I have a number of "most embarrassing moments" They all were turning points at the time, of some sort. A few of the "highlights":

When I was a mere 180 lbs. and went to get on one of those swing rides that go around in the air at a local festival with my best friend. I got in the swing and had myself all locked in and the little carny kid who ran the ride had to come over and tell me I couldn't ride cuz I was too heavy! UGGGHHH To my best friends credit, she got outta her swing too and walked away quickly with me.

:scared: When I got divorced and was going through some terrible self loathing I actually hooked up with a horrible abusive musician guy that I had dated for two years when I was in my senior year in High school and starting college. We were laying on his couch in his looser apartment one morning and he actually was singing "Why am I sleeping with a cow"...I just got up with as much dignity as I could muster and put on my jacket and walked out the door.

:faint: My one and only attempt at internet dating was when I arranged to meet a guy that I had been talking too for quite awhile online and we really seemed to hit it off. We decided to meet at a local watering hole and I told him what I would be wearing so he would know me when he saw me. (this was about 8 years ago, before the advent of the digital camera and stuff so most people still did not have their pics all over the place like they do now). He knew from chatting with me that I was "chubby". I was about 210 and a size 18 at the time. Well I went into the bar and ordered a drink and tried to ize up the people in there to see if he was there yet, I heard a few guys laughing at the end of the bar and they all seemed to be sneaking glances at me. They all got up at the same time and left. I stayed for another half hour and never saw a guy come in who fit the description. I left and went home in shame....little did I know of theshame that awaited me online! The guy emailed me and told me that he and his budddies went in to check me out together and that I was crazy to think that anyone would want a fat ass like me.....OUCH.

Anyway, any one of these should have been a huge turning point for my weight loss efforts, but, if anything they made me worse. I think back on them now and I still feel the sting, but I am also much stronger now and I know the band will help me too.

hmmm Ive had lots of embarrassing moments like.....

a.) Got nominated for duchess (homecoming) just so that if I got it everyone would laff.

b.) ppl would ask my ex why he would want a fat nasty girl like me

c.) when ppl say to my best friend, "why are you friends with that fat b***"

d.) In 2nd grade a little boy (younger than I) told me in the hallway, "I aint never seen nobody as big as you is!" (first time I realized I was different)

e.) Nurse told me I had no willpower and thats why I am fat....

f.) When someone was talking about their overweight sister in front of me, and told me her weight and she only weighs like 20lbs more than me!

(all of this makes me cry so I try to forget all the super hurtful stuff)

Shortly before I was banded I was out to dinner with DH in a very quaint restaurant in the North End of Boston (Italian food). It is odd we get an evening out as we have 4 small children. We were having a great time being adults and the mood was very romantic. All that was about to change. All the places in the North End are small and homey and really cool. It would be odd for there to be more than 15 tables in a place. We got there early and ate a fabulous dinner. When it came time to leave I realized that the restaurant was so small, and since we had arrived they seated people all around us -- there was no way out. We had tickets to a hockey game so we had to get going (plus I had to pee -- too much wine). In the end, 4 separate couples had to get up from their dinners and move their chairs and tables to get me out. The restaurant hostess got involved and the place was so small, everyone was looking and turning to see what the commotion was. I felt like such a spectacle and will never go there again even if I'm thin -- it was so hurtful. Needless to say, the hockey game was not much fun! It was one of the final straws though that made my decision to seek banding so maybe it wasn't ALL bad.......................

Wow, what heart breaking stories

When I was about 7 we moved to a new town. I was so extremely shy and withdrawn that it was hard for me to make friends. Well this one boy would follow me home screaming at the top of his lungs "your fat, your a power house" and much more. I didn't want to say anything to my parents b/c I was so ashamed but they found out because I would come home every day in tears. My oldest brother went to school with this nasty boy's brother, so he told him what was going on. A few months went by and the father and this nasty boy showed up at my front door to appologize. I was so mortified I hid behind my Dad who was 300+ lbs at the time. I went thru the next 10 years of school with my eyes glued to the ground because I was so embarassed of myself. I think the boy learned his lesson because he was very nice to me after that (or he was afraid of my dad lol).

Another was when I was about 17, 18... my brother and his wife used to have parties at their house. They would invite everyone, including my cousins, and neighbors but he would not invite me. I was friends with his wife's sister and one day she told me why he didn't invite me to his parties...it was b/c he was embarassed of how fat I was and that when they all got drunk they would make fun of me really bad at the parties. When the devistation comes from your own family it hurts 10x more.

Years ago after losing 150 lbs, I confronted my brother. He said how sorry he was and how much he loved me. I told him to be careful of what you so dispise because it could wind up in your very own home. Well guess what folks.... his son is VERY fat and so is his wife... hmmmmmmmm. :guess

Pepsi:

My ride fiasco was also at Seaside Heights! That place must be a big girls worst nightmare!

Thank you all for the posts. This has been heartbreaking and I'm so in awe of your bravery for sharing your stories. I started to type out mine and realized . . . I'm not ready for that yet.

Maybe I'll be able to live up to the courage you've shown when I get more perspective. Sincerely, thank you again.

I think that for some of us sharing is like therapy but, for others sharing is almost as painful as living it. I shared because it reminds me of how far I have come and it also reminds me that I am not alone in this journey. ~Mandy

You know, I know all these posts are a bit sad, and they were difficult times in all our lives, but on the flip side, this thread makes me feel a bit better because I know there are others out there like me. I know that I wasn't the only one made fun of, or the only one that has problems sitting in restraunt booths or the only one that has to deal with ignorant and insensitive people. Thank you all for sharing and helping us to remember that we are not alone in our struggles. :clap2:

I used to be a big fan of haunted houses - even now, I enjoy them. Unfortunately, there are times when they don't agree with me... and in fact, I've been kicked out of them on 2 different occasions I'll tell the story of the 2nd one...

I was around 28, and getting close to my top weight... so I was 6'5" and probably around 485 pounds. This particular haunted house was very well done - with all the appropriate creepy crawlies and scary things jumping out at you and stuffed scarecrow-like psychos weilding chainsaws that you can imagine. I was with a small group of friends, all of whom were jumping and screaming at all the right places - and I was having a ball.

At one point, we were ushered into a relatively small room - maybe 10X10 - with a ceiling that was maybe 3 inches above my head. I don't know exactly how many were in the room with us, but it was very crowded - and with the low ceiling, I was starting to get claustrophobic.

Then the fun started - we heard some big machine start humming, a tape-recorded scream ripped through the room, and the ceiling started to come down! It was awesome!!

For awhile...

After a few seconds, I started thinking "Ok, this was really cool, but surely they'll stop now."

They didn't.

The folks in the room with me were obviously having fun - and I was too at first, but then it got to be too much. Before long, I was bent over nearly double - remember I'm tall to begin with. At that weight, it was getting really really hard to stay in that position. My back was starting to ache - my hips were cramping - and I knew that I was about to fall down. Given my size, I knew that if I fell down, I'd take a few folks with me, and it would be tough to get back up.

So I said to myself "enough."

I stood up.

I set my shoulders against the ceiling, and heaved. I'm a big guy - and fairly strong. Almost immediately I could hear the machinery start to whine, quietly at first, but quickly growing louder. Then I started to smell smoke... and soon the rest of the folks did too. People started yelling - and a couple near the door starting pounding on it.

When I was nearly vertical again, I guess someone on staff hit the right button - the ceiling quickly moved back up on its own, and the door opened, and the house employees started to rush people out of the room. As I went through the door, someone said "Would you come with me please?"

They took me a different way toward the main entrance, refunded my money, and asked me to leave.

It was embarassing - but I do look back on it and giggle occasionally.

At 28, my life guard certification expired, and I missed the recert class at my nice, safe YMCA (with all my fat life guard friends), so I signed up for the renewal class at a different location. I was in with all high school teenagers... you know the type, the jocks that are planning on getting tan while they work. **sigh**

We were practicing saving people, when the teacher said, "Some of those that will be swimming in your pools will be fat & you still have to be able to save them. So let's all practice on Janet." They proceeded to attempt to pull me out of the pool one-by-one.

They used me as the fat-person example over & over again during that class, but that one was the worst... it was the first time... and they bruised me terribly, lol. Literally. All up & down my arms & legs, lol.

Oh gosh Janet, you should have told them to go suck on a life preserver. What a rude instructor to say the least. Your a good sport.

Nah, hehe, just passive aggressive. I was secretly heaping coals on his head & plotting revenge.

I've blocked out the bad stuff from childhood. I was always unathletic and a little pudgy, so I know other kids said some awful things to me in P.E., but I really can't remember them clearly now.

I really don't remember anyone being mean to me since then. Well, except a stupid anorexic twit who fired me from a college journalism job because my being "fat" (I was maybe 20 lbs overweight at the time) bothered her. I wasn't embarrassed, though -- I was pissed. And I got a better job the next day.

The embarrassment I've experienced has mostly been self-generated. (In other words, no one was calling me a fat pig except ME.) Three very recent experiences:

1. We took a cruise in the Caribbean last year. Instead of doing one of the ship's organized snorkeling excursions, I hired a young guy with a private sailboat to take my husband and me out to a secluded area for snorkeling. This was my idea, for three reasons: I wanted to enjoy a pristine coral reef; I had never snorkeled before and felt self-conscious about it; and (most important) I was embarrassed about being seen in a swimsuit in front of a big group. The snorkeling was great. I loved the reef, the beautiful fish and the wonderful feeling of weightlessless in the nice warm Water. And then I realized I had to get back in the sailboat, which had no ladder. That poor kid and my husband had to drag my lard ass up out of the water and nearly killed themselves doing it. I felt like a beached whale and I was horribly bruised where they had grabbed onto me, as well as all up and down my legs where they dragged me over the side. The overwhelming embarrassment almost destroyed what had been a beautiful experience up to that point.

2. Last weekend we took my niece and nephew up to a ski resort and all of us went "snow tubing." Tubing is perfect for out-of-shape people because unlike skiing it requires no athletic ability at all. You just sit your butt in a big inner tube and let gravity take over. It was very exhilarating going down the steep slope. I was laughing like a maniac. They put my tube on the "lift" apparatus that drags you back up the slope. Great, no problems. And then I got to the top and realized I had to get out of the darn thing. The 135-lbs-dripping-wet teenage boy manning the top of the lift offered his hand to help me up. Um, no -- I'll pull his skinny arm off! So I have to roll to the side, get on my knees and stumble to my feet. Another "beached whale" experience. (I repeated the experience several times, though, because going downhill was so fun I just decided to put up with the embarrassment of "dismounting.")

3. Today we went out to lunch and the skinny hostess tried to seat us in a booth. I took one look at it and knew I wouldn't fit. Had to ask for a table. This has happened repeatedly since we moved to Colorado, a state full of skinny people (lowest rate of obesity in the US). Before we moved here I could at least squeeze into restaurant booths. I swear the booths here are much narrower. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) I can't even mash myself in and park "the girls" on the tabletop. It's just a no-go. Ugh, it's so embarrassing.

Now, why did I want a band again?

This is a very cathartic thread so I'm giving it a :bump:

I have yet another carnival ride experience. Probably 10 years ago I went to ride one of those rides where the arm comes down and locks into place. The carnie slammed it down super hard so it would latch and it pinched me and I screeamed out loud and cried the entire ride. I've never ridden a ride again.

I always automatically ask for a table when we go to a restaurant. I have mini panic attacks if there are only booths.

In middle school I was walking down the hall and Chris Smith kept calling out "pounder, pounder, pounder" as I walked away. I wasn't even fat then.

I have avoided every class reunion because of my size.

I had a boyfriend in 10th grade who stalked me after we broke up. In 1999 he found me here in the town I live now (2.5 hours from where I grew up). He came here to my house to see me. We sat outside on my deck and visited. I was overweight, but not as big as I am now. He has never called or tried to see me again. I know it was because he saw how big I had gotten.

My nephew asked me if I was going to have another baby, and my DS was only 1 year old. When I said no, he asked why my tummy was so big then.

I will say that I am thankful I haven't had as bad experiences as some of you. I would just die...

On sunday, I fell .... I was at a park/river with at leaste a hundred other people..

I was walking down the rock embankment and I fell.. I tumbled..

I broke my sun glasses

I scraped my elbow, both my legs, my entire forearm,

I have about 12 bruises

My right boob is sore, my chin and the back of my head..

My right foot is swollen and my pinky toe is purple bruised..

Thats just to show how bad I fell... tumbled.....

Half the park laughed and half the park was nice ya know.

Lots of people asked me if I were ok and were genuinely concerned..

I wasnt hurt so bad.. I told everyone I was fine and I got in the Water..

I wasnt bleeding or nothing..

My foot and toes hurt real bad.. but I was able to walk out and back up the hill successfully... most those 'injuries I didnt feel till the next day"

I will say "I WAS sooo embarrassed" oe "THAT was embarrassing" and it was of course...

But the truth is I wasnt that embarrassed...

I dont get all offended that half the park laughed as an initial reaction..

I didnt think about that until I saw this thread pop up in my inbox notifications.....

I understand.. and Thats not cuz I am one of those people who laugh as a first reasction to those kinds of things.. I AM NOT! I am the opposite and to everyone.. but it shows what america is like.. and I am GLAD I am not.. and then I feel so THANKFULL and so PROUD and so GLAD that I am NOT that way.. that feeling bad is kinda hard.. lol

But I just dont get that embarrassed..... and I am GLAD..

I have enough problems, enough neggative thinking and enough bad self esteem issues as it is..

Sometimes I get very angry if something is Malicious..

but no one did anything else or said anything to me later....and I was at the park for 5 more hours after I fell...

...........on a better note.....

I went to a park today.. with a concert....

and I wore my nicest clothes and I looked nice and I was complimented by 6 people... and I didnt notice anyone do anything to me, as I was prolly the biggest one there... I had a nice time...

the worst is seeing all the cute young boys... lol

............ :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1: