Working in radio, Eddy gets his hands on all sorts of stories from around the world, including lifestyle stories like one he told me about yesterday. He said a recent survey showed that overweight women feel humiliated at least five times per day. Humiliated. Five times each day. This makes me so sad. They feel humiliated several times per day because of weight. Is this how most overweight people feel? I’ve had low moments (see any Friday confessional), but most days I feel happy and confident in spite of my weight. I'm fat. I'm aware it's true. But, it doesn’t make me a bad person. It makes me overweight. That’s all. I’d feel a great deal worse if someone said, “She’s stupid.” Overweight seems much easier to fix than stupidity.
Here’s a link to the story.
I’m curious to know what others think. If you struggle with weight, would you use a word as strong as humiliated to describe how you feel? And do you feel humiliated as many as five times each day?
Oh, and I weighed myself today. I had a bit of a surprise when I saw that I gained 5 pounds over the holidays (must have been the crantinis!) But I'm still not humiliated!! Nope. I'm just motivated to pay closer attention to what I eat and drink. I'm sure we'll see a significant drop by next Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteLeigh,
ReplyDeleteI don't actually feel humiliated, rather withdrawn and embarassed. Even though I have a long way to go on this journey with you, I am feeling much better about myself. I am setting my goal ten pounds at a time. So far I haven't had a gain in over six weeks. To me this is positive and the best of all people are noticing the weight loss. Good luck to both of us.
Hank (from Canada)
–verb (used with object), -at·ed, -at·ing.
ReplyDeleteto cause (a person) a painful loss of pride, self-respect, or dignity; mortify.
Wow. Five times a day? That seems like an awful lot of self-loathing when you put it that way, doesn't it? For me I think "humiliated" is the right word. I've felt a loss of dignity for sure. It's not constant, but it has changed the way I live. I'm not nearly as social as I used to be... as if I can somehow hide the fact that I've put on the weight. I agree with you, though, Leigh, I would much rather be fat than stupid... or mean, or selfish. I've decided to start living as if I already reached my goal, even if my clothing options are greatly limited for now. That's temporary.