth Fiesta,' a church event, I was elected from our group of fifteen young women to speak on a panel answering the men's questions. While there, one of the questions was what a guy should say when his girlfriend asked him if she looked fat in what she was wearing. I paused for a moment, then answered. In anything I've ever done, I had never received such a round of applause and even a standing ovation from the girls for what I answered. My explanation to the confused young man consisted of this: "If your girlfriend had already purchased an outfit and is now inquiring your opinion, chances are she was simply insecure because you had not yet complimented her, and that is an easy enough situation to avoid. Of course, if it has already happened, or she does just really want to know, you should never hesitate. Your answer should always be 'if you are comfortable with what you're wearing, that is what is important. I think you're beautiful, whatever you wear.' Because you should."
I am a week away from leaving for college. I'm leaving behind an era of my life that was filled with pain and difficult situations. Thankfully, these experiences have taught me a lot about myself. I am intelligent, ambitious, sassy, and beautiful! I told that boy that he should always believe his girl was beautiful as long as she was comfortable with who she was. I mean it, but we also have to believe it about ourselves. We should never leave something as precious as our self-esteem and self-worth up to someone else to decide for us. No matter what your size, zero or twenty-four, you should be proud of your body because it has a very special purpose-to house the real you.
I am proud to be fat, but not simply because it makes me feel like a real woman, not a plastic toy. I am proud to be fat because I have made mystand against society, I love myself for myself, and I will continue to thrive in this world because of who I am on the inside.