Love your self!

All my life,I have had to live with the "stigma" of being "fat". I have always been "the fat one". We used to have one of my cousings living with us back then, she was two years older thatn I was and she was the beautiful one,the "slim one" and she was getting all the attention from the boys at the Holiday classes we attended.I just "tagged along", I was "plain lil' me".
Looking back now,I do not think I was actually fat, as I look through my old pictures,I realise I was just chubby and had nothing to worry about.
I have always seen myself as "fat" because of that self image I had of myself then.I recall an incident when I wore a particular dress and as soon as my girlfriend saw me,she said,"Ugo,you are shapeless!!! I felt so embarassed.

Everytime I met with an old acquaintance,rather than say"hi,I am delighted to see you", they would rather exclaim"Ugo,jeeeeeeeez,you are sooooo fat!!!!!!! This thing always annoyed me but what could I do? Nothing!

I remember back then,I would stand in front of my mirror and all I ever saw was fat, fat and more fat and I the more I did that,the more I hated myself.

I recall four years ago,I was so caught up in my "fat party" that I did not notice I had indeed lost weight. One day I was going for lectures when I ran into my friend whom I had not seen in a long while and she exclaimed"Ugo,where you sick?you have lost weight!!! It was then that it dawned on me that "hey,I am losing it".I was delighted,nay thrilled. I felt new,rejuvenated and even sexy. I went haywire,I was shopping every other week for those clothes I could not wear before.For once in my life,I felt good about myself.
At the moment,I am not exactly what you would call slim, but I am not fat either.I am the full "figure 8"(in Nigerian parlance) and I am loving it. What with Beyonce, Shakira and J-Lo popularising the hippy figure,it is now the in thing!
With daily workouts,I have been able to keep fit and look beautifully shaped.I ain't gonna trade my hips for anything in the world,I love me,hips and all!!!
The bottomline is,love yourself. If you do not love yourself, nobody will. You do not have to be thin to be happy, or to be fatter to be more attractive. Give yourself a treat, fall in love with yourself.You have only one life to live, live it to the fullest. Enjoy.