As a young kid, I used to be (always) the tallest and biggest in class. I was also constantly surrounded by towering and sometimes oversized friends and playmates. I was unusually taller and bigger than my elder sisters as well so vertical insecurities on my part have always been unheard of. In short, I confidently grew up thinking and feeling tall even after I’ve already stopped growing at age 13 and have reached my maximum height of only 5’2 (haha!).
I vividly remember when I was in 1st year high school, during our daily flag ceremonies, I voluntarily positioned myself at the 4th and last row of our class. For some strange reasons during my 2nd year, I noticed some of my classmates to have grown slightly taller than me, prompting me to move forward to the 3rd row. To my disbelief, they continued growing on our 3rd year and obviously, by the time we were in 4th year, I have already become a reluctant front liner! But somehow, it never made quite a dent on my ego. I never developed any qualms at all because aside from “feeling tall”, I was also luckily a bit skinny at that time. Yeah. That was 23 years ago.
Fast forward to 7 years after my high school graduation, I was a newly hired junior artist in a local ad agency, both pressured and excited with my advertising job. On my 2nd month (at work) alone, I was slightly underweight at 107 lbs. (being 5’2 and should be normally weighing 110 lbs.). Those were the days when getting in and out of my jeans were never a big deal. 4 years into the business, I had the opportunity again to work elsewhere. As I gradually got accustomed to my new environment, I just woke up 1 day and found myself already quite heavy at 118 lbs.! Uh-oh, I told myself. Being young and still physically conscious then, I tried hard to get thru on a 3-day fat burning diet. It was so successful I was able to get rid of my excessive 8 lbs. in just 3 days! Amazing huh?
And so for the next 3 years, I was fortunate enough to maintain and enjoy my ideal weight. I still had the liberty to tuck my shirt in, every single, working day. When my employer sent me twice to the US to attend our company’s annual meetings, I had more than enough room between my legs and my jeans to wear a pair of leggings to keep me warm from the autumn chill. Even my 2-weeks’ worth of clothes literally fitted in a regular trolley luggage alongside some souvenirs I’ve accumulated during my trips. Until the costly company annual meetings were totally stopped on my supposedly 3rd chance to attend. Along with some changes in the management, everything else such as my 14th month bonus, my Christmas dollar bonus and other benefits were all taken away for unreasonable basis. My officemates and I did try to negotiate with our unsupportive superiors only to be disappointed time and again. Unfortunately, the management never gave in to our legitimate requests. It was such a depressing stage in my entire employment history that I took everything into heart and resulted into my hoarding of unwanted superfluous flab. In the few months that followed, I suddenly ballooned into 120 lbs.! I probably poured out all my frustrations into overfeeding myself that since then, I unconsciously bloated myself till I reached my present weight of 142 lbs. (tsk tsk tsk!) Anyway, it’s been years since that unfortunate turn of events in my career. Somehow I have already moved on despite not having moved away.
And so here I am today, literally heavier than the people’s champ Pacman himself, absorbing all kinds of jokes – sometimes mine but most of the time, other people’s, e.g. “Buntis ka ba?” or “Did you just give birth?” (All of these were genuinely conveyed.) I guess I should be thankful I was born happy I could easily take all corpulent invectives without any difficulty. I could even make fun of myself and honestly laugh at it as well. I guess the only issue for now is how to get into my swimsuit without exerting much effort. I think I better get back into shape before the summer season gets over. Hey, I see the building stairs winking at me.
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