Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Talking About a Weighty Issue

When I went home to Las Islas Filipinas a few months back, one of the first things many of my friends told me was how skinny I've become. Make that perhaps 90 percent of them.

I know talking about weight is really impolite and sometimes crass. You know, it's one of the few "un-mentionables", like, I don't know, money and whether you like PGMA or not.

Perhaps among friends weight-talk is all right. BUT not on the first second of meeting each other after more than a year, chai mai?

Let me remind you however that this is Las Islas Filpinas where most people have a BMI of... OK, let's just say that we really have a different weight standard. To be healthy equals being plump.

In the Tercera Mundo of Las Islas Filipinas, having a skinny frame is tantamount to being unhealthy. So when my friends first saw me the follow-up question would always be: nagkasakit ka ba? Or, kumakain ka pa ba?

I always tried my best to stop my eyes from rolling when this happened. I didn't even tell them what they actually needed to hear, which is: Look at your fat ass, dahling.

(Hi amigas, I love you all, I really do!)

Meanwhile, when I first came to BangCock one of the things I immediately noticed was how skinny people here are. At that time I was already considered freakishly thin in Las Islas but in BKK I realized I was pretty, how shall I say this... obese.

One of my first undertakings then was obviously to lose weight, which I was successful in.

Achieving a slim figure in BKK is really easy coz meals here do not constitute heaps of carbohydrates say compared to Las Islas Filipinas where people eat horrifying quantities of rice and bread.

After all, Las Islas is the biggest importer of rice in the world. Need I explain further?

A few weeks after arriving in BKK, I already fit into those uber popular skinny jeans that every guy in BKK wears. For a change I felt quite normal. *Sob.*

-- Cue in "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. --

It baffles me that many people do not still understand that some lucky bitches are just naturally skinny without being necessarily unhealthy, much less having an eating disorder. Blame it on the proponents of "healthy body image" *rolls eyes* who think that a "real figure" is having, I don't know, Oprah's body proportions.

What then do they call our sinuous, cadaverous, emaciated, and gaunt frames: imaginary??? Do we look like celestial beings to them?

No dahling, we skinny people happen to have "real figures" as well. We are as real as your double chin and those rolls of flesh spilling out of your gut. We are as real as your cellulite and stretch marks.

I don't understand why being bony is considered offensive.

Do not blame us if our mere presence makes your self-esteem plummet straight to the core of the earth. *Shrugs fragile shoulder blades.*

It is really not our fault if we have prominent clavicles, is it? Nor can you blame us if we have visible ribs, all eight of them on each side and are named after supermodels.

These days, out of delicadeza, I do not even tell my friends anymore that I buy jeans from the women's section coz nothing, and I mean NOTHING, just fits at the men's selection.

My target is really to shop at the teen's department.

But unfortunately age is betraying me. Well, simply put, I don't have the metabolism of a twelve-year old anymore.

When I turned eighteen two years ago I realized that sadly I cannot just shove anything into my mouth. Those were the good old days. So recently I started to spit instead of swallow.

Ooops, where was I?

OK, the point of this post is not to lambaste people of the, uhm, fleshy kind. In fact I have dozens and dozens of friends who are rather, uhm, plump and I love each one of them as much as my scrawny and diaphanous, bordering-on-the-invisible, friends. I swear!

Also, many of my heroes in life are considerably, uhm, portly, such as Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour. OK, maybe not.

How about... uhm... Oprah! Yes, Oprah.

And honestly, I have lately been listening to Adele and The Gossip.

The point of this post is to placate my amigas in Las Islas Filipinas that I'm really OK. Lumpy or gaunt, I'm the same delusional bastard you've always loved.

-- Cue in Bella Flores laugh. --

6 comments:

Lyka Bergen said...

You should start watching "Drop Dead Diva" Kaye!
It tackles the weight issue in a very positive diva way. Not like the haughty style you showed us in this post. Charooots! Go lang ng go!

Gayzha said...

between anorexic and obese, i'd easily choose anorexia for sure!

fuchsiaboy said...

i always say, elegance is refusal. but i wouldn't stop somebody from eating a big bandejado of rice, also. wala pakialamanan. if you an't fit in dior homme circa hedi slimane eh meron namang xxxl na fruit of the loom dyan. labanan na lang talaga yan kung sino ang fasyon.

kiel estrella said...

i feel you, k.

even if i'm too fat na, people still think i should gain weight.

chos.

kawadjan said...

Lyka: OMG, we talked about Drop Dead Diva na. I don't know... I don't want to change my mind. Charot!

Jase: Good choice, dahling.

Donita: Di ka naman tinamaan ng post na to, di ba? Hahahaha.

Kiel: I knew it. Ikaw lang talaga ang makakaintindi ng post na to.

yhan02ph said...

OMG, I'm totally with you on this. Most, if not all, people oftentimes when they see you first time and they tend to be slightly crass saying things like you're so skinny (looks half-concern, half-disgusted), just makes me wanna puke on their face and tell them you're nothing like me.. Two thumbs-up on this post..I can't hide but totally love this post.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin