The Advantages of Fat

Headache = no awesome exercise today. I've popped many OTC painkillers, tried caffeine, a shower-- just have to hope I feel better tomorrow.

I will mention something amusing that happened at the beach. I slipped back to the bead store for a treat-- beading a necklace by myself, after helping my daughters make theirs. I was alone with the clerk and he began to chat. He wanted to know if I was vacationing alone. Since I was staying with my father, husband, three children, and five friends, the concept of "alone" is a fairly foreign one to me. He asked some other questions and it dawned on me (I can't be sure) that he was checking to see if I was pick-up-able. He seemed startled to hear I have a 17 year old son. He was soooo much younger than me it was funny. Awkward, of course, too.

Which brings me to that less-covered subject, the advantages of fat. I can think of several:

1. Balls don't hurt anymore. I used to cower from volleyballs and tetherballs. Once I gained some padding, my attitude became: bring 'em on!

2. Not having strangers come onto you when you're just trying to conduct your life. I am old enough now to find this more amusing and/or reassuring than the reverse, but at times in my life it has been a PITA, even though I have never been a heavy-hitting beauty. An extra fifty pounds took care of that problem for the most part.

3. Not getting scrutinized at the beach. I used to hate that. I never had a Platonic Ideal type bod, and I always felt anxious about having my carefully camouflaged flaws out there for everybody to assess.

4. Not freaking out about gaining weight. My "setpoint" if such a thing exists was about 195. I might go a few pounds over but my body seemed to gravitate around that point. I could eat a lot but not go significantly over this.

5. Fewer clothing choices. This is a good thing, really. I find shopping sort of overwhelming. I wish Avenue came in size 12.

This list is short compared to the advantages of being normal weight, but it's no less real. Can any of you guys think of some additions? Is there something you're giving up as your body changes?

Comments

  1. The one thing I hate having to give up is my ties. I have to wear ties at work, and I have always had to wear extra log ties. Now that I have lost weight, those ties don't really fit any more. It is a small price to pay though.

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  2. Hey, ties are expensive! Definitely worth it, but not a modest outlay.

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  3. Being fat is kind of like having a jerk detector... The people who make snide comments when they see you exercising, or eating, or anything really. When you're thin you have to wait a lot longer to figure out who the jerks are.

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  4. So true. One of the things I liked about my husband is that he was nice to all the girls, not just the pretty ones.

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