Scott:
When I was younger I was heavy. When I was in 7th grade, I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch and I lost about 10 pounds, so I was down to about 95 pounds. At that point I was really happy with my body. I’m a cheerleader and I’m the flyer (the person who is at the top of the stunts). At the beginning of this year (9th grade) I was 98 pounds and still happy with my weight and my body. But throughout this year, I have gained 12 pounds, which puts my weight at 110. I am not happy with my body. Tryouts are coming up in a few weeks and I’m really hoping that I will still be a flyer. The past week or so I haven’t been eating lunch; I will have an ice tea and if I feel like it, I’ll eat something small. I know I should not be doing this but I feel like I can control it. Also I am really self-conscious so I’m ok eating in front of my friends, but not a bunch of other people. I also feel like there is a lot of pressure on girls to look like the girls we see in the magazines or the pressure to “be popular”. Yeah I see girls in the magazines and say I wish I looked like that — but who doesn’t? I don’t feel like I have the pressure to “be popular” because I like my group of friends. But anyways, I just wanted to e-mail you and tell you my story because I remembered that you said that you don’t judge people.
Thanks,