I can’t recall when I’ve felt emotionally comfortable sitting beside a stranger in an airline seat. It's been that way for decades, at a very wide variety of weights. Flying sends all of my good vibes right out the window, no matter how much effort I put into embracing who I am as a body-positive fat woman.
So let’s talk about plain old practicality. At what weight did fitting in an airplane seat feel relatively comfortable for you, both physically and emotionally? At what size were you able to stop worrying (at least to a large extent) about invading seatmates’ space?
More depends on your body shape than your weight in this case. My natural shape is hourglass/pear. No matter what I weigh there will always be a "spread" lol. When I lose weight i lose from my upper body mostly. This used to bother me a lot and sitting on a plane or other seat was super uncomfortable in an emotional way mostly. But I've been working very hard on my body image with daily affirmation that I am beautiful and constant vigilance to change my negative thought patterns regarding my self talk. It really works. I don't think about plane seating anymore, I'm a valid human being, I bought my plane seat and I deserve to take up every inch of it. It's not my fault that the airline is so cheap they pack as many seats in there as possible. It's them at fault, not me.
I have broad shoulders and even when I was about a size 8 I was not terribly comfortable sitting next to my husband, who also has very broad shoulders. I've never had issues with my behind/thighs, although I don't think I was ever over 185 or so when I flew.
Everyone, thanks so much for the weight answers and flying advice. I’ve been trying to figure out if I picked a practical goal weight for myself, and I think that it is indeed about the right target for me. I appreciate your candor and kindness.
Body Weights and Airline Seating
