During my first semester of college, I lost 35 pounds. I felt great and healthy and was very proud of myself for getting my weight back to 200 lbs. (I’m 5'7", and my family is generally large and stocky. Around 200 lbs is a healthy weight for me.) When I tried to talk to my roommate about my weight loss, she and her friends basically told me “Don’t get us started on weight loss.” They then spent about 25 minutes whining and complaining to and in front of me about how they had gained their “freshman 15” and now they were soooo unhealthy and needed to diet together because one of them had finally reached 100 pounds. She turned to me and said in her whiniest voice “Doesn’t it feel so bad to look at the scale and see a three-digit number?”

I yelled at all of them. I told them exactly how insulting it was for someone to tell me they weigh half or less than what I weigh and then tell me that the group is collectively too fat and need to go on a diet and workout binge. It was insulting for them to come into my room, my safe space, and complain about their perceived weight and body problems to me, someone who has had trouble getting down to twice their weight. It ruined my day and my pride and my self-confidence for a long time. I didn’t leave my dorm room much except for classes for the rest of the year after that.