What Hunger Taught Me

My whole life, I was told I was chunky.

“Are you sure you want to eat that?”
“Just have some crackers.”
“Try SlimFast.”

No one knew how to eat. We were raised on food pyramids that basically said: bread is life. And adults? They hate when kids have empty bellies — always pushing snacks — but then turning around and saying you’re getting fat. No one ever told me it’s okay to feel hungry sometimes. I used to panic and feel sick if I didn’t eat. Now I’ve trained myself to sit with it. A little hunger won’t kill me. In fact, when I wait until I’m truly hungry, I actually make better choices and feel satisfied instead of just shoving down whatever’s in front of me.

Looking back, I don’t even look fat in photos until late high school — junior, senior year at most. But that’s when I gave up. I did everything I was “supposed” to do, and my body still didn’t shrink the way people demanded. So I said fuck it. If I was going to be treated like I was disgusting anyway, I might as well eat the damn chips and stop pretending. Spoiler: it got out of hand.

Fast forward: I’m down 90 pounds. Still technically “overweight” on a chart, but who cares? I’m not done — and it’s not even about the number anymore. The real win was overcoming the bullshit words that were thrown at me my whole life. I took off the glasses society handed me and finally saw myself clearly. I stayed in a calorie deficit, shoved down a shit ton of protein and water every day, ran after kids, and guess what? The weight melted off.

But the bigger shift? I started to believe in myself. I stopped hiding. I quit trying to be what everyone else wanted. And for the first time in forever, I feel confident, healthy, and actually excited about life.

Losing this much weight was literally something I NEVER thought I could do. If I can do it, anyone can. The key is finding what works for you — and stop listening to people who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.