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Amy Robinson, 25, Tamworth, NSW
Finally! After 40 minutes of waiting, my friends and I had reached the front of the line. We were looking forward to a night out seeing a live band at the pub. I’d spent hours on my hair and make-up and was feeling good.
But when I handed my ID to the bouncer, he just looked me up and down.
‘You’re not coming in here,’ he sneered. ‘Go to a fat club instead!’
Is this what everyone thinks of me? I wondered.
What? I burst into tears, feeling humiliated. How could he say that to me?
My outraged friends, Luke, Rob, Zillah and Sara, leapt to my defence but I just wanted to get out of there. ‘Let’s go,’ I sobbed.
Is this what everyone thinks of me? I wondered.
The next evening I told my family what happened.
‘I tried Weight Watchers once and it really worked for me,’ my mum Sue, 51, said gently. She was horrified by what had happened and wanted to help.
Deep down I knew I had to act. At 170cm tall, I was 87 kilos. I’d always been overweight and squeezed into size-18 clothing. Managing a fast-food restaurant meant I was always around tempting greasy food. So my supportive mum bought me a Weight Watchers membership as a present.
Joining the program, I swapped fatty burgers for packed lunches and cut my portion sizes after realising I’d been overloading my plate. Watching my friends enjoy hot chips while I tucked into a salad sandwich took a lot of willpower. But it was worth it to see the scales dropping at my weekly weigh-in.
I’d always liked exercise but had been too shy to do it. But as I lost weight, I began doing Zumba and started getting up at 4.30am so I could hit the gym before work. After nine months, I’d lost 25 kilos and I was delighted to reach my healthy weight of 62 kilos.
I can now pick size-8 clothing with ease, but I’ve changed on the inside too. I have a new zest for life and buckets of confidence. I’ve even taken up pole-dancing exercise classes! It was wrong for the bouncer to be so cruel, but I’m glad I chose to turn a negative into a positive.
Originally published in that’s life! Issue 4, 2016.
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