My First Diet Was At Age 11

I went on my first diet when I was 11 years old. Was I fat? I thought of myself as a little “chubby.” I was clumsy and had hit puberty early and felt very uncomfortable in my new body that came with breasts and widening his (and a period). I had no idea what clothes to wear and was teased at school because I was different in shape than other girls my age (also, hello — boys will be boys attitudes). I hated physical activity because I felt so uncomfortable in my body and therefore hated P.E. and running and anything that took me outside my house.

This discomfort with myself made it easy for me to latch onto the diet that my older sister was doing. I think she was nervous about me joining because I was so young, but ultimately, when I offered to go halfsies on the groceries, she relented. I had no idea why she wanted to go on a diet because at 11, I thought my 17 year-old sister was the most beautiful teenager I’d ever seen. And isn’t this just the way that it is? We are never happy with ourselves, no matter how perfect others think we are.

I don’t remember what this diet was called specifically, but I remember that all we got for breakfast was hot lemon water, and that dinner was some seasoned chicken. My guess is that there weren’t a lot of carbs involved. It was a good thing I wasn’t swimming five hours a day that year, like I did my senior year in high school, or wasn’t training for an Ironman twenty-five hours a week like I did a couple of years ago. Because a low carb diet in those situations is stupid and possibly dangerous.