How to Annoy Family: Drop 145 Pounds

Enlarge this image toggle caption Karen Sachar Photography/Youth Radio Karen Sachar Photography/Youth Radio

Until I turned 10, I was the scrawniest kid in my class. But a combination of my family's horrible eating habits and a lack of physical education during junior high school changed all that.

My parents never made me feel bad about my increasing weight or suggested that I eat healthier. With my peers, it was a totally different story. Kids suddenly had a buffet of insults to use, and my lack of self-confidence made me more than willing to eat them up.

When I stepped on the scale and saw that I was more than 300 pounds, I couldn't be angry at anyone but myself. And at that moment I decided that nothing was going to keep me stuck in that overweight body.

At first, my mother was very supportive in helping me lose the weight the right way. But it seemed like the closer I got to my weight-loss goal, the more annoyed my family, including my mother, became with me.

"What can you eat?" my mother and sister would say when I wouldn't touch the Chinese food we ordered every Friday. And when I hung out with my dad, right after he'd compliment me on how good I looked, he'd follow it up with a comment about how unlikely it was that I'd maintain these eating habits.

Some people might feel it's perfectly reasonable for parents to worry about a child going through drastic weight loss. But I don't feel mine have the right to be concerned about my weight now, considering all the unhealthy habits they passed on to me as a child. I understand there were a lot of factors that went into the way we ate growing up. At times, we didn't have much food. So when your aunt shows up with three cheeseburger meals, you don't send her back for hummus. Even knowing this, it's still irritating that my family had nothing to say when I was on the verge of diabetes but is riding me now that I've worked so hard to be healthy.

I have to admit, though, that their criticisms do help with my resolve. I'm not sure if I could have made it this far without them constantly teasing me. So I guess I should be thanking my family because there are those times when I'm by myself and could just go downstairs and pile a plate with a mountain of spaghetti covered in ranch dressing.

It helps knowing that if I gain 5 pounds, even though the people who are outside my home won't notice, my family will. And they will comment on it. For now, that's one more reason for me to keep turning down that greasy Chinese food every Friday.

Quincy Mosby is a regular contributor to Youth Radio.