Photo Credit: Jahzara the Savvy Diva
You’re Wasting Away — These three words have become most stressful to hear on a daily basis. For some strange reason, the onset of weight-loss compliments (really insults) have been thrown my way, as people who I normally don’t see everyday, are suddenly thrown off by my new appearance. It’s new to them, but technically I was the size I am now for most of my life. It has only been the course of five or six years that I’ve expanded in the waist, butt and thigh area. People forget what you once looked like as they begin to accept you for what you become. I get it…but now it’s time for those same people to accept that I am now back to the old me.
Over the past year, 13 months to be exact, I’ve trimmed down and melted away many, many pounds that now have people who aren’t even close to me, stopping me in the halls of my workplace, or on the street – in disbelief. They utter words like, “oh my goodness, you look good, or “you’re so small now”, or look at you, you’re wasting away”; often leaving me standing there asking myself, “well damn, how big was I?”
I think saying to someone, “you’re wasting away” is an absolute insult, especially if the same person keeps saying it every time they see you. I mean seriously, the first time ruffled my feathers, but I gave the jealous heathen a pass, and the second time, I raised my eyebrow with a little side eye action and laughed it off, but when the same woman’s words grazed past my ears the other day, followed with, “eat a cheeseburger already”, I had to hold myself back from throat punching the audacity out of her. She could’ve continued adding on food items like a loaf of bread, a pack of cheese or three sleeves of Oreos; the impact of the insult would’ve felt the same.
I’m damned if I gain, and damned if I lose. No one is ever happy with themselves, and their level of comfort to see someone live unhealthy causes their discomfort with my weight-loss success to spill over, leaving me struggling to avoid developing a complex. So I must vow today for my sanity and my avoidance of catching a charge for putting my hands on someone. The next time someone fixes their crusty lips to form the words, “You’re Wasting Away, Eat a Cheeseburger”, my new response will be, “Stop wasting away your words to destroy my success…and please stop padding your buns and thighs with junk food and carbs. Try laying off the cheeseburgers for your health!”
Then I’ll smile, and sashay away with my weightless attitude.