FAT GIRLS

FAT GIRLS(Asqarini) FAT GIRLS

By: Asqarini

“Whoaaa…! Look at her? She’s so slim, isn’t she?” said Vika.
My gang and I saw diet milk commercials on TV.
“I bet it’s a surgery” I said.
“No way! There’s no perfect surgery. There was a time when she went on a rigorous diet to get that beautiful shape,” said Vika.
It’s not an important commercial but the three of us have the same problems with fat that makes the three fat girls on campus.
“I accepted that as an honor,” said Kim with her mouth full of food.
I protested, ”How can a ‘fat girl’s’ nickname become an honor? Are you kidding?" a little bit irritated.
I know we have a dilemma with foods, especially junk foods. We even have the phrase, “Eat while you can. Or taste no food”. The words can mean in any situation, so we have it as our life style. Sometimes it’s better for us to have something to eat rather than to watch a movie, we are just crazy for foods.
Just name it, the kinds of fast food you know, or yummy restaurant, we have all the list, complete with the price. Amazing isn’t it?

I didn’t know how I could be caught up with these two junk food lovers and end up like this.
“But this is too much Kim, now we must fight this craving for food. I don’t want the thing we had in our last meal to happen again, I feel ashamed.”
“What? Oh where you fell down in that café?" Uttered Kim innocently.
“Kim…! Please……!” I said in a high tone, and my face became red. She shouldn’t even mention it to everyone. For Kim everything runs as she wants. Of the three of us, she is the only one that doesn’t really care about what people say to her. It doesn’t really matter if she has the title of the three fat girls on campus, as long as she’s happy with her life being a fat girl, there is really not a problem. I don’t know if she agrees with me that fat sometimes can be deadly, and I have, as her friend, tried hard to make her believe in what I think about her health.

***
At home.
“I want to lose weight too” Vika told me.
Vika has her own story. She said that since highschool she had a good and proportional body, but ever since she broke up with her boyfriend she's started to have this strange appetite. And up until now she still has the habit as her way to relax against stress.
Vika has the same thought as me, she thinks it’s time for us to diet soon.
“Okay, let’s start the war!”
First we must know how much our weight is. And then try to do some program. I took the scale.
“How much?”
“135 pounds!” I saw the number on the scale.
“What? no wonder I couldn’t breathe easily!", said Vika.
She took a note and wrote down her current weight and how much she was planning on losing. I didn’t see the figures she wrote but her look told me that she was really eager to get a new shape.

***
I tried to eat less than usual. We even did the second program where we must do exercises like Aerobics and Yoga three times a week. And drink diet milk, just like in the commercial. It worked for me. I did lose some weight. I felt happy. I even tried to tell Kim to do exercise too and she lost 7 pounds, though she still did not really want to lose weight, but at least now she wants to take more care about her health.

We were happy with this program, it worked. I could feel the difference. My body felt great and we felt fresher every day. We became obsessed with the program. But the more we tried on this new diet, the more we felt some problems emerge, our bodies couldn’t resist the effect. Even Vika went to the hospital, because no consultation with the doctor was ever made, we just learned it from articles on the internet.

***
“Listen Kim, Vika went on every diet she knew.” I said.
“Well, I saw her every day. She ate peanuts, vegetables, fruits and stuff and regularly checks on her weight” remarked Kim.
“Am I thin enough? That's what she always asked me."
“I think she’s become obsessed with the artist’s looks” I added.
“Do you think it will okay?” said Kim.
“How can you say that…. She is at the hospital now.”
“This is not okay anymore. We must tell her to stop the diet.” I insist Kim visit Vika also.

We finally visit Vika at the hospital. Lots of needles and IV’s here and there. But even so, she still wanted to do the diet.
“But, I am an animal lover and I just try to respect life. I couldn’t see it being eaten, so I only drink milk, eat cheese, don’t eat meat", said Vika. Her reason for being a veggie is not because she’s a vegan, spiritually, but because she wants to lose weight. And of course, her love for the animal too.

Of the three of us Vika is the worst. She tried all sorts of diets, from Lacto-ovo vegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, Vegan, Semi-vegetarian, Microbiotic vegetarian, Fruitarian, Pescetarian, Spoutarian. She wants to try all those methods at the same time? Though she knew the risk of doing that to her body and health.

Then I asked her about her obsessions. “What do you want, Vika?”
“I want people to like me. Before I hated the looks on people’s faces when they would see or meet me. How men would think I was just a bunch of walking fat.”
“Why do people always judge you by the look? That’s why I don’t want to be fat anymore. I want to have slim body like other girls. Maybe if I do this one, eventually I'll get a better shape on my body. I saw the article on the magazine that Hollywood stars go on a diet. Richard Gere, Bryan Adams, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shania Twain, Alicia Silverstone. They all go on diets,” she told me.
“Besides, look at the benefit: we won't be the fat girls anymore, we can start a new healthy life, we won’t need a surgery, which I fear most, and we can buy any clothes we like.” Vika explained to me.
“What? You wanna be like the Hollywood stars who live as a vegetarian?” I am surprised. How can she think like that? I know she won't do surgery because she couldn’t afford it. But she would still end up in a hospital also.

“Yeah, I understand all of that, but I finally learned from this program that we need to love ourselves” I said. “Just look at Kim. Though she is fat she still loves herself. Even though she did the diet also, but for the right reason: for being healthier. I learned that Kim is right” I explained to Vika.

Kim grinned at both of us, like she is already saying ”I told you so!?”
“Do you know about the facts Vika? Veggies won’t get many proteins, have bigger risks of getting osteoporosis because of their lack of calcium, and the eating behavior makes the body lack vitamin B12, and Zinc. I read it on the internet,” Kim explained seriously.
See, she really did her “homework”.
“You sound like a doctor, Kim.” I told her.
“Now everything is for health, my friend, for health….” She added.
All of us laugh.

***
Then the doctor came into the room, this time he told Vika to take some more rest and gave plenty of information about health, including the reason not to drink tea and coffee every time we eat because it will absorb the food.

“Do you want to continue this diet?” both Kim and I asked her. The doctor even said, “You should stop this diet. I know a diet can be good for you, but if you want to lose more weight it will have a bad effect on your body. Next time if you want to diet you should have a consultation with me first” He added.
We agreed with what the doctor said.

Now we finally learned that looks doesn’t really matter. God loves you for the way you are, not because you look skinny or fat. What we give, and our works, is what counts. It’s okay to be a little fat as long as you still care about your health, and do not consider food as your lifestyle.
“You still have Kim and I as your friends, Vika!. And let’s forget about what men said about our bodies,” I advised.
“And try not to force yourself too hard on this diet, okay?”added Kim.
“Actually I am happy, at least we’re not having any bulimia or aneroxia, right?” Vika said to us. We all agreed.

February 15th, 2008. For My friends at UNJ, Math ‘01, Published in Annida magazine.