A Favorite Fat Girl Book - About Another Fat Girl

Book: Jemima J

Author: Jane Green

Genre: British Chick Lit

This is probably one of the first books in the genre that I ever read. The plot is typical of chick lit. Girl loves boy, boy doesn't know girl exists, girl does something drastic usually involving another boy, boy finally notices girl.

Part of the reason I love this book is that the main character is someone I can identify with - she's a fat girl. She seems to be blinded to her good qualities and only sees her weight. She struggles to fix what she perceives to be her problem... only to find out that's not really her problem. The story follows her journey, filled with a few twists and turns, good friends, and falling off the food wagon... ultimately ending where almost all Chick Lit ends... at happily ever after.

If you enjoy the genre - this is probably my favorite by Green (who's written a lot - the old stuff is great... the new stuff seems... to be a reincarnation of earlier works)

The Hypocrisy Is Strong In This One

I try really hard to have continuity in my opinions, I really do, but last night I found an inconsistency.

I think Tucker Max is hysterical. I KNOW that his stuff is outrageous and offensive, but I can't help it, I laugh so hard that I cry. In the movie version of I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell there's a line about "Fat girls aren't real people" and I laugh, and find it humorous. Which is quite contrary considering my own status as a Fat Girl. You'd think I'd be offended on behalf of myself and others like me, but I'm not. I shake my head and say "Oh Tucker..." with a laugh.

So I think Tucker Max is funny, so what? How am I inconsistent?

Last night I was talking to a friend, about some girl he had a date with. The date went poorly and I didn't like the girl at all. (Yes I know that it seems random that I would meet a girl on his date... but it was an unusual circumstance. And yes I know, how I feel about the girl does not matter at all.) We were discussing the quickness of the set up and date... and apparently it had to be done in this time scale, and he couldn't meet her too far in advance because if he had met her earlier she'd be too fat for him to date! (apparently she lost like 50 pounds in the last month - and while I don't think he should date her, I'd like to know how she did that!)

Here's the hypocrisy, I'm offended on behalf of this girl (who I admittedly didn't like, but still). He should not date her because of several other qualities, but not because of her weight! Now this guy is one of my good friends, but I kind of want to kick him in the babymaker on behalf of fat girls everywhere!

How is that fair that I think the same basic concept is funny when it comes from Tucker Max, but not from one of my friends?

Yep - that's right - I'm a hypocrite.

Back In Time - The Prom

That's right - I went to prom last night.

That's right - they have prom in law school.

How did this compare to my prom 14 years ago? Let's see:

1996

Got my hair and nails done (professionally)

Purchased a Gown

Got a date

Went to a nice dinner with my date and our friends

Had pictures and danced

Had post party at my house with movies and munchies (one of the besties consumed an entire bag of BBQ Lays by herself)

2010

A friend did my hair and nails (looked professional)

Wore a gown I already had - thanks Mom's second wedding

Didn't have a date in the traditional manner

Had dinner, but given the cost of the event the food was not sufficient

Had pictures and danced

Had lots of booze and was a catty bitch

Had post party at my house with movie, wine and cheese

All in all about the same - but surprisingly more drama the second time around. And you wouldn't think you could top the drama that was my prom date being in love with his friend's girl friend. Apparently, you can. It's called one of your friends bringing a girl he'd met less than 24 hours before to the function instead. And me being a snotty cow about it - but that's probably a story for another time.

In Pursuit of the Dress - it fits!

That's right. It fits! I tried it on this morning, zipped it all the way up and everything.

An extra few pounds lost might make it more comfortable... but it fits.

YAHOO! *insert Fat Girl happy dance here*

And because of that - I am in a stellar mood today. STELLAR.

Oh and - just seeing how things were, I slid into an old pair of jeans that I haven't been able to fit into for about two years. Yep. Zip and button - slight muffin top, but then who knows if the love handles will ever fully disappear - I could totally wear them! (but I'm not.)

Today is a good day!

In Pursuit of the Dress - week two

Well - it has been determined that the dress I wanted to wear is in fact NOT FORMAL ENOUGH. (Great sadness). But on a weight-type note, this means that the formals that I currently own are actually slightly too big. (yay) So really I should be eating like a mad woman trying to gain enough weight to make the dresses fit. Instead, one of them is "close enough" and I will wear that... and keep going to the gym at way too early in the morning (Oh-dark-thirty is about right).

And I'm doing pretty good off the cheese as a snack, and off the coffee, at least all of last week... but now the coffee is back thanks to early morning basketball games which included coffee and doughnuts (and yes I did go nuts).

As to lent - still dessert free... and hating it. But less than two weeks!!!

In Pursuit of the Dress - week one

Life just keeps getting worse. I miss good food. It's bad enough not to get dessert (thank you Lent), but now to not get alcohol? Harsh!

I'm working hard at controlling what I eat, and how much of it, and getting my butt to the gym... but alas - progress is SLOW. After a week - I'm feeling pretty good (if not perpetually hungry), but not getting the results I want makes me consider what else to adjust.

Switching coffee to tea in the morning (I take cream and sugar in my coffee, but drink my tea black)

Cutting out cheese as a snack (okay to have it in things - but not on its own I guess)

We'll see how this goes - good thing my wine/cheese buddy is out of town this week.

Comprehension... Finally.

Does it ever seem to you like all of the world is talking about something you have absolutely no interest in?

This happens to me a lot. Most of my friends are the fit, healthy sort, so there's a lot of conversation about who runs for how long, or what kind of workouts they do, and sometimes even what they eat or don't eat, in a diet sort of manner. Now as a fat girl, these conversations make me very nervous. I'm always waiting for the inevitable, the conversation to turn to me... at which point I must say something akin to yeah I go to the gym and I try to eat right. Luckily for me, I have thus far managed to avoid these conversations. But right now, in my Damn That Little Black Dress state, I completely understand them.

In hopes of getting into the aforementioned dress I'm trying really hard to eat healthier (and less) and work out more, or at least on a regular basis. (I have a gym membership, but I tend to go in spurts. Five or six days in a row for a couple weeks, then once or twice a week, then once every couple weeks, then back to five or six days week thus perpetuating the loop.) So right now, that's kind of all that's on my mind. How much of this should I eat? How many calories did my morning constitutional burn? Which pilates DVD should I do? What should I do if all of this work doesn't cause me to lose any weight?

I've thus thrust myself into the throws of a conversation I don't want to have. Yikes. So if you see me, and I'm rambling about what I ate (or didn't eat as the case may be) and how much exercise I got, please smile politely, nod, and change the topic. PLEASE.

Damn That Little Black Dress

So as with all people, my weight fluctuates - from Fat Girl, to Really Fat Girl, to Not Quite So Fat Girl. Right now I'm probably at Fat Girl - and I'd like to back down to Not Quite So Fat Girl to get into this dress for an event.

This gives me 3 or so weeks to get rid of between 5 and 10 pounds. Now I know it's not impossible, but it probably means giving up even MORE stuff that I love, like wine, and cheese, and bread and going to spend more time at the gym. Now it's only for 3 weeks. But still 3 weeks without amazing deliciousness to compensate for all the hard work at the gym might just kill me.

Is it worth it?

I don't know - I'll let you know in about a week - we'll see how far I've gotten by then, and how miserable I am.

One of the Lenten Resolutions has bitten the dust

That's right - one of my Lenten Resolutions has been officially defeated. Care to guess which one?

Nope - I still haven't had dessert.

However today I voiced my frustration with 'others'. The sad thing about it is that I didn't even realize it until I was called on it.

Now the real question is do I pick myself up and get back on the Lenten horse, or do I let this one go, and focus on the giving up dessert.

I suppose we'll see. After all, tomorrow is another day.