Thin is in?

Two years ago I chatted with my friends from PI. I think there were five of them scattered around the islands. We were on conference. They haven't seen me for over a year at the time so naturally they asked me to send them a latest picture of myself. So I did.

Two of them said I gained a lot of weight. Translation: I was fat. I said it couldn't be so bad since I think I only gained a kilo. They insisted I gained a lot, that my cheeks made me look like a blowfish, that I was no longer as slim as they remembered.

I'm 156 cm and at that time weighing 46 kilos. How can I be fat?

And how can we women be so paranoid about our weight, myself included? That chat made me literally run for a weighing scale. It made me change my diet and lost three kilos. Now on hindsight, I couldn't believe at myself for falling prey to society's wiles.

Who started this idea that to be beautiful is to be thin? Years and years ago all the images of gods and goddesses were fat, so when did society start dictating that thin is aesthetically better than otherwise? Beauty is always subjective yet for most women, thin is in.

I'm surrounded with women who are eternally dieting. I mean, it's their business, it's their body, but when do you draw the line? I think it's when you stop eating what and when you should, and when you constantly berate yourself for eating what you think you shouldn't.

From the words of Paulo Coelho with minor modification, " Forget about getting thin. You can do all the exercise you want, punish yourself as much as you want, but you will still have only two choices-- either stop living or get fat."

Me? I think I'll live.