Saturday, October 10, 2009

Mirror mirror on the wall .........

Whats it with weight and women? I mean, just when you think the worlds just begun getting fairer to you, someone just has to come by and say, "Oh Hi..... so good to see you. How are you? And you've PUT ON WEIGHT!!"

A college reunion, a long lost friend, a relative you really despise, or one that you love - it really doesn't matter..... those words mean the same coming from any mouth .... it spells hours of mirror watch to spot where EXACTLY did she see the extra weight. It means you were unsuccessful in hiding those extra kilos (attribute it to the valentine chocolates, the diwali sweets or the excuse that we love to believe - babies!!).

Also takes me to the next thought behind the whole obsession behind weight. Do healthy people (oh yeah! I am being polite!) think we are being judged by our size? I believe so...

I have come across two kinds of well endowed women...... those who constantly work at diet plans, calorie meters, exercise regimes and special slimming wardrobes to wish away their excess kilos. They may come across as less experimental when it comes to clothes, colors or food. They may also be very sensitive to the issue of weight. Example one liners : 'Oh no, I am on a rice free, potato free, fat free, etc. diet.' "Do you have diet coke?" "Just eat one roti - God knows why I put on weight - must be genetic."

The other kind are the diametrically opposite version of this. They joke about the weight problem they have, display audible and visible protests to Type 1 making futile attempts at changing their dress sizes. Their love of food is obvious, and they make all kinds of digs to make the obvious connection of food and weight. Example statement : "See the size? Well had to work hard at it." "Are you serving inversely proportional to size?" .... and a million other jokes.

Does that mean Type 2 is less concerned about the image they might be portraying? I think not - I should know - I am type 2!! I think we just want to take the attention AWAY from the weight thing...... what better way that to state the obvious just so that someone ELSE doesn't state it???

Having said that, why do we healthy chaps think that its inferior to be tipping the scales a little more than the average? Well let me just take you through a conversation that happens between a good friend and me:

FREIND (A) : I just cant stand her. What a hypocrite!!
ME : Well, she's ok I guess... talks well...
A : Ha!! atleast she's got that!!
ME : Whaddaya mean? she has one of the most motivated teams ....
A : What a loser! See the baggy things she calls clothes? All that to hide the tyres, babes!!
ME : Hey!! So what? I have tyres too....
A : Yeah.... but you are my FRIEND........

Well, my well meaning friend of course meant no harm to me..... but she manages to reinforce some kind of hate drive thats happening here.....unwittingly, I am sure, we all do so, don't we? Drive home the assumptions such as "no control", "Loves food", "lazy", "sad", "no discipline" etc.etc..... But hey, it takes all kinds to make the world interesting, doesn't it??

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