christian colleges | The Fotographing Fat Kid

(I guess I could just leave this and say “you’re welcome, blogging world” but I guess I can elaborate.)
Yesterday night, Megan and I went to an Arrested Development party at a local establishment in town. I went as the ever-inept Tobias Fünke, never nude cutt-off shorts and all. When I was overweight, I would still dress up like a weirdo, but I would make sure I was covered up (except for the that time that I ripped my shirt off during a Sing Song practice like I was Hulk Hogan…) to make sure nothing was exposed. What sucked was that I did want to dress ridiculous in awkwardly short shorts or even in a tank top; but I didn’t want a manboob to flop out Janet Jackson style along with not wanting to look like I was wearing a sports bra because my tank top would too small. Why did I want to do that? Because that’s what all guys do in college! They all dressed weird to pick up girls (or at least that’s what you do at small Christian colleges…) I had to improvise because of my weight. Well last night that changed. I made some absurdly short shorts (yes, you can even see the pockets) and I wore them with pride. When you are big and you dress goofy and scantily, in the back of your mind, you are always scared of the inevitable tacky comment someone will say. (To all you people who make comments like that, we can hear you. Don’t be a jerk.) Frankly, they were easily the shortest shorts I had ever worn. Period. I was ready for that comment, but it never happened. And what was better was that I didn’t even worry about it.
I felt…normal.
It has taken a long time to get to that point. I still sometimes see my obese body when I look in the mirror, but I know that’s just me keeping myself down. Know how I know that’s not me anymore? Because those shorts are size 40 and I started out wearing 54’s and that shirt is a large and I was wearing XXXL shirts when I started my weight loss journey.