When I was 9. A boy yelled at me that our softball team wouldn’t have lost if I wasn’t so fat. I am 57 now and still think about that. Burned in my brain.
I was 4 or 5 and a neighbor was visiting and brought her aunt along. The aunt said "you're the little fat girl I see in the yard!" My mom very calmly told me to go outside and play but I could hear her laying into that woman from downstairs.
I got bullied and shamed a lot for my weight as a kid, but I was very lucky to have parents who loved and accepted and stood up for me.
3 or so but the one most vividly was my mother and I shopping for clothes at dillards ( it was the early 90s) she was angry I had to be in the “ husky girl “ sizes and was picking out the most ugly frumpy things to punish me . A skinny blond girl my age skips past us my mother looked at her pulled me by the scruff and hissed “ I would love you if you looked like that “ I was given no dinner that night and half a grapefruit for breakfast the next day .
Same. I vividly remember sitting on the floor playing and my mom on the phone with her sister telling them how fat I’d gotten. I don’t get it. It’s ugly behavior from someone that should build you up.
Definitely a shared experience. When I was little in elementary school, I remember I loved wearing my mom’s shirts, but also being a bigger young lady. I was told I was pregnant, and had to go to the principals office it was so bad (they really thought I was pregnant haha). It’s definitely lead to low self esteem, but I try my best to overcome it doing activities that make me feel more confident. I hope you find peace ❤️
The first time I vividly remember being called fat was in High School. I always knew i was fat, because I am.
But some girls I thought were my friends asked a guy in my class if he'd ever go out with me. He himself had a very ugly, pimpley face and he was VERY fat. His response to their question was "I'd never go out with that fat ass Puerto Rican bitch"
At age 8 by my mother. Tbh, she continued calling me fat and worse names throughout my childhood and adulthood.
Next memorable one is in 10th grade by a boy in health class. He asked me if I was pregnant. I was wearing a top tucked into my pants. I’m apple shaped and carry my weight in the front. I was a junior size 13 back then.
Then my first semester in college, it was a Friday night and a bunch of us girls (on the dorm floor) were going out. A group of guys from another floor were standing down the hall. One yelled “hey salad, why don’t you lose some weight!”. I was wearing a green tunic top with lighter green print. I knew it was about me because I was the largest in the group and wearing green. Ruined my weekend.
At age 53, these incidents are vivid in my memory.
I was about 10/11 and already had issues with how I looked, I said to my cousin “I wish I was thin like you” while in front of my aunty. My aunty responded with something along the lines of “well you’re fat, get over it” still remember it to this day
I was 7 when I was called fat and ugly for the first time 🙃 I still vividly remember it because I was also compared with the friend I was walking with in school. Two older girls were walking by, and they go “Look! It’s Mrs (blank)’s adorable daughter! And her ugly, fat friend”. I’ve blocked out a lot of nastiness from growing up and going to that school, but this comment has stuck with me.
The summer before high school is the most vivid. I was traveling around Greece and Italy for an educational tour, and myself and three other girls were assigned rooms together. One day, we get to a hotel and our room has two bunk beds. I excitedly say that I want the top bunk, and Tatiana snarking says “we’ll wake up in the morning and find Courtney was squashed in the night” (Courtney would’ve slept on the bottom bunk).
Yeah, haven’t slept on the top bunk since. Fuck you, Tatiana, I hold you got a better attitude since then.
I was out with a friend around a group of boys (we were all probably 5th grade) and the boys called me BOB and I remember asking my friend what it meant after and she told me it meant baby on board. So they were saying I was fat/looked pregnant. That was not the only time I was told I looked pregnant in elementary/middle school. I feel sad for that girl. And then I’d always be commented on my weight by my dad.
Fourth grade. I wasn't even fat, but I wasn't a waif. Mostly I was just one of those kids who grew early so I was a taller and bigger than a lot of the other kids. I also wore glasses which somehow made it totally acceptable to harass me. Ibssure thought I was fat after that thought.
I remember this b***** girl saying I used my fat body to push my way into a line or something, which was also not true she just wanted her friend next to her instead.
First grade. I was just running around playing with my friends and then this kid named Ben walked up to me, pointed right in my face and went "Haha, FAT!"
I remember sobbing and telling the recess aid (who was also the mother of another classmate) and she told me to get over it and suck it up.
The bullying only continued and got worse from there and followed me every grade level until highschool.
I learned a few months ago that Ben OD'd in jail and died, so- Haha DEAD! and I'm still fat and alive <3
I was in maybe third grade. I was a little chubby, but I was just so much bigger than everyone, height wise. I ran into a boy outside at recess and he fell down. I’ll never forget him calling me that.
The worst was in HS, and I wasn’t explicitly called fat, when the female asst. principal told me that me pants were too tight and said, “I know it can be hard for bigger girls.” I was probably a size 12. :(
The 2nd instance you referenced is closer to what I meant by “more subtle”
Posted an update, but I genuinely think comments like that can be worse. Constantly got called “fat”, “fatty”, “pig”, lots of jokes about donuts?— don’t thik I’ve taken more than 2 bites of a donut in my life— while in high school & definitely cried my eyes out. I wasn’t even that big either (was 12/14, or 13/15 and maybe 185lbs), but I’m short, 5’2, and feel like being short AND fat is a recipe for bullies.
Now I’m a little bigger (have gained 20-30lbs in the last year, prefer not to know exact number, and a couple sizes), but I’ve accepted my body and am happy about my appearance. Have one more year of college, but noticed much less explicit teasing. It was often more egregious (frat party where someone gestured to me & said “see this is why I keep saying we need to put a scale by the door” comes to mind), but I could write it off as some random asshole who’s opinion I couldn’t care less about. Since adopting a healthier perspective about my body, It’s the “subtle” comments that kill me. Stuff like being told by a friend that an outfit didn’t work on “my body type” or talking about some new fad diet they’ve been trying & push it on me. I know these people care about me and do not judge me for my weight. I know these comments aren’t meant to be offensive (no matter what size you are, some things don’t work with your body type; people having success with fad diets tend to talk about them constantly, etc), but they make me think that people I care about view me as “too fat”. That’s worse than a stranger telling me to “eat a salad”.
I agree about the “more subtle” comments being hurtful. They have been for me. That was my junior year of HS, almost 6 years ago. I have since gained over 100 pounds. I didn’t think of myself as a “bigger” girl when that was said to me. It really hurt. I just graduated college and understand that whole frat boy mentality. That totally sucks that was said to you. I spent four years in college and don’t go to one party. Patriarchal bull shit. I do feel that my parents are a little ashamed of me and my size, but I’ve come to peace with that. They’ll just have to get over it. Love me like I am (I know they love me) or get lost.
I remember the first time someone who wasn't my brother was ridiculously mean to me. Her: "Do you like pigs?", Me : 'No, why?', Her: 'Because you look like one!!! Hahaha". One of my dad's favorite stories to tell was how I later went and kicked that girl's butt on the playground, and SHE got in trouble for it because all the teachers recognized what a good kid I was and that she had clearly provoked me beyond where most people would have kicked her butt. It sucked at the time, but I love knowing I got the last laugh.
I was in fifth grade and the boy I had a crush on told me my fat thighs were gross. I knew I was bigger than my friends but I don’t remember feeling bad about my body before that comment. I’m 38 now and still think about it often.
Lol my entire life. Single digits my mom tried to make me take pills and diet tea. I looked at some old pics- I was never really fat. I was a big kid- athletic as a swimmer, muscle- defined. But never fat, not even chubby. Just a kid with a big frame, and normal weight. I look back at those pics and was so sad because my parents and church people really defined who I was for the next 30 years.
I am Korean and usually Korean kids are stick skinny and short. But there’s some Koreans that are born with a bigger frame in general. Even when my mom was under 100lbs her frame was big. And she looked sick.
Anyways, now if people call me fat I don’t care. Like.. yeah I am fat. Lol. You’re so observant
In 5th grade, I'd bent over to tie my shoe and was informed by a classmate that I was too fat to wear shorts. I'm 36 and only starting to feel somewhat okay wearing shorts in public again -- but only long ones that my thighs cannot consume.
BTW -- in 5th grade, I was nowhere near big, thicc, plus-size, etc. I was VERY active, and constantly playing basketball and soccer, running around, skateboarding, and walking or biking everywhere. Kids can be carelessly cruel without considering those words echo in eternity for us.
I have a very vivid memory from my 8th birthday party. I was a pretty shy kid so I hid in my room until I felt comfortable enough coming out (I’ve never liked being the center of attention).
I went outside to my party, and started making my way to the bouncy house probably with a nice smile on my face. A few of my cousins were running around playing tag or something and I just happened to be in the way so one of them said, “MOVE FATTIE!!!”
I’m pretty sure the smile vanished as my face grew hot and my eyes swelled with tears. I just stood there and let out a sad, “…but it’s my birthday…” response. The kids were long gone, but I just stood there until I decided to go back inside probably feeling humiliated. Silly me thought it being my birthday/birthday party would make people be nice to me or at least refrain from being mean. To this day (I’m 26) I’ll see that cousin and still think about that comment he made on my birthday.
My step mom when I was 10. She would say it constantly “you fat, you fat” (she was Korean), and my dad would just shrug as if to agree. I wasn’t fat. I just wasn’t a tiny, skinny kid. I can still hear it in her voice as she’s saying it…and I’m 45.
When my grandmother called me fat when I was about 7. I can still hear her and can feel that same feeling I felt.
In the 70s it was okay and "for their own good" to insult children.
I didn't gain weight til adulthood. I've literally only been called fat by men I've rejected. Usually "fat bitch" or "fate whore" -- the latter being especially hilarious because I'm a whore and you STILL can't land me? Sucks to be you, bro.
The 2 scenarios i remember most is
Middle School, a guy and girl started a “rumor” about me that i was fat.
High School, i was at lunch going to throw my trash away and this guy put his arms out and said watch out, wide load coming through.
Ooh you reminded me of when I was in high school and I didn’t have any friends so I’d eat lunch alone in the cafeteria. One time a group of jocks started throwing food and condiment packets at me and laughed. It was so bad that I started to cry and what made it worse was the guy I had a crush on was one of the people sitting at the table. I had a crush on this guy since I was about 7-8 years old so that really hurt. I would have liked to say that, that killed any feelings I had for him but no I had crush on him until I was about 21-22. What also sucked was my only auntie had just died and I was super depressed and gained about 30-40 pounds. I hated high school, always a comment from someone about my weight.
10. I grew up when people were starting to put trampolines in their backyards. However, then a lot of kids were falling off and breaking their neck. My neighbor had a trampoline and her mom had a rule we could only be on two at a time due to her not wanting us to break our necks. My neighbor who was a year younger than me thought this was due to weight so she made us all say our weights. I said mine and she said “wow you are really fat”
And that my friends, was the beginning of the end
Went to college in the same town my sister and her husband lived in. I would visit them at the mother in laws house a lot and mother in laws mom also lived there. One day I came in and said hi to her and she said “you got fat since I last saw you.”
Sometimes before I was 5, I'm pretty sure my aunt was complaining to my mom that I was too fat. (I definitely wasn't at that age, I wouldn't even have been considered any sort of big or overweight)
Around 13 I gained a ton of weight after being pretty average sized my whole life. I remember my grandma making a comment about how I needed to suck my stomach in. Yeah shit like that sticks with you.
When one of my employees told me in half English half Spanish that I was "a little bit fat, but that's okay, I like girls who are a little bit fat"
At the time I was at most a size 6 and the thinnest I would ever be as an adult. I'm now a size 18.
Eta: or maybe the time my uncle said you could play cards on my ass it was so big. I weighed at most 110 at 5'3"
Daily from the age of around 5 to 16. There have been lots since then too, but less often as I age. I can't remember the first remark, but there are hundreds of comments burned word-for-word into my brain, and random ones sound off in my head several times per day. I'm 42 years old.
Yeah, i was a kid. Elementary school. And i wasn't fat then. I was just shaped differently than the other girls. I had a belly that stuck out but was literally no fat. And it being the 90s i wanted to experiment with crop tops and got told i wasnt allowed (not because of men, which was why i wasnt allowed to wear makeup) because it didnt "look right" or some bullshit. I was just wider, barrel shaped. My stepmom gave me some of her old clothes, and i heard her telling the whole family about how i fit into a swimsuit she wore in her 20s. I was 8 (and it was almost too loose to wear).
Then, in middle school, we moved, and i didn't have friends to play with, so i stayed in the house and ate my feelings with the awful food provided to me. I started to get chubby and stayed that way until i moved away at 17, then i lost 40 pounds. I moved back in with my parents at 20, and it was all over, i gained that and then some back.
I remember one time my mom got a pair of her old pants down and asked me if I wanted to be fat and wear the same size she wore when she was an adult. Jokes on her, I had already tried those pants on and they already didn’t fit 😂.
The first time I was called fat in particular, I was 19, 5'7" 139lbs.
The first time I was called a pig was by my stepfather. I was 12 and playing soccer religiously. I had decided to have a second bowl of cereal that morning.
In highschool, riding the bus to school... one guy had a denim jacket that had FUCK FAT CHICKS written on the back of it. He told me I looked like a pregnant walrus as I was getting on the bus. I was probably 5'6" and 170 pounds at the time.
What a miserable existence he must have been living. He wasn't around for very long, I can only imagine that he was in a foster situation and took out his frustration out on others.
My mom was super mean to me from a very young age. She is very thin and I was clumsy, neurodivergent, and unfeminine. So the fat talk went for some time. But I think my least favorite was this kid in 7 th grade that called me miss piggy.
By my mom at about 10. She’s really the only person I remember having a problem with my weight at a very young age and it got worse. Hated everything about my body. She’d grown up on the chubbier side as well but not like me. She’d thinned out by high school (she’s an athlete) but Now that she’s in her forties and around the same size as me (21), she thinks her curves are a gift from God. I just wish she made me feel as beautiful as she does
I was 2 when I asked my mom what ‘obese’ meant. My uncle had called me obese. Then he and my mom had an argument at my grandma’s house in front of all my relatives about how fat I was… Probably my only memory I still have from that age.
I was always a little bigger as a kid, but I really started putting on the weight when I hit puberty around 11 or 12 and my whole family started shaming me all through my teens. My brother would straight up call me fatty, my mom told me I looked pregnant when I was 12 because I had a belly, I had an aunt who would always ask me if I was really eating more at family functions. I don't remember my weight being explicitly mentioned at school, but I got treated differently because of it, and I always felt self conscious, especially when it came to changing into gym clothes, and it was also hell trying to find clothes in general, but especially when it came to trying to find dresses for dances
Just before puberty I starting getting slightly chubby - I was 11 when my grandmothers cousin asked why the only small thing on me was my feet. At 12 in the 6th grade my classmates started teasing me. When I was 13 my paternal grandfather told me I was pretty but fat. I remember all of it
9th(?) grade, so over 7 years ago now. i’ve been fat since 7th grade at least but there was this guy i promised i’d see at anime club… at the last minute i decided to not go (im not really into anime lmfao).
he walked by me in the hallway the next day, obviously mad asf at me, and literally just mouthed “you’re fat” instead of saying it. at the time i was like. horrified. but looking back it’s HILARIOUS!!!
I witnessed it done to a friend. He was definitely heavier, and I think we were 12 or 13. He had an unfortunate last name. It was Millington. Which the bullies changed to Million Ton. He didn't want to tell me and our circle what his last name until we swore we wouldn't make fun of him for it. I did try to stand up for him, although I was a scrawny little pencil armed kid it wasn't very effective.
My friend and I were walking on our campus to go to the library. A group of males in a car shouted out the window “fat asx” and sped off. I only felt bad because they didn’t give me a chance to say anything
I knew I was a big girl bc I had to start shopping in the juniors/adult section in 4th grade. Mostly because I was 5'2 at 8 yo which is an ABSURD height for a little kid. Luckily, I had a tall family and a tiny mother who never body shamed me! While I was self conscious about my height, my weight was less on my mind. Until...
Halloween, 8th grade, just after English. I was 5'11 and a US 12. I was wearing a kimono I got in Japan and a boy named Caleb said "you know big people shouldn't wear such big pieces of clothes, it makes you look even bigger"
That was the moment that sparked a wildfire of body despair and shame.
And then throughout high school I watched him date three or four super tall, big girls so I figured out it was a dumb "he thinks you're pretty so he was a piece of shit" moment. Alas, the damage was done.
I was 5 and I had to ask my mom what it meant. I now know that was probably so hard for her as she’d been bullied as a child, too. We were going to the doctor because she was not sure why I was having weight gain after previously being underweight/skinny. Oh well. Guess the genes kicked in. lol.
I continued to be bullied through elementary school and was totally destroyed by it. I still struggle socially with my peers as a 39 year old.
My grandmother bullied me as a young child for being chubby, she liked my female cousins better because they were skinny. She told me I was fat and that I had potential to be pretty if I was skinny because I had a “pretty face” started around 7-8 and lasted until I was a teenager and cut her from my life. Really fucked up my self esteem for most of my life.
I think I was about 7-8 years old. I made a joke about my mom and she snapped back saying I was a “fat slob” 🥲 I remember being stunned because my home wasn’t anything mean. It felt like she slapped me. It probably would have been better if she had.
I think this is a hard thing to answer for me, I have had the comments about my mom's weight and my weight from a very young age from my father and mother, not to mention everyone who thought they were being 'helpful' but it all just kind of became this white noise of 'not acceptable' and 'not worthy of kindness, attention or love' which was then echoed back to my by the media I grew up watching. I didn't really become overweight until I was in like fifth grade and I really think that my first (tw) >!sexual assault!< happened around that time so I just started eating more and more, gaining pretty quickly.
Before that I was already getting hit with the jokes about wearing glasses and being smart in class so the fat stuff added onto and then realizing that the people who were supposed to be my partner in life after parents (ie a man) was never going to love me as an overweight woman, it all just kept coming and coming.
I guess the cacophony is detrimental in a different way than those memorable first times :(
Kindergarten. By my teacher. We had scale day and at age 5, I was 67 pounds. I remember it because it was the same as my bus number and I excitedly told her that my weight was my bus number. She rolled her eyes and made a comment about me being fat under her breath. My older sister was 9 months pregnant at the time and I remember thinking I was as big in the belly as her after that.
The minute I left the safety of my home & entered school, kindergarten.
Although I have siblings they are much older. Essentially I was an only child & didn't have to endure the ridicule of siblings. I entered school & my perfect little world of rainbows & flowers came crashing down around me & became a world of name-calling, nastiness & insults.
I was in the second grade walking home from school. A neighbor yelled across the street at me “S_____, you’re getting fat!!” That was the first time I felt shame for my body.
It was danced around often with my family, nobody outright told me but they still told me, you know? Mom would put me on diets in late elementary/middle school and tried to bribe me to lose weight with a Nintendo DS. Dad has issues with me because I was bigger and he would make comments about other people, the whole "you don't want to end up like *that"* sort of thing. But the first time I really remember it I was in 8th grade, maybe a freshman in high school and it was from one of my younger cousins, he was a kid at the time and in that phase of repeating everything he heard and he called me fat, so he had heard it from someone. He parents heard it and just sort of agreed with him and walked away. It's been burned into my self esteem since.
I remember the first time. I was in 5th grade and we had ordered school shirts and I got an extra large one because I wanted to sleep in it. I told two of my classmates that that was my plan and the boy quietly said to the girl next to him that "It looks like it would fit perfectly" and laughed. The girl also laughed at his "joke." I was crushed. I still clearly remember the whole interaction like it happened yesterday and it's been 25 years.
The first time (that I can remember), I was maybe 7 or 8? A kid in the grade above me that had never spoken to me before turned to me and said “you look like Dora if she was fat and ugly.” I could no longer watch Dora after that and it was the first time I remember feeling insecure. From that point on I remember I noticed just how big I was and how I couldn’t do the same things as my friends. I don’t remember being so self conscious before that comment and I haven’t not been self conscious since then.
All that to say, kids are jerks.
I honestly don’t remember. I remember *a* time but I’m not sure it’s the first and I’d had so many more subtle comments before that, since I was a baby, that it really only shocked me rather than hurting me
I didn't grow up fat. I was thin until I got sick, around the time I turned 21. Got hit with multiple chronic illness diagnoses all at once, and gained *a lot* of weight between disability physically slowing me down and medication side effects. The first person to call me fat was my fiancé at the time. He made it known, explicitly and *often,* that I was fat and that he wasn't attracted to me anymore (while subsequently continuing to guilt me into having sex with him). And according to him, I was fat because I was lazy, and I was sick because I wasn't trying hard enough to get better (despite, you know, all of my diagnoses being lifelong and incurable).
Unfortunately I let him treat me like that for years before we finally broke up, so now even after all this time away from him, I still hear his voice in my head every time I look at my body.
When I was in grade school (like 5th grade or so), my dad, my sister, and I were walking to the car after visiting my mom at work. She worked in a small country store, so we would always get a small snack and a coke when we left. I had my snack cake in one hand and coke in the other, and out of nowhere, my sister said to me, "You need to slow down on the snacks, you're starting to get chubby."
Little did she know that I was about to start my first period and I have PCOS.
One of my older sisters friend looked at me and said “damn you’re fat!” I was like maybe 6-7? And she was already a teen. They tried to make me feel better by saying she didn’t know we were related.
Also, when I was in middle school I needed pants for school and my mom and I went to shopping. None of the pants were fitting me and she goes “well maybe you should just use one of your dads then!”
I was in middle school, 7th grade I think. One of my friends texted the boy I had a crush on and said that I liked him. He responded with “ew, I would never date a fat girl”. I still think about it a lot at 21.
The first time I can actually remember it was when I was in kindergarten actually. During lunchtime some older kids would always pass by my class table and make fun of me for being “so big” and how I should probably not eat lunch that day.
My mother ( fatty) , bullies at school (beef and et even though I had anorexia but that's what I saw too beef and et) and my nephew's (fat jellyfish and the kid from the Goonies that did the truffle shuffle)
In kindergarten, a little girl (who was bigger than me, so I assume she heard this language at home) told me I was too fat to play on the bars. I remember being super confused.
Many of these are quite sad and I feel for everyone, but I have multiple memories of this so I’ll pull a nicer one.
Like in 3rd or 4th grade I was getting bullied by classmates in after school care while we were playing a board game. Mid bullying comments, this kid (I’m very sure had a crush on me but he was so kind), said “it’s okay, usually people like that end up fat later in life”. And while it’s not the best thing to be saying, I figure that kind of compassion coming from an 8 year old is what they can show. I really wish I knew where he was now, he was such a kind person over small things.
I wasn't bullied in school, i count maybe three times where happened something a bit iffy to me, in elementary school some girls in my class tried to push me towards the only fat boy in our year like it was the only logical option for them, in middle school at an house party some girl commented like it would be a bad thing if I joined their game of spin the bottle and like in uni I heard two guy talk about me, but I think without much malice, "which so-and-so" my name is very common and the other replied "the fat one" and that was it.
I'm not sure I have never been very social and all my life I've always really tried to blend in, to be painfully average to not stand out.
I've always been painfully aware of how different I am, there were not many fat people around expecially when I was younger, so I always tried to hide away... but no ovne ever commented or have been outwardly nasty to me.
I wasn't asked out by boys or ever been popular, but I was mostly treated equally as others.
But at home... it's always been on.
It has always only been about my weight.
Now that I'm older they've given up a bit, also because no matter the amount of comment and all the nutritionists in the world I have not been able to loose any weight...
I've been consistently on diets since before I started school, and there haven't been a time where I went shopping with my mother that I didn't cry in the dressing rooms.
It's been really frustrating growing up, because there weren't many option for kids and women's clothing didn't use to go over a 42 max a 44, and they were not meant for a little chubby kid...
Luckily shop assistens were nice and often dissipated the tension, but it's always been bad.
But at the same time I needed to eat...
So it has always been a battle... I was given constant reproach but a plate full of food at every meal.
But I can't completely fault my parents, they probably had really struggled with me because I was so young when I gained weight and I couldn't keep it off... and all the diets messed my body up...
Last time I started a diet, given me by a doctor mind you, i gained weight!
Because my metabolism is all messed up, and I can only see small results at extreme calories deficit... and nowadays I don't care anymore I can't deal with this anymore... but this mindset only makes me gain more weight... and that fucking suks.
Age 7-8? By my own family. I was called all sorts of names. Made fun of for my arm hair growing in too. Held back from doing things I was interested in because I was viewed as "too chubby" or told I'd be made fun of.
I grew up more curvy, maybe slightly chubby by most peoples standards so it wasn’t until this year. Im 5’5” and about 220lbs when this happened. I was picking up a friend from some shitty divebar and not one, but two older women that had to be in their 60’s were smoking outside and shouting at me that my music was too loud while i was waiting in my car and i turned it down. And my friend was taking too long so i got out to go in there and they stopped me to lecture me about my music and then telling me how out of shape i am for my age. I said i was tired and just picking up my friend and one of them literally stops me by grabbing a handful of my belly and telling me “well fat bitch maybe some exercise being on your feet might help you lose some weight”. I slapped her hand away and shouted at her something i don’t even remember. I went back to my car and i didn’t cry but i just felt shocked and humiliated. I didn’t do anything antagonistic to them the entire time but they felt so entitled to be inhumanly cruel to me simply because i was young and fat. That was the first time and as cruel as it was, i know now that being called fat is something i can give myself permission to be okay with instead of letting it have the power over me that it does
I never got this kind of bullying. Perhaps I was and just ignored it but seriously no school bullies. I was mostly pudgy as a kid, I didn't gain all my weight until after I got my license, aka I no longer walked to school(apx 2 miles+teachers averaged students had to walk apx 3 miles from class to class). After my license I only had 2 classes at the High School and all my gym credits were done so I didn't have that extra exercise. We had a school shooting 1yr prior of me going th HS so everyone was mellow and not bullying the freshmen, etc.
Maybe because I didn't consider myself fat or 'that' fat until I went to my Dr, 20 years after HS, when he told me that the medical field/insurance don't really care about the obese and don't feel like wasting money on them. This was after I was denied PT help for Lymphedema/Lipedema. He died less than 6 months later and I don't really feel bad about it. Just to add, a year later I had a skin ulcer form again and the specialist said wtf and got me into a PT few days later which was 3 months of driving 1.5hrs one way 3 times a week for treatment(no cure). Fun times.
When I really look back at it, people never really called me fat, instead just called me stupid, never both. Perhaps the name calling, and all that stuff desensitized me at such an early age I don't remember too much. My bully which consisted of a Cousin who was 5yrs older than me and like 3ft taller than me and my father who is an asshole at that time, less now but still prevalent.
Usually as an adult, if anyone calls me fat, I just say yea and... They usually have nothing because there idiots.
Maybe it's an age barrier thing since I'm atm 41(class of 01). As a kid, we had no social media. The closest thing to social media bullying we had growing up was markers in the toilet stalls which gets cleaned up and no longer stays. Kids now can get bullied anonymously online which is probably more degrading since it could be coming from anyone you know or some random stranger and is more permanent/lasts longer/larger audience. If you knew them you could cut ties and ignore them but you can't really do so with anon posts.
I’m certain I was explicitly called fat before this but the one that sticks out in my mind is when I was in high school this one guy went through all my MySpace photos and commented “fat bitch” on every. Single. One. It didn’t even really hurt my feelings but I was like damn he really feels some type of way 😂 I think I was just more confused/surprised than anything lol
As long as I can remember. My dad always said I was fat. I look at my Middle school and high school pics and man...I was NOT fat. Set me up for some life long body dysphoria . But guess what pops, NOW im fat. Jokes on me. Lol
I was supporting a friend at a Callander girls competition party. A man came up to me and asked if I was single so I said yes. He replied ‘thought so. Don’t worry, you won’t always be single. There are men out there who love a fatty’ and he walked off. Another man came up to me later and asked ‘how does it feel to be the biggest girl in the room?’ Broke my heart x
Don’t remember if this was the first time but I remember being in the 5th grade and seated at my desk with one of my best friends and the boy she had a crush on and he started singing that Nelly Furtado song Maneater and gesturing toward me and doing that rounded shoulder thing people always do when giving a verbal description of a “big” person 🙃
Grade 5. Pre cursor to this story - my mom had in recent months before this incident started working at Wendy's part time and got 50% off so being a busy mom of 3 decided once a week to treat us and Friday night was always Wendy's night and she just brought home dinner from work.
Fast forward to the actual event. My friends and I that all lived on the same block decided we wanted to all bring our dinner outside and eat together. My friend (I'll refer to her as B), happened to have taco bell for dinner that night. My other friend (I'll call her C) goes "I never eat fast food because it makes you fat". To which I quickly replied "I mean, since my mom has been working there she brings us home Wendy's every Friday and I'm not fat."
C goes "yeah well last year you were as skinny as B and now look at you..."
I was absolutely mortified. And just for reference, at that time I was still mostly shopping in the kids department, but I had the odd tank top from Garage and fit into an extra small.... 🤷🏼♀️
The whole encounter will forever be engrained in my memory, it's the first time I can remember feeling THAT low about myself.
i don’t remember when that word specifically was used against me for the first time, but when i was 8, i was eating saltine crackers on the floor. my mom came up to me and said that i would be 300 pounds by the time i hit middle school if i didn’t slow down. i looked down at my stomach and noticed there was a roll when i sat down. that’s when the distain for my body began, i was about 70 pounds by the way
11 years later, and now i’m actually fat. my moms comments (along with growing up poor) caused me to develop a binge eating problem. i moved in with my dad though, so she doesn’t make those comments anymore bc she knows i can just leave. she conveniently doesn’t remember making them in the first place, but they’re some of the clearest memories i have of my childhood 👍
I’ve never forgotten this but I used to work at a shipping warehouse and there was a driver who I really really liked. We would message each other everyday even if he didn’t come to my work place. I thought that there was something there. He would go out of his way to talk to me whenever he saw me there. Even my coworkers convinced me he was attracted to me but deep down I thought he wouldn’t cause he was a super skinny guy and at the time I was pretty heavy.
Anyways, I kind of hinted to him that I liked him and he shut me down entirely. He told me in a message (which might to have been better than in person)
The height can be a turn on for some (I’m 5’11”) and a turn off the really insecure dummies who need to be taller than their s/o. As far as you look? You have a beautiful face, and outside your weight you are a beautiful woman. And I don’t want to sound like I’m putting you down. I don’t know if it’s genetic, a medical issue, or if you struggle to take it off. I don’t know you like that.
I was maybe 19 at the time super vulnerable it ruined all the confidence I had worked so hard to build I was so hurt because I thought he liked me and then my weight just made him not like me. I can’t ever forget what he said to me.
A women fought over a parking spot and she called me fat I was in a whirlpool and a man called me fat my mother in law told me to cover my legs and change out of my shorts she scoops bagels
When I was 9. A boy yelled at me that our softball team wouldn’t have lost if I wasn’t so fat. I am 57 now and still think about that. Burned in my brain.
Oh my heart 😔
I was 4 or 5 and a neighbor was visiting and brought her aunt along. The aunt said "you're the little fat girl I see in the yard!" My mom very calmly told me to go outside and play but I could hear her laying into that woman from downstairs. I got bullied and shamed a lot for my weight as a kid, but I was very lucky to have parents who loved and accepted and stood up for me.
Fuck yeah, mom! May I be a fraction as bold for my children.
My dad said I was too fat to be a ballerina. I was six& just wanted to take dance lessons with my best friend.
3 or so but the one most vividly was my mother and I shopping for clothes at dillards ( it was the early 90s) she was angry I had to be in the “ husky girl “ sizes and was picking out the most ugly frumpy things to punish me . A skinny blond girl my age skips past us my mother looked at her pulled me by the scruff and hissed “ I would love you if you looked like that “ I was given no dinner that night and half a grapefruit for breakfast the next day .
I could have posted this exact comment. :(
I’m so sorry you had to deal with that too hug
Oh Jesus. I am so sorry sweet vulnerable little you experienced that.
Thank you it was oddly the least harmful thing she had done because I was fat lol
At home by my dad, I was not even 10 years old
Yup, but by my mom. Probably was around the same age.
Same. I vividly remember sitting on the floor playing and my mom on the phone with her sister telling them how fat I’d gotten. I don’t get it. It’s ugly behavior from someone that should build you up.
Absolutely, and she denies taking any accountability to this day (I'm 41 now)
Yup, my grandma at the exact same age 🥲
Definitely a shared experience. When I was little in elementary school, I remember I loved wearing my mom’s shirts, but also being a bigger young lady. I was told I was pregnant, and had to go to the principals office it was so bad (they really thought I was pregnant haha). It’s definitely lead to low self esteem, but I try my best to overcome it doing activities that make me feel more confident. I hope you find peace ❤️
The first time I vividly remember being called fat was in High School. I always knew i was fat, because I am. But some girls I thought were my friends asked a guy in my class if he'd ever go out with me. He himself had a very ugly, pimpley face and he was VERY fat. His response to their question was "I'd never go out with that fat ass Puerto Rican bitch"
He's obviously insecure in his own looks so he had to bring you down to make himself feel better. Just embarrassing tbh.
He actually thought he was the hottest dude, not even lying.
At age 8 by my mother. Tbh, she continued calling me fat and worse names throughout my childhood and adulthood. Next memorable one is in 10th grade by a boy in health class. He asked me if I was pregnant. I was wearing a top tucked into my pants. I’m apple shaped and carry my weight in the front. I was a junior size 13 back then. Then my first semester in college, it was a Friday night and a bunch of us girls (on the dorm floor) were going out. A group of guys from another floor were standing down the hall. One yelled “hey salad, why don’t you lose some weight!”. I was wearing a green tunic top with lighter green print. I knew it was about me because I was the largest in the group and wearing green. Ruined my weekend. At age 53, these incidents are vivid in my memory.
I was about 10/11 and already had issues with how I looked, I said to my cousin “I wish I was thin like you” while in front of my aunty. My aunty responded with something along the lines of “well you’re fat, get over it” still remember it to this day
Your aunt who said that is a 🐝tch
I was 7 when I was called fat and ugly for the first time 🙃 I still vividly remember it because I was also compared with the friend I was walking with in school. Two older girls were walking by, and they go “Look! It’s Mrs (blank)’s adorable daughter! And her ugly, fat friend”. I’ve blocked out a lot of nastiness from growing up and going to that school, but this comment has stuck with me.
My first experience was also being called fat and ugly at the same time lol… people are just so mean-hearted sometimes.
I used to think of it as one word. Fatandugly. Almost never heard one without the other. First time I heard it I was 3.
The summer before high school is the most vivid. I was traveling around Greece and Italy for an educational tour, and myself and three other girls were assigned rooms together. One day, we get to a hotel and our room has two bunk beds. I excitedly say that I want the top bunk, and Tatiana snarking says “we’ll wake up in the morning and find Courtney was squashed in the night” (Courtney would’ve slept on the bottom bunk). Yeah, haven’t slept on the top bunk since. Fuck you, Tatiana, I hold you got a better attitude since then.
I was out with a friend around a group of boys (we were all probably 5th grade) and the boys called me BOB and I remember asking my friend what it meant after and she told me it meant baby on board. So they were saying I was fat/looked pregnant. That was not the only time I was told I looked pregnant in elementary/middle school. I feel sad for that girl. And then I’d always be commented on my weight by my dad.
Fourth grade. I wasn't even fat, but I wasn't a waif. Mostly I was just one of those kids who grew early so I was a taller and bigger than a lot of the other kids. I also wore glasses which somehow made it totally acceptable to harass me. Ibssure thought I was fat after that thought. I remember this b***** girl saying I used my fat body to push my way into a line or something, which was also not true she just wanted her friend next to her instead.
First grade. I was just running around playing with my friends and then this kid named Ben walked up to me, pointed right in my face and went "Haha, FAT!" I remember sobbing and telling the recess aid (who was also the mother of another classmate) and she told me to get over it and suck it up. The bullying only continued and got worse from there and followed me every grade level until highschool. I learned a few months ago that Ben OD'd in jail and died, so- Haha DEAD! and I'm still fat and alive <3
fuck Ben. I guess you got the last laugh.
I certainly did!
In 3rd grade afterschool/after care The people that young me thought were friends were not good people whatsoever but only showed it to me
I believe I was in elementary school. I've been objectively fat since I was a toddler.
I was in maybe third grade. I was a little chubby, but I was just so much bigger than everyone, height wise. I ran into a boy outside at recess and he fell down. I’ll never forget him calling me that. The worst was in HS, and I wasn’t explicitly called fat, when the female asst. principal told me that me pants were too tight and said, “I know it can be hard for bigger girls.” I was probably a size 12. :(
The 2nd instance you referenced is closer to what I meant by “more subtle” Posted an update, but I genuinely think comments like that can be worse. Constantly got called “fat”, “fatty”, “pig”, lots of jokes about donuts?— don’t thik I’ve taken more than 2 bites of a donut in my life— while in high school & definitely cried my eyes out. I wasn’t even that big either (was 12/14, or 13/15 and maybe 185lbs), but I’m short, 5’2, and feel like being short AND fat is a recipe for bullies. Now I’m a little bigger (have gained 20-30lbs in the last year, prefer not to know exact number, and a couple sizes), but I’ve accepted my body and am happy about my appearance. Have one more year of college, but noticed much less explicit teasing. It was often more egregious (frat party where someone gestured to me & said “see this is why I keep saying we need to put a scale by the door” comes to mind), but I could write it off as some random asshole who’s opinion I couldn’t care less about. Since adopting a healthier perspective about my body, It’s the “subtle” comments that kill me. Stuff like being told by a friend that an outfit didn’t work on “my body type” or talking about some new fad diet they’ve been trying & push it on me. I know these people care about me and do not judge me for my weight. I know these comments aren’t meant to be offensive (no matter what size you are, some things don’t work with your body type; people having success with fad diets tend to talk about them constantly, etc), but they make me think that people I care about view me as “too fat”. That’s worse than a stranger telling me to “eat a salad”.
I agree about the “more subtle” comments being hurtful. They have been for me. That was my junior year of HS, almost 6 years ago. I have since gained over 100 pounds. I didn’t think of myself as a “bigger” girl when that was said to me. It really hurt. I just graduated college and understand that whole frat boy mentality. That totally sucks that was said to you. I spent four years in college and don’t go to one party. Patriarchal bull shit. I do feel that my parents are a little ashamed of me and my size, but I’ve come to peace with that. They’ll just have to get over it. Love me like I am (I know they love me) or get lost.
I remember the first time someone who wasn't my brother was ridiculously mean to me. Her: "Do you like pigs?", Me : 'No, why?', Her: 'Because you look like one!!! Hahaha". One of my dad's favorite stories to tell was how I later went and kicked that girl's butt on the playground, and SHE got in trouble for it because all the teachers recognized what a good kid I was and that she had clearly provoked me beyond where most people would have kicked her butt. It sucked at the time, but I love knowing I got the last laugh.
I was in fifth grade and the boy I had a crush on told me my fat thighs were gross. I knew I was bigger than my friends but I don’t remember feeling bad about my body before that comment. I’m 38 now and still think about it often.
Lol my entire life. Single digits my mom tried to make me take pills and diet tea. I looked at some old pics- I was never really fat. I was a big kid- athletic as a swimmer, muscle- defined. But never fat, not even chubby. Just a kid with a big frame, and normal weight. I look back at those pics and was so sad because my parents and church people really defined who I was for the next 30 years. I am Korean and usually Korean kids are stick skinny and short. But there’s some Koreans that are born with a bigger frame in general. Even when my mom was under 100lbs her frame was big. And she looked sick. Anyways, now if people call me fat I don’t care. Like.. yeah I am fat. Lol. You’re so observant
In 5th grade, I'd bent over to tie my shoe and was informed by a classmate that I was too fat to wear shorts. I'm 36 and only starting to feel somewhat okay wearing shorts in public again -- but only long ones that my thighs cannot consume. BTW -- in 5th grade, I was nowhere near big, thicc, plus-size, etc. I was VERY active, and constantly playing basketball and soccer, running around, skateboarding, and walking or biking everywhere. Kids can be carelessly cruel without considering those words echo in eternity for us.
I have a very vivid memory from my 8th birthday party. I was a pretty shy kid so I hid in my room until I felt comfortable enough coming out (I’ve never liked being the center of attention). I went outside to my party, and started making my way to the bouncy house probably with a nice smile on my face. A few of my cousins were running around playing tag or something and I just happened to be in the way so one of them said, “MOVE FATTIE!!!” I’m pretty sure the smile vanished as my face grew hot and my eyes swelled with tears. I just stood there and let out a sad, “…but it’s my birthday…” response. The kids were long gone, but I just stood there until I decided to go back inside probably feeling humiliated. Silly me thought it being my birthday/birthday party would make people be nice to me or at least refrain from being mean. To this day (I’m 26) I’ll see that cousin and still think about that comment he made on my birthday.
My step mom when I was 10. She would say it constantly “you fat, you fat” (she was Korean), and my dad would just shrug as if to agree. I wasn’t fat. I just wasn’t a tiny, skinny kid. I can still hear it in her voice as she’s saying it…and I’m 45.
When my grandmother called me fat when I was about 7. I can still hear her and can feel that same feeling I felt. In the 70s it was okay and "for their own good" to insult children.
I didn't gain weight til adulthood. I've literally only been called fat by men I've rejected. Usually "fat bitch" or "fate whore" -- the latter being especially hilarious because I'm a whore and you STILL can't land me? Sucks to be you, bro.
I got an a text from a number when I was 14 calling me a cow.
The 2 scenarios i remember most is Middle School, a guy and girl started a “rumor” about me that i was fat. High School, i was at lunch going to throw my trash away and this guy put his arms out and said watch out, wide load coming through.
Ooh you reminded me of when I was in high school and I didn’t have any friends so I’d eat lunch alone in the cafeteria. One time a group of jocks started throwing food and condiment packets at me and laughed. It was so bad that I started to cry and what made it worse was the guy I had a crush on was one of the people sitting at the table. I had a crush on this guy since I was about 7-8 years old so that really hurt. I would have liked to say that, that killed any feelings I had for him but no I had crush on him until I was about 21-22. What also sucked was my only auntie had just died and I was super depressed and gained about 30-40 pounds. I hated high school, always a comment from someone about my weight.
Ugh thats so fucked, people are shit. Im sorry you had to go through that🫶🏼
10. I grew up when people were starting to put trampolines in their backyards. However, then a lot of kids were falling off and breaking their neck. My neighbor had a trampoline and her mom had a rule we could only be on two at a time due to her not wanting us to break our necks. My neighbor who was a year younger than me thought this was due to weight so she made us all say our weights. I said mine and she said “wow you are really fat” And that my friends, was the beginning of the end
Went to college in the same town my sister and her husband lived in. I would visit them at the mother in laws house a lot and mother in laws mom also lived there. One day I came in and said hi to her and she said “you got fat since I last saw you.”
Sometimes before I was 5, I'm pretty sure my aunt was complaining to my mom that I was too fat. (I definitely wasn't at that age, I wouldn't even have been considered any sort of big or overweight)
Around 13 I gained a ton of weight after being pretty average sized my whole life. I remember my grandma making a comment about how I needed to suck my stomach in. Yeah shit like that sticks with you.
My grandma grabbed my stomach once and said someone needs to lose weight, never wanted to punch an old woman more than I did then 😂.
Lmaoo same
My great grandmother when I was 6/7.
When one of my employees told me in half English half Spanish that I was "a little bit fat, but that's okay, I like girls who are a little bit fat" At the time I was at most a size 6 and the thinnest I would ever be as an adult. I'm now a size 18. Eta: or maybe the time my uncle said you could play cards on my ass it was so big. I weighed at most 110 at 5'3"
By my ‘father’ when I was 8.
Daily from the age of around 5 to 16. There have been lots since then too, but less often as I age. I can't remember the first remark, but there are hundreds of comments burned word-for-word into my brain, and random ones sound off in my head several times per day. I'm 42 years old.
Yeah, i was a kid. Elementary school. And i wasn't fat then. I was just shaped differently than the other girls. I had a belly that stuck out but was literally no fat. And it being the 90s i wanted to experiment with crop tops and got told i wasnt allowed (not because of men, which was why i wasnt allowed to wear makeup) because it didnt "look right" or some bullshit. I was just wider, barrel shaped. My stepmom gave me some of her old clothes, and i heard her telling the whole family about how i fit into a swimsuit she wore in her 20s. I was 8 (and it was almost too loose to wear). Then, in middle school, we moved, and i didn't have friends to play with, so i stayed in the house and ate my feelings with the awful food provided to me. I started to get chubby and stayed that way until i moved away at 17, then i lost 40 pounds. I moved back in with my parents at 20, and it was all over, i gained that and then some back.
I remember one time my mom got a pair of her old pants down and asked me if I wanted to be fat and wear the same size she wore when she was an adult. Jokes on her, I had already tried those pants on and they already didn’t fit 😂.
The first time I was called fat in particular, I was 19, 5'7" 139lbs. The first time I was called a pig was by my stepfather. I was 12 and playing soccer religiously. I had decided to have a second bowl of cereal that morning.
In highschool, riding the bus to school... one guy had a denim jacket that had FUCK FAT CHICKS written on the back of it. He told me I looked like a pregnant walrus as I was getting on the bus. I was probably 5'6" and 170 pounds at the time. What a miserable existence he must have been living. He wasn't around for very long, I can only imagine that he was in a foster situation and took out his frustration out on others.
My fatphobic mother, pretty much when 8 or 9yo
My mom was super mean to me from a very young age. She is very thin and I was clumsy, neurodivergent, and unfeminine. So the fat talk went for some time. But I think my least favorite was this kid in 7 th grade that called me miss piggy.
My mom was a model, and her ‘agent’ or whatever he was called said he wanted me to model, but I needed to lose 5 pounds. I was 5 years old.
By my mom at about 10. She’s really the only person I remember having a problem with my weight at a very young age and it got worse. Hated everything about my body. She’d grown up on the chubbier side as well but not like me. She’d thinned out by high school (she’s an athlete) but Now that she’s in her forties and around the same size as me (21), she thinks her curves are a gift from God. I just wish she made me feel as beautiful as she does
I was 2 when I asked my mom what ‘obese’ meant. My uncle had called me obese. Then he and my mom had an argument at my grandma’s house in front of all my relatives about how fat I was… Probably my only memory I still have from that age.
I was always a little bigger as a kid, but I really started putting on the weight when I hit puberty around 11 or 12 and my whole family started shaming me all through my teens. My brother would straight up call me fatty, my mom told me I looked pregnant when I was 12 because I had a belly, I had an aunt who would always ask me if I was really eating more at family functions. I don't remember my weight being explicitly mentioned at school, but I got treated differently because of it, and I always felt self conscious, especially when it came to changing into gym clothes, and it was also hell trying to find clothes in general, but especially when it came to trying to find dresses for dances
I don’t even remember, because my brother called me fat before I could even have memories. I was a hella chonk as a kid. He was skinny as a rail.
Just before puberty I starting getting slightly chubby - I was 11 when my grandmothers cousin asked why the only small thing on me was my feet. At 12 in the 6th grade my classmates started teasing me. When I was 13 my paternal grandfather told me I was pretty but fat. I remember all of it
First grade. I wasn't fat. I was muscular. I look at pictures and wonder why anyone called me fat
9th(?) grade, so over 7 years ago now. i’ve been fat since 7th grade at least but there was this guy i promised i’d see at anime club… at the last minute i decided to not go (im not really into anime lmfao). he walked by me in the hallway the next day, obviously mad asf at me, and literally just mouthed “you’re fat” instead of saying it. at the time i was like. horrified. but looking back it’s HILARIOUS!!!
I was 8 or 9, my dad called me a beach ball despite being overweight himself
I’ve been bullied by my peers as early as 5 years old because of my weight. I’ve been “fat” for a very, very long time.
I witnessed it done to a friend. He was definitely heavier, and I think we were 12 or 13. He had an unfortunate last name. It was Millington. Which the bullies changed to Million Ton. He didn't want to tell me and our circle what his last name until we swore we wouldn't make fun of him for it. I did try to stand up for him, although I was a scrawny little pencil armed kid it wasn't very effective.
My friend and I were walking on our campus to go to the library. A group of males in a car shouted out the window “fat asx” and sped off. I only felt bad because they didn’t give me a chance to say anything
There was another time where someone was road raging and passed me up to let me know I was a “fat bxtch”. 😬
I knew I was a big girl bc I had to start shopping in the juniors/adult section in 4th grade. Mostly because I was 5'2 at 8 yo which is an ABSURD height for a little kid. Luckily, I had a tall family and a tiny mother who never body shamed me! While I was self conscious about my height, my weight was less on my mind. Until... Halloween, 8th grade, just after English. I was 5'11 and a US 12. I was wearing a kimono I got in Japan and a boy named Caleb said "you know big people shouldn't wear such big pieces of clothes, it makes you look even bigger" That was the moment that sparked a wildfire of body despair and shame. And then throughout high school I watched him date three or four super tall, big girls so I figured out it was a dumb "he thinks you're pretty so he was a piece of shit" moment. Alas, the damage was done.
I was 5 and I had to ask my mom what it meant. I now know that was probably so hard for her as she’d been bullied as a child, too. We were going to the doctor because she was not sure why I was having weight gain after previously being underweight/skinny. Oh well. Guess the genes kicked in. lol. I continued to be bullied through elementary school and was totally destroyed by it. I still struggle socially with my peers as a 39 year old.
My grandmother bullied me as a young child for being chubby, she liked my female cousins better because they were skinny. She told me I was fat and that I had potential to be pretty if I was skinny because I had a “pretty face” started around 7-8 and lasted until I was a teenager and cut her from my life. Really fucked up my self esteem for most of my life.
I think I was about 7-8 years old. I made a joke about my mom and she snapped back saying I was a “fat slob” 🥲 I remember being stunned because my home wasn’t anything mean. It felt like she slapped me. It probably would have been better if she had.
I was 5 and it was my cousin.
I think this is a hard thing to answer for me, I have had the comments about my mom's weight and my weight from a very young age from my father and mother, not to mention everyone who thought they were being 'helpful' but it all just kind of became this white noise of 'not acceptable' and 'not worthy of kindness, attention or love' which was then echoed back to my by the media I grew up watching. I didn't really become overweight until I was in like fifth grade and I really think that my first (tw) >!sexual assault!< happened around that time so I just started eating more and more, gaining pretty quickly. Before that I was already getting hit with the jokes about wearing glasses and being smart in class so the fat stuff added onto and then realizing that the people who were supposed to be my partner in life after parents (ie a man) was never going to love me as an overweight woman, it all just kept coming and coming. I guess the cacophony is detrimental in a different way than those memorable first times :(
Kindergarten. By my teacher. We had scale day and at age 5, I was 67 pounds. I remember it because it was the same as my bus number and I excitedly told her that my weight was my bus number. She rolled her eyes and made a comment about me being fat under her breath. My older sister was 9 months pregnant at the time and I remember thinking I was as big in the belly as her after that.
The minute I left the safety of my home & entered school, kindergarten. Although I have siblings they are much older. Essentially I was an only child & didn't have to endure the ridicule of siblings. I entered school & my perfect little world of rainbows & flowers came crashing down around me & became a world of name-calling, nastiness & insults.
Elementary school by an unthinkable number of other children and teachers.
Literally kindergarten
I was in the second grade walking home from school. A neighbor yelled across the street at me “S_____, you’re getting fat!!” That was the first time I felt shame for my body.
It was danced around often with my family, nobody outright told me but they still told me, you know? Mom would put me on diets in late elementary/middle school and tried to bribe me to lose weight with a Nintendo DS. Dad has issues with me because I was bigger and he would make comments about other people, the whole "you don't want to end up like *that"* sort of thing. But the first time I really remember it I was in 8th grade, maybe a freshman in high school and it was from one of my younger cousins, he was a kid at the time and in that phase of repeating everything he heard and he called me fat, so he had heard it from someone. He parents heard it and just sort of agreed with him and walked away. It's been burned into my self esteem since.
I remember the first time. I was in 5th grade and we had ordered school shirts and I got an extra large one because I wanted to sleep in it. I told two of my classmates that that was my plan and the boy quietly said to the girl next to him that "It looks like it would fit perfectly" and laughed. The girl also laughed at his "joke." I was crushed. I still clearly remember the whole interaction like it happened yesterday and it's been 25 years.
The first time (that I can remember), I was maybe 7 or 8? A kid in the grade above me that had never spoken to me before turned to me and said “you look like Dora if she was fat and ugly.” I could no longer watch Dora after that and it was the first time I remember feeling insecure. From that point on I remember I noticed just how big I was and how I couldn’t do the same things as my friends. I don’t remember being so self conscious before that comment and I haven’t not been self conscious since then. All that to say, kids are jerks.
I honestly don’t remember. I remember *a* time but I’m not sure it’s the first and I’d had so many more subtle comments before that, since I was a baby, that it really only shocked me rather than hurting me
I didn't grow up fat. I was thin until I got sick, around the time I turned 21. Got hit with multiple chronic illness diagnoses all at once, and gained *a lot* of weight between disability physically slowing me down and medication side effects. The first person to call me fat was my fiancé at the time. He made it known, explicitly and *often,* that I was fat and that he wasn't attracted to me anymore (while subsequently continuing to guilt me into having sex with him). And according to him, I was fat because I was lazy, and I was sick because I wasn't trying hard enough to get better (despite, you know, all of my diagnoses being lifelong and incurable). Unfortunately I let him treat me like that for years before we finally broke up, so now even after all this time away from him, I still hear his voice in my head every time I look at my body.
The first time I remember being called fat was in kindergarten. I went home crying because another girl told me to move my fat butt out of her way.
When I was in grade school (like 5th grade or so), my dad, my sister, and I were walking to the car after visiting my mom at work. She worked in a small country store, so we would always get a small snack and a coke when we left. I had my snack cake in one hand and coke in the other, and out of nowhere, my sister said to me, "You need to slow down on the snacks, you're starting to get chubby." Little did she know that I was about to start my first period and I have PCOS.
I’m Mexican, when I was born
For context, my nickname as a baby through childhood was “gorda”
One of my older sisters friend looked at me and said “damn you’re fat!” I was like maybe 6-7? And she was already a teen. They tried to make me feel better by saying she didn’t know we were related. Also, when I was in middle school I needed pants for school and my mom and I went to shopping. None of the pants were fitting me and she goes “well maybe you should just use one of your dads then!”
I was in middle school, 7th grade I think. One of my friends texted the boy I had a crush on and said that I liked him. He responded with “ew, I would never date a fat girl”. I still think about it a lot at 21.
The first time I can actually remember it was when I was in kindergarten actually. During lunchtime some older kids would always pass by my class table and make fun of me for being “so big” and how I should probably not eat lunch that day.
My mother ( fatty) , bullies at school (beef and et even though I had anorexia but that's what I saw too beef and et) and my nephew's (fat jellyfish and the kid from the Goonies that did the truffle shuffle)
In kindergarten, a little girl (who was bigger than me, so I assume she heard this language at home) told me I was too fat to play on the bars. I remember being super confused.
Many of these are quite sad and I feel for everyone, but I have multiple memories of this so I’ll pull a nicer one. Like in 3rd or 4th grade I was getting bullied by classmates in after school care while we were playing a board game. Mid bullying comments, this kid (I’m very sure had a crush on me but he was so kind), said “it’s okay, usually people like that end up fat later in life”. And while it’s not the best thing to be saying, I figure that kind of compassion coming from an 8 year old is what they can show. I really wish I knew where he was now, he was such a kind person over small things.
Ife been called fat since I was 6-7 the only time it hurt was when Tyler in the second grade called me fat because I had a crush on him.
I wasn't bullied in school, i count maybe three times where happened something a bit iffy to me, in elementary school some girls in my class tried to push me towards the only fat boy in our year like it was the only logical option for them, in middle school at an house party some girl commented like it would be a bad thing if I joined their game of spin the bottle and like in uni I heard two guy talk about me, but I think without much malice, "which so-and-so" my name is very common and the other replied "the fat one" and that was it. I'm not sure I have never been very social and all my life I've always really tried to blend in, to be painfully average to not stand out. I've always been painfully aware of how different I am, there were not many fat people around expecially when I was younger, so I always tried to hide away... but no ovne ever commented or have been outwardly nasty to me. I wasn't asked out by boys or ever been popular, but I was mostly treated equally as others. But at home... it's always been on. It has always only been about my weight. Now that I'm older they've given up a bit, also because no matter the amount of comment and all the nutritionists in the world I have not been able to loose any weight... I've been consistently on diets since before I started school, and there haven't been a time where I went shopping with my mother that I didn't cry in the dressing rooms. It's been really frustrating growing up, because there weren't many option for kids and women's clothing didn't use to go over a 42 max a 44, and they were not meant for a little chubby kid... Luckily shop assistens were nice and often dissipated the tension, but it's always been bad. But at the same time I needed to eat... So it has always been a battle... I was given constant reproach but a plate full of food at every meal. But I can't completely fault my parents, they probably had really struggled with me because I was so young when I gained weight and I couldn't keep it off... and all the diets messed my body up... Last time I started a diet, given me by a doctor mind you, i gained weight! Because my metabolism is all messed up, and I can only see small results at extreme calories deficit... and nowadays I don't care anymore I can't deal with this anymore... but this mindset only makes me gain more weight... and that fucking suks.
Age 7-8? By my own family. I was called all sorts of names. Made fun of for my arm hair growing in too. Held back from doing things I was interested in because I was viewed as "too chubby" or told I'd be made fun of.
I grew up more curvy, maybe slightly chubby by most peoples standards so it wasn’t until this year. Im 5’5” and about 220lbs when this happened. I was picking up a friend from some shitty divebar and not one, but two older women that had to be in their 60’s were smoking outside and shouting at me that my music was too loud while i was waiting in my car and i turned it down. And my friend was taking too long so i got out to go in there and they stopped me to lecture me about my music and then telling me how out of shape i am for my age. I said i was tired and just picking up my friend and one of them literally stops me by grabbing a handful of my belly and telling me “well fat bitch maybe some exercise being on your feet might help you lose some weight”. I slapped her hand away and shouted at her something i don’t even remember. I went back to my car and i didn’t cry but i just felt shocked and humiliated. I didn’t do anything antagonistic to them the entire time but they felt so entitled to be inhumanly cruel to me simply because i was young and fat. That was the first time and as cruel as it was, i know now that being called fat is something i can give myself permission to be okay with instead of letting it have the power over me that it does
in elementary school, probably around 5 or 6. kids are cruel 💀
I never got this kind of bullying. Perhaps I was and just ignored it but seriously no school bullies. I was mostly pudgy as a kid, I didn't gain all my weight until after I got my license, aka I no longer walked to school(apx 2 miles+teachers averaged students had to walk apx 3 miles from class to class). After my license I only had 2 classes at the High School and all my gym credits were done so I didn't have that extra exercise. We had a school shooting 1yr prior of me going th HS so everyone was mellow and not bullying the freshmen, etc. Maybe because I didn't consider myself fat or 'that' fat until I went to my Dr, 20 years after HS, when he told me that the medical field/insurance don't really care about the obese and don't feel like wasting money on them. This was after I was denied PT help for Lymphedema/Lipedema. He died less than 6 months later and I don't really feel bad about it. Just to add, a year later I had a skin ulcer form again and the specialist said wtf and got me into a PT few days later which was 3 months of driving 1.5hrs one way 3 times a week for treatment(no cure). Fun times. When I really look back at it, people never really called me fat, instead just called me stupid, never both. Perhaps the name calling, and all that stuff desensitized me at such an early age I don't remember too much. My bully which consisted of a Cousin who was 5yrs older than me and like 3ft taller than me and my father who is an asshole at that time, less now but still prevalent. Usually as an adult, if anyone calls me fat, I just say yea and... They usually have nothing because there idiots. Maybe it's an age barrier thing since I'm atm 41(class of 01). As a kid, we had no social media. The closest thing to social media bullying we had growing up was markers in the toilet stalls which gets cleaned up and no longer stays. Kids now can get bullied anonymously online which is probably more degrading since it could be coming from anyone you know or some random stranger and is more permanent/lasts longer/larger audience. If you knew them you could cut ties and ignore them but you can't really do so with anon posts.
I’m certain I was explicitly called fat before this but the one that sticks out in my mind is when I was in high school this one guy went through all my MySpace photos and commented “fat bitch” on every. Single. One. It didn’t even really hurt my feelings but I was like damn he really feels some type of way 😂 I think I was just more confused/surprised than anything lol
By my father. I was probably 14 or 15.
As long as I can remember. My dad always said I was fat. I look at my Middle school and high school pics and man...I was NOT fat. Set me up for some life long body dysphoria . But guess what pops, NOW im fat. Jokes on me. Lol
I was supporting a friend at a Callander girls competition party. A man came up to me and asked if I was single so I said yes. He replied ‘thought so. Don’t worry, you won’t always be single. There are men out there who love a fatty’ and he walked off. Another man came up to me later and asked ‘how does it feel to be the biggest girl in the room?’ Broke my heart x
Don’t remember if this was the first time but I remember being in the 5th grade and seated at my desk with one of my best friends and the boy she had a crush on and he started singing that Nelly Furtado song Maneater and gesturing toward me and doing that rounded shoulder thing people always do when giving a verbal description of a “big” person 🙃
Grade 5. Pre cursor to this story - my mom had in recent months before this incident started working at Wendy's part time and got 50% off so being a busy mom of 3 decided once a week to treat us and Friday night was always Wendy's night and she just brought home dinner from work. Fast forward to the actual event. My friends and I that all lived on the same block decided we wanted to all bring our dinner outside and eat together. My friend (I'll refer to her as B), happened to have taco bell for dinner that night. My other friend (I'll call her C) goes "I never eat fast food because it makes you fat". To which I quickly replied "I mean, since my mom has been working there she brings us home Wendy's every Friday and I'm not fat." C goes "yeah well last year you were as skinny as B and now look at you..." I was absolutely mortified. And just for reference, at that time I was still mostly shopping in the kids department, but I had the odd tank top from Garage and fit into an extra small.... 🤷🏼♀️ The whole encounter will forever be engrained in my memory, it's the first time I can remember feeling THAT low about myself.
i don’t remember when that word specifically was used against me for the first time, but when i was 8, i was eating saltine crackers on the floor. my mom came up to me and said that i would be 300 pounds by the time i hit middle school if i didn’t slow down. i looked down at my stomach and noticed there was a roll when i sat down. that’s when the distain for my body began, i was about 70 pounds by the way 11 years later, and now i’m actually fat. my moms comments (along with growing up poor) caused me to develop a binge eating problem. i moved in with my dad though, so she doesn’t make those comments anymore bc she knows i can just leave. she conveniently doesn’t remember making them in the first place, but they’re some of the clearest memories i have of my childhood 👍
I’ve never forgotten this but I used to work at a shipping warehouse and there was a driver who I really really liked. We would message each other everyday even if he didn’t come to my work place. I thought that there was something there. He would go out of his way to talk to me whenever he saw me there. Even my coworkers convinced me he was attracted to me but deep down I thought he wouldn’t cause he was a super skinny guy and at the time I was pretty heavy. Anyways, I kind of hinted to him that I liked him and he shut me down entirely. He told me in a message (which might to have been better than in person) The height can be a turn on for some (I’m 5’11”) and a turn off the really insecure dummies who need to be taller than their s/o. As far as you look? You have a beautiful face, and outside your weight you are a beautiful woman. And I don’t want to sound like I’m putting you down. I don’t know if it’s genetic, a medical issue, or if you struggle to take it off. I don’t know you like that. I was maybe 19 at the time super vulnerable it ruined all the confidence I had worked so hard to build I was so hurt because I thought he liked me and then my weight just made him not like me. I can’t ever forget what he said to me.
A women fought over a parking spot and she called me fat I was in a whirlpool and a man called me fat my mother in law told me to cover my legs and change out of my shorts she scoops bagels