I've never been especially fat (my heaviest was 240 pounds at 5'8". Fat enough that most stores didn't carry pants in my size and I needed to start buying 2X tops). But that was fat enough to have at least the start of fat experiences, so I'll give answering this a shot. (my wife is a couple of inches shorter, and her heaviest was also about 240, so I'll throw in a few observations from her experiences too)
There are basically two sides to it, the physical and the social. The physical is easier to describe, but the social is the bigger deal.
On the physical side, I was just starting to find spaces challenging at times. Reaching up for something on a store shelf and my belly knocking something over on a lower shelf for example. Or chairs or booths that were just a bit tight. My wife had more chair issues at her heaviest, what with having hips.
Also could not comfortably walk as fast as most people, although we are both regular walkers. If trying to keep up with the flow on a busy sidewalk would soon be out of breath, or if walking at a more comfortable pace had to occasionally step aside and let faster people pass.
Normal amounts of stairs (like a couple of flights) were not a challenge to get up, but for sure I'd be breathing hard by the time I got to the top.
On the social there is a mix of being invisible and being noticed (but not noticed in a good way). Also a sense of vulnerability.
Invisible, like, sales staff were less apt to make an effort to serve me at stores, people in public were less apt to engage with me, that sort of thing. My wife reported that she really noticed how many fewer guys would be checking her out.
Being noticed not in a good way was that if people paid any attention to me I assumed it was negative (maybe not fair to people, but certainly some of the looks and words supported this conclusion). I was never publicly called rude names, but addressed as 'big guy' and things like that. My wife reported that a few guys checking her out were way creepier about it, like maybe felt that a fat woman wouldn't call them out on it when a thinner woman would?
More vulnerable in that as I reached a size that was uncommon where I live and work (I happen to live in a thinner area and ditto for work), I felt that I was beginning to be 'outside the herd' and so not protected by fitting in. If someone was looking for someone more socially exposed or vulnerable I felt that could be me. Likewise my wife felt that less women did the automatic protective closing ranks with her.
2 years
