Questionably Fabulous

I just read two of the weirdest blog entries ever.  Ok, I exaggerate.  The blogs were not weird – the tale was. 

Help the fact that these two (Part 1 and Part 2) entries on one of my favorite sites (www.selfabsorbed.me) are titled “Faking It” and that I, of course, needed to read it.  Make note that the subtitles are “The Tale of a Tofu Dog” and that this intrigued me even more.  Why it appealed to me I cannot explain… 

I had not anticipated that these blogs would go from tales of high school parties and the feared beer pong’s naked penalty lap to exorcist like vomiting and continue on to eating a tofu dog posing as a fake penis.  It all is a little too much and I have to give major credit to the writer who had me in stitches of laughter the whole time I read it while sitting in my cubicle on President’s Day.  Am I the only one working or what?  I’m so bored. 

I digress, what caught my eye today and inspired me to write, is this little excerpt

“FOF–Fear of Fatness. I don’t remember the exact moment when FOF became a part of my life, but once it was there, it never went away. Like herpes. After all, FOF is kind of an STD–a socially transmitted disease.”

Interesting topic, no?  Not just that STD could stand for a socially transmitted disease, of which there are many, but the FOF as well.  Fear of Fatness is something I’ve suffered from since I can remember. 

Starting with the memory of one of my best friend chugging Slim Fasts for lunch in the high school cafeteria.  Not only had it not entered my mind before that either of us needed to watch our weight, but she’d pealed off the label so as not to draw any attention to her figure flattering menu item.  It wasn’t until then that I realized that there was shame associated with weight loss too. 

Interesting.  Looking back I probably caught the FOF from all those hours spent in the ballet studio where skinny minis walked around gorging their faces on veggies, fruit, yogurt and diet cola.  And I was one of them.  But I was too young to fully understand what was going on.  In order to keep up your energy for 6 plus hours of dancing you needed to continuously eat – but eat foods high protein, drink liquids high in caffeine and make sure there was as little fat as possible.   All I took from this experience was the large quantities!  This was the beginning of my problems with portion control. 

Sure, eat a hole bag of carrots, no problem.  Eat a whole bag of chips?  Problem. 

I want to be sure and make the distinction that I firmly feel that FOF is not an eating disorder or even a disorder associated with your self image.  I kinda think its an STD (the social kind, not the sexual kind, although it sorta is sexual in the notion that it affects your sex life, but its not transmitted that way – sorry, I’m babbling).  What I was saying is that I sort of think this FOF thing is normal.  Does that make me even more mentally distorted than ever? 

Think about what is on TV now.  The Biggest Looser, Half Ton Dad, Half Ton Mom, Ruby, America’s Next Top Model, and that new show with Taye Diggs (I think its him anyway) where they are competing to be a model…  Regardless…  So many shows revolve around weight loss and or maintaining thin.  And how about the news and all its “obesity as an epidemic” – shouldn’t we all have a little FOF in our blood? 

Weigh in on the topic below by leaving a comment – ha!  I said weigh in…  LOL – I crack myself up…

For those of you who want to read the originals:

http://www.selfabsorbed.me/faking-it-the-tale-of-a-tofu-dog-part-i/

http://www.selfabsorbed.me/faking-it-the-tale-of-a-tofu-dog-part-ii/