38 to 50
The biggest event of my 12th year was predicated on something that happened when I was 11. While Mom was in the hospital, Aunt Mary and Uncle Al were out of town for a while, visiting Aunt Elsie and Uncle Frank, who'd retired to Pompano Beach, Florida. I wasn't a latchkey kid---I didn't get a house key til we moved to this place---so when my dad left for work, I was locked out of the house until he got home in the afternoon.
I could use the facilities at our neighbors---my BF Doris's grandfather lived across the street; she was over there much of the summer, we hung out all the time anyway. One of the places we hung out was Majors, a department store a few blocks away. They had a bakery, and I talked Doris's grandfather into lending me $3. I had cash in my bank at home, I just couldn't get at it, and I wanted donuts. And donuts I got, and Doris and I ate donuts until we bulged.
Unfortunately, Grandpa was a paranoid old fart, and the minute my dad got home from work, he pounced on him and demanded the $3. Which set my dad off, big time. What did I want the money for? he wanted to know. And when he found out, he dragged me inside and made me get on the scale: 130 pounds. Which I don't think is outrageous, as I was about 5'5" at that pooint, but Dad? Was pissed.
Between that and the fact that I gained 40 pounds (but only 2") in the next year---the following summer, they sent me to fat camp. It was near Hawley, Pennsylvania, very pretty country---but to me, it was six weeks of torture.
Wake up at OMG in the AM. Do calisthentics* before breakfast. (I heard on the second or third morning that we were having danish for breakfast and nearly wept for joy. Then nearly wept, period, when I found out the diet definition of danish was toast with cottage cheese sprinkled with cinnamon. Absolutely disgusting!) Clean up the bunk for inspection. Spend the next hour at an activity. Swim. More calisthentics. Lunch. Activity. Swim. (Occasionally a hike instead.) Snack of fruit. Free time til pre-dinner calisthentics. Dinner. An occasional event in the evening, like a movie. Lights out at 10 PM.
The food was crap. I would have lost weight anyway, even without all the freaking calisthentics. The meat was grey, the vegetables were boiled to death, and the bulbs in the dining hall were a weird yellow that made it all look even worse. I once sectioned half an orange thinking it was a grapefruit. And I had my dear mother to thank for...okay, let me backtrack. There was a big-ass questionaire among all the doctor forms and application paperwork my folks had to fill out. One of the questions was about food allerigies, and Mom wrote, "There are no cannots, only will nots." Which was absofuckinglutely true and remains so today.
The cunt in charge of my bunk---and don't give me any PC crap about what a vulgar and demeaning word that is, because she deserves every bit of it---didn't have enough to do. I'd gotten assigned to the smallest bunk in the camp. We started with three of us, lost one to appendicitis the first week, the other one transfered to another cabin a couple weeks later, so I got stuck with this anal-retentive BITCH who decided she was going to force-feed me peas. To this day, I will not knowingly consume a pea, and again with me suffering because of being a nice girl, because I *should* have spit it into her face.
When we had inspection, she had me vacuum incessantly---now, lest you get the impression that this was some kind of luxury camp, let me disabuse you of that notion---the cabins were old. The carpet was old. She swore she could hear dirt pinging as it hit the inside of the vacuum cleaner---it was still dirty! More! Clean more! Hateful cow.
I began the summer at 170 pounds and ended at 130. It was the first time I'd ever *been* on a diet---my parents had never attempted to curtail my eating at home---and I was so clueless about it all that I kept sending my clothes to the laundry to try to get them shrunk down to a size that would fit me. Some of the girls swapped clothes---I didn't dare, I was sure my mom would be mad if I didn't come home with what I'd left with, especially since she'd sewn tags onto everything.
To make a long story short, I was up to 190 pounds by December. And the hell of it is, if I still weighed 170, I'd be a reasonable size for my current height of 5'10". I know my parents wanted what was best for me, but it was a damn waste of money. And it screwed me up a little more.
I haven't developed a taste for cottage cheese, either.
===============================
* Calisthentics were what we called aerobics before we knew they were aerobic.
.
I could use the facilities at our neighbors---my BF Doris's grandfather lived across the street; she was over there much of the summer, we hung out all the time anyway. One of the places we hung out was Majors, a department store a few blocks away. They had a bakery, and I talked Doris's grandfather into lending me $3. I had cash in my bank at home, I just couldn't get at it, and I wanted donuts. And donuts I got, and Doris and I ate donuts until we bulged.
Unfortunately, Grandpa was a paranoid old fart, and the minute my dad got home from work, he pounced on him and demanded the $3. Which set my dad off, big time. What did I want the money for? he wanted to know. And when he found out, he dragged me inside and made me get on the scale: 130 pounds. Which I don't think is outrageous, as I was about 5'5" at that pooint, but Dad? Was pissed.
Between that and the fact that I gained 40 pounds (but only 2") in the next year---the following summer, they sent me to fat camp. It was near Hawley, Pennsylvania, very pretty country---but to me, it was six weeks of torture.
Wake up at OMG in the AM. Do calisthentics* before breakfast. (I heard on the second or third morning that we were having danish for breakfast and nearly wept for joy. Then nearly wept, period, when I found out the diet definition of danish was toast with cottage cheese sprinkled with cinnamon. Absolutely disgusting!) Clean up the bunk for inspection. Spend the next hour at an activity. Swim. More calisthentics. Lunch. Activity. Swim. (Occasionally a hike instead.) Snack of fruit. Free time til pre-dinner calisthentics. Dinner. An occasional event in the evening, like a movie. Lights out at 10 PM.
The food was crap. I would have lost weight anyway, even without all the freaking calisthentics. The meat was grey, the vegetables were boiled to death, and the bulbs in the dining hall were a weird yellow that made it all look even worse. I once sectioned half an orange thinking it was a grapefruit. And I had my dear mother to thank for...okay, let me backtrack. There was a big-ass questionaire among all the doctor forms and application paperwork my folks had to fill out. One of the questions was about food allerigies, and Mom wrote, "There are no cannots, only will nots." Which was absofuckinglutely true and remains so today.
The cunt in charge of my bunk---and don't give me any PC crap about what a vulgar and demeaning word that is, because she deserves every bit of it---didn't have enough to do. I'd gotten assigned to the smallest bunk in the camp. We started with three of us, lost one to appendicitis the first week, the other one transfered to another cabin a couple weeks later, so I got stuck with this anal-retentive BITCH who decided she was going to force-feed me peas. To this day, I will not knowingly consume a pea, and again with me suffering because of being a nice girl, because I *should* have spit it into her face.
When we had inspection, she had me vacuum incessantly---now, lest you get the impression that this was some kind of luxury camp, let me disabuse you of that notion---the cabins were old. The carpet was old. She swore she could hear dirt pinging as it hit the inside of the vacuum cleaner---it was still dirty! More! Clean more! Hateful cow.
I began the summer at 170 pounds and ended at 130. It was the first time I'd ever *been* on a diet---my parents had never attempted to curtail my eating at home---and I was so clueless about it all that I kept sending my clothes to the laundry to try to get them shrunk down to a size that would fit me. Some of the girls swapped clothes---I didn't dare, I was sure my mom would be mad if I didn't come home with what I'd left with, especially since she'd sewn tags onto everything.
To make a long story short, I was up to 190 pounds by December. And the hell of it is, if I still weighed 170, I'd be a reasonable size for my current height of 5'10". I know my parents wanted what was best for me, but it was a damn waste of money. And it screwed me up a little more.
I haven't developed a taste for cottage cheese, either.
===============================
* Calisthentics were what we called aerobics before we knew they were aerobic.
.