The Latina, The Weight Loss and The Wardrobe

Me as a fun loving chubby kid

My personal story about how I became completely obsessed with reading fashion and food labels came at two different points in my life. I blame my mom for the fashion part. My attraction to anything shiny, sequined, or just plain fierce stems from years of shopping trips with my fashionably inclined mother. Even at sixty-something (she’d ring my neck with one of her designer scarves if I revealed the actual number) she still has it. I also partially blame her for my bad eating habits as a kid. Being Mexican I grew up on salty high fat foods including but not limited to weenies con huevo (hot dogs with eggs for the non Spanish speaking crowd), chorizo, tacos, and any sugar laden dessert within reach. My mom just wanted me to be happy and food made me happy so she obliged. So of course I grew up being the fat kid in my family. Oddly enough, my brother and two sisters didn’t have weight problems in spite of growing up in the same house. Ain’t that some shit right? Anyways, to make matters worse I was obsessed with fashion and dangerously close to Warwick Davis (watch Life’s Too Short) height and one Twinkie away from busting my pants. Fast forward to middle school when I got the chicken pox. Thank baby J in a leisure suit for this itchy affliction because this is what prompted my first weight loss. I lost a bunch of weight just in time for high school. Come college and I gain the freshman sixty. What?! Didn’t everyone?! 

I kept the weight on until my late twenties when a friend of mine went on a calorie tracking diet. This is who I blame for my food label reading addiction. I joined her because I had all the baggage that went with being a fluffy gal…high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. I was higher than a mofo and not in the good way. Before I knew it, I was down to a size 8 from a size 16. Since then I’ve settled into a size 10. When I tracked calories the weight came off instantly as long as I didn’t go over my week’s allotment of calories. I wasn’t even working out at that point. Once I started hitting my plateau was when I really got into reading about health and trying different exercise routines. I learned about how white flour is the devil and sipping your calories is a HUGE WASTE! People say to say no to crack, hell, soda can kill too! And that shits really on every corner. The most important thing I took from my research was that reading labels was crucial. A rule of thumb I follow when grocery shopping is to pick the item with the shortest and most recognizable list of ingredients. 

Thankfully by sticking to these things I’ve been able to keep most of the weight off and keep shopping for fun wardrobe items that don’t look like they could be used as tents for a midget circus. I don’t take the fact that I can shop for skinny pants and cute tops almost anywhere for granted. Shit man, there are limited places you can shop when you are a hefty fashionista and that’s places like Lane Giant (Lane Bryant), Tore It (Torrid -- had a jacket tear so the name stuck) or the old ladies section at department stores. Also, the clothes are more expensive at plus size stores. So word to the wise before you eat it, make sure to read it yo!