Fat in American Healthcare Part 1: Origins

TW: Fatphobia, Diet Culture

I am fat. No ifs ands or buts about it. I have know this since I was in third grade. I gained weight rapidly despite being an active child. This was first pointed out at a doctor's appointment when I was 9 almost 10 years old. My pediatrician walked in after taking my height and weight and announced that I was in the 95th percentile for weight. She then went on the state that "we" needed to do something about this before it got "out of control." She then started questioning my mom on my routines and eating habits. Looking back now she was not so subtlety blaming my mom for me being "heavy." As a mom now myself I can't imaging how that must have felt.

From then on my mom was on a mission to make the family, and by extension me, healthier. From the ages of 10-18 I was on most major (fad) diets of the 1990's and early two thousands. I would lose weight, go back to "normal" eating and gain it all back again. Every year going to the same pediatrician and hearing the same thing, "You're too heavy." "You really need to get healthy now." Not really giving me or my mom the resources needed to make said changes. No suggestions, just judgement. She would also slip in comments like "Don't you want to be like the other girls?" or "You'd be a very pretty girl if you lost the weight." This was mostly done when my mom wasn't around. I am guessing the doctor thought it would be motivation. I don't know.

Before anyone starts I know the health risks associated with being fat. They were drilled into me by the aforementioned pediatrician. I also learned about medical fatphobia during this time. I had had a life threatening kidney infections as a baby, so my parents were always on top of my medical care. They advocated for me the best they could with the resources they had. There were also not as many options for doctors when I grew up in the area where I was. Like today it was hard to find someone who would take our insurance, which resulted in me being stuck with the pediatrician I had as a child. We drove for 15 minutes to get there which may seem reasonable, but at any given time it was my mom, me and my sisters. My mom took all of us to the appointments until I started my period. 

That seems like enough of an origin story. See you again in part 2. (I don't know how many parts this is going to be.)