Memoirs of an Outstanding* Teen

Chapter 9: Out of Breath

You know that thing in your head that tells you not to say harsh things to people even though you're thinking them? Yeah, apparently, some of the people in my life had a birth defect and they miss that part. For some reason, it seemed like everybody and their mamma wanted to comment about my weight at that time. I got everything from "You're not a model anymore" to "Nelu, you should stop eating so much! You're getting fat."

Now, I was never one that cared too much about how I looked (refer to the cornrows and the oversized skirt). What I hated the most about those comments was when they insinuated that I was lazy or that I wasn't a hard worker. If my dedication to my school work gave you any indication, it should have been that I am willing to push myself, to work hard for stuff. And those comments made me feel like I was being lazy. I felt as if I had committed some major sin. Like somehow, I was being a horrible human being. And so, I started looking for ways to lose the weight.

Towards the end of the year, the principal announced that there was someone offering general athletic training for free on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I seized my opportunity.

I showed up to the training stadium on one of the Tuesday, and after some generic warm up, the training instructor told us the plan for the day was to run up to the water tank at top of the hill. I looked up to the direction he pointed and thought to myself, "That doesn't look so far. I bet I can make it." Boy, did I underestimate my level of unfitness! Just about 20 meters into the run, I was panting like someone had suffocated me for 10 minutes. My heart felt like it could pop right out of my ribs, and my throat felt like Scissorhands was scratching it.

I ended up having to walk most of the way up to that water tank and I'm pretty sure I was the very last one to reach it.

Now, that was rather discouraging as the first step towards weight loss. Couple that with the fact that final exams were around the corner, I had plenty of excuses to quit the whole thing. But the comments would soon compel me to try again.