I just started thinking about this after reading another post about someone reaching a mini-goal by fitting into a smaller chair. It got me thinking, and then I realized that, navigating the world as a fat person, there is certain things I do now that I wouldn't need to worry about if I was at a healthy weight.

- Breaking chairs. Every time I go to sit on an unfamiliar seat, I conciously evaluate whether it is strong enough to support my weight. If I deem it unsuitable I then have to then make some sort of excuse not to sit in it. Awkwaaard...

And if a chair has armrests, I also have to evaluate whether they are wide enough to go around me.

That's just one of the things I do to help me through Fat Life with minimal embarrassment but there's plenty of others. Does anyone else have habits that would disappear if they lost weight?

Steps are my nemesis. I can climb steps but I am always anxious that I will be out of breath and looking *fat* and disgusting at the top. However, if there is a lift option, like you see in supermarkets, next to the steps, I refuse to take it ... I think people will think `oh yes, she is fat so she cannot take the steps!'

Wear a tshirt/shorts/coverup over a bathing suit. Have you ever gone swimming in a giant wet cold tshirt over a bathing suit? Not fun and not attractive.

I once broke part of a barstool at a Christmas party. At my husband's boss's house. Everyone heard the "crunch" and turned to stare at me. How embarrassing. I wasn't even anywhere near my highest weight! I've even lost 30 pounds since then but I'm still big enough for that to remain a possibility.

I'll have a better attitude about clothes shopping when I'm a smaller size. I'm not sure if I have a chip on my shoulder or what, but I just get extremely annoyed and irritated every time I step into a store with clothes. I wonder if they'll have anything that will fit me at all, let alone be somewhat flattering. It's really a pet peeve of mine to go into a store and see an entire wall of clothes, and realize that the teeny little section of only 5 or 6 racks is plus size, and then when I dive into that find out half of it is maternity. Although I suppose that's better than entering a store I've never visited and finding out they don't carry plus sizes at all.

I'm hoping I won't hide behind hoodies anymore. When I get smaller I'm going to make it a point not to buy them.

Do bizarre shower gymnastics because I can't see well without my glasses so I need to be close yet I have a big belly in the way so I can't just bend straight over to GET close.

A.

I know this is a bit pathetic but I cut the tags out of my pants because I get depressed when I see the size.

Jump into my pants. Don't get me wrong, I wear the correct size of pants, but I have very very wide hips and a small waist so I have to get the pants up past the the biggest part of me. I carry my weight mainly in my butt and hips/sides, so once I lose weight, hopefully it will even out my waist/hip ratio a bit.

Selen - not pathetic at all - I used to do that too and so do two of my friends!

I also used to find any excuse going not to go to functions (too hard to find clothes that looked good as I lived in big, baggy shirts and jogging bottoms), do anything that involved hills or stairs and avoided cameras like crazy. I'm missing from many group pictures at big events with my girlfriends because I always offered to take to pics to try and avoid being in them.

Ever since my leg busted through an old board on my parents' back porch (twice!) sending me knee deep through the porch, and causing the ugliest collage of bruising I ever saw, I'm afraid of stepping on unfamiliar floors. I don't mean like department stores or anything like that. I more mean people's houses or porches. It was very embarrassing and it hurt pretty bad.

I also have the fear of breaking chairs too.

And I constantly wonder about what people are thinking when I'm going through the clothes racks in stores. No one has ever given me a reason to think this, but I'm just afraid of someone seeing me pull out a piece of clothing and say/think, "That would look horrible on you, because you're fat," OR "That's not going to fit you. You're fat!"

When I'm around food, at a buffet, or just eating in general, I'm afraid someone is going to look at me, sneer, and be like "That's why you're fat!" I also think this when I'm buying food at the grocery store. I carpool with my mom and she has fibromalgia, so walking a lot hurts her, and she'll give me the money and ask me to go inside and buy her the biggest, meat-lovers deli pizza. I feel so self conscious having that thing in my cart. I just want to yell at people I walk by, "It's not for me!"

I can't wait until these thoughts are a thing of the past.

You know one thing I thought of is that I won't feel embarrassed to take second helpings at a potluck or something. But that's not true either. Anywhere I go where they know I've lost weight they'll be watching me to see how much I eat and if I eat more than normally, they'll worry I'm probably gaining weight.

Change through 25 outfits, stare at the waistband, and keep going until you find one that makes you look slimmer

I'm hoping I won't look around a crowd of people to make sure I'm not the largest one in the group.

I know, I'm shallow and petty and horrible, but that is what I do sometimes - it's all about insecurity.

It doesn't matter to me at all what other people weigh, it's completely about "me" - I'm so embarrassed to admit this huge character flaw.

^this^

I feel less monitored over my food choices in one way "Oh look at the SIZE of her helping, no wonder she's fat...
But now I feel like people are just thinking" Oh look at the size of her helping, she's going to regain that weight...

Its a lose lose situation!

Yes I have unfortunately I have been there, I always do the big T shirt ting because I'm not comfortable with the way I look in a bathing suit and I wear a pair of men's swimming trunks over the bottom too just to hide my thighs

And reality is - it doesn't make you look any better and just makes you stand out even more AND it points out how insecure you are.