You want a quick, superficial answer? When I was younger, my fat aged me. I was a young woman in my 20s waddling around in a middle-aged body. But as I grew older, my fat made me look younger. It plumped out my face & neck. Now that I've lost a great deal of weight, I see that I'm definitely getting an older woman's neck; in fact, it has begun to look like my late father's.

As a deeper answer, I've said before there isn't enough room on the Internet to write down all the ways my being fat has shaped my life & helped make me who I am today. I am sure that I became more articulate, a more attentive & empathetic listener & a harder-working student to overcompensate for being physically unacceptable. If I couldn't be beautiful, at least I could be smart, friendly & funny. It also made me a better dresser (though I had to work at least 3x as hard as my thinner friends to do it) & fanatical about applying make-up & maintaining personal hygiene, because I was so determined I wasn't going to be a messy, smelly, sweaty, out-of-control fat lady. So all my efforts to dispel those stereotypes have shaped me, and if I had not been fat, I do not know whether I would be who I am.

The skin. When I was more overweight even though I had a belly at least the skin didn't droop disgustingly. Also, I've been freaking out lately about my neck skin looking looser and it finally occured to me that it's probably part to do with my weight loss. And I'm another who gets cooooold regardless of my weight but it's even worse now.

being overweight helps balance out my over large breasts. They are the same size when I was a size 18 as a size 3.

Men still bug me but not half as much as being thinner.

Other than that everything about being fat for me is negative.

Just like oodles said, I feel a lil safer being fat. Who wants to abduct a fat girl? it would take a lot of work for them to knock me out and shove me in the vehicle.lol.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that big people are more approachable. I guess it's like I get a 'friendly vibe' from them. But maybe that's because I feel less inadequate, since they're in the same boat and less quick to judge. Either way, it's nice to make other people more at ease.

The "benefits" I see in being fat have mostly been mentioned before, but they are:

1. I don't ever fear for my physical safety
2. I don't have to parse out what male attention is sexual and what isn't
3. I felt I had to work extra-hard to be as 'impressive' as my thin blonde sister. As a result, I had a higher GPA and a better career than she does.
4. Our cat likes my lap the best, and I think it's because of the padding.

Oh, and in a pinch, I can fold a bra in half and use it as a hat. :lol3:

Oh, yes. This deserves a whole thread in itself. I feel sometimes that I am "male illiterate" -- I can't read degrees of friendliness very well. I haven't had years of experience in quasi-sexual banter and semi-flirtation because when I was fat, men just didn't see me as someone with any sexual potential. (Still, you'd think I'd know something, since I was so often some guy's best friend: The one he confided in about all the sexy thin girls whom he had crushes on. But to be honest, I know very little.]

And worse, the peer pressure thing. Some men aren't strong & they really dread appearing to be attracted to a fat girl. (There was a whole play written about this kind of male nastiness, "Fat Pig" by the playwright & film maker Neil LaBute.) For fear of male sexual scorn, I didn't even want to look as if I were vaguely interested in them, so I became sort of neuter.

Yeah, I was safe in those days, being a perpetual wallflower, but life had a little less color & excitement & possibility because I wasn't taking any risks or putting myself out there. So I'm not sure it was a good thing.

So I'm in a remedial class in "male reading" now. ;-)

hum..i would say, more motivation to lose it =]

LOOOL
I definitely agree with eating anything and everything I like without worrying about it...and thinking, hey im big sooo what?

The biggest advantages I can think of have already been mentioned:

1. The "jerk" filter, where I know my husband loves me for who I am. If I'd lost weight first, then married Mr. Right, there would always be that question of "would he have loved me if....?"

2. The feeling of being less vulnerable. As an overweight teen I once got on a bus that contained no other passengers but one man, and I'd been taught to view all unknown men as potential rapists. I was nervous until a slender, attractive young blonde got on, whereupon I thought automatically, "Well, I'm safe now; if he goes after anyone, it will be her."

3. Just as I would not appreciate my wonderful husband so much if I had not first married an abusive alcholic/addict, I would not appreciate health if I had not had to work to regain it.

4. I've learned firsthand not to judge people on appearance.