It would be easy to assume that since I’ve struggled with weight all throughout my life, that I was a fat baby as well. Contrary to that, however, I was not. Although admittedly I was my mom’s biggest and heaviest baby (compared to my 3 siblings), I wasn’t really considered a fat baby. I was a good sized, healthy baby. Plus since I was my mom’s first baby, she was quite cautious about the pregnancy and she made sure I was given breast milk instead of infant formula. It wasn’t till I was a toddler that I began gaining weight after I had gotten very ill and had almost died due to a bad bout of gastroenteritis (or something like that). Since I lost so much weight, my mom overcompensated by feeding me anything and everything. Then I guess I never stopped, haha!

So now that I am a preschool teacher, I try to tell parents to watch out for the feeding/eating habits they develop in their kids. For example, I have seen how some parents will use food as a reward for good behavior. Um…that’s what I grew up with and look where that left me! Hehe. Another example would be using candies and chocolates to make their kids stop crying…um…future emotional eater, you think?

What I’m saying with this post (as random as it may seem!) is that today I realized that while I may not have been a fat baby to begin with, the habits and behaviors I learned as a child have led to my becoming a fat adult. This realization, I’d like to think, is what will allow me to continue working at being a Fat Girl No More.