Forget about being big-boned; I'm fluffy!

One look is all it takes to tell that I’m not a slender man. And if you’re looking through a camera, you’d best have a wide angle lens.

Yes, friends, I stopped being svelte about my sophomore year of high school, although I have said I wouldn’t mind being that fat again. There it is, that three-letter word, although personally, I like comic Gabriel Iglesias’ description better — fluffy. I’ve been like this most of my life. It wasn’t long after starting grade school that my clothes started coming with labels such as “husky,” “big boy,” “XL” and “You’re kidding, right?” No doubt Mom’s down-home Southern cooking was part of the reason. But, even though I got out and played, rode my bicycle for miles, kept busy, my size didn’t change a whole lot other than to increase as I grew — and grew older.

Through the years, I’ve dieted and exercised and dieted some more, gone up and down as much as an elevator in the Empire State Building. I need to clean out my closet now because I have so many assorted sizes, some of which still are wearable and some of which I never will fit into again, although I’ve kept them just in case ... Oh, great, now does that make me a hoarder, too?

Anyway, as my waistline has expanded and shrunk, ... and expanded, year after year, my attitude has been on the same roller coaster (some of which, I must admit, I don’t fit on now) with my confidence and sense of self going up and down, too. Then, a few years ago, other folks like me got tired of being treated, and acting like, second-class citizens. However, it’s coincided with the contention that now we’re diseased because of our waistlines.

Still, those of us who find ourselves ... fluffy have been changing attitudes. More and more people are accepting themselves — ourselves, for what we are. I love to see plus-size folks who are confident about themselves, seem secure in their own skin and respect themselves. Because sometimes in life, no matter what you do, or how many times you diet, you just have to accept who you are, make the best of it and try to be as healthy as you can.

Yes, we’re constantly told we need to all be the same size, more or less, and are bombarded with weight-loss commercials featuring people who needed to lose 20 pounds or two pants sizes (that’s not overweight), or before-and-after photos of folks who look as Photoshopped as a picture of Abraham Lincoln at a Fleetwood Mac concert. We’re inundated with assorted celebrities who, even with their talents, say they felt worthless because of their size.

Most recently there’s the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch who says his business caters to the cool crowd, not the fat and ugly. Hate to tell him this, but there are plenty of ugly skinny people (like him) and lots of cool fat people. Of course, this comes from a guy who looks like Gary Busey after botched plastic surgery. Actually, Gary Busey looks better. By the way, that’s OK if its A&F’s business model, even if it is a stupid, shallow one.

Honestly, we are what we are. If we’re fluffy, we’re fluffy. If we’re skinny, we’re skinny. If we can lose weight, great. If we try and try and fail and fail, well, that’s OK, too; we just need to take a little better care of ourselves.

And as for needing that wide-angle lens, well, it’ll come in handy for our big, fluffy grins.