The Skinny on Being Skinny

One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived in Bangkok was how unbelievably skinny the Thai girls are. All my life I have never really been conventionally thin. I’m constantly locked in a battle with my weight but it never really bothered me too much, except maybe after Christmas and the start of the New Year. When I got here, however, I’ve become incredibly self-conscious because I was literally surrounded by stick figures. I felt like a trunk amongst twigs.

Thai girls are positively minuscule, very much so that to call them women would be totally wrong. They have bodies of adolescent, almost pre-pubescent girls, and in a society where being thin is revered, they make the rest of us look bad. Of course, it would take more than that to make me feel ugly but I did find myself looking sadly at my rather flabby stomach on a regular basis.

I was a long way from obesity but being here made me feel unbelievably fat. I knew I had to lose at least 10 pounds. I just didn’t know how. I’m lazy and I hate exercise. I once paid good money for a gym membership and I only showed up 8 times. I am also devoid of self-control. When I’m hungry, which is often, I will eat. I don’t really eat a lot but I do eat frequently. Being alone in Thailand doesn’t help. It gives new meaning to comfort food. I sleep a lot too. I can’t live with less than 8 hours of sleep or else I’ll get really sick. Whatever hours of sleep I miss one day, I have to make up for them in another. So, no, it really didn’t look like I was going to lose all that weight.

For some strange reason, however, I did. I didn’t know it right away, but I’ve lost 7 pounds. The buttons on my tops don’t pop anymore. I can get into my jeans without having to jump up and down several times. I don’t have unsightly underwear lines anymore. My armpits are hollow and I can even see my collarbone again. I feel fantastic. I don’t think I’ve looked this good since, umm, last year.

I don’t know how this happened. My rice intake is just about the same. I still eat two or three times a day and snack occasionally. I still sleep a lot. I wasn’t even really trying to lose weight, it was always just an idea I toyed around with in my head.

Then I realized that I’ve been here a little over a month and have gone through quite a lot. I was sick when I got here. I have chronic bronchitis that comes and goes and I had it when I arrived. It has never been easy to shake it off, and it was particularly hard for me to recover from it being here and so far away from home. I have also been running after buses, gotten lost several times, missing my stops, climbing a lot of footbridges, and walking for blocks. Not to mention I live on the 5th floor of a building with no elevator. That’s a lot of physical activity for this lazy lady, more than I’ve ever done in my entire life. It’s no wonder that I now have firm legs, less flabby arms, and a waistline that I’ve almost forgotten existed.

It’s just another reason why I love Bangkok. I know I’ll never be as svelte and willowy as the Thai girls are, and I don’t really want to be. No, this is a real woman here with her curves in the right places. And this woman is here to stay.