Skinny Fat

Skinny Fat

I came across this video on You Tube the other week about ‘How to Overcome Your Skinny Fat Body’. Apart from making me want to go off and immediately do some weights (which incidentally, I didn’t do in case you’re wondering!), it really made me think… How can we live in a society where we’re branding skinny people as ‘fat’? It’s so negative. Why do we have to make EVERYONE feel bad about themselves in order to make them buy into something? It’s like saying, ‘You look awful, but with my product you’ll feel and look ten times better!’ It actually makes me angry. Despite that fact, I still buy into it myself… I think, ‘Oh ok, I’m Skinny Fat’... like I’ve got some kind of condition, something is wrong with me and I have to fix it.

You know what though? Nothing is wrong with me! Yes, I’m in my 30’s and I’m a bit rough around the edges. Like most ‘Skinny Fat’ people of my age, we are like this because we’ve never done a stroke of exercise in our lives. When we were younger we just didn’t have to, we stayed slim regardless of what we ate and regardless of how little exercise we did, so we never got into the habit of exercising. It’s never been something that’s appealed to me and it just never mattered.

Now that I’m older, it doesn’t work like that anymore, the metabolism has slowed down and I prob should start doing some exercise in order to tone up… and I will, in my own time but not because some advertising makes me feel bad about myself! I’ll do it for me, because I want to keep fit and feel good.

skinny fat

Can you honestly see anything ‘wrong’ with the picture on the left here?

How can society tell ladies that they have something ‘wrong’ with them if they have the physique of the woman on the left?? What must that do to a lady that is already lacking in confidence?

It’s not just advertising on the tele or the internet that makes us feel bad about ourselves. Sometimes when I go clothes shopping I end up wanting to give up and go home! I’ll tell you two stories from my recent shopping expeditions that have made me wanna scream!!

Firstly, I’d like to tell you about a recent trip I made to La Senza

I hadn’t been in La Senza for years. For me, I’ve always seen it as quite an expensive shop so I’ve avoided it due to the lack of pennies but at the same time, I’ve always wanted to go in there because their selection of underwear is so pretty and feminine. So, on this occasion, I ventured inside as a special treat to myself. Going in there after so long, I was like a little kid in a sweet shop…wow… so many pretty things I wanted! I had stack loads of knickers in my hands and I wanted to take them ALL home with me! There was just one pair of knickers that wasn’t in my size.

A Shop Assistant approached me just at the right moment. ‘Can I help you Madam?’ (I hate being called ‘Madam’ by the way, it makes me feel like an old fat matron) ‘Yes, actually, you can, I’d like these in a size 10 please’. The Shop Assistant took a moment, she looked me up and down and inspected me in a such a way that she seemed disgusted by what she saw in front of her. ‘Are you sure you would like a size 10 Madam?’ I said yes and she winced at me. ‘Umm, I’m not being funny or nuffin’ but wouldn’t you rather try a larger size?’ I looked at her in shock. I have always been a size 10. Perhaps I was currently sporting a little bit of extra weight and I had a baggy jumper on which made me look particularly dumpy that day but who was she to judge?? It’s my problem if I get the wrong size isn’t it? It made me feel absolutely awful about myself, to point that the beautiful array of knickers I was nursing in my arms, one by one, all got put back on the shelves and I walked on out of there without buying a thing… (I thought a Shop Assistant’s job was to make you feel good about your purchase??)

Now, it’s not really just the Shop Assistants of this world that are judging us and making us feel bad. It goes right to the core of the fashion industry. Everywhere we look we are exposed to perfect airbrushed images of tiny stick thin women, that just aren’t a real portrayal of the women themselves.

According to Bershka I’m a ‘Large’. If I’m a ‘Large’, what do the ‘Large’ people wear?? I suppose they don’t shop at Bershka.

I was meandering home one evening after a strange audition as a young mother for Thomas the Tank Engine (yes really), I spotted a nice sequin black dress in Bershka and decided to give it a go. Given that it was a skimpy little thing, I opted for the ‘Medium’ thinking that would be a safe bet. I took it to the changing rooms and ended up getting stuck in it for a good 30 mins. Due to the choice of material, I scratched half a layer of skin off trying to get the damned thing off. Glutton for punishment, I then asked the Shop Assistant to get me the ‘Large’. It fitted but it still wasn’t easy to peel off… (god help me if I needed to get that off in a hurry!! ;o) ) Suffice to say, I left the shop without it. But the whole escapade really did make me wonder about this whole sizing business…. what is society doing to us???

It doesn’t do much for the self confidence when you’re told by the shops that you’re a ‘Large’. Having been a ‘Small’ all my life I never really experienced it until now. But the thing is, I’m not really a ‘Large’ am I? I’m a UK size 10. That in my book is not large. When I was younger, a size 8 or 10 was a ‘Small’. So, what’s happened since then? Have we evolved into tiny little stick thin people? Or did they make the clothes smaller to make us feel bad??

This is me. I challenge a society that labels me as a ‘Large’ ‘Skinny Fat’ person.

(c) Adee Phelan Studio
(c) Adee Phelan Studio

 


Watch the ‘Skinny Fat’ video here:

One comment

  1. Ellie for crying out loud – you are nowhere near ‘skinny-fat’, whatever that may be! You’re gorgeous and no shop assistant (who probably deserves to be sacked if that really is her attitude) or video can say otherwise. I logged into this account specifically to tell you this. Nice blog though 🙂

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