I'm sorry, maybe I'm not as emotionally mature as others - but I really am taking offense to a lot of these comments. I have been constantly taunted about being fat since I was in Primary school. I weighed exactly the same as my best friend in Yr 7, only she was 15 cm taller, and our teacher said I was lying and would weigh at least 10 kilo's more than my friend. I was pushed harder during PE than any of the other kids because I was bigger than them. But looking back, looking at my growth charts and comparing them, I was not at an unhealthy weight until I hit 14/15. I got the PCOS symptoms about 8 months before the weight started piling on, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

I think health problems account for more obesity cases than doctors say. Why are peoples metabolisms different? What is different in their brain chemistry's? Why can one person eat whatever they want, whenever they want, and struggle to gain weight? Why can another person follow a very strict diet and exercise regularly and intensely, and not lose weight? On medical advice, I consumed nothing but OptiFast meal replacement shakes and steamed vegetable - a diet prescribed by a dietician - and didn't lose a single, solitary kilo. For 3 months. How dare someone take one look at me and think they have any idea of how I got this way?

This is a very sensitive issue for me. I have tried very hard to be happy with myself, and most of the time, I am. I make sure I exercise and I eat correct portions of correct foods. I go out of my way to find clothes in my size that I like, rather than just wearing whatever I can find that fits. I wear makeup, and adorn myself with flower fascinators or funky headbands. I buy amazingly expensive lingerie so I can dress up for my husband when the mood takes me. And then to have someone assume that I eat huge portions, or spend my days on the couch with chips and Coke, or tell me that I'm a liar about my personal habits because I'm overweight - is completely demoralizing. And I wonder why I try so hard to be happy with who I am.

Who I am is now, and will always be, a bigger woman than most. But I reckon I need to extra space to house my extra personalities