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[foxe]

Reading this amazing series, "I do not have an eating disorder", and especially this particular post has really brought home something I should have realised a long time ago:

Nobody ever perceives your body size objectively -- even (perhaps especially!) you.

Comments

[vivienne_aster]

I really relate to this. I'm struggling with body-size changes and making peace with them, but overall it's going well. I too also have shop assistants tending to over-estimate the size of clothing that I wear, and I think it's because of curviness. From memory (haven't seen you in a very long time!) you have quite the hourglass happening - a lot of people base assumptions on size on breasts and backside, and in me these features are quite generous, especially compared to my waist (which is not tiny by any means - it is nice and squishy - but it is small compared with the surrounding land masses). And the older you are, the bigger people tend to assume you are (not sure why - probably society-based assumptions of middle-age spread, slowed metabolism

[foxe]

Yup, I am (still) curvy... used to be a bit more pear than hourglass, but that's balanced out these days by natural (possibly age-related?) redistribution plus my favourite brand of push-up bra ;) (And I am immensely tickled by the mental image of a nice squishy isthmus of waist flanked by two generous 'land masses'! :D) In general I like my shape and like how I see myself, but I am often at a loss as to how others see me.

Parents... agh! I had the opposite problem -- for years, my mother would buy me too-small underwear (ugh! most uncomfortable thing ever) and tights in size Small (despite the fact that my height, not to mention my butt size, puts me on the border of Medium/Tall in most brands), apparently unable to accept the fact that I might actually be a bigger size. I spent many uncomfortable days with the crotch of my tights hovering around mid-thigh before I grew up enough to start buying my own lingerie... I totally agree with you: who should give a crap?

And yes, it has been absolutely ages since I've seen you in