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.

Oh Ariel, I am so sorry to hear when people who are supposed to love you can sometimes be the cruelest. keep your chin up ! You are doing the best thing that you can do for YOURSELF

In 4th grade my school had swimming classes. The entire class would get bussed to the high school to swim. As a fat kid I always hated these days. Taking your shirt off in front of the people who tourture you on a daily basis is just fuel for the fire.

One day, I somehow forgot about swimming and didn't bring my bathing suit. The teacher made me wear one of the high school swim team suits. It was a Speedo. If you want to know how to scar a fat kid, make him wear a Speedo in front of the entire 4th grade.

For the rest of my life I have not taken my shirt off at a pool, beach or hot tub.

I think it is important to never ever forget where you came from...

My ex-husband's favorite thing to call me was Fat Bitch. Yes, that is one of the many reasons he is my ex-husband.

I was Vice President 2 years, then President 2 years of the Band Boosters where we lived before moving to The Woodlands. I found out after we moved that all the kids called me Ms. Huskey behind my back. I was very disappointed because I sacrificed myself for 4 years hauling band instruments, making sandwiches, working concessions, altering uniforms, and going to every game and concert to cheer them on.

One of my primary motivations for doing this now is because my son is starting kindergarten. I remember the day when I was in first grade and my mom brought my lunch to me in class because I had forgotten it. I was happy to see her and gave her a big smile, etc. After she left another kid turned to me and said, "your mom is FAT". At that moment I was truly ashamed of my mother. I don't want my son to be ashamed of me.

All these stories are so sad. It's a shame we had to suffer with the emotional pain being overweight causes.When I was in fifth grade a boy named Kevin sat in front of me who was on the heavy side himself, and a boy named gregory sat to the left of me, and every single day, Kevin would turn around, look at me, and call me fat and ugly repeatedly throughout the day, and gregory would lean near me and call me fat and ugly also. I couldn't escape it. The teacher knew what was going on as did the rest of the class as everyone could hear it. Shame on that teacher for allowing that to happen. It totally stripped me from any self confidence or self worth that I might have had. I would come home from school everyday upset and angry, and say hoe fat I was as I headed to my room. My poor mother, she used to say, you are beautiful and I would tell her that I really wasn't. I never told her what was going on because I was ashamed and embarrassed for her to know. I didn't want to let her know just how wrong she was. My brother, who is six years older than me, used to bring his friends over, and they would make fun of me when my mom wasn't around. but, the worst was about a year ago when we were at my moms for my childrens birthday party, their birthdays are 2 days apart.a year apart, so we celebrate them the same day. So, we were outside at the picnic table eating and my dh was just coming back from walking to the convenience store to buy his lottery numbers and suddenly we all heard this crackling sound like the trees behind us were about to fall, when all of the sudden I went down.The bench at the picnic table gav3e out. It cracked right off. My dh saw this and came running to me and my mom and all my kids and stepdad were in shock. I was so embarrassed that I wouldn't let dh help me up, I brushed myself off and got up and I started to laugh to hide the embarrassment and everyone except dh started laughing, my mom said it was like the mivie shallow hal and my stepdad just happened to be taking my picture when it happened and got it all on film. He actually took them and posted them on the computer. I couldn't believe it. But the last straw was when a friend of mine who is also heavy, and I, went to a restaurant, and while we were sitting here waiting for our food. I glanced over and saw the waitress talking to the cook through the little window that they pass the food through, and she extended her arms way out to her side like a fat person and started laughing. I knew she was talking about us, because there wasn't anyone else in the place. I was so hurt, I didn't even tell my friend cuz I didn't want to hurt her too.

We were in a cabin we had rented in Arkansas. I was making the bed, lost my balance and fell sideways so that my hip hit the sheetrock wall. My hip knocked a big hole in the wall. My little children were all excited that mom had knocked a hole in the wall (because she was so fat). I went to the owners and fessed up right away. They said "Thats OK we are about to remodel the cabins anyway" ...However my kids brought it up several times and laughed about it.

I moved to Maryland from Mobile, Alabama when I was almost 8 years old and not fat, just a tiny, tiny bit overweight. But I had a southern accent, so I was different, and kids don't like different. So I coped with food as any southern family does... and I began ballooning... people threw balls at me at recess, threw sand in my hair, called me names and soooo I joined chorus because rehearsal happened during recess. It got me away from the name-calling. And I already loved to sing, so it was perfect. It got me started and now I am a professional opera singer. Those people who made fun of me are still in town working at wendy's. HAHA

I got on a ride at Six Flags and the overhead thingie wouldn't click but the seatbelt clicked so they let me ride. I came out of my seat a billion times and will never ride that ride again. I tried riding another ride I had rode a few years back, and the seat belt wouldn't fit. I had waited 2 and a half hours and then just waited for my friends to ride it. They said nothing about it when they got off, but they understood.

At a superbowl party in my dorms, I sat in a fold-up chair and it just BROKE! Everyone laughed (we were all friends) but because I hit my head, I played that up and they felt sorry for me.

My whole family is huge- when we go out, its like a parade of jokes and I don't appreciate it.

My mom and I look so much alike that when my dad and I went to the grocery store, the clerk asked where my husband was. EWWW

Everytime I start likeing someone, I get insecure about my weight, even though I'm so secure about who I am. Then the relationship goes nowhere.

I blame going up the elevator or escalator one floor on my asthma, which hasn't flared up in years.

And THE WORST (recently)

I was sleeping with this guy off/on and went to a party he was hosting. He didn't acknowledge me in front of his friends and then introduced me to his beautiful 5'8'' 120lb girlfriend. OUCH! Made me either think he was into big girls secretly or he was just an A**hole. probably both.

Oh one more:

This guy and I were REALLY hitting it off and I told him about my upcoming WLS, he said, "Come back and see me in a year"

OUCH, I mean, he wasn't even that cute, and when I lose all my weight, I'm gonna have MUCH higher standards!

Leona,

I can tell you are beautiful! That guy is such an absolute ass...he sounds like my old bf. I love roller coasters so much that my goal is to ride every coaster in Ohio by this time next year!

Well the one that hurt me the most is my daughter she is three, and i was getting into the shower one day and she said mommy your fat! she said it so matter of fact that i didnt know what to say other than yep i know honey, then she said your belly is big and daddys is little lilke mine. i to dont want my daughter to go to school with a big momma,

at work one day a guy came in for a haircut and id never seen him before so i asked him if he had been in before and he said yea, i said did i cut your hari, he said no your way bigger than the girl who cut my hair. i was like ok,

Isn't it amazing how some people can be so DAMN RUDE????

Just a bunch of ignorant classless people......

I hope each and every one of these situations make each of us stronger~

(BTW-I hate this thread. It makes me so sad for so many people, but I can't look away)

Danie,

The least embarrassing or Hurtful comments come from my kids, because when they are young they don't know any better and they are not trying to intentionally hurt me. The most hurtful ones come from people who hardly know me if at all. But then again I (thankfully) have never had a husband or any other family member try to hurt my feelings...except my older brother that is, but that was when we were very young and I wasn't even fat then, but he made me believe I was, I mean I was 133 and 5'7" when I graduated and he mercilessly made me feel like shit about myself. I pretty much thought he was over it, and he was with me because for the past 15 years he has made his overwight wife miserable. He did surprise me the other day. I had on this T shirt of my sons. It is pink and says ELEMENT on the front (its some kinda skate board brand) And my brother could not resist one more jab for old times sake, he said I can't believe you would wear a pink ELEPHANT T shirt! ahahahaha (him laughing not me) Well, I am usually very very cautious about wht I wear so as not to open myself up to snide remarks like that. For instance, I love pigs but do ya think I would ever wear any form of a pig, say on a charm bracelet? NOOOO, And how bout those cow print purses that were so cute...heyellll noooo, and I don't wear leath jackets anymore either because one time when I had mine on some guy in the mall said "God I wonder how many heffers had to be slaughtered to make that jacket" That's when I was in a size 16...just think what they would say about a size 24!!!! Anyhow it's those kind of bastards ya gotta watch out for.

thats very true about the kids they dont know any better and i guess i was just embarrassed, but at the end of the day its my kids who make feel great.

Ok, so I have read all these hurtful stories and I am mortified at how mean people can be. I have two stories to chime in with. They are the ones that really pop out at me. Little background. I was not the type of person who took any BS from anyone in school. I was 6'2 and large so I really didn't have alot of comments from a holes. Now I did have a TEACHER, yes I said teacher in art class make a comment he regreted. We were doing live portrits and when he asked for volunteers to model I rose my hand along with a few others. He then said out loud to the whole class that Jen, we don't have enough paper for you to model. The whole class cracked up and I told him to shut the F up along with a few other choice words. I Then got suspended. When I told my mom why I was suspended she was on my side and went and had a confrence with the principle and told him if my teacher ever said another word about my weight she would have his job.. My art teacher was highly pissed I was back in his class the next day.

Ok this one is a little funny but still, I had to include it. So it was dec 31st and me, my dh, and my best friend went down town to Celebrate. We drank so much, they had these glasses that look like an hour glass but were two foot tall. They were 10 dollars with 4 dollar refills. So I think I had maybe 6 or 7. needless to say I was toast... When we were leaving I had to pee so bad. we spoted a row of port O potties and I went and got in line. There must have been 100 people out there by them. When it was finally my turn I went in and locked the door. All of a sudden I turned around to puke! So after throwing up for ever I turned back around to pee. I pulled ma pants all the way down and went to sit on the toliet, but lost my balance and when to catch my self on the door but it had unlocked somehow. So i fell right out of the port o let with my pants around my ankels. I heard so many people laughing I thought I was going to die. Apparently when I turned around to puke I unlocked the door with MY ASS! LOL I stayed in there till it died down and finally a man came up and said "Honey Its ok, everyone here is to drunk to remember it tomorrow" LOL so I sucked it up and came out only to fine my best friend and my dh clapping. I still am scared to go to a portOpotty today. And I still get teased by my dh... LOL but I can laugh with them ...

My most memorable happened before I was even really FAT. I was well under 200 pounds and I have always carried my weight well... However, I was "fluffy". Anyway, my husband bought me a gorgeous emerald and diamond ring and it was too big. I am 5'5" and large framed on the bottom, medium on top, but I have tiny, small hands like my dad. I wear a 4 1/2 on my wedding finger and a 5 or 5 1/2 on my right ring finger. We took the ring in to the jewelry store to be sized and the young man behind the counter handed me the ring of ring-sizers. I slipped a 5 on and then a 5 1/4 and then a 5 1/2. I couldn't decide by the design of the ring which size to choose. I decided on the 5 1/4 and handed the ring-sizers back to him and said "I'll take it in a 5 1/4." The young man said "Oh, you must be mistaken - that can't be right!" I looked him in the eye and said "Just what exactly are you trying to say?" Much sputtering and back-peddling ensued. I grabbed the sizers back from him and slipped the 4 1/2 on to my wedding finger and said "See this one is even smaller. Do you have a problem with that?" :angry Heh. I loved the look of embarassment on HIS face. Dumbass.

Mostly, my brother-in-law (a generation older than I) used to call me "buffalo butt" - in the most endearing way - but I still hated it everytime he said it.

My more memorable embarassments came from having red hair. "I'd rather be dead than red on the head...", "Fireball", "Big Red" and the number one - "Big Red Gives Head!" this from a boy on the bus that had a secret crush on me and had no better way to express it. He yelled it EVERYDAY as I stepped off the bus at my stop. The best one happened at the homecoming game my freshman year in college. I was being introduced to my best friend's date, whom I'd never met previously. (I looked fabulous, by the way in a winter white silk herringbone suit BELTED at my tiny waist - those were the days). His FIRST and ONLY words to me were, "Nice to meet you. Are you red all over?":o I thought my friend and MY date would just die. I didn't even know how to respond except for with, "I guess YOU'LL never know." She cut the evening short and third wheeled it with us later on.

I think that most of my insults probably go on behind my back - that's where the biggest part of me is anyway. Heh. Luckily, I know where to steer away from things and I also don't let being fat stop me from doing things I want to do - I'm stubborn that way.

I'm so sorry that so many of you have been treated so poorly by so many. My mother was quite morbidly obese the last 15 or 20 years of her life and I know that she was hurt on many occasions - usually by innocent children or whispers. She also had the fear of restaurant booths and airplane seats. However, if she ever fell down, she got up faster than you ever thought a fat woman COULD get up. She was pretty clumsy - even when she was skinny, so I guess she got used to it. It was an ongoing family giggle.