FAT GUY IN A LITTLE COAT (the struggle is real)

Anyone who has seen the movie Tommy Boy will hopefully understand what I’m talking about when I mention “Fat Guy in a Little Coat”. In case anyone needs a refresher, here’s the clip from the movie.

PS. Everyone should watch this movie, it’s hilarious.

Now back to my story – recently I had a really important meeting with a customer at a fancy building in downtown Houston. I was going to be presenting a really important and profitable agreement between our company and the customer which was making me a little nervous. My boss decided to join me for this meeting, so I knew there was a lot at stake. After prepping for days about how to tackle the discussion and finalizing a very thorough presentation I was finally feeling confident about the meeting. That lasted until the night before when I realized that I had to probably wear a suit or at least a nice jacket since I had to look more “professional” than my typical dress shirt and slacks ensemble. After freaking out for about 30 minutes because I had nothing to wear and trying on several pant and jacket combinations where everything was too small it dawn on me; I’m “Fat Guy in a Little Coat” and in the midst of laughing and feeling sorry for myself while singing Fat Guy in a Little Coat  I realized that I could either keep feeling sorry for myself or make changes. The next day I strapped myself into a pair of compression shorts and a compression shirt that my partner likes to call my “man corset” and went to my meeting with the less tight jacket I could find. I couldn’t really breathe much while sitting and I was feeling very self conscious but once I got to talking and the conversation starter flowing, my confidence came back and that feeling of self consciousness went away. The meeting was a success, my boss was happy and I took off the jacket and untucked my shirt as soon as I walked out of the building and felt like everything was right again.

Feeling like the way I look will affect what other people think of me is a real struggle.  And I know that in most cases it’s all in one’s head but it can’t be helped. As a society we are taught that being thin is good and overweight is bad. An overweight person can’t possibly be handsome or beautiful, they’re cute and have great personalities but never “hot”. I know not everyone thinks that and beauty is very subjective but it’s still something that I know everyone thinks. I don’t want to be another stereotype, I want to get up in the mornings and feel energetic and live my life the best way that I can even if I never become “thin” which is not my goal. My goal is to be healthy and happy and confident and to not have any regrets.

It’s only been a few weeks since the “Fat Guy in a Little Suit” incident, but I have made decisions since then that may have a huge impact on the rest of my life and I hope to continue to make even better decision. We just have to take it one step at a time.

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